Gibson Firebird I/III Sunburst 171108 (1964)

1964 Gibson Firebird I/III just into the shop!

You might be asking: "What's the deal with calling it a I/III?"

Well, this guitar was originally built by Gibson as a Firebird I model, shipping at the end of March 1964. For those with a sharp eye for all things vintage Gibson, you probably noticed a tell or two. But if you missed it, the key difference (other than having two pickups vs one) is in the unbound fingerboard. Firebird I models were basically the Junior-style of the Firebird lineup, and therefore didn't get the full III treatment of a bound fingerboard.

It's fairly obvious as to what the motives were with this one. Said Firebird I owner likely got the itch to have a two-pickup model, but didn't want to move into an entirely different guitar. It was the 70s, and specifically right around the time Gibson was releasing their Bicentennial models. Our best guess is that the guitar was brought to a well-established Gibson dealer and repair center, and it was "upgraded" to a III with the addition of a Patent Stamp Firebird pickup and ring in the neck position, along with a set of volume and tone controls and a 3-way toggle switch. The pot codes for the neck pickup date to late 1975 and early 1976, respectively, so it's more than plausible that the mods were done altogether sometime in '76. For what it's worth, this is some of the cleanest modification/conversion work we've encountered in a vintage electric, especially for work done at the onset of the mod craze of the 70s. The routing work isn't perfect, but it's not a hack job either. Thankfully, Gibson templated the routing on all of their Firebird bodies the same, and just punched through the cavity as needed depending on the controls and configuration. Whoever added the pots did a clean job and reconfigured the setup to look as close to factory as you could get.

One could argue that it's like having both models sandwiched into one guitar. The feel and look of an unbound fingerboard from a Firebird I with the functionality and versatility of the Firebird III. Maybe we'll call it a Firebird II?? Call it whatever you want, but aside from the mods, it's a '64 Firebird with original finish, its original bridge pickup and controls, and no breaks to the headstock! We'll consider that a huge win!

Most importantly, it's a highly resonant Firebird with a great playing neck fresh frets, and amazing sounding pickups! We cleaned up some wiring, replaced the lead on the original bridge pickup due to some disintegrating insulation, and corrected the phase with the neck pickup. It's running right as rain now, and is a monster player.

Paired with a new Gibson Firebird Protector hardshell case.