Dave has a pretty good guitar collection, I wonder if he still had that Kay Red Devil... He never seemed to play it in any XTC songs, but it's one of the more unusual instruments in his collection.
I’d like to propose a new TPS Tuesday episode format: Dave du Jour, in which Mr. Gregory schools us for 10 minutes on a cool guitar and everyone has a nice play.
Though you've had stellar guests the last few months, frankly those featuring Dave Gregory are for me, the best. He can out-play and out-geek all of us!
These TPS episodes with Dave Gregory are like mini (and fun!) documentaries. Ken Burns needs to make an electric guitar doc and have Dave on the roster of interviewees!
Firebird 7 was my first Gibson. I wanted one because of Gem Archer. I ended up with the 7 though. Love it . And the fact that Brian Jones wore it well made it stay with me.
Sincere thanks to Mr. Gregory for sharing what has obviously been a life-long passion. It was an awesome lesson in FIrebird, which I have always longed for, but could never bond with any of the ones which I have picked up. After watching this I feel compelled to restart the search. Thank you very much!!
David Gregory is one of the best guests you guys have had. He is always enjoyable and knowledgeable.. and a great player, to boot! Please keep bringing him back. Moo!
In life, I am committed to use the Internet to hear every Dave Gregory interview about any old thing. He just sparks such joy for me. What a killer show! This Firebird world as so foreign and so fascinating. I care about everything about this, but I am here for the joy and the love!!!!
Crazy to think that when Gregory got his first 1965 Firebird in 1980, it is the equivalent of right now picking up a 2009 guitar! This was such a great episode and much thanks to Dave Gregory for making it happen along with everyone at TPS.
I absolutely love my new epiphone firebird. Fantastic build quality and with a good set up it plays and sounds fantastic. It sounds incredible with a cranked fuzz face
Excellent show. Dave was an absolute pleasure to watch & listen to. I learned more about the Firebird guitars in this 1-1/2 hours than I learned in the past 50+ years.
Dave's kindness, knowledge and humility shine so bright, it is hard not to love him. Having met him briefly at (what turned out to be the last) Tin Spirits gig at The Victoria in Swindon I can attest to the fact this comes across in person too. Just wonderful!
Great episode! I built a firebird VII from a kit and did a heather poly nitro finish and mojotone Johnny Winter firebird pickups. I wired mine with 3 volumes and a master tone so that the middle pickup can be blended in, in any position. So with the volume off on the middle pickup it’s a standard Gibson two pickup setup but can blend in the middle pickup.
Fantastic episode, Dave G. is such a cool guy. The Firebirds were all amazing looking but all sounded very different, such a versatile range of tones from them all 👍🎸😄
I'd never really thought much about the brightness before, but watching this, it was a revelation. I pulled out my epiphone firebird i got a couple of years ago and plugged it into my JTM45 with a tone bender mk1.5 (fuzzface-ish) and it sounded awesome. No flubbing or mushy-ness, it just sounded massive with a controlled bottom end, and the cleanup rolling back the volume was amazing 😊
I've never felt more smug....I'm sat watching this with a lovely cup of coffee in my house just outside Swindon ...to my left, sat next to me, is my Firebird 1, which is one of the most inspiring , stunning and yet simple of all guitars and on the floor in front of me is my pedal board...and guess what takes pride of place ...yup it is my cogmeister hooked into my neunaber spring reverb... I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any better....maybe if I had a matchless but then my Peavey valveking does a pretty Stella job.....and guess what I learnt about two weeks ago... If I pretty much roll the treble all the way down and turn the amp up It sounds otherworldly....it's a hell of a sound for classic rock...thank you for sharing such a great video and letting all the TPS audience into one if the best kept secrets...see Swindon isn't that bad....we know a thing or two here.... 😁
Dave is a gem - I love this so much - it’s like if the docuseries Planet Earth did an episode for Gibson Firebirds 😂 - w/ all the quirks and features of these guitars I don’t think I could ever buy a vintage piece sight unseen! Also the Cogmeister is the best gain staging pedal ever - glad to see it put use for the masses to hear and appreciate!
Wow! Another terrific episode, gents. I fondly recall a great Cream show at the Olympia in Detroit way back on 10/12/68. EC made Crossroads sound pretty good on that Reverse (or was it a non-reverse…). I recognized the guitar from the brochure I had requested from Gibson. There was one for electrics, another for acoustics. I stared at the beautiful instruments on the pages, dreaming of owning a Les Paul or a J-200. Hearing Dave talk about his own experience with the Gibson catalogue took me back nearly 60 years! Really enjoyed listening to Dave talk about Firebirds (and Jeff Beck, etc.), and I loved hearing him play. What an awesome guitarist! Thanks, Dan and Mick, for another fun TPS episode.
