1965 Gibson Firebird Reverse Archive

257445

Currently owned by gentlemen in Vancouver Canada, this is the earliest known serial number. The current owner has had it for 16 years. All nickel hardware,  unbroken and in fantastic condition. A really ice example!

257454

This guitar, sold through GunCotton Guitars, and now being resold at a significant premium through Emerald City Guitars seems to be one of the nicer sunburst ones floating around. While the pickguard has the typical shrinkage damage, the actual finish and hardware all remain in what seems like very good condition. 

257890

This one sat listed on Guitar Center of Hollywood's website for nearly 2+ years. Originally priced at $14,500, it eventually got discounted several times over those 2  years and sold for $9,500. This particular guitar frustrates me as the classic Guitar Center vintage pricing team decided do it's final discount to $9,500 after I offered the store a very similar offer when it was listed for $10,500. Upon getting the news, it was too late and someone else bough the guitar when I accepted their $9,500 counter. In regards to condition, when sold from GC, it still retained it's factory untouched pot and pickups, but was overall in need of alot of TLC. Likely refret needed and some pretty gnarly gouges on the top and top side of the fret board. Still a cool guitar and one you could freshen up and play without fear of destroying any type of mint condition status. This one recently popped up again on reverb being sold by Southside Guitars for $14,500. 

258940

Featured on Premier Guitars website, this guitar belongs to Dave  Rogers, owner of Dave's Guitar Shop in La Crosse, WI. While it is part of his private collection, he was generous enough to share pictures and details about this cool guitar for us nerds to get excited about.

From his private collection catalog on his website:  "Transitional model with reverse body, P-90 pickups, and Kluson strip tuners instead of banjo tuners! Very rare!

In 1962 Gibson president Ted McCarty decided that a bold new guitar was needed to compete with Fender’s popular Jazzmaster.  For a fresh all-new concept, McCarty sought outside help and hired well known automobile designer Ray Dietrich.  Dietrich had recently retired to Kalamazoo Michigan after 50 years of designing for top companies like Lincoln, Packard, Ford, and Chrysler.

The new Firebird (after a name suggested by Dietrich) line was introduced in the spring of 1963. The series was made up of four guitars (the Firebird I, III, IV, and VII) and two basses (the Thunderbird II and IV).  The guitars had a unique neck- through construction running all the way to the bottom strap button, with asymmetrical “wings” attached on either side.  The headstock had six banjo tuners on one side (the reverse of Fender’s tuner placement) to complete the unique irregular look.

The unusual construction of the Firebirds made them difficult, and expensive to produce. Once the guitars had shipped, the fragile headstock/neck area was found to be weak and easily breakable with the heavy banjo tuners adding to the problem.

This, poor sales, and pressure from Fender about copyright infringement on its “off-set waist” design, caused Gibson to redesign the entire Firebird/ Thunderbird line with more conventional (less costly) construction methods.  The overhauled versions utilized a traditional glued-in neck on a new more conservative off-set body that looked like a flipped over version (non-reverse) of the earlier guitars.

The rare1965 Firebird III pictured has features of both the original reverse Firebirds, and the redesigned non-reverse versions of that year. It retains the reverse body style, and neck-through construction of the original series, but has a flat headstock (rather than the sculpted two-level) with conventional Kluson tuners (instead of banjo tuners). The neck is unbound, like the non-reverse models, and P-90 pickups replace the original mini-humbuckers.

265110

A "barn find" like guitar that was claimed to have been in storage for 30+ years before being sold through Cumberland Guitars in Jamestown, KY. Details from the listing here:

"For your consideration, a super rare 1965 Gibson Firebird III Transition Model! 

So what makes this guitar insanely rare and a "transition" model?

In 1963,Gibson released this popular body shape, called the reverse-body Firebird. It was designed by Ray Deitrich who had previously designed cars for Packard, Chrysler, and Studebaker.

By 1964, Gibson was under legal pressure from Fender because of the Firebird body shape. Fender claimed that the shape too closely resembled their "offset" guitar body shape found on Jaguars and Jazzmasters of the time. Gibson had to stop production immediately and completely redesign the guitar for 1965, drastically changing the body shape into what is now known as the "non-reverse" body. The iconic "mini-humbucker" pickups were switched to P-90 single coils, and the neck-thru construction was changed to a more cost-effective "set-neck" style. Less than 3,000 original-shaped Firebirds were made between 1963 and 1965, so all of them are relatively rare. But this one stands out...

