This week's post by local guitar veteran: Gary Vogel of Minneapolis.
"I have always loved the look of the original "reverse" version Firebird. Such a lovely shape! An much more practical than the Explorer, because it does not have the big pointy tail that I always find myself bumping into things. But every vintage one I have tried suffered from two problems: The neck was uncomfortable, too fat like a baseball bat, and those damn banjo tuners were either worn out and broken, or damaged in some way. Well the recently discontinued Gibson Firebird V 2010 model solved both those issues!" http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Firebird/Gibson-USA/Firebird-V-2010.aspx "The neck is extremely smooth and fast.. The tuners have been replaced by modern Steinberger models, allowing the beautiful headstock to be unsullied, and eliminating those damn banjo tuners. The new ceramic pickups are really sweet. Not too hot, but a bit stouter than the original ones. Less noise, too. A bit brighter than a P90, but also a bit smoother in the mid-range, I guess they could be defined as a less "snotty" pickup somewhere between a P90 and a humbucker. I find them to be incredible useful when playing complex chords, but I would bet that blues players would really dig them too (think Johnny Winter, of course!). I don't know why Gibson decided to discontinue this particular reissue, poor sales probably. But I am damn glad I was able to find one-- and it took me some serious searching before I found a white one-- the rarest of all, and most gorgeous IMO. This baby had originally been shipped from the factory overseas to Germany, and ended up at a NY guitar trader who I purchased it from Another one checked off my bucket list! You can see me play this baby at my next show with my band MFG (we are on Facebook) at Mayslacks Friday November 30. We play after the Mighty Others and my friends, Capital Sons, who featured my lead guitar on their first CD. We go on at 11pm."