It's Firebird Day with the Greeeat Dave Grergory!! Excellent!! I have the Supersession DVD - It's chaotic bliss!! Thanks for sharing this wonderful episode
This was a great show. The Face of Dave’s face when you both played the firebird one was a joy to watch. Please ensure that when you have guests, we all want to see you both play their gear. It’s important and joyful to watch
Mick Taylor’s insight and analysis is just mindblowing. A lifetimes knowledge and experience there for free, every single week. Thanks Mick. (Luv ya too Dan!)
Great show, many thanks. Although I first met Dave 60 years ago, I never did see him in XTC. I loved attending Tin Spirits gigs every time I could, wonderful. I also saw Dave play in the Swindon based The Teddy White Band". Fabulous and memorable times. Thank you all again.
Mick, Dan, your value has become dear. Headphones on all the way through. It's a feast. Pauses aplenty to study XTC, Big Big Train cuts on Spotify, a little bio reading on Wiki, and I settled in to learn the nuances of Firebirds. Dave's in my age sandbox. I'm connected to you two already, gosh just an uplifting 90+ minutes. You dialed the Matchless and my ears jumped for joy with memories of the tones in classic beloved tunes. It's 2:15PM here in the states. I meet my Music Teacher at 7:30AM in the morning. I'm gonna share this episode with her because music is ageless, crosses all generations. She's just 25 and a degreed music theorist. And then at Service on Sunday, my tour mate of 23 years who is 73 will love this. Your content is peerless, honestly classic and ageless. WE find ourselves set sail on the sea of privilege. Absolutely Grand!
Hey Samuel, Mick here. Just want to take a minute to thank you for these thoughts, for sharing the moments that have connected you with us, with Dave, with music and with your teacher. We’d never have dreamed that this bit of fun we started to have almost 10 years ago could ever resonate on such a fundamental level. I just had a feeling of satori that connected us all in that moment thanks to your kind words. Big love from us!
Always loved the shape of the Firebird, reverse and non-, but having a sonic comparison between the different models and especially between the old US and the recent Epi. So, so different - makes this episode such a joy to watch/hear. Interested in Mick’s comment about the Epi’ construction etc making it appear like a poor 2nd cousin to the originals. The wonderful Huw Price has a video of him stripping the bombproof poly paintwork off a Joe Bonamassa Firebird - a painful process but once gone, the tone seemed to begin to wake up … lot to be said for light finishes and good woods.
If you have a guitar with a PAF at the bridge and a Firebird PU at the neck you never get any mud because you set your PAF to be killer fat on the neck. The neck is NEVER spikey because the gain of the amp takes that completely away but leaves you a nice bright high end with great definition when doing chords. It all works so incredibly well that it is beyond common sense that Gibson has not offered it on a guitar. Back in the Cream days Eric Clapton was very kind as he let me have 15 minutes to play his Firebird at the end of a Cream concert. I was playing an LP at the time and was having issues with mud in my neck PU and it gave me the idea.
Thanks Leg End and especially Mr Dave, what a wonderful show I remember drooling over a Firebird at John Beebe's Guitar shop in Crouch End ( London ) in about 1973 or possibly 1974 this was when Crouch End was as cheap as chips. Long before Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox opened their recording studio, in fact the church that their studio was in was still being used as an Animation studio it's where Trumpton and Campbellwick Green were made ( Sorry enough history although I think The KINK'S konk studio was up and running at that time ) anyway thanks again. P.S WHAT A PLAYER DAVE IS . PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE ❤❤.
Took me a while to get around to watching this one, which is weird as I love Gibson guitars… I think I just had a busy weekend when it was released and struggled to catch up. Thanks for the very cool video, and especially thanks to Dave Gregory. It’s amazing what you learn… I never knew the bass model Thunderbirds had numerical designation too; here was I thinking that Thunderbird 2 was just the big green transporter plane and Thunderbird 4 the yellow submarine! 🤔😋
Awesome Episode ! Dan & Mick, You Are Just Brilliant to come every week with an original and educational episode. TPS is much more than just talking about gear ! Tnx A Lot.
On my TPS Friday I watched the football and missed this😱. It will have to be self-flagellation Saturday or I can just watch England this evening for my penance. Love Dave Gregory so I'll watch this more than once no doubt.
I’ve been anxiously awaiting this episode for quite a while. I was not disappointed at all. So great to hear the guitar and the stories Dave shared. Being of a later vintage than Firebird it’s so special to be able relive something of that through His memories. Thanks for putting this together guys!
You’re not alone Dave. You’d have to have no ears at all to think woods don’t impact tone enormously. Those things scream mahogany! Excellent video as ever. Always a pleasure to see Dave.