It's the end of 1964, and Gibson has already started producing the updated (and less-cool) Firebird for 1965, when 35 bodies from the original run were discovered. Gibson, who wasn't supposed to build or sell any more units, decided to build out those 35 guitars, which all ended up with various bits and pieces of old and new models. Of those 35, only 12 of them left the factory in this exact configuration, making this one a holy grail among Gibson and Firebird collectors. Of those 12, at least one has a broken neck, and another ended up with a few holes eventually drilled into the body for attaching different bridges. 

Features:

1964 Reverse body

1965 Flat headstock, but reversed like a '64

1965 Tuners

1965 P90 pickups

1964 wiring specs with all 1965-dated components

1964 Case

It has the best features from both models!

This exact guitar has been in storage for 30+ years before coming to us. We did a light restoration and opened it up to confirm the originality of all components. 

Check out the flamed mahogany body panel that "pops" at the right angle! 

All hardware is original to the guitar. All pot dates match. The embossed bird on the pickguard was colorized sometime in the early 70's.  The original toggle switch cap was replaced with a chrome unit in the 70's. The trem arm attachment bolt is not original. Other than that, the guitar is completely unmodified and untouched. 

No breaks, no cracks, no signs of abuse. Frets show typical wear, Brazilian fingerboard is dark and not cracked. Headstock has never been broken. Truss rod works in both directions."

265120

Just 10 production numbers away from the Cumberland guitar, this is my personal 1965. Originally listed on SweetWaters Used Gear Market place,  it was purchased by StreetLegal Guitars out of TX where it was cleaned up and refretted. The original case with literally in 3 pieces and not salvageable, so it was given a period correct one in its place. From there, I found it again after finding out Peter G had sold it to a dealer. It is a really cool piece that was a one owner guitar. Peter's parents purchased the guitar for him from Manny's in NYC when he was just 13 years old. He held onto from then until sold to SLG and then to me. Included in the photo set is a picture of Peter plying "Satisfaction" with his brother in the late 60's. From SLG's ad:

"Rare bird, indeed! This Gibson Firebird is one of an estimated 25 - 50 Firebirds made in 1965 featuring “transitional” features leading into the change to the non-reverse configuration. Specifically, this one is a reverse body with the reverse headstock and Kluson tuners instead of the banjo-style, and most notably P90 pickups in place of the typical Firebird pickups. This was purchased brand new in 1965 from Manny’s in NYC and was received from the original owner. Uncirculated and entirely original except for a professional refret (original frets retained). Period correct case replaces the original which was unusable and in horrible condition.

258570

Sold by Neal's Guitars several years ago (circa 2018/9) and Moze Guitars in CA sometimes circa 2004.  This was also featured on Reverb for those that find it familiar. From the Gbase linked ad:

"This 1965 Gibson Firebird lll is our Cool Guitar of the Day! Our friends at Neal's Guitars say this very rare transition model is one of only 12 made and is 100% original. The pots are dated the 4th week of 1964. It also comes with perfect condition original case. See more of this guitar and thousands of others at Gbase.com"

257458

Sold on Reverb from Southside Guitars in either 2019 or 2020 for $13500.  Listing description from Reverb below (note it previously having banjo tuners installed).  This one is also different from the standpoint of having chrome hardware versus nickel.

This Gibson Firebird is an extremely rare variant with a stock reverse body and headstock, inline tuners, no binding, and P-90 pickups.  It sounds insane.  Someone stuck banjo tuners on it at one point, but the originals are back on - there are some filled holes in the back of the headstock - pro work.  Aside from that, there are no breaks or repairs or other issues, the guitar is 100% original and comes with both the original case and a newer case which is better for shipping purposes.  

257899

Below is an exert from an article on Guitar.com about Gary Gand's 65'. Very cool story and even more incredible that he still has it to this day.

Gary Gand’s 1964 Firebird is a rare transitional model, which blends ‘reverse’ and ‘non-reverse’ features. It’s leaning up against a 1980s Acoustic 160 combo amplifier

The first guitar Gary shows us has significant sentimental value for Gary. As the story goes, a ’64 Firebird – not this particular bird, mind you – was his very first guitar. He tried one at a local music store and took a shine to it, but left empty-handed due to a huge cigar burn that Gary didn’t like. Dad took notice and soon surprised Gary with one of his own.

