A unique find that you wont see on Reverb often. This is the Gibson Elliot Easton Tikibird. In case you don’t know, He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars. His guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. The Gibson Firebird is an iconic guitar from a legendary manufacturer. First introduced in the 1960s, the Firebird’s shape and sleek lines were created by an automotive designer who Gibson hired to add to the already unique shapes like the Flying V and the Explorer. Players such as Warren Haynes and Stephen Stills have been known to use a Firebird, but no one is more associated with the Firebird than Johnny Winter.
Body and neck
The Elliot Easton “Tikibird” Firebird is made in the image of the original “reverse body” Firebirds of 1963-’65, with lines that appeared to be the reverse image of other solidbody styles on the market. It is constructed from a solid multi-piece mahogany neck/body section—called a “through neck”—with glued-on mahogany body wings. The neck is carved to Elliot’s preferred slim, fast Firebird profile, which measures 0.800” at the 1st fret and 0.850” at the 12th. It is topped with a Grade-A rosewood fingerboard with traditional trapezoid inlays and 22 medium-jumbo frets.
Pickups and electronics
To fatten up the traditional Firebird tone, the Elliot Easton “Tikibird” Firebird carries a pair of Gibson’s popular ’57 Classic humbucking pickups, long known for their blend of depth and clarity. They are rendered superbly versatile through a custom network of four slider switches mounted in the pickguard, accessing individual coil splitting for both pickups, phase-reverse when both are used together, and Gibson’s Pure True Bypass switching. The latter routes the bridge pickup directly to the output jack when engaged, for a quick preset lead tone with no loading. The coil-split switching offers something new, too: wired in Gibson’s “Frequency-Tuned Coil Tap” mode, the two pickups are still reverse-wound/reverse-polarity in the center position when tapped, for hum-canceling single-coil tones, and their individual tapped tones are still hum reducing, and more accurate to boot. The remaining controls include the traditional four-knob complement with three-way toggle switch.
Hardware
Elliot’s input in the hardware department takes the Elliot Easton “Tikibird” Firebird further into the stratosphere. A genuine Bigsby™ vibrato is modified with a Vibramate™ Spoiler® string loader to take the usual hassle out of restringing this beloved whammy bar. A TonePros™ Tune-o-matic locks down tight for enhanced resonance and sustain, with nylon saddles to avoid string hitches during Bigsby™ use. Finally, a set of super-efficient Steinberger™ gearless tuners give you the smoothest tune-up imaginable, without spoiling the radical lines of the Firebird headstock. The traditional Firebird truss-rod cover is hot-stamped with a gold Gibson logo, and the custom multi-ply white plastic pickguard carries a hot-stamped Tiki graphic.
Condition: Good shape all around, some very minor dings and swirling.
Playability: Straight neck, no buzzing, some fret wear, action is comfortable, no issues with electronics.
Model: Gibson Elliot Easton Signature Tikibird Firebird
Made: USA
Finish: Gold Mist
Body: Mahogany
Neck: Mahogany
Mods: n/a
Pickup: Gibson 57 Humbuckers
Case: Free Original Gibson Case
