I got my 2021 model a couple of months ago (with a hard case for a fantastic price) and I absolutely love it! I agree with all of your points in this video, but I've been lusting after one of these for over 40 years and I could not be happier with it!
Really great video, other guitartubers talk about minute details that i dont care about, you really know this instrument and give real details on playing
Nice playing Tony. Man really love the Friedman's sound, so tight and strong tone, it's not comparable to Marshall's Marshall has their own sound, in my opinion... I loved the red CS Firebird that Slash plays on Gibson TV channel couple vids back... What makes me like from Gibson guitars is mainly the finish... I wish they found a way to easily apply Nitro on the Epiphones, but too late, Epiphone's cost almost as much as Japanese high-ends, but yours is a fair price, just not really a fan of new Epiphone prices above 1500, I'd put couple more and buy U.S. or Japanese made guitar, not because I don't like Chinese guitars, but Gibson likely playing games with customers, putting easily made production guitars at very high price. Nobody is carving the neck for hours to make it perfect like in 50's, machines do the most job, after comnpanies gathering woods for cheap from Africa. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't trust Gibson that much. Only guitar I'd consider buying from them maybe in 10 years is Gibson Studio, not a Custom Shop.
I love the Firebird, but never really play mine. I've wanted to try the Epiphone olive green one but this sunburst is really beautiful! Great playing and info :)
Epi did indeed invent the mini Humbucker PU you have shown us with the blow up diagram. There is a near identical pic of what a Firebird PU really looks like. It is labeled correctly Firebird . The Firebird does not have a magnet across the bottom of the 2 bobbins. It has 2 blade magnets PU's one inserted inside each bobbin, laying on its edge. Doing this makes the pull on the strings act just like the single barrel magnets one for each string on a Strat. The result is the Firebird sounds very, very Fender like. The whole point of the Gibson CEO's was to try and take biz away from the Fender Strat that they were losing a lot of biz to. It failed so on their second try they did the non-reverse Firebird shape with the intention of it having a more Fender vibe. At a NAMM show in the early 80's I was a product specialist for Ibanez and I got to sit for several hours and ask some Gibson guys who were hands on in all the new guitar prototypes. They told me all this and much more. Some of this info is on-line but a lot was meant to be confidential. Like that the second non-reverse Firebird failed worse. Half way thru the year they switched to P90's to try and appeal to the average Gibson buyer. 😇
Excellent review. One point of clarification would be that the nut on these is GraphTech NuBone, which is indeed an upgrade from a generic plastic nut. I just purchased a Firebird last week and it is a fantastic instrument. I had my eye on the identical Gibson version a few years ago (when they still made them). Then when I saw the latest Epi version - with 9-ply neck-through construction, Grover tuners, and premium wiring, I had to have one eventually. "Musician's Wife's Enemy" has them for 20% off, so I pulled the trigger. Yay! 🎶
I love the Firebird. This Epiphone model is reasonably priced, and a pretty faithful reproduction of the Gibson version. Other than the tuners, it's pretty close. Gibson USA did make Friebirds from 2018 until they were discontinued that had the standard tuners, so the Epi really isn't far off of a late Gibby one. I have a 2013 Gibby Firebird with the Steinberger tuners. The pups in the Epi sound better, IMO. The ones in the 2013 model are higher output ceramic pups. I bought a set of MojoTone Johnny Winter Alnico pups to put in it.
Firebird pickups and mini buckers are two different types of pickups. Firebird pickups have dual blades. Mini humbuckers were used on other guitars like Sheratons and Silvertones. So yeah, NOT MINI BUCKERS!
@ThermK.Scissorpunch-gd4yf Good question, well it depends on which version and year you buy. Some Firebirds have full humbuckers in them some of the other body style have P-90s in them. If you see a mini humbucker and it has no screws on one side, it SHOULD be a Firebird pickup. The Firebird pickups have blade magnets on both sides (hence the lack of screws) and THAT pickup is pretty much tied to THAT guitar, much like the Telecaster bridge and neck pickups look very off on any other guitar (you can find Strat style Boutique builds with a true Tele bridge pickup and it straight up LOOKS off, I'm pretty sure it sounds amazing but looks off). So if you have a dual blade mini bucker that is HEAVILY tied to a Firebird, why would you want to put anything else in there? So Epiphone throwing in mini buckers instead of Firebird pickups is pretty much a guarantee that those models will not move (which they are all about selling guitars, so why do that?!?!?).😉👍✨ The only TRUE way to find out would be to buy one and open it up. That said I am certain these are Firebird pickups.