“When I got that guitar, nobody was playing them,” Gary admits, noting just how uncool he felt among his guitar-playing peers even though he loved the guitar. Their tune changed the day Cream came to town. “I told my mum: ‘We have to go see them!’ We got $2 tickets at the door – terrible seats – and between sets, I walked up to the stage to check out the wall of Marshalls and The Fool SG.”

While he was gawking, the house lights went down and the precocious lad took that as his cue to find a seat side stage. And what did he see when the stage lit up? “There was Clapton, playing a Firebird. All of a sudden, I went from being this scrawny kid with the goofy guitar to the coolest kid on the block.”

Gary’s owned a lot of guitars over the years, but he really does seem to fancy this one over all of the others. Just like his long-gone original, this ’64 example is a rare ‘transitional’ model with its reverse body and non-reverse six-in-line headstock, P-90 pickups and short-frame Vibrola. Notably, it does have later knobs which look quite smart with those black pickup covers. Here, it’s leaning against a 1980s Acoustic 160 combo amp.

257903

Submitted through the website email from the current owner

I bought the guitar in the 1980s, I think, from Norm. At the time he told me that it previously belonged to Nikki Sixx and is the guitar that is seen in Tom Wheeler’s American guitars.I have all of the original parts except for the three hole whammy bar. 

257984

259016

Most recently sold by Emerald City Guitars (check out their YouTube feature in the sound clip portion of this site). This was actually sold to the Songbird Museum/WellStrung to be displayed, but seems it somehow got to Emerald City instead. The guitar was found by  Bob Bonham. He discovered it from either it's original or early owner who was an old blues out of a rough part of Chicago. It was stored in a damp basement, but seemed to have been preserved in spectacular condition given its age and where it was found.  From there, it was sold to WellStrung/Songbird, then ended up at Emerald's and has since sold.  While it is claimed to be the only ember red of this model, there are 2 more pictures floating around that could conflict with this claim. 

258585

Barry Lee Harwood of the Rossington Collin's and Allen Collin's band guitar. To my knowledge, this is the only photographs of one of these being toured and recorded with by any smaller/medium sized signed artist. Post the 77' plane crash, the surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd formed the Rossington Collins Band in 1979. This was sans surviving drummer Artimus as he suffered a leg injury and the band had to move on with Derek. With this formation, Barry Harwood joined the band and bassist, Leon Wilkeson, bought Barry this Firebird to play in their new venture. Barry no longer owns this guitar. It was sold multiple times in the 90's and made its way through Moze Guitars in San Diego CA in what appears to be 2004. Seems it's Rossington Collins marked case was sold separate at some point also. There is potential the headstock had multiple tuners styles installed at some point, but not 100% confirmed. It is on the right with a Johnny Winter signature on the pickguard and no truss rod cover. 

257971

From photos of Kris Blakely's collection ."Fried Okra" as he is known on social media and forums, it seems he likely has 2 of these unique guitars. Featured on his Instagram and Guitar.com, he has sprinkled us with a couple of photos to enjoy.  One of these is 257971. You can see an old Gbase listing of 257971 before it had its tremolo put back to factory. 

265114

Currently in Germany by an owner named Dennis C, this one appears to be part of the last "batch". From the current owner:

"I bought this guitar in 2018 after it was offered for sale on a German Classifieds page. The seller bought it used in a Cologne  Pawn Shop when he was 18 years old (ca.1978) and played it in several amateur bands for 40 years. The firebird was his only guitar and he did all kinds of mods to it. Routing under scratch plate for a preamp with a separate control drilled, Steinberger Tuners, removed vibrato etc. He threw some parts and the case in the trash! Luckily he didn´t touch the finish and pickups and it never suffered a bread. He had some health problems and wasn´t able to play anymore so he let it go.  After I got it it was restored with all original parts and refretted. I included a pic how it was discovered"

Below on the left is the current restored condition. To the right is how it was configured before restoration. 

