Think this Gibson Firebird VII is worth $799?

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:27 pm

I saw this at my friends store when I bought the Zen-On guitar. They had just gotten it in. The got the Zen-On, a faded flying V an Explorer and the Firebird VII all from the same guy on Saturday. The got '74 Les Paul too but that had all ready been sold by the the time I got there. When I asked about the Firebird they told me it had had a professional headstock repair(photo at the below). Who ever fixed it did a great job.Anyway,this guitar has been at the top of my want list for a long time so I called the store at 10:00 this morning and told my friend to hold it because I know someone else was on their way there to buy it.

I think this is the biggest guitar case I ever seen!

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:38 am

Gorgeous.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:25 am

What year is it, do you know? Given the headstock repair I'd say it's pretty fair, only an amazing deal if it's a '60s one.

In general it's pretty good if only because that thing is so fucking swanky and gorgeous. I've never actually seen a real VII, just the epi version.
And yeah, flying V/explorer/firebird cases are always bigger than I expect/remember, haha.

frettedlefty · Post by **frettedlefty** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:34 am

Gold goes nice with red. Dually noted.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:39 am

Thanks! Mine is a 2006,not vintage.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:52 am

frettedlefty wrote:Gold goes nice with red. Dually noted.

Yeah,baby,yeah!

Phil Manzerana has on like this.His is a '64 Cardinal Red Firebird VII

[youtube][/youtube]

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:41 am

My friend has the epiphone version which I never really could get into. I like the looks but its sort of 'plain' once you're playing it.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:59 am

Where can I get a pair of those human fly glasses?

AaronGuitarDude · Post by **AaronGuitarDude** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 5:45 am

799 dollars is a steal for that sucka!

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:27 pm

Beautiful guitar at a great price. I think it should be cheaper with the repair though.

Truth is I wouldn't touch a Gibson that's had a neck repair with a barge pole. A good friend of mine one got a LP Standard for a steal on gumtree (Â£450) because it had a headstock break and pro repair. The guitar has since lost it's head 4 times, the first 3 times in the same place and the last time at the same place but with an extra chunk that hadn't split before. It went from a straight break to a diagonal on, and the last repair he had to get it routed and doweled with 2 long strips to try to get it to stay in one piece.

Thing is, because of the initial break he babies that guitar and it has still broken. He won't gig it any more either in case it snaps again. One time it had even come off in the case when the guitar wasn't even being used. I had emailed the seller too cos I thought it was worth a shot at that price too, but he got in first. I think I dodged a bullet big time!

I know wood glue is stronger than the wood around it blah blah etc but I wouldn't take the risk. I reckon when the break there must be other small fractures that don't show up that cause the neck to be weaker. Hence the different break on Simons LP the last time. Didn't Rys have a similar issue with a Gibson a while back too. I think he knocked his over tho.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:52 pm

Thomas wrote:Truth is I wouldn't touch a Gibson that's had a neck repair with a barge pole.

I think so too, I used to have a guitar tutor that played a les paul that had a headstock repair. The headstock broke along the same break several times - once when it had been left in the case for a few months.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:00 pm

Phil Manzanera = 2 degrees of separation. I was at Uni at the same time as Simon Ainley, who did vocals in the original 801s. I auditioned for bass in his band, but he said he wasn't really happy about a guitarist playing bass. A little later we heard he'd dropped out to join the 801s.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:12 pm

Thomas wrote:Beautiful guitar at a great price. I think it should be cheaper with the repair though.

Truth is I wouldn't touch a Gibson that's had a neck repair with a barge pole. A good friend of mine one got a LP Standard for a steal on gumtree (Â£450) because it had a headstock break and pro repair. The guitar has since lost it's head 4 times, the first 3 times in the same place and the last time at the same place but with an extra chunk that hadn't split before. It went from a straight break to a diagonal on, and the last repair he had to get it routed and doweled with 2 long strips to try to get it to stay in one piece.

Thing is, because of the initial break he babies that guitar and it has still broken. He won't gig it any more either in case it snaps again. One time it had even come off in the case when the guitar wasn't even being used. I had emailed the seller too cos I thought it was worth a shot at that price too, but he got in first. I think I dodged a bullet big time!

I know wood glue is stronger than the wood around it blah blah etc but I wouldn't take the risk. I reckon when the break there must be other small fractures that don't show up that cause the neck to be weaker. Hence the different break on Simons LP the last time. Didn't Rys have a similar issue with a Gibson a while back too. I think he knocked his over tho.

Gabriel wrote:
Thomas wrote:Truth is I wouldn't touch a Gibson that's had a neck repair with a barge pole.
I think so too, I used to have a guitar tutor that played a les paul that had a headstock repair. The headstock broke along the same break several times - once when it had been left in the case for a few months.

