Sometime after I started taking lessons in 1966/67 I had a 1965 Firebird to use. My teacher, Big Red, was a session guitarist at the studio where I took lessons. He said he had a recording session coming up and really needed a Telecaster to use. He said mine was one of the nicer ones he knew of around Sherwood, AK and that he’d trade me his Firebird for my Tele. If after the session I didn’t like the Firebird he’d swap back. Mind you I was all of around 10 years old at the time. I said sure and he took my Tele and gave me his Firebird.
I now had what seemed at the time to be this huge green guitar. I remember looking at it thinking this thing is really fancy and pretty. But I could barely hold the thing. It was almost impossible for me to play. I’m sure I looked funny trying to play it at church. Below are some pictures I found on the web that match pretty closely to how I remember the guitar.
A few weeks later when my lessons resumed with Big Red he said “Ok you want to keep it?”. I immediately said no. It was just too big. It made me appreciate my Telecaster more. I’m pretty sure Big Red knew I wouldn’t want to keep his Firebird.
As a side note while we lived outside of Sherwood, AK, Big Red became more of mentor to me than just a teacher. I’d hangout at the studio and clean guitars, tune drums heads and dust around the front store. He’d have friends drop in from time to time when they were in town. At the time I didn’t know who they were but years later I found who they were. Oh my I wish I was better informed back then. They all treated me well. Great times. More on these tales on my Influences page.