Firebird
Classic Firebird Tone, Upgraded
Feel your Firebird like never before with Firebird Pickups by Lindy Fralin – clearer, more articulate, and full of power. Lindy optimized the original design for a quieter performance and a sweeter tone while featuring six new cover finishes to either match your guitar’s aesthetic or make it stand out. Featuring a versatile, hum-free tone that’s a bit thicker-sounding than our Mini Humbuckers, you’ll wonder why you didn’t make the switch sooner.
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Firebird Info:
Want to learn more about our Firebird? Here's all the information you'll need:
Features
We designed our Firebird replacements to work with both original and re-issue models. These pickups are renowned for their rich tone and precise articulation, offering unmatched versatility across musical styles. Crafted with 100% USA-made parts, our Firebird pickups are a testament to our commitment to quality and durability. They significantly improve the original design, featuring a slightly thicker midrange than our Mini Humbuckers.
Features:
- Compensated Output And Tone with a Stock Neck and +4% Bridge
- Six USA-made Cover finishes – create something unique
- USA-Made AlNiCo 5 Bar Magnets for a smooth, full-range tone
- Built with all USA-made parts in Richmond, VA
- Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
- Hand-built for unrivaled quality control
- 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects
Sound
Our Firebird pickups are the perfect solution to escape a shrill-sounding guitar. Our Firebirds sound full, with extended range and excellent articulation, clarity, and dynamics. The lows are bouncy and rich, whereas the highs are round and clear.
We also feature three outputs – Stock, +4%, and +8%, depending on your music style. Our overwound set, a +4% Neck and an +8% Bridge, will get even dirtier quicker and features a darker tone that’s also thicker in the midrange than our Stock set.
Outputs:
Our recommended setup is a Stock Neck and a +4% Bridge. This set features a clear and clean Neck tone with a balanced Bridge tone in terms of output, highs, mids, and lows.
You can opt for an overwound set with a +4% Neck and a +8% Bridge. This yields more power and midrange and will certainly break up quicker and easier than our stock set.
Of course, if you wanted a traditional Vintage Firebird tone, you can go with a Stock Output Neck and a Stock Output Bridge. Both pickups will have the same output and might yield a brighter, snappier tone from the bridge.
Sound Samples for Firebird:
About this Sound Clip:
All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.
Tonal Graph For Firebird:
The tonal graph below for our Firebird features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Stock Firebird:
Attack: Bright & Sharp
+4 Firebird:
Attack: Dynamic & Full
+8% Firebird:
Attack: Soft & Round
Tech Specs:
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Firebird.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Stock Ohm Reading: | 6.8K* 1 |
| +4% Ohm Reading: | 10K* 1 |
| +8% Ohm Reading: | 11K* 1 |
| Magnet Wire Material: | USA-Made 42 / 43 Single Poly Nylon Wire |
| Magnet Material: | USA-Made Alnico 5 |
| Baseplate Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| String Spacing: | 2.1" (53mm) |
| Cover Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| Polarity: | Reversible with 2-Conductor Lead |
| Recommended Cap Value: | 0.02mfd 2 |
Additional Technical Info:
1 Ohm Readings can vary due to a multitude of factors, including ambient temperature, multimeter calibration, different wire batches, and other factors. Due to this, ohm readings are approximate. Learn more about Ohm Readings here.
2 We recommend a 0.02mfd Cap Value on most guitar and bass pickups. The exception is a Magic Cap, which Lindy prefers on the Bridge Pickup of Fender® guitars only. Learn More about Caps Here.
* Ohm readings are approximate and can vary.
Polarity Information:
Here's how we wind and magnetize our pickups:
If you're buying a set from us, all pickups will work together seamlessly. If you're buying a single pickup, all you need to worry about is Coil Direction.
To ensure your pickup will work, make sure you select multiple leads (2-Conductor, 3-Conductor, or 4-Conductor if available), or the 3-Wire modification so you can reverse the coil direction, if need be.
Lead Options
See below for our Lead color codes. For help with matching to other manufacturers, check out this resource here.
Gibson Braided Lead
Gibson-Style instruments
Phase Reversible
Coil Splitting
2-Conductor Lead
Phase Reversible
Firebird Dimensions:
Firebird Dimensions:
Firebird Dimensions:
Firebird FAQ's
General FAQs
Here are quick answers to common questions we get:
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What Ohm Readings does your Firebird have?
Navigate to our Tech Specs Tab for complete Ohm Readings and more useful information.
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Will this pickup fit my instrument?
Check our "Sizing" tab for the size of the pickup. No Sizing tab? Check under the product image gallery for dimensions.
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Is your Lead Time of 3 Weeks accurate?