Always happy to see Dave on the show. He seems like such a friendly guy. I'd point him to Music City Bridge products (produced by Glaser Instrument Repair out of Nashville) that might help some of his firebird issues. Especially their locking bridge studs that eliminate tilting and the studfinder wraparound bridge - developed in cooperation with Uncle Larry. Thanks for what you do!
Best video I've seen in ages! Dave is like kid in a candy shop, and I learned so much from his presentation style. I've never owned a Firebird, but I'm interested in them now.
The non-reverse is the best! Thanks for doing an entire show about them!!! (and I'm a guy that hates blues licks!) Love that Dave knows all about them. I think McCartney used a left handed non-reverse on the RAM album in the photos I've seen.
The best Firebird I ever played was a transitional. It was reverse with P90's, sounded fantastic! Almost bought it, on a trade for a 70 LP Deluxe. I still kick myself not doing the trade!
That was lovely. As well as getting a comprehensive guide to all the original models released, we got plenty of music history attached to these wonderful guitars as well. Dave seems like a proper humble gent, who loves to share his passion to anyone who wants to listen… we’re all ears!
Thanks so much TPS gang for giving us this wonderful history lesson (with some great playing)! I've been mesmerised by the Firebird ever since I saw that amazing photo of Phil Manzanera on the inner sleeve of For Your Pleasure, but never tried one. As an SG and Jazzmaster fan I think I'd dig it!
Dave is a legend and a lovely bloke to boot. Note that Johnny Marr name checked Dave on his reasonably recent appearance on That Pedal Show, when he was talking about the groups and guitarists he saw live when he was a teen in Manchester.
Great in depth show! I would immediately mod a firebird with steinberger tuning machines and an aftermarket bridge. Those lightning bolt wraparound bridges were also designed with a wound third string in mind.
My favorite episode of the year so far ! (John Smith and Chris Buck are close though ^^) I have always been fascinated by firebirds pickups and this was a treat ! Really helps me in my voyage trying to get my first "vintage" an ES 325 that surprisingly has the same mini humbuckers. You guys are just the best, from the bottom of my heart thank you ! 👍
So glad you've done a Gibson Firebird episode. Firebirds are some of the most misunderstood and underappreciated guitars in all of guitardom. Certainly within the Gibson lineup, and certainly for a guitar that has been in and out of production (mostly in production) for 61 years now. Only two years less than the SG body shape. Yet, despite its lack of understanding and widespread appreciation, and despite its much more subdued popularity, it's persevered all that time and it still exists as a current model today. Not just within the Gibson lineup, but also within the Epiphone lineup as well, which I think is a testament to its design and long-lasting relevancy. Sadly, I really regret selling the non-reverse-bodied 1966 Firebird I (w/two P-90s) I once had. Unfortunately, I had to sell it due to unforeseen circumstances, along with a 1965 SG Standard, which was one of the best sounding SGs I've ever heard, let alone played, but that's beside the point. But that Firebird I was something else as well. It had such a singing, vocal quality, almost like a cocked-wah that was so fat and gnarly sounding with overdrive. It was very unlike other P-90-loaded Firebirds I have ever played before or since. Sadly, the prices for them have skyrocketed since I sold it and I'll never be able to afford another vintage one again. Let alone an original vintage reverse-bodied Firebird. Those things go for crazy money now. Way out of my price range. But the Firebird will always endure, I believe. Particularly the reverse body style. I think the non-reverse model will always come and go, but the reverse body will always be relevant due to its endearingly outlandish design. I'm not sure the Firebird will ever be someone's first instrument, nor will it be one that most people will gravitate towards as their main instrument, but it definitely has its place within someone's collection for someone looking for something that looks and sounds completely different than anything else they own. Because it most certainly has a unique voice, particularly ones that have Firebird humbucking pickups installed. I also think the Firebird is an excellent alternative for Fender players who want a Gibson, but who may not necessarily want the typical Gibson sound. It's an excellent bridge between the single coil sound and the typical Gibson humbucker sound that not all players want. Firebird humbuckers truly have a voice all their own, but they do a good job of convincingly bridging the gap toward a more Fender-like single coil sound. I've always felt the Firebird humbuckers' tonal quality is sort of a mix of 70% single coil and 30% humbucker. It's so utterly unique within the Gibson lineup, and is something I feel all guitar players should try at least once if the Firebird look tickles their fancy. However, I feel Firebird humbuckers greatly benefit from playing around with the tone and volume controls. If you're the type of player that plays with everything on 10, you'll never hear the full range of sounds it's capable of, and you might come away thinking it has a very singular kind of tonality - very bright and jangly with a thin and zingy top end - but nothing could be further from the truth. The Firebird humbucker's tonal palate really opens up by playing with the tone and volume controls. Probably moreso than most guitars. There are too many different sounds to get into here, but if you want a fatter overdriven sound with much less zing and sting on the top end, just roll back the tone somewhere between 3 and 5, back off the volume to 9.5 or 9, and then play it through an amp that's really cooking and you'll be surprised how fat it can sound. Yet it still retains all the clarity and note definition that Firebird pickups can give you. Another favourite is on the bridge pickup with the volume on 10 and the tone turned all the way down to 0, which gives you a really warm, cocked wah-like woman tone, which I feel was nicely demonstrated with the reverse-bodied Firebird I earlier on in this video. Regardless of which model, but particularly any Firebird with Firebird humbuckers in it, just play around with the volume and tone controls and it'll open up a whole other tonal palate to you than if you were to only keep things turned up on 10. Anyway, I could go on about my praises for the Firebird in all its different forms, but I digress. Ultimately, they're unique and amazing guitars that most certainly have their place. Not just within guitar history, but within the tonal spectrum they offer guitarists looking for something a little different. To me, they're as relevant now as they've always been.
