singlecoil replacement for epiphone thunderbird

[dreadfulcows]

I know this has been covered somewhat but I could use a little guidance....

I just built a fenderbird from an epiphone thunderbird body and a 51/telebass style fenderneck. I love the feel....big fat fender neck with a tru oil finish and a body that I can just put on my hip and anchor with the elbow.

Now it's time to get rid of the terrible epiphone thunderbird pickups. I'm a huge fan of ricks but, like most, can't afford them. The big maple neck definitely made for a brighter sound (cool in my book) and I'd like get a single coil bass pickup that can drop into the epi slots (yeah yeah, i know....a big part of the rick sound is placement, but to be honest, i'm not going for an exact rick sound).

It seems like all the replacement thunderbird pickups out there are humbuckers so school me on whats available for single coils replacements. I don't mind doing a touch of routing if they don't drop in perfectly (i had to route the neck pocket, so I'm not afraid) but something rick-ish would be nice. Whats up?

[Silens]

SGD Lutherie's Sidewinders are the only pickups that come to mind that drop in and are closest to single coil.

[Turxile]

Nordstrand Big Singles?

[Ric5]

Originally Posted by Turxile

Nordstrand Big Singles?

I was thinking that too ... check the dimensions ...

A t-bird or a fender-bird with big singles would be awesome.

[ctmullins]

Originally Posted by Ric5

I was thinking that too ... check the dimensions ...

A t-bird or a fender-bird with big singles would be awesome.

I'm pretty sure you should be able to order a pair of Big Singles in EMG 35 size, which should fit the TBird pickup routes.

I'd go with Big Splits, though. I recently scored a pair of five-string Big Splits in EMG 40 shells. I'm building a five-string TBird around them.