It depends on the shop capacity at the moment, and the size of your order. Feel free to give us a call for an accurate lead time. We always try to beat our estimated Lead Times.
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What pickup height do you recommend setting your Firebirds to?
Our recommended Pickup Height is 1/8" (3.175mm) on the Bass Side and 1/16"( 1.5875mm) on the Treble Side. To measure, hold the correct side down at its highest fret. Then, measure from the bottom of the string to the top of the pole piece.
Product FAQ's
People frequently ask these questions about our Firebird. If you have a question that you don't see listed here, click "Ask" in the Quick Links section above.
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What outputs should I choose?
While you can choose Stock output on both pickups for a vintage Gibson Tone, we recommend a Stock output Neck and a +4% Bridge. Our recommended set gives you more balance in the Neck and Bridge.
If you’re looking for more output and a thicker tone, our +4% Neck and +8% Bridge are available. This set is much quicker to get dirty and has a thicker midrange.
Customer Reviews
30 Genuine Reviews for Firebird
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Love them. These replaced the stock pickups in an Epi Uptown Kat, an amazingly good guitar for the money, but the stock pickups were the typical overwound things that seem to sound pretty good until you compare them with something better. The new pickups are clearer, more responsive to changes in attack, more MUSICAL. Money well spent! (Hi, Lindy! It’s Ira from The Rage…)
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I regularly use this pickup in the neck position of my telecaster builds. Love the blues tones.
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Gibson Firebird Pickups are notorious for being weak and uneven, so I thought I’d upgrade with Fralins. Now the Guitar is singing. Terrific!
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When folks say “clarity” they really aren’t kidding. I found these pickups initially a bit difficult to adjust to, because I’m used to dealing with pickups with more limited bandwidth and more built-in limitations. The real a-ha moment for me was wiring these through a pickup re-voicer circuit (search for “Green Gizmo”) which made me realize that they just never stop sounding great even as you shift the resonant peak *far* toward bass frequencies.
In other words: these pickups have all of the highs and mids and bass you could ever want, and because of that, you can dial in practically any sound you want. With everything as-is, they’re so beautiful for very clean or jazz tones. Gain works great: roll back some bass + your distortion will be so tight. Bring up the mids and bring the treble down and you’re into more classic humbucker territory. Or leave it all up and run it through some fuzz and just blow everybody’s minds.
FWIW I’ve got these wired into a 1966 Yamaha SA-5 hollow-body. In my opinion it’s a beautiful match.
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The Gibson Bicentennial Firebird pickups I had in my Les Paul Goldtop certainly opened the door for me with this style of pickup, and I am grateful for them. However, I truly feel like I have come home now when I feel the inspiring open responsiveness of my Fralin Firebird bridge (4% overwind.) Great match with the Big Single Mini 43 in the neck. Middle position is truly remarkable now. Thank you Jon for that recommendation! I’m also originally from Richmond, so REALLY feels like coming home! Highly, HIGHLY recommend these pickups in your Firebird. (Or any other guitar for that matter!) Thank you so much. My Goldbird has never felt better!!!
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Absolutely phenomenal Firebird pickups. Keep doing what you’re doing.
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The perfect Firebird pickup with the right balance. It sounds awesome! Thank you guys for the support and excellent service.
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I’m using a Fralin Firebird neck pickup in a Jazzcaster and the results have been fantastic. The clarity and responsiveness are fantastic, while the versatility surprised me. I can get fantastic fat Strat sounds from the Firebird, as well as some light- to medium-gain lead tones. This pickup is especially good for people playing through modelers. The clarity and higher output works better for me than my traditional Strat single coils when playing through my Boss GX-100 or my mate’s Line 6 HX Stomp. For various reasons I don’t fully understand, it’s easier to get the Strat neck pickup sound in my head with a Fralin Firebird than it is using an actual Strat neck pickup playing through the modelers I use.
In two months the Fralin Firebird has become one of my favorite pickups of any kind. This is one of those rare occasions when I had high expectations for a product and they were exceeded. Thanks to Lindy and his crew for making a phenomenal pickup that motivates me to play more.
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Color me impressed! Rich, full bodied tone with the uncommon benefit of added clarity, I’d say Fralin Firebird mini HBs bridge the gap between a warm and beefy tone and sparkly, lively highs. Bar magnets mean no suboptimal pole spacing at the neck, whilst I feel the full nuances of one’s playing come true. I’m a fingerpicker and these are outstanding pickups for this technique, as far as I’m concerned! These also happen to be some of the best looking on the market, in my opinion, and the ring mounts makes adjusting the height a breeze! Fantastic pickups!
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I got the 4% overwound for the bridge. This is one of the most balanced pickups I’ve ever played and it sounds incredible. Blown away by this pup.
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