@@ThatPedalShow Hey, you're more than welcome! Always glad to show a little Firebird love when I have the chance. It's not everyday when you get to see (or read) it in full force, which was quite evident in this video. Your remarks and the looks on your faces spoke volumes about the Firebird's merits. Thanks for the great video, as always. Cheers. 👍
Great episode TPS, I almost bought a vintage Fbird (having done a few dep gigs in a stones tribute band & being influenced by Brian Jones) then came across the new Inspired By Gibson Firebird which for circa £500 gives you the original reverse body lam thru neck construction, US parts and some modern upgrades. It is a fantastic well made guitar, sounds the part perfect for 60s pop, rootsy rock, indie etc and for a fraction of the vintage price. OK you don't get the full vintage experience but it is 90% there and less worrisome. Epiphone Inspired by models are really worth checking out... bass gig bag was the containment answer.
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The world needs Dave Gregory .
Could Dave be cloned, potentially?
Love this week's show you could have Dave on all the time and it is a pleasure to watch. He is so humble and knowledgeable!!
Yeah, he’s ace 👍
He is ace and I love this style. Deep dives into a particular guitar, pedal or amp with a special guest
Dave has a pretty good guitar collection, I wonder if he still had that Kay Red Devil... He never seemed to play it in any XTC songs, but it's one of the more unusual instruments in his collection.
It was really noticeable how much Dave loved watching Mick & Dan getting into his guitars. Seems like a warm, generous soul.
Totally!! Only matched by Dan’s smile when he was holding two of them!
I’d like to propose a new TPS Tuesday episode format: Dave du Jour, in which Mr. Gregory schools us for 10 minutes on a cool guitar and everyone has a nice play.
👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
@That Pedal Show TPS is the best show on youtube!!! Thanks gents!!!
Amazing! I rewatch that first video with Dave a dozen times a year at this rate! What a true gentleman and incredible player.
Though you've had stellar guests the last few months, frankly those featuring Dave Gregory are for me, the best. He can out-play and out-geek all of us!
I didn’t know what was coming for todays episode…
Saw is was Dave and dropped EVERYTHING.
Dave Gregory is a Treasure! ❤❤❤
These TPS episodes with Dave Gregory are like mini (and fun!) documentaries. Ken Burns needs to make an electric guitar doc and have Dave on the roster of interviewees!
Subbed for the simple fact Dave Gregory is such a lovely fella.
Loved this one, knew nothing about Firebirds before this, but that opening 90 seconds had me hooked 😊
Firebird 7 was my first Gibson. I wanted one because of Gem Archer. I ended up with the 7 though. Love it . And the fact that Brian Jones wore it well made it stay with me.
Sincere thanks to Mr. Gregory for sharing what has obviously been a life-long passion. It was an awesome lesson in FIrebird, which I have always longed for, but could never bond with any of the ones which I have picked up. After watching this I feel compelled to restart the search. Thank you very much!!
David Gregory is one of the best guests you guys have had. He is always enjoyable and knowledgeable.. and a great player, to boot! Please keep bringing him back.
Moo!
A gifted player who made it to the top and STILL has the enthusiasm we had as kids when we first got the bug for amazing guitars...love this guy!
As a Reverse Firebird owner it was a joy to hear Dave’s experience of these crazy but wonderful guitars. What a lovely, down to Earth guy he is.
Love my reverse! Amazing tone, playability and style!!🎉
As a major XTC fan. It's a delight to hear Dave Gregory playing various riffs and getting insightful history on his Gibson Firebird guitars
In life, I am committed to use the Internet to hear every Dave Gregory interview about any old thing. He just sparks such joy for me. What a killer show! This Firebird world as so foreign and so fascinating. I care about everything about this, but I am here for the joy and the love!!!!