@ThermK.Scissorpunch-gd4yf Since no one wants to take 60 seconds to go to Epiphone's website it says the pickups are Probucker™ FB720 pickups. You can take the extra time to track down and see if it is made like a Firebird pickup but since the literature says it is voiced like the original, I am going to take the leap of faith that it is probably made the same or similar way as the original since it has that FB designation. Now if you think I am making stuff up getting Firebird pickups and mini buckers confused is pretty much the same kind of malarkey when someone mixes up Jazzmaster pickups and P-90 pickups. They might look similar (especially once they are in a guitar) but they do not sound the same, nowhere close. I've played mini buckers against a Firebird pickup and there is a noticeable difference, especially when you use Dirt on it.
I looked up the pickup, it's an Epiphone Probucker FB720 (pretty sure FB is for Firebird) and it looks different than the Epiphone Mini HB (mini humbucker). So not the same and the description said the pickup is voiced to sound like the original Firebird pickup.
I quite like the Firebird, I havent owned one but I did borrow one while a friend was in Thailand travelling for six months, I didn't find the E string any different to other guitars while playing it, I loved the mini humbuckers, I wouldn't mind having a neck one in a Telecaster. I loved playing clean tones with the Firebird, there was a crispness to the sound, a little bit of reverb and chorus and my arpeggios sounded like heaven. I 3D printed some clasps for my guitar stand with some EVA foam on them to hold and protect the bottom of the body, maybe I should sell them. Plastic nuts have no place on guitars over $400 IMO, considering some $200 import guitars come with Tusq nuts, having a plastic nut is akin to Epiphone giving its customers the finger, I am sure if the customers were polled if they wouldn't mind paying a little more for a Tusq nut it would poll high. I might end up buying a Firebird as I don't know of any third party guitar manufacturers making good copies, I think Epiphone are starting to charge too much for their guitars, I bought a Casino in 2014 and was shocked how much they cost now, although I have heard that Epiphones are holding their value better than equivalent Gibson models based on a six month Reverb period of sales
Very good review. Question on the pickups. Are the Epiphone Firebirds using the Epiphone mini Humbuckers or are they using the Gibson "Firebird" humbuckers? Sounds "nit picky", but there's a pretty big difference (two rail magnets vs one). Most of the reviews that I have found state the "Gibson Firebird Mini's" are actually "brighter" than the Epiphone mini's. Don't know first hand - just asking.
This Epi 'bird uses Epiphone ProBucker FB720 pickups. And these are same pickups for both positions, like the originals. Not sure how they compare to Gibson.
OK ! Here are the couple of important features about the Firebird design. If you chose any Firebird knockoff (Epiphone or other) keep that in mind : _ (obviously) the body shape, the headstock shape. _ the 9-ply 24.75" scale length neck-through architecture : 9-ply neck with "wings" glued to the sides to form the body. Multi-ply necks are structurally extremely solid and stable and usually very resonant due to the resulting rigidity of the structure. So, if you want to be able to check if you're really dealing with a 9-ply neck-through Firebird, you will choose for a transparent finish (tobacco sunburst for instance) where you can actually see the wood under the finish. _ the "straight" string pull through the nut : the strings run straight from the stop bar tailpiece, through the bridge, through the nut, and to the tuners' posts : a straight string pull improves the tuning stability of any guitar. _ the "mini-humbuckers" : the slightly lower output than a standard humbucker and the closer coil spacing give a very distinct tone. And that's about it.
Personally I like pickups that fall somewhere between a fender-style single coil and a gibson-style humbucker so guitars like the Firebird and the Epiphone Crestwood are perfect for me. As for your comments about being a Jazzmaster copy, I don't think that's really true other than the shape looking kind of like a mirror image/flip of a Fender offset. The actual sound and feel of a Firebird is totally different from Jags and Jazzmasters
I got my 2021 model a couple of months ago (with a hard case for a fantastic price) and I absolutely love it! I agree with all of your points in this video, but I've been lusting after one of these for over 40 years and I could not be happier with it!
Great to hear!
Really great video, other guitartubers talk about minute details that i dont care about, you really know this instrument and give real details on playing
Thanks man! It's all about keeping it real!
These firebirds are so impressive I got 2, and they are practically identical and both phenomenal.
Great review, you really explained the nuance of this style of guitar that should help potential buyers. I want one pretty bad.
