As reported at excrutiating length in the diary thread, I went on an adventure to get a Firebird yesterday. Am aware that some of you cats don't read it, and I love an opportunity to show off, so here's my new guitar thread.
Firstly, for those who may have missed it, here's a repost of my adventure (Diary Thread fans take note - there are no special features or extras, this is a simple cut and paste job):
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So, bit of an adventure tonight...
As I think I've mentioned (maybe just in the Classifieds), a Firebird V has come for sale locally cheap (£600). mrsbenecol once again let me borrow from the bank of Our Garden Fund, on the strict understanding that I have to leave the house forever if I ever ask again. Arranged to meet the fella about forty miles from here, zoomed out once I'd put the kids to bed. Thought he was maybe a bit flaky since he was a bit lame and all over the shop when it came to PMs, but just wanted to coax the deal along to completion.
As I was zooming along, got zapped by a massive blizzard, which I took to be very ominous, since I was only heading higher and further into the Cotswolds, which are steep and hilly and winding. Neither of us knew the town we were meeting, but he said to meet in a layby (turned out he meant a garage) on his side of town. The occasional blizzard turned into steady snow as the journey wore on. I buzzed his phone when I arrived, only for a woman to answer. "Erm, I'm calling for <his username>" I had to embarrassedly say (another one for mrsbenecol's "internet friends" there). She replied "Oh yes, his phone's dead and so's his mates, but I'm sure he'll meet you where he said".
Except we hadn't particularly arranged anywhere. And the fucking n00b hadn't brought a phone.
So I had to drive up and down a five mile stretch of road in a blizzard looking for a car containing a massive tattooed bloke with a Firebird. Great. I was just about to give up (as by now it was only me and snowploughs moving) when a car started flashing me from a garage forecourt. And there he was. (NickS will appreciate that it was a derelict garage about to close, and didn't sell petrol, only a small selection of sandwiches). Gave him the cash, sighted along the neck, and prepared for the hellish drive home.
Which was terrifying - I was literally the only car moving for miles; as I was leaving town, there were cars frantically spinning their wheels trying to get up the hill I was coming down. Tiptoed home at 20mph.
BUT WHAT A FUCKING PEARLER OF A GUITAR.
I know it's a love that dare not speak its name (not dissimilar to timhulio's love for Steinbergers), but after a Jazzmaster, it's a reverse body Firebird I've hankered after the most/longest (spurred I think by the sleeve art to Spiritualized's Pure Phase). And I fucking love it. Was ready to have to really work hard to love it, but it's grand; nice and big, feels good on and not that heavy (lighter than my Jazzmaster), the neck's wide and flat, which is fun. The headstock's weird because A) the furthest tuner does the sixth string (so the opposite of a Fender) and B) It really is fucking huge - like playing a toboggan. Love it though.
Also: it fucking stinks like a dirty old ashtray. Peee-ew.
... which brings us right up to date. Here are the sellers pics of the guitar:
I'll take some natural light ones when the sun comes back out. In March after we've made the sacrifices. The colour is a bit browner than it looks in those pics; Firebirds are the only guitars I like in sunburst, and this would have been my finish of choice, but I
think this one's finished in Heritage Cherry and it's really nice. Starting to get some checking on the finish too (get me!). Fair play though, it fucking
stinks - think the last fella must have kept it in an ashtray and sloshed it down with bongwater every now and then. My guitars live up in our room, so I've attacked it with a cloth this evening so it doesn't stink our room out tonight. Bit of a DNA-caster.
It sounds and plays absolutely divine - was ready to have to work on loving it, since fat necks are my necks of choice, and these are pretty thin. But it's great, really different from my other guitars - wide and thin, with quite a flat-backed profile. It's not too heavy, about the same as my Jazzmaster, but will need a suede strap to stop the neck drooping. And the headstock is fucking
colossal - it's like playing a viking longship. Neck pickup nice and full, middle position surprisingly jangly, and the bridge sounds a lot like a tele running at full bore. Think they're quite overwound pickups - they sound great, but the dynamics are a bit ON OR OFF for my taste; I'm a clumsy fucker, and they get brash just a little too easily under my meaty paws.
Need to put some 11s on it (previous owner played mainly ska, so left the bottom E off to keep it trebly), he was a fan of topwrapping too, which I'm not, as a rule. Feels really solid though, I'm dead pleased. Always been sceptical of Gibsons (all the ones I've played before, mainly the cheaper Juniors, have been decidedly ropey) but this is a really good guitar.
Case the size of a VW Camper, though.
