Lefty Firebird

FAC

FAC

New member
I've visited Southpaw Guitars in Houston about 5 times over the past 10 years when I'm in town on business. Each time, I typically spend a few hours and play upwards of 25 guitars. As a lefty player, I am not used to so many choices, and the last 4 times I left with sensory overload/no guitars, even though I was usually in the market for something at the time. This time, I was not in the market, but one stood way above and followed me home.

They had 3 Firebirds...white, black, and traditional sunburst...the black one was awesome...the sustain and resonance are stellar. Having never played one, or even seen a lefty before, Firebirds were never on my radar. I saw on their Facebook page that Cesar Rosas visited three days later and bought the white one (but the black one had more resonance...glad I got it!).

I hear a lot about how terrible the stock pickups are supposed to be. So far, I would say they are not that bad...never had this kind of pickup before. We will see. The bird plays phenomenally. As a bass player at heart, I actually appreciate the shape and how the neck feels long. No neck dive with the Steinberger tuners (and they are very precise).

Any Firebird fanatics out there? I'm a new convert.

firebird.JPG
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

I play an FB copy, it's a lefty actually flipped over to righty


Good luck with the black Bird!
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

I've had a Firebird 5 for quite a while and love the tone. I know some people have badmouthed the pups, but I don't have a problem with them at all.

So yours came with the Steinbergers? Mine has the original banjo tuners which are extremely cool looking, but also extremely heavy and not very precise. Was always wanting to put the Steinbergers on but don't play it enough to justify the cost.

Congrats...that's a gorgeous guitar. I know you're going to have many years of enjoyment.
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

I'm a lefty, and bemoan the lack of choices and availability of guitars in general.

Adding to that, I'm in Australia, so its like being Lefty-squared.
About a year ago when our Aus $ was very strong I bought a nice 1974 Les Paul Custom from Southpaw. They had very good service, good shipping rates and packaging, and I was impressed with the service all 'round. They even gave me a t-shirt. XL, even though I'm a S, with "GUNS, GOD and GUITARS" emblazoned on the front........well, its good for a laugh anyway.

The Firebird would be a great guitar to try out. Its an atypical construction, and the pickup construction is unique in Gibson too. I think the modern pickups are super hot AFAIK. If you find the pickups too much, contact David Plummer from Zhangbucker....he does great things with pickups and he has a Firebird option.
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

Thanks everyone. I thought the Steinbergers would take me a while to get used to...took about 10 seconds. It took longer to remember that the low e string was at the top of the headstock vs. the bottom, ha ha ha.
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

UPDATE!

FAC said:
I hear a lot about how terrible the stock pickups are supposed to be. So far, I would say they are not that bad...never had this kind of pickup before. We will see.
Click to expand...

Ha ha ha...stock pickups lasted about a week and a half. In a nutshell, the sound and resonance I was hearing and feeling from the guitar unplugged simply did not translate out of the stock pickups. I think I now know what folks mean when they say certain pickups sound compressed...the stock pickups didn't let the dynamics of this guitar through, nor the complex overtones. I looked for a set of Duncan Antiquities after reading some of the posts here, but could not find them in stock..a local shop had a set of Lollar Firebird pickups in stock, so I swapped them in...what a difference! Expensive, but they transformed the guitar. I now see why some compare the Firebird bridge pickup sound to a tele. The neck is way clearer, more dynamic. Transformed the guitar. Glad I did not wait, even though my brain said it was too early to be swapping.

On another note, I know the DC resistance does not necessarily equate across the board to output, but the stock ones were super high, like, >22k. What is up with that? They were not particularly high output...in fact, I would describe them as pretty low output.
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

I have a 1990 Firebird V that the previous owner put a middle PU into. Stock pickups sounded like weak 490 humbuckers. Mine now has Seymour Duncan Antiquities Mini-Humbuckers and sounds like a Rolling Stones record. The stock pickups were way overwound (19.8k anyone?). Seymour's put that subtle bright twang back into the guitar. The reissue banjo tuners have a screw that you can tighten the action with so they are more stable. Neck dive is a known issue. Also, being so headstock heavy, the neck will pull out of tune if you are moving around while playing.
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

^^ This can either be because of super thin wire (jacking K reading up without the extra signal), or a very deep coil, which gives you extra windings in areas that don't produce much signal.

Either way, you've now got a great set of pickups from a respected winder that will make your guitar sound like what it should have done stock.
 
Re: Lefty Firebird

AlexR said:
^^ This can either be because of super thin wire (jacking K reading up without the extra signal), or a very deep coil, which gives you extra windings in areas that don't produce much signal.
Click to expand...

The stock pickups are notably larger than original Firebird or Seymour mini-humbuckers. My understanding is they just wound way more wire around it. There's almost a 1/16" play on either side when replacing stock current-issue Gibson Firebird Mini-hums with Seymours or period correct originals.
 
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Re: Lefty Firebird

FAC said:
Beautiful.
Click to expand...
Mine has the Zhangbuckers and steinbergers,
I love it, but its a Rocker. I am trading my strat for
a Prs Torero, that's so bad-assed for thrash.

My firebird can do thrash rhythms no problem, but I like playing thicker strings on it and end up playing Allman bros and UFO on it. There's a caramel sound I can get on it when I'm in the moment. The 11kOhm bridge pickup has a cocked eah sound
upper mid cocked wah wah pedal sound to it, cause I told Zhangbucker I wanted Metallica sound on it, and the neck sounds like Brian Jones and Duane Allman.
 
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