Crazy to think that when Gregory got his first 1965 Firebird in 1980, it is the equivalent of right now picking up a 2009 guitar! This was such a great episode and much thanks to Dave Gregory for making it happen along with everyone at TPS.
I absolutely love my new epiphone firebird. Fantastic build quality and with a good set up it plays and sounds fantastic. It sounds incredible with a cranked fuzz face
This is awesome. I could sit and listen to Dave Gregory talk about and play guitar all day.
Excellent show. Dave was an absolute pleasure to watch & listen to. I learned more about the Firebird guitars in this 1-1/2 hours than I learned in the past 50+ years.
Bought a Firebird I last week and am loving it!
They sound absolutely killer. Such depth to the sound it's remarkably unique to my ears at least.
David freaking Gregory, yes! Thx for dropping all the knowledge about this guitar y'all. I never knew I might need one. Well done kind sirs.
Dave's kindness, knowledge and humility shine so bright, it is hard not to love him. Having met him briefly at (what turned out to be the last) Tin Spirits gig at The Victoria in Swindon I can attest to the fact this comes across in person too. Just wonderful!
Love them Birds.
I heard someone describe the tone of firebird as sort of the strat of gibson, and now I know what they meant, thanks to Dave. Love you guys!
what food for the soul, elequent and so knowledgeable. Thank you Dave.
Great episode! I built a firebird VII from a kit and did a heather poly nitro finish and mojotone Johnny Winter firebird pickups. I wired mine with 3 volumes and a master tone so that the middle pickup can be blended in, in any position. So with the volume off on the middle pickup it’s a standard Gibson two pickup setup but can blend in the middle pickup.
Just wanted to say thank you. Love you guys and love Dave Gregory.
Fantastic episode, Dave G. is such a cool guy. The Firebirds were all amazing looking but all sounded very different, such a versatile range of tones from them all 👍🎸😄
What an intro! I can tell by the smiles on everyone’s faces how good that sounded in the room. Rock on Dave. Dead set living legend.
I'd never really thought much about the brightness before, but watching this, it was a revelation. I pulled out my epiphone firebird i got a couple of years ago and plugged it into my JTM45 with a tone bender mk1.5 (fuzzface-ish) and it sounded awesome. No flubbing or mushy-ness, it just sounded massive with a controlled bottom end, and the cleanup rolling back the volume was amazing 😊
Loved this one! Dave seems like such a genuinely lovely man.
I've never felt more smug....I'm sat watching this with a lovely cup of coffee in my house just outside Swindon ...to my left, sat next to me, is my Firebird 1, which is one of the most inspiring , stunning and yet simple of all guitars and on the floor in front of me is my pedal board...and guess what takes pride of place ...yup it is my cogmeister hooked into my neunaber spring reverb... I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any better....maybe if I had a matchless but then my Peavey valveking does a pretty Stella job.....and guess what I learnt about two weeks ago... If I pretty much roll the treble all the way down and turn the amp up It sounds otherworldly....it's a hell of a sound for classic rock...thank you for sharing such a great video and letting all the TPS audience into one if the best kept secrets...see Swindon isn't that bad....we know a thing or two here.... 😁
Great video. Love me some Firebird action.I think Johnny Winter and Paul Stanley made me take notice of them.
AWESOME! Love Dave and his knowledge, and his Pooh Bear voice should say Oh Bother lol. Great video for the ages guys!
Dave is a gem - I love this so much - it’s like if the docuseries Planet Earth did an episode for Gibson Firebirds 😂 - w/ all the quirks and features of these guitars I don’t think I could ever buy a vintage piece sight unseen! Also the Cogmeister is the best gain staging pedal ever - glad to see it put use for the masses to hear and appreciate!
My first time seeing Dave-what a gentleman! I really like him and his Firebirds.
This was an excellent expose of all things 🔥 🐦. many thanks....
What a wonderful man, Dave… am a huge fan. Love your show, love the conversations and find them extremely useful. Cheers!
I love your shows, Dave Gregory is such a gentle soul, lovely gentleman. I could listen to him talk about guitars all day long.
Dave is a treasure. All sunshine. And I love how he sneaks a tasty flurry of notes in just when you don’t expect it.
I was absolutely thinking the same thing. He is a treasure for sure.
Amazing and heartwarming. Dave seems such a wonderful guy. Revealing, as well, what with all that contemplation of "chopping".
