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357 balance


loudtubeamps

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Howdy, I've  had the opportunity to play a couple of Gibby Firebirds over the past week or so.

Both suffered from neck dive . I can see a switch up to a lightweight tuner would help somewhat.

 I am going to hold out for the right 357 even though a good used Gibby can be had for $1500.00 CDN +-

My question: How is the neck dive/ balance on the 357's?

Thanks in advance and have a good day ya'll!

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I don't know about the 357, but my tech guy is one of the best. He and his father in law, who is Dan Roberts formerly of Santa Cruz Guitars and now of Dan Roberts Stringworks swear that all Gibbons's eventually develop what Marcus calls the "Gibbons Ski Jump." He is more meticulous than most and I trust him completely. Since the Heritage's are basically old Gibbons designs, they usually develop this at some point...at least according to them. My older Heritage's like my 1980s !70 and 140 have had to have a little work done in that way, and I am just okay with it. I picked up an 80s LP Custom lite and damned if it didn't have the same issue. Not a big deal for me.

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15 hours ago, rwinking said:

I don't know about the 357, but my tech guy is one of the best. He and his father in law, who is Dan Roberts formerly of Santa Cruz Guitars and now of Dan Roberts Stringworks swear that all Gibbons's eventually develop what Marcus calls the "Gibbons Ski Jump." He is more meticulous than most and I trust him completely. Since the Heritage's are basically old Gibbons designs, they usually develop this at some point...at least according to them. My older Heritage's like my 1980s !70 and 140 have had to have a little work done in that way, and I am just okay with it. I picked up an 80s LP Custom lite and damned if it didn't have the same issue. Not a big deal for me.

 

very-interesting.jpg

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21 hours ago, rwinking said:

I don't know about the 357, but my tech guy is one of the best. He and his father in law, who is Dan Roberts formerly of Santa Cruz Guitars and now of Dan Roberts Stringworks swear that all Gibbons's eventually develop what Marcus calls the "Gibbons Ski Jump." He is more meticulous than most and I trust him completely. Since the Heritage's are basically old Gibbons designs, they usually develop this at some point...at least according to them. My older Heritage's like my 1980s !70 and 140 have had to have a little work done in that way, and I am just okay with it. I picked up an 80s LP Custom lite and damned if it didn't have the same issue. Not a big deal for me.

Firebirds don't typically develop the ski jump as they are neck through. Most set neck and many bolt on neck guitars develop some sort of ski jump for humidity acclimation.

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That makes sense...

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Marv did a couple things to fix the Gibbons/Monkey Firebird neck dive:

body is thicker & therefore heavier

headstock is smaller & lighter

grover mini tuning pegs are smaller and much lighter

I have never had neck dive with any H-357 I played

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8 hours ago, bolero said:

Marv did a couple things to fix the Gibbons/Monkey Firebird neck dive:

body is thicker & therefore heavier

headstock is smaller & lighter

grover mini tuning pegs are smaller and much lighter

I have never had neck dive with any H-357 I played

I've played a few 357's and I'd have to agree, I've never experienced a nose-dive.  Even the prototype Brent had was not diving either.

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9 hours ago, bolero said:

Marv did a couple things to fix the Gibbons/Monkey Firebird neck dive:

body is thicker & therefore heavier

headstock is smaller & lighter

grover mini tuning pegs are smaller and much lighter

I have never had neck dive with any H-357 I played

bolero  or anyone else here.....Care to share your experiences - thoughts - opinion with respect to the 357's you have played?

Never having the pleasure, I'm interested in thoughts re: comfort of the neck profile, etc: From what I have read they can be rather chunky?

 I see where owners who were ecstatic when first taking possession later sold them off, I'm wondering why, other than the obvious dopamine rush and associated GAS .

Personally I love the look of the natural finishes and I am a big fan of neck throughs.

Cheers everyone!

hotryd2hwr2odshnusjr.jpg

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1 hour ago, loudtubeamps said:

bolero  or anyone else here.....Care to share your experiences - thoughts - opinion with respect to the 357's you have played?

Never having the pleasure, I'm interested in thoughts re: comfort of the neck profile, etc: From what I have read they can be rather chunky?

 I see where owners who were ecstatic when first taking possession later sold them off, I'm wondering why, other than the obvious dopamine rush and associated GAS .

Personally I love the look of the natural finishes and I am a big fan of neck throughs.

Cheers everyone!

hotryd2hwr2odshnusjr.jpg

You're in luck then, most 357's have finishes that you can see the wood grain.  All are five piece neck-through.  Rather expensive, but revolutionary idea from way back in the day.  

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I should revise one of those statements:

" the body is thicker and therefore heavier IN RELATION TO THE HEADSTOCK" not necessarily heavier than a firebird's...obviously wood varies

I think the body outline may even be a bit larger than a firebird?

the older versions of the 357 might have had thinner necks, from the original production run 198x-199x ( not 100% sure on years they were made )

post 2004 or so, the "Marv Birds" all seem pretty chunky.

Who knows why people cycle through guitars? they are expensive, so if you need $ it's an obvious choice

I have played a bunch of them and they have all been great

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bolerothe older versions of the 357 might have had thinner necks, from the original production run 198x-199x ( not 100% sure on years they were made )

post 2004 or so, the "Marv Birds" all seem pretty chunky.

Thanks for this  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, very useful info when on safari. ;)

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On 10/21/2020 at 3:11 PM, rockabilly69 said:

Firebirds don't typically develop the ski jump as they are neck through. Most set neck and many bolt on neck guitars develop some sort of ski jump for humidity acclimation.

I agree, the guitars that have a fretboard that go past the neck seem to do that ski jump thing.  Played an old Gibbons ES-125 that was really bad.

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