Fender feel with a Thunderbird sound?

[mittens89]

Are there any basses out there that have the comfy body of a Fender but with that amazing sound of a Gibson Thunderbird?

Or am I actually going to have to build this beast?

 

[Ilikejazzbass]

John Entwistle did that. He put the neck of a fender on a thunderbird. I wish I never would have sold my thunderbird cause now I'm stuck with a bronco bass. Its a cool bass, but compared to the bird man. I had an epiphone though not a gibson.

 

[Kevin_BlueBASS]

The Neck-Thru construction of the real T-Bird has a lot to do with the overall tonal characteristics....
I'd say you're gonna have to build this but you also could have a T-Bird's neck re-profiled by a luther for a flatter neck like a Fender...?

 

[meRTKendrew]

Are there any basses out there that have the comfy body of a Fender but with that amazing sound of a Gibson Thunderbird?

Or am I actually going to have to build this beast?

I think that means not a Fenderbird.


-RTK

 

[Ilikejazzbass]

Oh. Dude you should be able to emulate that sound. There are a million fender like bodies with fat humbuckers in em.

 

[Govier966]

try something made of mahogany with humbuckers

 

[tom once dead]

Line 6 Variax?

 

[Andy Walhor]

I expect Mike Lull would do that for you. Or you could buy a set of his T-Bass pickups and install them in a bass you like.

http://www.mikelull.com/

 

[Showdown]

Find a Gibson IV. Made in the late 80s, they had mahogany neck and body, set neck and Thunderbird pickups, but with a Fenderish body, wide P size neck. Tbird sound, Fender body. They can be found cheap, around $500. The only downside is the pointy headstock.

Here is mine (when I bought it a previous owner had installed a Bartolini pickup in the bridge position, I have since replaced it with a Gibson Tbird Plus like it originally had):

It sounds remarkably like a Thunderbird (I own 2 Thunderbirds and have compared them).

 

[mittens89]

Yeah, I've seen those Gibson IV's around but the cheapest I've seen them for is about $1500-1600 Australian, so I'm thinking it's going to be cheaper (and possibly easier) to build something similar.

 

[Simo98]

Get a Jazz, do a little bit of routing and jam some T-Bird pickups in there, hey presto.

Id like to do this at some point, only the T-Bird pickups seem to be hard to come by. Anyone know where you can get them or something similar as an aftermarket part?

 

[Showdown]

Get a Jazz, do a little bit of routing and jam some T-Bird pickups in there, hey presto.

Id like to do this at some point, only the T-Bird pickups seem to be hard to come by. Anyone know where you can get them or something similar as an aftermarket part?

The Gibson pickups are hard to find, but come up occasionally on eBay. Mike Lull makes a really good copy of the original 60s Tbird pickups, but they are kind of pricey. I think Seymour Duncan can custom make Tbird pickups, but again kind of pricey. Bartolini makes a replacement for them, but it doesn't sound the same.

That is all that I know of.

 

[drewfx]

What about the Lollar Epi T-Bass replacements? Or are they a totally different animal?

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drewfx

 

[Demonator]

So like a Fender P that sounds like a Thunderbird? Change the pickups?

 

[Showdown]

So like a Fender P that sounds like a Thunderbird? Change the pickups?

It won't sound exactly like a tbird, because of its woods and construction.

 

[stiles72]

What about a Bach NR Thunderbird?

 

[coronado3]

Just get a mahagony p or jazz body from warmoth and have them cut it for t-bird pickups... Put on your fav fenderish neck (or get a mahagony neck from warmoth) and you are there!