Reverse Firebird body changes

Just noticed Reverse Firebirds had a slight change in the body shape sometime between '63 to later. The '63 had a blunter less sloped front upper horn. It later became slightly more sloped in front. Anyone know when this occured, and if there are other subtle changes I'm not noticing?

I think the lean-back started with the '76 RI. Once I saw it, it became a visual dealbreaker for me - call me shallow.

Another thing that separates even the Historics that fixed the lean-back from vintage ones is the placement of the middle pickguard screw along the straight side. The only HC I've seen that got it right was the recent CC of a cherry FBIII.

I don't like this "lean back" as you call it. Don't like it at all

Which is more comfortable to play? :dh

Interesting. Although I'm usually a nitpicker when it comes to subtle differences, I never noticed the 'slope' that snuck into the Firebird's body shape, but it's definitely there. One difference I did immediately notice when the first nineties Firebird reissues came out was the shape of the pickguard. Unlike the original, it doesn't follow the body's edge all the way to the neck, but veers off toward the neck pickup. Although this may have been done by Gibson to avoid the typical bending, pulling and sometimes cracking at the pointy ends of vintage pickguards, I've never liked the way it looks.

I've been a huge Firebird fan ever since I saw them hanging in a store window back in 1963. They were suspended from the ceiling, in all the custom colors, and resembled a fleet of multi-colored space ships. I finally bought my first bird, a '64 III, in 1973 and recently acquired a limited edition 1972 Medallion Firebird V which, like the first batch of '63 birds, has the two-piece center seam neck (as opposed to the nine-ply neck of subsequent models). The gold medallion on the upper bout (with the correct slope) used to throw me off, but I've grown to like it, although on stage, after having just switched from playing my Les Paul R9, I sometimes mistake it for a pickup switch and make silly, futile flicks with my right hand, grabbing nothing but air. This Medallion Bird is absolutely incredible. The pickups produce the same ballsy, chimey and quirky Strat-meets-Les Paul-meets-Telly tone of the originals, and the Lyre vibrato simply will not go out of tune, thanks to a tunomatic that pivots on domed thumbwheels.
I've never owned a guitar with a more stable and rigid neck, which probably accounts for the fact that it survided the notoriously horrible case it came in. I still can't get over the fact that for over a decade, Gibson shipped reverse Firebirds in cases that would ultimately snap the necks of more than half of them.

Sorry, this was a double post which for some reason can't be deleted.

Here's and old quote from resident FB fanatic J45, which confirms the OP's findings - too bad J45 hasn't posted in ages:

Great info... they've noticed the difference between 63 and 64 truss covers, truss cavities, etc.. A '63 no bird guard won't fit a 64 bird. The large, lower horn that the guard goes on is also thinner in 1963. The overall body shape is slightly different between 63 and 64. I credit my wife for noticing this a while back. I had a 63 and 64 sitting on the sofa and she took a disinterested glance at what was dirtying her sofa and before telling me to get them off said, did you ever notice this one is shaped different? I got out the micrometer and sure enough, significant differences in body shape of 63 compared to a '64. (what is it with these women?)

Click to expand...

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/s...avity-Photos&p=1807867&viewfull=1#post1807867

Now if anyone could find some pics that show these differences..