[g hlynosky (guytar1)]

This is not an angry rant about the new Firebird X ... thats' already been taken care of. To be quite honest Mr.J, with all of the hype preceeding the major announcement, I was expecting...maybe more like praying... that maybe Epiphone would be brought back to the states. I know, I'm out there to think of something so outrageous, but ,that would be worthy of the hype thats been out. I'm in no position to judge what should and what shouldnt be called an "uprising". but sir, a guitar with a cheap paint job and a bunch of electronics that may be useless in the real performing senario isn't it. Possibly, an option of the electronics with a foot controller would be an idea? I paid close to $2000 for my es-339 only to receive an instrument with crappy fretwork. Sorry Mr.J, just had to vent. Gibson is still my American brand and thanx for kickin Norlins ass. P.S. Your players could use more t-shirts or jackets... we alredy have some fine guitars

[H Juszkiewicz (HenryJ)]

g hlynosky (guytar1), on 31 October 2010 - 10:26 PM, said:

This is not an angry rant about the new Firebird X ... thats' already been taken care of. To be quite honest Mr.J, with all of the hype preceeding the major announcement, I was expecting...maybe more like praying... that maybe Epiphone would be brought back to the states. I know, I'm out there to think of something so outrageous, but ,that would be worthy of the hype thats been out. I'm in no position to judge what should and what shouldnt be called an "uprising". but sir, a guitar with a cheap paint job and a bunch of electronics that may be useless in the real performing senario isn't it. Possibly, an option of the electronics with a foot controller would be an idea? I paid close to $2000 for my es-339 only to receive an instrument with crappy fretwork. Sorry Mr.J, just had to vent. Gibson is still my American brand and thanx for kickin Norlins ass. P.S. Your players could use more t-shirts or jackets... we alredy have some fine guitars

Its nice to be vented too respectfully. Thank you for that.

The Firebird X does come with two pedals which can control the on guitar effects. Both pedals are wireless and need no cable connection to anything giving you maximum flexibility on stage or in studio.

Squeezing a recording studio full of effects into a guitar is a pretty big deal. This guitar has 7 microprocessors (CPU.s) There is a big difference between stomp boxes which cost under $100 and studio gear. Of course, from the outside, you cannot tell the difference but that is why this is an extraordinary guitar. Getting all this functionality into an instrument is really hard.

The result is a much better ability to control the guitar voicing while playing. You can literally get dozens of voices of different guitars, guitar rigs and amps with pure analog like tone and virtually no latency.

I would simply ask you to keep your mind open until you try it.

If the fret work was bad, we stand behind our product. Let us know and we can take care of it.

In any case, thank you for spending time with us.

[g hlynosky (guytar1)]

Thanx for the reply Mr.J , apparently I wasn't aware of the foot switches and for that I apologize. Would it be possible to get some good video of the Firebird X in a live situation...not just a fellow playing bits and pieces, but of actual songs? It may help to change some minds. I'll never be able to afford one.. but at least I'll be more aware and confident of the road Gibson is on. I'll forgive the fretwork this time, it's mail order. ha. Thanks

[H Juszkiewicz (HenryJ)]

g hlynosky (guytar1), on 31 October 2010 - 11:15 PM, said:

Thanx for the reply Mr.J , apparently I wasn't aware of the foot switches and for that I apologize. Would it be possible to get some good video of the Firebird X in a live situation...not just a fellow playing bits and pieces, but of actual songs? It may help to change some minds. I'll never be able to afford one.. but at least I'll be more aware and confident of the road Gibson is on. I'll forgive the fretwork this time, it's mail order. ha. Thanks

We will have a lot more information slowly being added to the Firebird X microsite.

There are several things that make it harder to present the Firebird X product on the web.

It is harder to really hear the difference on computer speakers that are generally around 10 watts or less.

Secondly, a lot of what the guitar is is how voicing possibilities are part of the guitar and its interface. It's hard to describe but once you understand what the guitar make possible, you are inspired to doing things you could not do before. It is so responsive to your playing and style.