Love it. Thank you for these great historical videos! Doing a service for humanity. 😊
Wow! Another terrific episode, gents. I fondly recall a great Cream show at the Olympia in Detroit way back on 10/12/68. EC made Crossroads sound pretty good on that Reverse (or was it a non-reverse…). I recognized the guitar from the brochure I had requested from Gibson. There was one for electrics, another for acoustics. I stared at the beautiful instruments on the pages, dreaming of owning a Les Paul or a J-200. Hearing Dave talk about his own experience with the Gibson catalogue took me back nearly 60 years!
Really enjoyed listening to Dave talk about Firebirds (and Jeff Beck, etc.), and I loved hearing him play. What an awesome guitarist! Thanks, Dan and Mick, for another fun TPS episode.
Thank you, Dave, for (finally) explaining the model numbering of the Firebird/Thunderbird range!
What joyful playing from such an authentic storyteller. Great episode guys!
What a pleasure this video and Dave's company, I want a Firebird now!
It's Firebird Day with the Greeeat Dave Grergory!! Excellent!! I have the Supersession DVD - It's chaotic bliss!! Thanks for sharing this wonderful episode
This was a great show. The Face of Dave’s face when you both played the firebird one was a joy to watch. Please ensure that when you have guests, we all want to see you both play their gear. It’s important and joyful to watch
Mick Taylor’s insight and analysis is just mindblowing. A lifetimes knowledge and experience there for free, every single week. Thanks Mick. (Luv ya too Dan!)
Bless you Ged, thank you!
Great show, many thanks. Although I first met Dave 60 years ago, I never did see him in XTC. I loved attending Tin Spirits gigs every time I could, wonderful. I also saw Dave play in the Swindon based The Teddy White Band". Fabulous and memorable times. Thank you all again.
Mick, Dan, your value has become dear. Headphones on all the way through. It's a feast. Pauses aplenty to study XTC, Big Big Train cuts on Spotify, a little bio reading on Wiki, and I settled in to learn the nuances of Firebirds. Dave's in my age sandbox. I'm connected to you two already, gosh just an uplifting 90+ minutes. You dialed the Matchless and my ears jumped for joy with memories of the tones in classic beloved tunes. It's 2:15PM here in the states. I meet my Music Teacher at 7:30AM in the morning. I'm gonna share this episode with her because music is ageless, crosses all generations. She's just 25 and a degreed music theorist. And then at Service on Sunday, my tour mate of 23 years who is 73 will love this. Your content is peerless, honestly classic and ageless. WE find ourselves set sail on the sea of privilege. Absolutely Grand!
Hey Samuel, Mick here. Just want to take a minute to thank you for these thoughts, for sharing the moments that have connected you with us, with Dave, with music and with your teacher. We’d never have dreamed that this bit of fun we started to have almost 10 years ago could ever resonate on such a fundamental level. I just had a feeling of satori that connected us all in that moment thanks to your kind words. Big love from us!
Always loved the shape of the Firebird, reverse and non-, but having a sonic comparison between the different models and especially between the old US and the recent Epi. So, so different - makes this episode such a joy to watch/hear. Interested in Mick’s comment about the Epi’ construction etc making it appear like a poor 2nd cousin to the originals. The wonderful Huw Price has a video of him stripping the bombproof poly paintwork off a Joe Bonamassa Firebird - a painful process but once gone, the tone seemed to begin to wake up … lot to be said for light finishes and good woods.
Dave Gregory and Firebirds, I'm in my happy place today
If you have a guitar with a PAF at the bridge and a Firebird PU at the neck you never get any mud because you set your PAF to be killer fat on the neck. The neck is NEVER spikey because the gain of the amp takes that completely away but leaves you a nice bright high end with great definition when doing chords. It all works so incredibly well that it is beyond common sense that Gibson has not offered it on a guitar.
Back in the Cream days Eric Clapton was very kind as he let me have 15 minutes to play his Firebird at the end of a Cream concert. I was playing an LP at the time and was having issues with mud in my neck PU and it gave me the idea.
Thanks Leg End and especially Mr Dave, what a wonderful show I remember drooling over a Firebird at John Beebe's Guitar shop in Crouch End ( London ) in about 1973 or possibly 1974 this was when Crouch End was as cheap as chips. Long before Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox opened their recording studio, in fact the church that their studio was in was still being used as an Animation studio it's where Trumpton and Campbellwick Green were made ( Sorry enough history although I think The KINK'S konk studio was up and running at that time ) anyway thanks again. P.S WHAT A PLAYER DAVE IS . PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE ❤❤.
Lovely; Feel the beat even without percussion. Works for me every time. 🙂
Yay Dave. So nice to see you again! You’ve given us so much great guitar playing and for that I thank you.
The sound of that Firebird V was something else... thanks for an incredible episode.
Grandissimo Dave Gregory! How I miss XTC...
Took me a while to get around to watching this one, which is weird as I love Gibson guitars… I think I just had a busy weekend when it was released and struggled to catch up.
