A Near Mint 'Ember Red' 1964 Reverse Firebird III…

This incredibly rare custom color Firebird lll guitar weighs just 8.40 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Neck-through-body construction with two-piece mahogany center section and two glued-on wings. Mahogany neck with a medium profile and bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with gold-painted "Gibson" logo on black plastic truss-rod cover. Individual Kluson Banjo-style tuners with rearwards metal tulip-shaped buttons. Serial number “190237” impressed into the back of the headstock. Two "patent number" mini-humbuckers (built without adjustable pole-pieces) with outputs of 6.59k and 6.44k, each with a black rectangular label on the underside with "Patent No. / 2,737,842" in gold. Three-layer (white/black/white) plastic pickguard with eight screws and "Firebird" emblem engraved in red. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. The pots are dated "137 64 41" (CTS Oct 1964). Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. Combination bar bridge/tailpiece with pre-set ridges and two adjustable intonation screws. Factory Gibson short Vibrola tailpiece with flat arm. All parts nickel-plated. This exceptionally rare custom color reverse Firebird is in near mint (9.25) condition. There are four tiny surface marks on the back of the guitar - the largest is smaller than a match-head. There is absolutely no belt buckle rash whatsoever. There is one small surface chip on the edge of the headstock and a few very small and insignificant edge chips on the body and just one tiny surface chip on the top just by the edge near the lower strap button. The Ember Red color is bright, fresh and totally unfaded. This is the only totally original and untouched, example of a reverse Firebird in this exceptionally rare color that we have ever seen. Complete with the original "6 New Solid Body Guitars - 10 Exciting Custom Colors from Gibson" folding catalog, which shows the full 'Firebird' range and has individual 'pasted-on' samples of the ten custom colors. Housed in the original four-latch rectangular black hardshell case with yellow plush lining (9.00).

"Announced in Spring 1963, the original Firebird series was conceived as an attempt to produce less conventional electrics likely to appeal to Fender players. Four different models, identified by odd Roman numerals, were marketed simultaneously...The four models produced between 1963 and 1965 (a.k.a. the 'reverse' Firebirds) share the same body specifications and differ only in fretboard style, electronics and hardware...The original Firebird electrics are primarily characterized by: a neck-through-body construction; a reverse body shape with extended lower horn; a reverse peghead with the treble E tuner nearest to the nut; banjo-style tuners with rearwards buttons; and they are all equipped with mini-humbuckers built without adjustable polepieces. According to factory records, the earliest production models were registered in October 1963 with serial numbers in the 131,000s… For all practical purposes, the Firebird III was the equivalent of the Special found in the SG/Les Paul family. Compared to the FB I, the model is characterized by: a bound rosewood fingerboard; two pickups; individual volume and tone controls for each pickup; a 3-way toggle switch for pickup selection; a (short) Vibrola tailpiece with flat metal lever. In spite of a Vibrola tailpiece, the FB III sports the same bar bridge with a pre-set ridge as the FB I. And because of its stud-anchoring this bridge cannot be replaced by a fully adjustable Tune-O-Matic bridge...The original Firebird series remained in production for less than two years" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 198-199).

Unfortunately, sales of the reverse Firebirds were not what Gibson had hoped for. In 1964 Gibson sold 2,434 Firebirds compared to 7,419 SG's (all models). Disappointing sales may have been due to the high 1963 retail price of $189 to $445, without case. And the price increased 3% to 5% in 1964, which didn't help. So Gibson decided in the summer of 1965 to change the design to cut the retail price. The idea was a less expensive Firebird model would sell better. The changes included a conventional glue-in neck, a flat (no ledge) body with the bass horn protruding longer than the treble horn, a conventional flat (no ledge) Fender-style headstock design with the high-E string being the longest, conventional style tuners, and all models had dot fingerboard inlays and vibrato tailpieces. This is known as the "non-reverse" Firebird design.

All the non-reverse Firebirds models were basically the same guitar with only slightly different electronic configurations. All models were routed for three pickups, but had a full wrap-around pickguard to hold the desired pickup configuration and hide unused pickup routes. This kept the manufacturing process simple and less expensive. Now the Firebird I had two P-90 pickups, the Firebird III had three P-90 pickups, the Firebird V had two mini-humbucking pickups, and the Firebird VII had three mini-humbucking pickups and gold parts. The Firebird V and VII still used a tuneamatic bridge and fancy vibrato cover, while the Firebird I and III had stairstep tailpieces as the bridge and simple spring steel exposed vibratos. This simplified non-reverse design lasted until 1969 when the Firebird series was dropped.

During the summer of 1965, some transition Firebird models were sold. These included a mix of reverse and non-reverse features. For example, a full reverse Firebird with all reverse features except for a non-reverse peghead with a ledge (the high-E is the longest string), and banjo tuners. My personal favorite variation is a Firebird III full reverse neck-through body with ledge, two P- 90 pickups, a reverse peghead but with no peghead ledge, conventional tuners, and no neck binding. This style combines the best of both worlds: full reverse mahogany body with neck- through design, standard lighter weight tuners, and P-90 pickups. This gives the Firebird a much fuller, fatter sound than the mini-humbuckers could provide. And since standard Kluson tuners (a la Fender) were used, the body was more balanced. You would think this variation would sound like a Les Paul Special, because of the same mahogany wood and P-90 electronics. But actually the P-90 reverse Firebird still has more treble and the same lows and mids as the Les Paul Special.

The Firebird guitars were truly a unique design for Gibson, though they did copy several of Fender's features. Besides the basic body shape of a Jazzmaster, Gibson also contoured the back of the body like a Stratocaster to fit the player (Fender threatened lawsuits based on their "Contour Body" design patents, but never followed through). Lastly, Gibson also offered the new Firebirds in Sunburst plus ten custom color finishes to compete with Fender's fourteen original custom colors. This was unique for Gibson. If you wanted a custom colored Gibson prior to 1963, you could choose from sunburst, natural, white, black, Les Paul gold, or cherry red.
There were no other choices, until the 1963 Firebird series…

With the advent of the Firebird, Gibson offered ten new custom colors and a pretty chart that displayed them. Although developed for and seen most often on the Firebird series from 1963 to 1969, basically all Gibson guitars were available in these colors. Models that utilized the new colors most often were the SG solidbody series and the ES-335, ES-345, and ES-355 series. But occasionally you'll see these colors on other models too.

All ten of Gibson's new custom colors were automobile finishes, just like Fender's custom colors. And the colors Gibson choose where amazing similar to Fender's color pallet. So close, all of Gibson's custom colors had a basic Fender color equivalent in 1963. The Gibson colors were so close to Fender's, one Gibson color was even exactly the same as one of the Fender colors. If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Gibson was certainly flattering Fender.

Note: There was another custom Gibson color introduced in 1965 that wasn't on their Firebird custom color charts. This color was "Sparkling Burgundy", and was Gibson's equivalent to Fender's Candy Apple Red. It was even applied in the same manner as Fender's Candy Apple Red. That is, it had a silver metallic basecoat beneath a translucent red color coat. This gave a deeper metallic finish than the one-step automotive metallics which combined the metallic particles with the color.