I bought mine because of the shape, which I love, but damn! It plays great. Thanks for the video. Great review
Nice playing Tony. Man really love the Friedman's sound, so tight and strong tone, it's not comparable to Marshall's Marshall has their own sound, in my opinion... I loved the red CS Firebird that Slash plays on Gibson TV channel couple vids back... What makes me like from Gibson guitars is mainly the finish... I wish they found a way to easily apply Nitro on the Epiphones, but too late, Epiphone's cost almost as much as Japanese high-ends, but yours is a fair price, just not really a fan of new Epiphone prices above 1500, I'd put couple more and buy U.S. or Japanese made guitar, not because I don't like Chinese guitars, but Gibson likely playing games with customers, putting easily made production guitars at very high price. Nobody is carving the neck for hours to make it perfect like in 50's, machines do the most job, after comnpanies gathering woods for cheap from Africa. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't trust Gibson that much. Only guitar I'd consider buying from them maybe in 10 years is Gibson Studio, not a Custom Shop.
I love the Firebird, but never really play mine. I've wanted to try the Epiphone olive green one but this sunburst is really beautiful! Great playing and info :)
Epi did indeed invent the mini Humbucker PU you have shown us with the blow up diagram. There is a near identical pic of what a Firebird PU really looks like. It is labeled correctly Firebird . The Firebird does not have a magnet across the bottom of the 2 bobbins. It has 2 blade magnets PU's one inserted inside each bobbin, laying on its edge. Doing this makes the pull on the strings act just like the single barrel magnets one for each string on a Strat. The result is the Firebird sounds very, very Fender like. The whole point of the Gibson CEO's was to try and take biz away from the Fender Strat that they were losing a lot of biz to. It failed so on their second try they did the non-reverse Firebird shape with the intention of it having a more Fender vibe.
At a NAMM show in the early 80's I was a product specialist for Ibanez and I got to sit for several hours and ask some Gibson guys who were hands on in all the new guitar prototypes. They told me all this and much more. Some of this info is on-line but a lot was meant to be confidential. Like that the second non-reverse Firebird failed worse. Half way thru the year they switched to P90's to try and appeal to the average Gibson buyer. 😇
Excellent review. One point of clarification would be that the nut on these is GraphTech NuBone, which is indeed an upgrade from a generic plastic nut.
I just purchased a Firebird last week and it is a fantastic instrument. I had my eye on the identical Gibson version a few years ago (when they still made them). Then when I saw the latest Epi version - with 9-ply neck-through construction, Grover tuners, and premium wiring, I had to have one eventually. "Musician's Wife's Enemy" has them for 20% off, so I pulled the trigger. Yay! 🎶
Great tone I like it
Sounds great!
Friedman plays a big role there too.
I love the Firebird. This Epiphone model is reasonably priced, and a pretty faithful reproduction of the Gibson version. Other than the tuners, it's pretty close. Gibson USA did make Friebirds from 2018 until they were discontinued that had the standard tuners, so the Epi really isn't far off of a late Gibby one. I have a 2013 Gibby Firebird with the Steinberger tuners. The pups in the Epi sound better, IMO. The ones in the 2013 model are higher output ceramic pups. I bought a set of MojoTone Johnny Winter Alnico pups to put in it.
I bought a Epiphone firebird a few months ago, I really like it the tone of the firebird pick ups can't say anything bad about this guitar
Its pretty fun to play
Great guitar great review as always Tony. How do these pickups compare to P90's?👍
@@peterengland2892 they have a little more bite to them.
Great video, I needed it. I'm going to try one in a shop.
Firebird pickups and mini buckers are two different types of pickups. Firebird pickups have dual blades. Mini humbuckers were used on other guitars like Sheratons and Silvertones. So yeah, NOT MINI BUCKERS!
@ThermK.Scissorpunch-gd4yf
Good question, well it depends on which version and year you buy. Some Firebirds have full humbuckers in them some of the other body style have P-90s in them. If you see a mini humbucker and it has no screws on one side, it SHOULD be a Firebird pickup. The Firebird pickups have blade magnets on both sides (hence the lack of screws) and THAT pickup is pretty much tied to THAT guitar, much like the Telecaster bridge and neck pickups look very off on any other guitar (you can find Strat style Boutique builds with a true Tele bridge pickup and it straight up LOOKS off, I'm pretty sure it sounds amazing but looks off).
So if you have a dual blade mini bucker that is HEAVILY tied to a Firebird, why would you want to put anything else in there? So Epiphone throwing in mini buckers instead of Firebird pickups is pretty much a guarantee that those models will not move (which they are all about selling guitars, so why do that?!?!?).😉👍✨
The only TRUE way to find out would be to buy one and open it up. That said I am certain these are Firebird pickups.