Thanks for the very cool video, and especially thanks to Dave Gregory. It’s amazing what you learn… I never knew the bass model Thunderbirds had numerical designation too; here was I thinking that Thunderbird 2 was just the big green transporter plane and Thunderbird 4 the yellow submarine! 🤔😋
I was blissfully unaware of these guitars. Now i’m spoiled and have to have one! Damn you Dan and Mick!
Awesome Episode ! Dan & Mick, You Are Just Brilliant to come every week with an original and educational episode. TPS is much more than just talking about gear ! Tnx A Lot.
On my TPS Friday I watched the football and missed this😱. It will have to be self-flagellation Saturday or I can just watch England this evening for my penance. Love Dave Gregory so I'll watch this more than once no doubt.
Amazing to hear these stories. You guys deserve major thanks for documenting such detailed and important insights.
What a delightful gent. Fantastic show!
I’ve been anxiously awaiting this episode for quite a while. I was not disappointed at all. So great to hear the guitar and the stories Dave shared. Being of a later vintage than Firebird it’s so special to be able relive something of that through His memories. Thanks for putting this together guys!
That firebird 1 absolutely loved Mick. So interesting. Great video guys. Thanks!
Would happily listen to Dave talking about guitars for the rest of my days.
PS Thanks TPS x
You’re not alone Dave. You’d have to have no ears at all to think woods don’t impact tone enormously. Those things scream mahogany! Excellent video as ever. Always a pleasure to see Dave.
OMG. Just blown out of my mind over this show amongs shows!
Fantastic episode, I knew very little about Firebird’s before this and Dave’s knowledge and passion is wonderful
Always happy to see Dave on the show. He seems like such a friendly guy. I'd point him to Music City Bridge products (produced by Glaser Instrument Repair out of Nashville) that might help some of his firebird issues. Especially their locking bridge studs that eliminate tilting and the studfinder wraparound bridge - developed in cooperation with Uncle Larry. Thanks for what you do!
Best video I've seen in ages! Dave is like kid in a candy shop, and I learned so much from his presentation style. I've never owned a Firebird, but I'm interested in them now.
What a lovely chap! Awesome show as always. Thanks, guys!
Love XTC! Dave's a monster player...
The non-reverse is the best! Thanks for doing an entire show about them!!!
(and I'm a guy that hates blues licks!)
Love that Dave knows all about them.
I think McCartney used a left handed non-reverse on the RAM album in the photos I've seen.
The best Firebird I ever played was a transitional. It was reverse with P90's, sounded fantastic! Almost bought it, on a trade for a 70 LP Deluxe. I still kick myself not doing the trade!
That was lovely. As well as getting a comprehensive guide to all the original models released, we got plenty of music history attached to these wonderful guitars as well. Dave seems like a proper humble gent, who loves to share his passion to anyone who wants to listen… we’re all ears!
Made me happy to see the trusty old CS-2. My favorite comp, and I have owned most comps.
What a great guy!
I love Firebirds too. Thanks for a great show. I listened to the whole thing. Dave is a cool dude. Nice playing by all of you!
Dave! How cool! What a nice surprise! I’d love to see a show where he discusses his use of the Line 6 Pods to record albums.
Oh no, my gas is flaring up again!
Also what a lovely player (and person) Dave Gregory is, really a joy to listen to him play
Thanks so much TPS gang for giving us this wonderful history lesson (with some great playing)! I've been mesmerised by the Firebird ever since I saw that amazing photo of Phil Manzanera on the inner sleeve of For Your Pleasure, but never tried one. As an SG and Jazzmaster fan I think I'd dig it!
Dave is a legend and a lovely bloke to boot. Note that Johnny Marr name checked Dave on his reasonably recent appearance on That Pedal Show, when he was talking about the groups and guitarists he saw live when he was a teen in Manchester.
Hell yeah! Firebirds for everyone!
Tones to die for. Goodness
Great in depth show!
I would immediately mod a firebird with steinberger tuning machines and an aftermarket bridge.
Those lightning bolt wraparound bridges were also designed with a wound third string in mind.
My word what a resonant guitar especially that single pickup version played by mr Gregory……..awesome.
This is mega. Thank you all. 👏🏻
Great tone that these instruments produce! Very unique, very clean.
Great episode! Thank you!
Great show guys! Some killer tones from those awesome vintage Firebirds!
My favorite episode of the year so far ! (John Smith and Chris Buck are close though ^^)
I have always been fascinated by firebirds pickups and this was a treat ! Really helps me in my voyage trying to get my first "vintage" an ES 325 that surprisingly has the same mini humbuckers.
You guys are just the best, from the bottom of my heart thank you ! 👍
Cool show! I’ve never ever seen a Firebird in the wild! Thanks!
