Looking to up the ante in the market battle with Fender, in October of 1962, Gibson CEO Ted McCarty asked retired auto designer Ray Dietrich to sketch some ultra-modern guitar designs. Nine days later, Dietrich brought eight ideas, the last of which McCarty saw and exclaimed, “That’s the one!” It became the Firebird.

Epiphone recently set out to build an accurate re-creation of that guitar with its Inspired by Gibson Custom 1963 Firebird V.

True to the original, it sports a nine-ply mahogany/walnut neck-through body with mahogany wings, Kluson planetary-geared “banjo” tuners, a Maestro Vibrola, and Gibson USA mini-humbucker pickups with Alnico V magnets. Other touches include hand-wired CTS pots, Mallory capacitors, and a Switchcraft three-way pickup selector toggle. With the exceptions of the laurel fretboard and polyurethane finish instead of the rosewood and nitrocellulose of the original, the Epiphone is true to form.

Plugged into a low-watt all-tube combo, the mini-humbuckers showed the focus on upper-midrange and treble for which they are known and allows them to cut through a mix. This particular pair is well-balanced both in volume and tone. With the toggle in the middle position, neither one dominates. Clicking to the neck increases the lower mids but retains the essential mid-position tone. Going to the bridge pickup raises high-end response but retains the overall mid-position sound. The Tone knob for the bridge pickup can be rolled off all the way to three before the sound becomes unusably muddy, easily controlling the treble output and making it very versatile.

Offered in Frost Blue, Ember Red, Cherry, and Vintage Sunburst, fit and finish on our tester were (like the Greeny Les Paul we reviewed in March ’24) flawless, with no hint of bleed on the binding or sharp fret ends. All told, the 1963 Firebird V is worthy of the model’s legacy.

This article originally appeared in VG’s November 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.