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Do not buy an epiphone thunderbird pro 5

brenner182

brenner182

Apr 24, 2010
1,036
31
37
Maryland
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#1
After waiting another two weeks, musicians friend sent me my replacement to the first one i bought.

And the second one was in worse condition than the first.

I open the box, and the first thing i notice is that teh epi box is all cut up and and beat. Then i open it and pull the bass out. It was the natural finish, but it looked like they did not even finish sanding it. There were numerous rough spots on the body and the neck that could still use sanding. Not having my rig at my house i go to my local music shop to try it out. BBBBBBBBBBBBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The neck pickup buzzed like there was no tomorrow. and sounded horrible. The pots were a slight bit better than the last one, but THEY WERE NOT EVEN IN THE RIGHT PLACES.
And to make matter worse, im playing it and i notice metal shavings stuck to the pup and it turns out one of the pup screws were stripped. Really? is this what we call quality control. So i proceed to check the other screws and the bottom strap button was also stripped out.

The last one said made in indonesia. this one said made in china. ***?!?

This is complete bull$#!^. I feel kinda bad in retrospect because i called musicians friend and flipped out on the CS rep. But i tiold him i was sorry and i know it was not his fault directly.

So once again, good ideas for a bass in the 600 Dollar range that are not ibanez? I hate ibenez.:mad::mad::mad:
 
#6
I'll second the MIM Fender recommendation. Their quality has improved greatly in the last couple years. Dunno what they have available in a fiver, though. Of course, buying online/unseen is risky at best anyway. As mentioned, TB classifieds might be a better option. Good luck...
 
#9
I don't own one myself, but for all of the ones that I've played, the Yamaha BB 414 is a totally EXCELLENT bass and I am absolutely close to pulling the trigger on one as soon as I can get some extra cash together. QC for those dudes must be a priority considering that I can walk into a couple of different shops, take one off the wall to find them all to be pretty well built. They sound good, too. Probably a different sound than what you might have been going after with the T-Bird Pro, but the sounds they make is pretty none the less...

EDIT: If 5 strings is your thing, the BB 415 is a good choice from what I've heard, too... Wouldn't know about them because I'm a 4 strings kind of guy...
 
#13
I used to think that "used" necessarily meant "banged up" (except for my own stuff, which I admit I baby obsessively).

But my current stable of basses (all TWO of them!) were both bought used. If I'd bought them new, then my stable would be only ONE bass. And both of them looked unplayed when I bought them.

I heartily recommend seeing what's available in your price range in the TB classifieds. If someone's got positive feedback there, they will give you the straight poop on what they're selling, and will answer whatever questions you have. You will get a MUCH better bass for your money going this route.
 
#18
I second the "go used" route.

With $600 you can find an instrument that would normally be $800 - $1000 new and in many cases it will only have some light wear.

Also, agree with Yamaha BB414/5, they're really well made for the $.
 

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