So glad you've done a Gibson Firebird episode. Firebirds are some of the most misunderstood and underappreciated guitars in all of guitardom. Certainly within the Gibson lineup, and certainly for a guitar that has been in and out of production (mostly in production) for 61 years now. Only two years less than the SG body shape. Yet, despite its lack of understanding and widespread appreciation, and despite its much more subdued popularity, it's persevered all that time and it still exists as a current model today. Not just within the Gibson lineup, but also within the Epiphone lineup as well, which I think is a testament to its design and long-lasting relevancy.
Sadly, I really regret selling the non-reverse-bodied 1966 Firebird I (w/two P-90s) I once had. Unfortunately, I had to sell it due to unforeseen circumstances, along with a 1965 SG Standard, which was one of the best sounding SGs I've ever heard, let alone played, but that's beside the point. But that Firebird I was something else as well. It had such a singing, vocal quality, almost like a cocked-wah that was so fat and gnarly sounding with overdrive. It was very unlike other P-90-loaded Firebirds I have ever played before or since. Sadly, the prices for them have skyrocketed since I sold it and I'll never be able to afford another vintage one again. Let alone an original vintage reverse-bodied Firebird. Those things go for crazy money now. Way out of my price range.
But the Firebird will always endure, I believe. Particularly the reverse body style. I think the non-reverse model will always come and go, but the reverse body will always be relevant due to its endearingly outlandish design. I'm not sure the Firebird will ever be someone's first instrument, nor will it be one that most people will gravitate towards as their main instrument, but it definitely has its place within someone's collection for someone looking for something that looks and sounds completely different than anything else they own. Because it most certainly has a unique voice, particularly ones that have Firebird humbucking pickups installed.
I also think the Firebird is an excellent alternative for Fender players who want a Gibson, but who may not necessarily want the typical Gibson sound. It's an excellent bridge between the single coil sound and the typical Gibson humbucker sound that not all players want. Firebird humbuckers truly have a voice all their own, but they do a good job of convincingly bridging the gap toward a more Fender-like single coil sound. I've always felt the Firebird humbuckers' tonal quality is sort of a mix of 70% single coil and 30% humbucker. It's so utterly unique within the Gibson lineup, and is something I feel all guitar players should try at least once if the Firebird look tickles their fancy.
However, I feel Firebird humbuckers greatly benefit from playing around with the tone and volume controls. If you're the type of player that plays with everything on 10, you'll never hear the full range of sounds it's capable of, and you might come away thinking it has a very singular kind of tonality - very bright and jangly with a thin and zingy top end - but nothing could be further from the truth. The Firebird humbucker's tonal palate really opens up by playing with the tone and volume controls. Probably moreso than most guitars. There are too many different sounds to get into here, but if you want a fatter overdriven sound with much less zing and sting on the top end, just roll back the tone somewhere between 3 and 5, back off the volume to 9.5 or 9, and then play it through an amp that's really cooking and you'll be surprised how fat it can sound. Yet it still retains all the clarity and note definition that Firebird pickups can give you. Another favourite is on the bridge pickup with the volume on 10 and the tone turned all the way down to 0, which gives you a really warm, cocked wah-like woman tone, which I feel was nicely demonstrated with the reverse-bodied Firebird I earlier on in this video.
Regardless of which model, but particularly any Firebird with Firebird humbuckers in it, just play around with the volume and tone controls and it'll open up a whole other tonal palate to you than if you were to only keep things turned up on 10.
Anyway, I could go on about my praises for the Firebird in all its different forms, but I digress. Ultimately, they're unique and amazing guitars that most certainly have their place. Not just within guitar history, but within the tonal spectrum they offer guitarists looking for something a little different. To me, they're as relevant now as they've always been.
Blimey! A lot of love and thoughtful stuff here. Thank you for positing such an in-depth comment and analysis. Fascinating reading!
@@ThatPedalShow Hey, you're more than welcome! Always glad to show a little Firebird love when I have the chance. It's not everyday when you get to see (or read) it in full force, which was quite evident in this video. Your remarks and the looks on your faces spoke volumes about the Firebird's merits. Thanks for the great video, as always. Cheers. 👍
Great episode TPS, I almost bought a vintage Fbird (having done a few dep gigs in a stones tribute band & being influenced by Brian Jones) then came across the new Inspired By Gibson Firebird which for circa £500 gives you the original reverse body lam thru neck construction, US parts and some modern upgrades. It is a fantastic well made guitar, sounds the part perfect for 60s pop, rootsy rock, indie etc and for a fraction of the vintage price. OK you don't get the full vintage experience but it is 90% there and less worrisome. Epiphone Inspired by models are really worth checking out... bass gig bag was the containment answer.