Gibson Firebrand SG: Juliana Hatfield's Long Term Electric Solution (Audio)
April 27, 2010
Juliana Hatfield plays a Gibson The Paul SG, an inelegant name for a stripped-down, great-sounding Gibson that not too many folks know about. This guitar, and the Gibson The Paul Firebrand, a lower cost option for those shopping for a Les Paul, are the precursors to the "Faded" and "Worn" LP iterations available today.
Hatfield has both a Gibson Firebrand SG and a 1969 SG. She talks to Gearwire about both, her love for Gibsons in general and about her upcoming music-career plans. Here most recent album is called Peace & Love, and album for which Hatfield served as producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter and performer. You can read more about it at her official webpage.
And check out this original print ad for the Gibson Firebrand series.
For more on Juliana Hatfield.
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The "SG", not the "Paul"
It was a Gibson The "SG" Deluxe Firebrand she played, not the "Paul".
Firebrand and The Paul
My dad bought me "The Paul", the Les Paul-shaped model, when I was in high school. I kept it for 20 years. The difference between "The Paul" and the Firebrand was that "The Paul" was made entirely of WALNUT (stained dark), while the Firebrand was made entirely of mahogany.
You could easily visually distinguish the two because "The Paul" in walnut had a gold Gibson headstock decal, while all the Firebrand models hat the Gibson logo BURNED into the headstock with a woodburner or brand, as in what you used to brand cattle.
The tone of The Paul in walnut was remarkably different than that of a mahogany Gibson. It was brighter and at the same time had less sustain.
Pat MacDonald of Timbuk3 relied on his walnut The Paul a great deal, I remember.
it's more confusing than that...
Gibson started in 1978/79 with "The SG" and "The Paul", which had the gold Gibson logo on a natural headstock. In 1980 they added Firebrand to the names and went to the branded logo. In 1981/82 they discontinued the Standard (walnut) version of each, and changed the Deluxe (mahogany) versions back to the gold Gibson logo, now on a black headstock, but they kept the Firebrand name until they discontinued them in 1985/86. Somewhat bizarre, isn't it?
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