Gibson brought in a Detroit automobile engineer, Roy Deitrich, to dream up a new design for a solid-bodied guitar to compete with Fender, whose twangy ash- and alder-bodied instruments were "the sound" of the early sixties. Starting off with the 1958 Explorer, and then rounding off its sharp edges, broadening the waist and retaining its "upside down" appearance, the Firebird body was born. The head-stock was designed to look like a roosting bird, and heavy-duty banjo-style tuning machines with keys protruding from the rear were fitted in-line, like a left-handed Fender head.

Guitars

Editors

• davek