Thunderbird Bridge

[captainrowd]

(This is an email I sent to Gibson support after being told it was impossible to get a replacement part over the phone)


While playing my Gibson Thunderbird onstage at a concert, my E string broke in mid song. I suppose the culprit was a mix of playing quite hard and too old/ weak on strings. I don't play music that requires brutal beatings of the bass guitar, but I do dance around very energetically to please the crowd. My crowd-pleasing tendency proved to be my downfall that night, for the saddle of the E string, no longer being held in by the string, came lose during the song and disappeared somewhere on or under the stage or maybe onto the floor. Most unfortunately, I did not notice this happen. Having only changed the strings once since purchasing the guitar in early December, I hadn't realized that the saddles had the ability to separate from the tailpiece of the bridge. This came as a horrific shock to me 24 hours later, when I attempted to restring my Thunderbird and noticed there was no saddle for my E string. Despite over four hours of scouring the venue for my lost saddle, I was not able to find it. I tried to call Gibson support but was unable to have my voice heard, because due to the fact that my bass is older/ I am not the first owner, there is no way for me to get a replacement saddle on my Thunderbird. This was, obviously, the biggest disappointment of all. Having spent more on gibson products than on my computer and my first semester of college at Cal State San Marcos combined, I feel absolutely crestfallen at having to accept that my bass will never be whole again, because of a 2 inch piece of metal and a warranty technicality. To make things better, I bought the replacement saddles from Allparts.com, only to find out that they're made for the set-neck EB bass (SG) and are nowhere NEAR as tall as the Thunderbird saddles.

I sent this story to Gibson and the representative told me he would request that a saddle be sent to me as a courtesy, so don't go burning your Gibson's yet, but if I don't get the courtesy. . . does anyone know where I can get an actual E-string saddle?

[aquateen]

you can try checking some vintage parts places on line, like classicax.com, or even ebay. or you can use the allparts saddles, just replace all of them and then raise the bridge posts a bit to compensate for the difference in the old and new saddles.

[Parabolic Box]

You could always replace the entire bridge with a Hipshot one (SuperTone) ....