Filbert Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 (edited) Picked this up a couple of weeks ago and I have to say, very very happy with it - straight out of the box, the action is super low, pretty much the slinkiest guitar I have ever played. Johnny Winter (one of my guitar heros) used to play one of these; maybe some of that magic will rub off? Who knows but hopefully this means a return to form for Gibson! You don't see many people playing these (certainly not over here in the UK anyway - don't know if they are more popular in the States?) and that appealed to me - I like to stray from the beaten path. It was a toss-up for me between getting one of these or a Flying V but in the end, the Johnny Winter connection and the beuatiful tobacco burst finish, especially on the back of the neck, sealed the deal for me. Edited July 24, 2019 by Filbert 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filbert Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 Oh, one other thing I should mention is it is quite a noisy guitar though compared to all my others. If I don't have my hands on the strings or the bridge or my foot on my metal foot-pedals, I get a quite loud hum through the amp. tried different amps and leads, no difference and none of my other guitars have anywhere near the same level of noise on exactly the same rig. Not sure why this is; maybe it isn't grounded properly, maybe it is as designed? Either way, not a game-breaker but it is a minor annoyance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanHenry Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 Very nice, I like that. Do you like Marshall DSL's by any chance😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filbert Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 10 minutes ago, IanHenry said: Very nice, I like that. Do you like Marshall DSL's by any chance😊 Ha! Yes, I do - can you tell? 🙂 I bought the small one on a whim as it was on offer at a local store. It's quite good for such a small amp - only thing is, it distorts pretty quickly, even at low gain so you have to keep the guitar volume down low to keep it clean. Would like to get some sort of Vox too but I don't have the room for it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
premiumplus Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 Sweet new Firebird, congrats! My sweet late wife bought me a 2017 Firebird for my 65th birthday and it's like yours except mine has the Steinberger 'banjo' style tuners. I love mine, it sounds unique and plays very well. I think the pickups are slightly unbalanced, hence the hum. I get a bit of that in mine too but it's nowhere near a P-90 or other single coil pickup. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Vet. Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 2 hours ago, Filbert said: Picked this up a couple of weeks ago and I have to say, very very happy with it - straight out of the box, the action is super low, pretty much the slinkiest guitar I have ever played. Johnny Winter (one of my guitar heros) used to play one of these; maybe some of that magic will rub off? Who knows but hopefully this means a return to form for Gibson! You don't see many people playing these (certainly not over here in the UK anyway - don't know if they are more popular in the States?) and that appealed to me - I like to stray from the beaten path. It was a toss-up for me between getting one of these or a Flying V but in the end, the Johnny Winter connection and the beuatiful tobacco burst finish, especially on the back of the neck, sealed the deal for me. Nice guitar. A Gibson cabled to an English amp is pure rock ‘n roll tone for the ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Bill Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 (edited) I would not call that an "odd ball choice" at all. In fact I would say it was a superb choice. Congratulations!! I just bought a DSL myself and I'm quite pleased with it. Edited July 24, 2019 by Big Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 It shouldn't make any noise and the 1st thing I'd check is if the ground wire to the bridge is connected. Very nice looking guitar BTW, and I miss Johnny Winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 I have grown to like these. Especially that classic finish. Lots to like about them. Nice score. Congrats 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 5 hours ago, jdgm said: It shouldn't make any noise and the 1st thing I'd check is if the ground wire to the bridge is connected. Very nice looking guitar BTW, and I miss Johnny Winter. I would say that the fact the noise goes away when he touches the bridge means that at least that's grounded... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Rabs said: I would say that the fact the noise goes away when he touches the bridge means that at least that's grounded... Spot-on. I missed that bit..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01GT eibach Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 I love Firebirds. Yours is beautiful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 Good choice! My Firebird isn't especially noisy so I'm not sure what's going on with yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filbert Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 1 hour ago, SteveFord said: Good choice! My Firebird isn't especially noisy so I'm not sure what's going on with yours. No idea. I wouldn't even know where to start looking to be honest, As I said, it's more of an minor annoyance than anything else but maybe something I will get a professional to look at, at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 (edited) I have a Firebird V with Steinberg Tuners.. It's the most precise tuned Guitar I've ever played. Its a great sound with the Mini-Humbuckets too.. Cool design too.. Mine isn't noisy either... I'd love to add a Firebird VII like Brian Jones played with The Stones... Enjoy! Edited July 25, 2019 by Larsongs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eracer_Team Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 We've seen posts before about guitars where you hold strings and gets quite or my foot on my metal foot-pedals hmmm. obviously you're acting as an attena and when you get grounded (hand on string or bridge or foot on pedal) noise stops. humbuckers are 100% quiet and still transmit hum if there is enough, try putting a anti static solution like a liquid fabric softener about 1/4 of a spray bottle mixed with 3/4 water and spray your carpet in your room Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tx-ogre Posted July 25, 2019 Share Posted July 25, 2019 Very nice. Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filbert Posted July 26, 2019 Author Share Posted July 26, 2019 (edited) 16 hours ago, Eracer_Team said: We've seen posts before about guitars where you hold strings and gets quite hmmm. obviously you're acting as an attena and when you get grounded (hand on string or bridge or foot on pedal) noise stops. humbuckers are 100% quiet and still transmit hum if there is enough, try putting a anti static solution like a liquid fabric softener about 1/4 of a spray bottle mixed with 3/4 water and spray your carpet in your room I guess so but the fact that none of my other guitars make the same noise under exactly the same set-up and exactly the same conditions makes me wonder. I have several Strats, a Tele , 2 Les Pauls and an SG and none of them make any noise whatsoever. It's very odd. But as I said, unless I can find a pro to look at it, I'll probably have to live with it unless I am 100% certain of the issue - I am not that confident with guitar wiring to go faffing about inside it. Edit: also, my guitar room isn't carpeted - it's laminate flooring so it isn't static from the carpet causing the issue. Edited July 26, 2019 by Filbert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Filbert Posted August 1, 2019 Author Share Posted August 1, 2019 16 hours ago, Hector said: I noticed it's the same burst colour as your background Strat..... It's very similar. The Strat is a sunburst colour whilst the Firebird is in Tobacco Burst. Apart from the difference in nomenclature, the Firebird has a really lovely graduated colour tone on the back of the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Stewmac sells copper shielding tape with a conductive adhesive on it. I’ve used it to fix noise problems in my Gibson and other guitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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