After the revolutionary yet radically ahead-of-their-time Explorer and Flying V of the late ’50s were stricken from the catalog in the wake of disappointing sales, Gibson enlisted a highly acclaimed outside designer for its next adventure in modernity, and the results remain iconic to this day.
Photo By Susanna Radaelli, Guitar Courtesy Of Voltage Guitars.
After the revolutionary yet radically ahead-of-their-time Explorer and Flying V of the late ’50s were stricken from the catalog in the wake of disappointing sales, Gibson enlisted a highly acclaimed outside designer for its next adventure in modernity, and the results remain iconic to this day. Tapping the dangerous curves and tailfins of the Detroit auto industry, Gibson hired Ray Dietrich—designer of the Dusenberg car, among other things—to draw up an entirely new look for a solidbody electric guitar. The results hit the market in 1963 in a range of new Firebird models, known forever after as the “reverse-body” Firebirds for the way their shape flipped the approximate outline of the Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar upside-down.
Just as revolutionary as the Flying V and Explorer before it, the Firebird was also nearly as far ahead of its time, and only lasted until 1965 in this guise before the body was flipped back right-side-up to create the somewhat more conventional looking “non-reverse” Firebird. The originals have been highly collectible ever since, and their build and appointments give them a sound that’s just as cutting-edge as their looks.
The guitar’s foundation was assembled in an entirely new way for Gibson. It comprised a nine-ply neck of mahogany and walnut, which extended right through the body’s central core all the way to the tail pin, with glued-on body wings of mahogany, in what has come to be known as “neck-through-body” construction. The practice afforded a lot of stability,