@ThermK.Scissorpunch-gd4yf
I would say look it up but I doubt it since it is based heavily on the Gibson model.
@ThermK.Scissorpunch-gd4yf
Since no one wants to take 60 seconds to go to Epiphone's website it says the pickups are Probucker™ FB720 pickups. You can take the extra time to track down and see if it is made like a Firebird pickup but since the literature says it is voiced like the original, I am going to take the leap of faith that it is probably made the same or similar way as the original since it has that FB designation.
Now if you think I am making stuff up getting Firebird pickups and mini buckers confused is pretty much the same kind of malarkey when someone mixes up Jazzmaster pickups and P-90 pickups. They might look similar (especially once they are in a guitar) but they do not sound the same, nowhere close.
I've played mini buckers against a Firebird pickup and there is a noticeable difference, especially when you use Dirt on it.
I looked up the pickup, it's an Epiphone Probucker FB720 (pretty sure FB is for Firebird) and it looks different than the Epiphone Mini HB (mini humbucker). So not the same and the description said the pickup is voiced to sound like the original Firebird pickup.
Thank you.
I quite like the Firebird, I havent owned one but I did borrow one while a friend was in Thailand travelling for six months, I didn't find the E string any different to other guitars while playing it, I loved the mini humbuckers, I wouldn't mind having a neck one in a Telecaster. I loved playing clean tones with the Firebird, there was a crispness to the sound, a little bit of reverb and chorus and my arpeggios sounded like heaven.
I 3D printed some clasps for my guitar stand with some EVA foam on them to hold and protect the bottom of the body, maybe I should sell them.
Plastic nuts have no place on guitars over $400 IMO, considering some $200 import guitars come with Tusq nuts, having a plastic nut is akin to Epiphone giving its customers the finger, I am sure if the customers were polled if they wouldn't mind paying a little more for a Tusq nut it would poll high.
I might end up buying a Firebird as I don't know of any third party guitar manufacturers making good copies, I think Epiphone are starting to charge too much for their guitars, I bought a Casino in 2014 and was shocked how much they cost now, although I have heard that Epiphones are holding their value better than equivalent Gibson models based on a six month Reverb period of sales
wow it sure sounds good...!!
Very good review. Question on the pickups. Are the Epiphone Firebirds using the Epiphone mini Humbuckers or are they using the Gibson "Firebird" humbuckers? Sounds "nit picky", but there's a pretty big difference (two rail magnets vs one). Most of the reviews that I have found state the "Gibson Firebird Mini's" are actually "brighter" than the Epiphone mini's. Don't know first hand - just asking.
This Epi 'bird uses Epiphone ProBucker FB720 pickups. And these are same pickups for both positions, like the originals. Not sure how they compare to Gibson.
I think gibsons use firebird while Epiphone uses mini
In other For Epiphone this doesn't sound too bad!! Usually Epi pups suck.
OK ! Here are the couple of important features about the Firebird design.
If you chose any Firebird knockoff (Epiphone or other) keep that in mind :
_ (obviously) the body shape, the headstock shape.
_ the 9-ply 24.75" scale length neck-through architecture : 9-ply neck with "wings" glued to the sides to form the body.
Multi-ply necks are structurally extremely solid and stable and usually very resonant due to the resulting rigidity of the structure.
So, if you want to be able to check if you're really dealing with a 9-ply neck-through Firebird, you will choose for a transparent finish (tobacco sunburst for instance) where you can actually see the wood under the finish.
_ the "straight" string pull through the nut : the strings run straight from the stop bar tailpiece, through the bridge, through the nut, and to the tuners' posts : a straight string pull improves the tuning stability of any guitar.
_ the "mini-humbuckers" : the slightly lower output than a standard humbucker and the closer coil spacing give a very distinct tone.
And that's about it.
“Mini Humbuckers offer a total different tonal expression” translation:they suck. 🤪 lol jk Tony.
Best of both worlds? More like the worst of both worlds. Firebird is basically a Jazzmaster ripoff with crappy pickups. Who needs mini Humbucker?
I’ve always thought the jazz-masters looked like they fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. But that’s just me.. LOL
Personally I like pickups that fall somewhere between a fender-style single coil and a gibson-style humbucker so guitars like the Firebird and the Epiphone Crestwood are perfect for me. As for your comments about being a Jazzmaster copy, I don't think that's really true other than the shape looking kind of like a mirror image/flip of a Fender offset. The actual sound and feel of a Firebird is totally different from Jags and Jazzmasters