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The Firebird VII was the flagship model of Gibson’s then-new line of Firebird guitars upon its introduction in 1963. The guitar boasted three of the newly designed mini-humbucker pickups, a Lyre Vibrola and ABR-1 bridge, gold plated hardware, and an ebony fingerboard with block inlays.
Built in Gibson’s Nashville plant in 2006, this Firebird VII is an excellent tribute to the original “reverse” models produced between 1963 and 1965. The Polaris White finish has already begun to age and darken and the gold-plated hardware against the off-white finish looks spectacular. It’s a particularly handsome instrument.
The three mini-humbucker pickups offer rich, clear tones, with the switching allowing for a wide array of tonal capabilities. The wiring harness on this guitar has been modified slightly to offer individual volume control for each pickup and a single master tone knob, which allows a player to blend all three pickups together in any configuration. While not historically accurate, this easily reversible modification makes the guitar much more versatile than it would otherwise be. In its current state, the treble tone knob functions as a volume for the middle pickup, and the bass tone knob is a master tone.
With a first fret depth of 0.81″, 0.86″ depth at the twelfth, and the standard 1-11/16″ nut width, the neck has a fast and comfortable profile that measures up similarly to Gibson’s 1963 carve. The guitar weighs just under 8-3/4 lbs, which is quite respectable, given all the extra hardware a Firebird VII has.
The guitar shows normal playwear for an instrument that is nearly two decades old. The original frets show some wear but still have plenty of life left, and the guitar is set up nicely with 4-5 64ths action at the 12th fret. There is a small, repaired seam separation between the bass-side wing and the centre of the body at the lower bout that poses no concern to us.
With original hardshell case.
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