Gibson's catalog from 1977 lists two cool reissues of its wild shaped guitars inspired by the Bicentennial of the United States: The Firebird '76 and Thunderbird '76; both models made with the legendary Reverse body style with neck through design. The Firebird '76 was essentially a reissue of the Firebird III (3) model the company made from 1963 to 1965 but with a few subtle upgrades. The catalog lists three available colors including Sunburst, Natural Mahogany, and Ebony, but those were not the only colors that Gibson made.
As a vintage Gibson Firebird guitar collector, I'm always looking for nice examples of Gibson Firebird guitars from the 1960s and 1970s in all colors. You can contact me here if you're curious about how much I would value your guitar at: sell a Gibson. You can send pictures to the contact information below. I'd be happy to check it out.
If you'd like to learn more about your Gibson Firebird then I'd recommend this book: Flying V, Explorer, Firebird: An Odd-Shaped History of Gibson's Weird Electric Guitars by Tony Bacon. Tony's books on vintage Gibson and Fender guitars are essential to any guitar nerd!
Or if you're not sure if your 1960s Gibson Firebird is Reverse or non-Reverse, check out Gibson Firebird: Reverse or non-Reverse?
Are Vintage Gibson Firebird guitars rare?
The best way to determine if a vintage Gibson guitar is rare or not would be to check the production totals for the model and color compared to the market for currently available similar guitars. The book that contains production totals for the Gibson Firebird '76 is Gibson Shipment Totals: 1937-1979 by Larry Meiners. The production totals for each model aren't 100% accurate, but they're a good start for determining how many of each model and color were made.
Larry's book lists the production totals for Gibson Firebird models in the 1960s and in the 1970s. The 1960s Firebird production figures are broken down by each model, but the colors aren't listed. The 1970s Gibson Firebird listings offer the fourth color that isn't listed in the catalog: White. Gibson shipped only 127 Firebird '76 guitars in White in 1977 which was the lowest production color. By comparison, Gibson shipped Tobacco Sunburst Firebird '76s in the same year which was the highest production color. A total of 148 White Firebird '76s are listed in the totals as having shipped in the late 1970s.
Gibson Firebird Collector
As a Gibson Firebird guitar collector, I am looking for all Gibson Firebird guitars made in the 1960s and 1970s. My primary goal is to collect the best examples of all colors on the Gibson custom color chart. I travel world wide to acquire the vintage Gibson guitars that I've always dreamed of.
If you're curious about how much I would value your 1960s Gibson Firebird guitar then you can contact me here: Sell a Gibson. I'd be happy to help with model identification and dating as well. Here's a helpful link for how to date a Gibson Firebird since the serial numbers are usually similar to that of the 1960s Les Paul: How to date a Gibson.