257947

Owned by very successful guitarist, Peter Stroud, this guitar has seen some pretty cool jams and stage time. Graphtech ResoMax bridge to improve intonation and reliability. Middle pickup selection yields a factory out of phase condition that creates a very unique tone on this particular guitar. This one also appears to be a chromed versus nickel hardware version. At least the vibrato body that is. When acquired by Peter, it was in need of some serious attention. Below is the story from Peter:

"In short, The guitar was a severe headstock casualty, sold in its broken state to Guitar Center, Nashville. My friend there called and offered it to me and I bought it over the phone sight unseen. They sent it to Glaser Instruments for repair but the break was so severe they weren’t quite sure if they’d be able to successfully mend it. I rolled the dice on it anyway. Ultimately, the guys at Glaser did a picture repair/restoration "

Check out Peter playing this  super rad guitar under "The Sound" portion of the page. Sounds fantastic.

2XXXXX

This guitar ran across the bench of Kevin O'Conner at Carter Vintage Guitar in 07/2021. The serial number is mostly gone, likely as a result of a localized respray from a headstock repair. There is also a pretty big repair spot by the bridge pickup tone control area. It is not clear if the corner was broken at some point or repair of finish damage, or...? You can check out his Instagram post here.  His page is "nashguitartech". Comments from Kevin on this cool guitar:

"This 1965 Gibson Firebird is bad ass!! It's an early '65 as the pot code tells us it's from the 4th week of 1965. It needed some fret work because the 17th fret was high and it was choking out bent notes high on the fingerboard. Now it's ready to play anything."

257462

Sold through Matz Guitars in Switzerland., this is the second known one to exist in Europe. The other is in Germany. The pot codes on this one seem to have it at the 48th week of 64' (November). Definitely part of the first batch. Below is from the ad. 

Late Reverse Firebird, rare version with P-90 pickups and reverse head with normal machine heads. Exceptionally beautiful condition - everything original except mechanics (vibrato is included) original case - weight 3,820 kg

257466

Available as of 12/2021 from Hyper Guitars in Japan.  Hard to tell from the photos, but this may or may not have had replacement tuners at some point and the pickguard is so clean, it is possibly a replacement. Other than that, looks to be in decent shape without any noticeable repairs/cracks. 

265116

This one popped up on Reverb in June of 2022 from Halkan's Rockhouse - 1970. Located in Stockholm, Sweden, it appears to be in pretty nice condition with it's original parts. Knobs are in really good shape, so hard to tell if original or replacements. 

Below if from the Reverb ad:

"Super rare and super cool 1965 Firebird with original P90 pickups. It's estimated that less than 50 of these were made, maybe as low as only 34 made. It's the only P90 Firebird that still feature the old 1964 specs before they remade the model with a none reverse body and headstock, among other changes.

This particular example is in excellent condition without any headstock repair. Comes with original hardcase in excellent condition.

The only one currently for sale in the world. When's the next time you will find this model in this condition in Europe?

There are no custom duties for buyers in EU or USA "

This is a guitar also featured in the "The Sound" section of this website. From the YouTube channel, Johan Segeborn, you can see this one getting compared to a lovely and early 2 piece center section Firebird I and a nice 60's Firebird V. 

Unknown # 17

This guitar has been seen on Gbase as listed before, but the ad archive is gone. I also saw this on a smaller Telecaster forum (where I found the original picture). Seems to be in good condition with some distinct wear on the phoenix. With this, I hope to find out its serial number one day and possible current home. No other details are present from my search.  It is suspected this is the same guitar that was showcased at the Songbird Museum in TN before it was closed down though this has not been confirmed 100%.

Unknown # 18

Yes, another Gbase listing. This particular one has some very pretty grain on the mahogany wings with a crashing wave/ripple like grain pattern on the top wing. With only a couple lower resolution pictures, this one appears to be in great shape but unable to see much else. 

Unknown # 19

From photos of Kris Blakely's collection ."Fried Okra" as he is known on social media and forums, it seems he likely has 2 of these unique guitars. Featured on his Instagram and Guitar.com, he has sprinkled us with a couple of photos to enjoy.  One of these is 257971, the on eon the right, I do not know. You can see an old Gbase listing of 257971 before it had its tremolo put back to factory. It's listed above. 

Unknown # 20 

Showcased at the Songbird Museum in TN before they closed the facility.

