Remember the story of the "Lennon's Casino Project"? Well, I had orginally picked up a MIK Epi Dot to trade for it - then my pal Mychael decided he'd rather have an Epi Firebird, so I picked one of those up, and we traded. I was happy, he was happy... almost. Didn't like the MIK pups in it - thought they were a bit too harsh, too hot, and just did not deliver that Firebird tone he was trying to get, emulating his hero Kal David, whom he has had the pleasure of watching and even sitting in with many times at the Blue Guitar, in Palm Springs (a club which Kal owned at the time). So, we tried a few re-wiring and re-pup schemes, the final one of which had me swapping covers on a Gibson mini-humbucker from a Les Paul Deluxe for the bridge, and loading two ancient (NOT Antiquities!) Seymour Duncan mini-humbuckers for the neck and middle. We came close to achieving the desired tone, but the dang guitar squealed like a pig when played at anything approaching his "gigging" volume. In the mean time, I had also loaned him "Blondie the Dot," with which he fell in love and eventually purchased from me. So, the Epi Firebird became a failed experiment for him...

But I have always felt a certain affection for, and attraction to, Firebirds. I'm sure it started back in the mid-to-late-sixties, when, as a lad, I saw Cream live on what was (I believe) their last US tour. For that the show, Clapton played a single-pup Firebird throughout. Man, that axe was SMOKIN'!!! Totally mind blowing, for a teenage guitarist such as myself, who was raised on surf music and top-40.

Then, in the seventies, my bandmate in "Tacoma," Doug (aka "Lasoo") Latislaw, had one that he played nearly to death (in fact, he still has it, but in pieces - he's been planning to do the big rebuild and refinish for twenty years or so now). His was a real monstrosity - an unsual setup, with a pair of P-90s and the shorty "Junior" style vibrato tailpiece, it also had some homemade black pickguards on it when he got it - one in the traditional lower-bout spot, mirrored (more or less) by one on the upper-bout, and I believe one down the center piece, which also served as a the cover for the neck pup instead of the usual "dog earred" or "soapbar" cover. It was UGLY, but, man, could he get some TONE out of that thing! At one point in time, I had scrounged up a three-pup "non-reverse" Firebird (set-neck, not neck-through), outfitted with three P-90's, so we were both playing Firebirds on stage. Gee, I wish I'd kept that one...

Anyway, back to this one... I talked Mychael into trading it back to me for the balance due on a few other items. It was on the condition that I remove the pickguard (which Kal David had autographed) and return it to him, which I did. 'Net surfing, I found that a "repro" Firebird pickguard was gonna run me in the $35 - $50 range, and thought to myself, "Hey, don't I have some pickguard material around here, somewheres?" Indeed I did, so I cut myself out a "temporary" replacement from the black stock I had, and when I put it on the guitar - YIKES! IT'S THE SEVENTIES! The ghostly image of Lasoo's much-abused Firebird loomed before me!

Now I'll probably leave the temporary black pickguard on this guy for good - it just looks cool to me.
Holy nostalgia - this must be the "Tacoma" model!

Of course, you KNEW I wasn't gonna leave the pups and wiring alone, didn't you?

I pulled all the pups, and swapped the cover on the Les Paul mini back for its stock one, and put it aside. I dug out the Epi's original gold covers, took the covers off the Seymour Duncans, soldered up the gold ones, and loaded 'em back into the axe at the neck and bridge spots. I took one of the original Epi pups and re-wired it so that its coils were paralleled, instead of in series, and mounted it in the middle spot. I left the pup-selector as it had been "stock," selecting neck and/or bridge, and left two of the pots as the "blend" vol for the middle pup and a master tone. I re-wired one of the remaining pots as a master volume, and the fourth pot I replaced with the same rotary switch I use to build my FAT-O-Casters, but wired so that on this axe the three notches gave me NORMAL, BRIDGE AND NECK COIL-SHUNTED, and BRIDGE AND NECK IN SERIES/OUT OF PHASE. Now, I can REALLY get some TONES out of this beast!

With the middle pup wired coils-parallel, when you dial some of that mid pup in with any other pup combo, this thing quacks like a Fender duck. And the series/out of phase is just... beyond screaming! I must say that the Seymour Duncan in the bridge isn't as sweet as the LP mini was, but I can live with it for now; the S-D in the neck is as sweet as ever. Someday I may replace the S-D's with something less squealie - like Rio Grande's new mini-humbucker - just so Mychael can gig with this axe... But for now, it's mine, all mine!

Winter 2005: Trying to get this axe in a stage-playable state, I eBayed in some more mini-humbucker LOOKING pups. I had to lose the trick wiring, as these were just two-conductor, but once loaded, they sounded great - but the axe STILL SQUEALED. In frustration, I popped 'em off, turned 'em over, and filled them with SUPERGLUE! I know, I know, what a horrible idea, but here's my logic: Superglue is very thin, and should be able to seep into all the nooks and crannies, no? Besides, these pups were WAY cheap... Well, I filled 'em up to the edge of the cover, let it dry, and filled 'em again. Now for the ear test - hey, they still sound good.... but, OUCH! They STILL SQUEAL! So, I'm STILL looking for the magic replacement set for this axe... The tone quest continues!