1963 "EC" Gibson Firebird I David Hollestelle - Herman Brood & His Wild Romance

Another rare axe that is at the peak of our private collection! - NOT FOR SALE
 
All original, no cracks, no breaks, pots date to '63
 
In 1982 David Hollestelle was on tour in Germany with Herman Brood & His Wild Romance when he noticed this beautiful FireBird I in a shop window at No.1 Guitar Center Talstraße 70, Hamburg. Head over heels in love, David asked for the price but it was a hefty DM3600 which was a SHITLOAD of money at the time. In love but not able to buy it, he left it hanging in the Shop but it never left his mind. 
 
Next year David was again on tour in Hamburg, checked out the store and low and behold: the Bird was still there! He asked his management for a pre-payment on his tour money, haggled the price down to DM2600 and purchased the Bird there and then. The 3rd picture is David holding the bird in his Hamburg hotel room on December 20, 1983
 
The year after David went on another tour in Germany with Herman Brood & His Wild Romance and went back to the same Store to see what else he could buy. When he entered the shop, the manager asked David if he still had that Firebird. David confirmed and the manager told him they wanted to buy back the guitar they sold him. David didn't bring the Bird but after talking a while to them they finally disclosed why: They had done some research, checked old concert pics and stories and they seemingly had found a picture of Eric Clapton holding this very guitar that was also linked to Dave Mason (Traffic). No.1 Guitar Center had purchased it in London and apparently it was once sold to Eric Clapton (Cream, Blind Faith) who purchased 2 Firebird I guitars, kept 1 of them and gave the other one to to Dave Mason from Traffic. The manager told David to check underneath the pickguard when back at home as most likely, according to the shop owner in London who sold the guitar originally, it should have "EC" carved underneath. 
 
Couple of months later when back from touring David was cleaning the guitar and removed the pickguard. To his surprise underneath the pickguard scratched in the finish were just 2 letters: "EC"...
 
About the Gibson Firebird:
So, it was that in 1963, Gibson introduced its new Fender-rivaling solidbody, the Firebird. The design had strong links with the failed Explorer, which had already been discontinued.
 
Nonetheless, Gibson hoped that a new spirit of innovation would win the day. The company hired an outside designer to create the Firebird, someone who would not be limited by traditional approaches to guitar design and who would reconsider the way an electric could look and work.
 
Ray Dietrich had been a legendary car designer for 50 years. He started in the drawing office of a small company in 1913, and over the next few decades established the idea of the custom car- body designer.
 
Based in New York City and then Detroit, Dietrich headed a number of firms, including his own, LeBaron Carrossiers, designing and building luxury car bodies and working for brands such as Lincoln, Packard, Duesenberg and Ford. Some of his best work was done in the 30s, when he designed the striking Chrysler Airstream.
 
He founded Raymond Dietrich Inc in 1949 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Four years later he returned to consulting work, and in 1960, at the age of 66, he retired to Kalamazoo.
 
One of the ways Dietrich whiled away his retirement was to give talks on his life in car design. Gibson boss Ted McCarty happened to go along to one, and afterwards, he introduced himself and asked if Dietrich would be interested in designing a guitar.
 
Dietrich agreed, and Gibson hired him to devise a new solidbody electric line. He eventually came up with the design we know as the Firebird, but at first it didn’t have a name.
 
“I was sitting in my office one day with Ray and a couple of the other fellas,” McCarty later recalled, “and we were trying to come up with a name for this thing. He said, ‘Why don’t you call it Phoenix?’ I said, ‘Phoenix, that’s the firebird, the old story of rising from the ashes.’ So, that’s where the name Firebird came from. And Ray also designed the firebird logo that’s on the pickguard.”
 
The new models appeared in Gibson’s 1963 catalogue, with the blurb insisting the Firebirds were a “revolutionary new series of solidbody guitars. Exciting in concept, exciting to play. You’ll find a whole new world of sound and performance potential... plus that sharpness in the treble and deep, biting bass... A completely new and exciting instrument that offers all the sound, response, fast action, and wide range that could be desired.”
 
There were four Firebirds for the 1963 launch – I, III, V, and VII – each with different appointments but following the same overall design and build. The missing numbers II and IV went to two complementary Thunderbird basses, but there was no VI.
 
Gibson announced the new line just before the July 1963 NAMM show in Chicago, and they first appeared on a July price list, with production starting about three months later.