Epiphone - 1963 Firebird V Maestro Vibrola Reissue Polaris White + Etui

It's not every day you get your hands on a guitar designed by a car designer. The Epiphone Firebird V Reissue is inspired by the model designed by Ray Dietrich for Gibson in 1963, with its conductive neck that runs right through the body. This atypical construction offers formidable resonance, generous sustain and playing comfort that almost makes you want to put your other guitars in the wardrobe... or lend them to a (meticulous) friend.

Remember those instruments that sound as if they've already been played, even before you put your fingers on them? That's the effect produced by the profile of this Epiphone's SlimTaper Rounded C neck, with its fingerboard edges rounded like a warm handshake. The mother-of-pearl markings, the medium jumbo frets, the banjo-style tuning machines signed Kluson... Everything here evokes a precise and assertive past, without falling into the trap of a fixed copy. It takes up the codes without freezing them, with just the right amount of modernity to avoid feeling trapped in a museum reconstruction.

We could talk about the Firebird mini humbucker USA pickups and their nervous, precise grain, but you only have to plug them in to understand. Combined with quality electronics (CTS, Mallory, Switchcraft), they faithfully translate what you're playing, even when you're improvising a cover of Roxy Music in the shower. With the Maestro Vibrola, it's vibrant, modulated, but never muddled.

And for those who are sceptical about the look, there's no denying it: this Polaris White has that kind of casual elegance that you don't notice until afterwards... and which ends up winning you over. There's a kind of well-channelled nostalgia in the finish, a nod to the 60s without the eph' leg and moustache combo.