Thanks for the posts,I usually would feel the same way as you guys,but since I bought this guitar from my friends store I don't have to worry about it.

NickS wrote:Phil Manzanera = 2 degrees of separation. I was at Uni at the same time as Simon Ainley, who did vocals in the original 801s. I auditioned for bass in his band, but he said he wasn't really happy about a guitarist playing bass. A little later we heard he'd dropped out to join the 801s.

That's a cool story Nick. I think we went to school around the same time.Here is a photo from around 71 or 72 (Arrow points to me). The guy I'm talking too is my roomate Andy Somers(next to the girl). Andy and our other roomate Don were a huge influence on me. They listened to Scott Muni's "English Hour",read NME and Melody Maker and both had HUGE record collections. That is how I became a vinyl junkie because we used to compete to find the coolest new records before anyone else heard of it.We used to have huge parties in the suite we shared in our dormitory.Everyone would gravitate there after the bars closed and became known as "The Glitter Suite" because of the music we played(Bowie,T-Rex,Roxy Music etc).

After college Andy got a job in the mail room at the William Morris Agency and advanced to agent. He left to start his own agency in the 80s and represented artists like Johnny Thunders,Mink DeVille,Metallica(briefly)Megadeth,Greenday,Dropkick Murphys and many other bands. In he 2000s he brought his roster to the Agency group and they made him Senior Vice President. When I went to his wedding reception the 90's,me and my (ex)wife shared a table with The Proclaimers,lol.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:20 pm

That's a huge bonus with buying from your friends store. Hopefully it'll be a sound purchase for you. It is a gorgeous guitar

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 9:07 pm

Your story's cooler! and the guitar's brilliant.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 9:08 pm

I've always wanted one. Congrats!

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:10 pm

Thomas wrote:Beautiful guitar at a great price. I think it should be cheaper with the repair though.

Truth is I wouldn't touch a Gibson that's had a neck repair with a barge pole. A good friend of mine one got a LP Standard for a steal on gumtree (Â£450) because it had a headstock break and pro repair. The guitar has since lost it's head 4 times, the first 3 times in the same place and the last time at the same place but with an extra chunk that hadn't split before. It went from a straight break to a diagonal on, and the last repair he had to get it routed and doweled with 2 long strips to try to get it to stay in one piece.

Thing is, because of the initial break he babies that guitar and it has still broken. He won't gig it any more either in case it snaps again. One time it had even come off in the case when the guitar wasn't even being used. I had emailed the seller too cos I thought it was worth a shot at that price too, but he got in first. I think I dodged a bullet big time!

I know wood glue is stronger than the wood around it blah blah etc but I wouldn't take the risk. I reckon when the break there must be other small fractures that don't show up that cause the neck to be weaker. Hence the different break on Simons LP the last time. Didn't Rys have a similar issue with a Gibson a while back too. I think he knocked his over tho.

which is funny because I have an Epiphone Dot that has had the neck repair by Mages. I've had the guitar for over a year, played it constantly at band practices around the house, knocked it off the stand a couple of times, and I've never had an issue with it. I think a big part of it is how it breaks.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:13 am

A huge part of that is how it's repaired. It's worth spending a bit of coin to have someone really good do that when it first breaks, match the wood break and fill in gaps perfectly, etc... otherwise you have a swiss-cheese situation at the thinnest part of the neck when it's under full tension, and mahogany isn't the strongest wood in the first place.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:41 am

how the neck broke on the epiphone it was a split going down the neck so it was a large amount of surface area to be glued. also it was fit together literally seconds after it broke off so it fit back together perfectly. it had just been cracked at first but in trying to insert the glue in the crack it broke off entirely so we just quickly glued the whole thing on and clamped it down. we also clamped it really tight, probably too tight as it flattened the back of the neck slightly. it wasn't a perfect job but it played nice afterword and I'm happy to hear it's been a reliable repair.

I can see how if there's not much space to clamp the join or the broken piece has been loose from the guitar for a while, chipping the break further, it might not be possible to repair a neck back to full reliability.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:13 am

Yeah, on Epiphones it's more common to break at the scarf-joint. They add more stability to the Gibson designs but at the same time if you break that it can quickly turn less than pretty. The fingerboard can lift away from the neck at that joint, which results in a proud first/second fret. Gibson breaks usually occur at the truss access cavity.
My old G400 sustained some fingerboard damage in the way I described, and it looks as though the MIK Epi LP I bought secondhand had been repaired from a similar situation. It's not a clean repair but that's still one of the nicest playing guitars I've ever owned, I wouldn't be surprised if it had a primo setup (frets re-leveled) to play it's best after the repair.

Here's where the scarf-joint is: