Bonamassa Epiphone Firebird I

[del]

Banjo tuners, neck-through, and a pickup that MIGHT be a true Firebird pickup... If this is under $800 I'll be surprised.

Still - these features plus a wraparound bridge... SNAP! This is the lo-tek guitar of my dreams! It's a rock+roll MACHINE! And adding a vibrola might make it a psych-rock masterpiece!

~del

[Pacafeliz]

but then... why make it under the Epi brand?
i mean, that means it pretty much HAS to be below 500, i think. it IS a 1 pickup guitar.
but it comes with the signed stuff...

who knows. i'm interested.

[cmatthes]

It'll be closer to $1,000 though, not $500.

[andy_tchp]

^ Agreed. The Gibson 'Bonabyrd' (Les Paul with a Firebird headstock) list price was something close to $8000.

[Larry Mal]

Periodically Gibson blurs the line, price-wise, between Epiphone and Gibson. That's probably a good thing, I remember growing up where Epiphones were pretty much just cheap garbage and Gibson was always very expensive. So it's good to have good options at all price points, and if you aren't one of the knee-jerk anti Gibson types then you'll agree that they have an attractive model at pretty much any amount you want to spend now.

That being said, I don't quite understand this. I wonder how much Gibson really thinks that Joe Bonamassa's simulated signature on the back of the headstock is worth. Because while this is a cool guitar, it's again within striking distance of the actual low level Gibson Firebird, which is an absolute steal at the price that's going for. By buying that, you'd get the real name on the headstock that actually means something, Gibson, as well as an extra pickup, the better tuners, the neck binding and so on. It's a hell of a guitar for the money.

[Fiddy]

Doesn't Epiphone Japan make some higher end / nicer instruments than the regular Epiphone line?

[Larry Mal]

They did, with the Elitist line. Not sure if that's still in production.

[PixMix]

Because while this is a cool guitar, it's again within striking distance of the actual low level Gibson Firebird, which is an absolute steal at the price that's going for. By buying that, you'd get the real name on the headstock that actually means something, Gibson, as well as an extra pickup, the better tuners, the neck binding and so on. It's a hell of a guitar for the money.

Which model is that specifically?

[Larry Mal]

This guy:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/ ... ric-guitar" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Only comes in one color.

And to be honest with you, "low level" might not be the phrase I'm looking for with that, especially since in the old Firebird hierarchy the V was the second most expensive.

I guess the "entry level priced" would be the phrase, I don't know.

I paid a lot more for mine at $1650, and didn't feel I paid too much then, so to me this is a steal. Of course, had I known that Gibson would crank out the sunburst ones, I would have gotten black or white or something.

[PixMix]

Wow, that's pretty hard to beat. I have never owned
one of these, but have been curious about them lately. MF has an open box one for $850.

[Larry Mal]

Wow, that's a steal. Firebirds are wonderful, they aren't like any other guitar. Kind of like Gibson's Jazzmaster, if you ask me, a forgotten classic that should by all rights have been as popular as anything else in the guitar world.

[PixMix]

Does that "T" stand for Traditional?

[cmatthes]

Crazy - and I know I bought a better guitar then, but - I paid the same for one of the first 20 "Reissue" Firebird Vs back in 1990. I had pre-ordered it and the 7 month wait was a killer. When it finally arrived, I was blown away at how close to a '60s 'Bird it was. I traded it in two years later for a Custom Shop Firebird VII in Frost Blue.

Two guitars I should have kept!

[Larry Mal]

Does that "T" stand for Traditional?

That's correct, although it's sort of a misnomer. It means that it comes with Gibson's ceramic pickups, hardly vintage spec'd, and the Steinberger tuners. Those tuners are wonderful, probably better in a lot of ways than the banjo tuners they replaced, but are far as Firebird history goes, hardly "traditional".

The pickups can be good, better than you typically would read.

It's a "T" as opposed to Gibson's "High Octane" or whatever the fuck they call the guitars with the titanium (and wider) nut, and the automatic tuners. I'm pretty sure the pickups are the same and I think the neck carve might be different, otherwise, it's pretty much the same guitar.

[Despot]

No listing for these on Thomann - sites in the UK are listing them for around £650, which translates to about €800-ish, though they'll probably list for more in euro.

That's a lot of money when you consider that the second hand market rate for a used Gibson Firebird here is about €900 (and that'll buy you a minty one).

I love firebirds - reverse and non-reverse. I really don't like the stock humbuckers, but the non-reverse models with P90s have been pretty great when I've found one (they're sort of rare birds on the second hand market here). I like the idea of the Bonamassa firebird, but I think it'll be priced a little too high for me - that being said, some of the limited run Epiphones I've played in the last few years have been really great guitars (I had a '61 Casino that was awesome - still regret selling that).

What I'd really like is a custom colour V or VII - but to get those you're talking silly money from the Custom Shop (there's an aged VII at Chicago Music Exchange for something like 6k!) and when you get to that sort of money you're better off looking for a late '60s non-reverse, which would probably work out cheaper.