Unknown # 21

This picture is from GuitarHQ and has been around for years, since 1997. This was the first time I knew that Gibson offered an original reverse with P-90's instead of Firebird Humbuckers. The website notes this as cardinal red, but it's shade is very similar to what Emerald City is noting as Ember Red. Either way, super rare. 

Unknown # 22

This guitar is featured on Blue Hugh's Music page. Unfortunately, no details are present other than it being a 1965. This one has very similar wear to 257984, but other wood grain and wear marks do not match 100%, so I do not think this is the same guitar. 

Unknown # 23

I saw this one floating around on Pinterest from user Tsutomu. It's pickguard is in what appears to be excellent condition, but no tremolo arm. I am not sure if this is one of the previous unknown guitars or not, but the woodgrain does not really match any of the others with pickguards in similar condition. The rug does look like something from Kris B's collection, but just speculation. This guitar was featured on the South American store, Garagem Instrumentos Musicais  Instagram. Unsure if it was ever for sale or even theirs. 

Unknown # 24

Facebook user (I have not disclosed his name as I have not asked if he was ok with it). He posted this up a few months back in a thread about this model. Only comments were that he loves it! 

Unknown # 25 - S/N lost post refinish?

This guitar belongs to Jeff Massey of The SteepWater Band. Sold to him by Billy O's Dynamite Music, this one has unfortunately been at the receiving end of a router to had what appear to be embossed 1972 patent sticker humbuckers installed. It would appear this guitar was also refinished at some point as well as the finish does not seem to be a 100% match to how Gibson did these specific models in 65'.  It's tremolo has also been removed and original mount holes doweled/plugged/capped with slotted wood plugs. While many of us are saddened by Firebirds being modified in this way, this one is especially hard to see knowing it was done to such a rare and already unique guitar. At least it gets played and enjoyed, not being confined to living in it's case for decades. 

Unknown # 26

Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers owns this really killer one. Black covers replaced with cream ones. Also, it appears the the actual tremolo arm and slip on trem piece are replacement chrome units while the body of the tremolo still appear to be the original nickel piece. On the back, the original inline kluson's appear to have been replaced with something else.  Check out the videos of this one under "The Sound" portion of this page. Really cool tones and better angles of this one. 

Unknown # 27 (2651xx)

Currently for sale at Well Strung Guitars as of January 2023, this guitar with a serial number of 2651xx is part of the last batch. It is not a serial number than mine (265120), the last known serial number, but was made with the other 4 in the last batch. I reached out to Well Strung initially to inquire about price in case I could afford to grab a second one, however, I discovered I could not afford this one. Unfortunately, Well Strung also declined to share any pictures or details of the guitar or confirm it's full S/N for this archive page and thus, we have remain in mystery for some bizarre reason. I am hopeful they change their mind as hiding the identity of this guitar is a huge bummer in regards to having a historical reference for any new potential owner. If you are interested, they told be it is just north of $80,000 if you need to have it. If anyone at Well Strung sees this and wishes to provide some picture for the archive, please reach out to the email in the title of this page.

I am quite confident that this is the same guitar that use to be on display at the old Songbird Museum in TN when they were still open in the old configuration. The pick guard wear , head stock nicks and the wear inside the curve of the lower pickup switch horn all appear to be identical. I cannot confirm this 100%, so for now, I will keep them logged as 2 different instruments. 

The below pictures were screen grabs from a public IG page featuring other guitars. You can see it from time to time even though they will not share dedicated pictures for it. If this is the same guitar from the Songbird Museum, reference unknown #19 above (which is also suspected to be unkonwn #1).. 

Unknown # 28 # 29 # 30

Best for last, right? An individual posted a picture of these 3 with no details and has never replied to any messages about them. This screenshot contains what could be the rarest original Firebird produced and only picture I have ever seen of one. Left to right: What looks like Cardinal or Ember Red, Pelham Blue, Sunburst. The age of this photo is unknown, but judging by the condition of the hardware, cases and finish, I would suspect this was taken when these guitars were pretty young. Note: The red is missing it's tremolo arm and part of the actual tremolo. The Pelham blue has a tremolo handle like a V or VII vs the spoon type like all other have been seen with. Very interesting trio of guitars I wish I had more information on. 2 of these may be the same as some of the previous guitars, but I have no way to confirm this.