Part of that can be attributed to the control knobs, switches and faders. A larger part is the many thousands of hours that went into making sure all the virtually studio devices worked together to get a great musical result. Everything was worked and reworked dozens of times by some of the most talented sound designers.

It is like the difference between a recipe done by master chefs and a list of ingredients. That is really hard to show unless you taste the food. (Sorry if this sounds lame, but it is really hard to describe).

Here is what Craig Anderton, a well known journalist and musician said in an email to me...

Quote

...This guitar is INCREDIBLE. Everything is now working properly at this end, and frankly, this is the first time I've been able to use FBX the way it's supposed to be used...and it is absolutely blowing my mind.

The sound is clean and gorgeous. The effects are equal to or in many cases, better than what I have with either plug-ins or hardware. And the togpot control feature is absolutely, well, REVOLUTIONARY. Being able to bring in distortion, reverb, echo, etc. is fluid and simple, and adds an unprecedented amount of control to not just live performance, but spontaneity in the studio...

Let me know if we can address the fretwork issue. We stand behind our product with pride.

[K Bolas (lespaul1963)]

Henry,

How durable is the Firebird X? I can tell you that both my LP and SG have been baptized in beer (a pitcher's worth in one case), knocked over, struck by flying objects and in the case of my LP, vomited on. As I stated in another post, I am really concerned about the new Bird's ability to survive a rowdy bar gig. My current Gibsons are scarred and yet still the quite playable, awesome tone machines that they were when I first purchased them. They don't even smell funny anymore. Would your new Bird hold up as well?

[S Sill (Scott Sill)]

H Juszkiewicz (HenryJ), on 31 October 2010 - 02:44 PM, said:

We will have a lot more information slowly being added to the Firebird X microsite.

There are several things that make it harder to present the Firebird X product on the web.

It is harder to really hear the difference on computer speakers that are generally around 10 watts or less.

Secondly, a lot of what the guitar is is how voicing possibilities are part of the guitar and its interface. It's hard to describe but once you understand what the guitar make possible, you are inspired to doing things you could not do before. It is so responsive to your playing and style.

Part of that can be attributed to the control knobs, switches and faders. A larger part is the many thousands of hours that went into making sure all the virtually studio devices worked together to get a great musical result. Everything was worked and reworked dozens of times by some of the most talented sound designers.

It is like the difference between a recipe done by master chefs and a list of ingredients. That is really hard to show unless you taste the food. (Sorry if this sounds lame, but it is really hard to describe).

Here is what Craig Anderton, a well known journalist and musician said in an email to me...




Let me know if we can address the fretwork issue. We stand behind our product with pride.

Henry,

I was hoping you might address his point to more shirts, jackets, hats etc. I would love to see more Gibson apparel and Gibson brand named products, like Fender does.

Scott

[J Hufford (ext1jdh)]

Are you freaking kidding me...

Gibson is a GUITAR company. If you want clothes, go to the mall.

[g hlynosky (guytar1)]

J Hufford (ext1jdh), on 15 December 2010 - 01:49 PM, said:

Are you freaking kidding me...

Gibson is a GUITAR company. If you want clothes, go to the mall.

Yeah, I guess you're right... Maybe Harley-Davidson should stop selling shirts too! Certainly nobody supports that company.

[J Frondelli (JR Frondelli)]

g hlynosky (guytar1), on 31 October 2010 - 05:26 PM, said:

I paid close to $2000 for my es-339 only to receive an instrument with crappy fretwork.

I'd be pissed too. An instrument in that price range should have been bounced from QC before leaving the factory.

Being in the MI repair business for 30+ years, and having worked for manufacturers, I can tell you that if a hand-built instrument makes it to the dealer with lousy fretwork or anything else, there is more than one person asleep at the switch. Take heed Mr. J, as your QC department may need to be re-educated, or replaced.

[S Sill (Scott Sill)]

J Hufford (ext1jdh), on 15 December 2010 - 10:49 AM, said:

Are you freaking kidding me...

Gibson is a GUITAR company. If you want clothes, go to the mall.

Yes but those malls never have the stuff I want, and I want to tell everyone I love guitars when I wear my clothes. I don't know why, but I just do.