Gibson famously hasn't a clue what it's doing. In 1960 it stopped making the Les Paul - yes only the most iconic guitar in rock - and it was only the likes of Page, Clapton and Green using it that made the company bring it back. Since then it hasn't shown any great common sense and has just announced the hideous monstrosity you see above - the Gibson Firebird X.

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Now there are some folks who really don't like anything new in guitar playing. They want a solid bodied guitar with some basic pickups attached to an all tube amp. Good for them. Me? I'm not against innovation, I use modellers, plugins and tube amps.

But what gets my goat about the Firebird X is Gibson's complete lack of knowledge of what Guitarists might actually like. Remember last year when the company brought out the Dusk Tiger - some interesting electronics packaged in the world's most ugly Les Paul?

The Firebird X is a similar beast. Gibson has created some interesting internals that push the guitar along and has chosen to install it in one of the ugliest guitars I've ever seen. Why not put it in a nice burst Les Paul? Would that have been too sensible?

And at US$5570 the design isn't the only insane thing about the Firebird X. Meanwhile if you want to see this kind of thing done properly check out the James Tyler Variax which is $4000 cheaper.