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Gibson Thunderbird - Year unknown for restoration.

Auspis

Auspis

Jun 9, 2025
74
75
#1
Hello, i have this bass body and neck, my fathers bass, he had some troubles with the neck (I think) and he wanted to restore it.. never did it in the end.

I would like to get some advises here, if this stuff can be used by an enthusiast, to restore that bass. What would be the year and the model and if it's worth something.
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This is my father with the bass many years ago, probably in the early 80s, maybe late 70s pretty sure it's the same bass.
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The complete gallery
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I've got some hardware but some parts are missing, the fretboard I don't have that, the frets.. I'll take pictures of the hardware later.
 
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#3
Since we are here, I also have a tiny bass Burswood with missing knobs.I'd like to know if a person could look for something like that.. the AI tells me it that it might be old.

Do you see any value in this tiny bass?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#6
That's definitely worth bringing back! That's a 66-69 Nonreverse Thunderbird. Great basses I've been playing them since '77 🙂😎 I have Reproduction Thunderbird parts available, pickguards, tug bars, tailpieces and the Badbird Bridge the only direct replacement for 66-69 Gibson Thunderbirds, " intonation without modification "
 
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#7
Auspis said:
Since we are here, I also have a tiny bass Burswood with missing knobs.I'd like to know if a person could look for something like that.. the AI tells me it that it might be old.

Do you see any value in this tiny bass?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...
Tiny how? what's the scale length? (Can you measure the distance between the nut (where the zero fret would be) and the 12th fret, and then multiply the result by 2?)
This seems to be a rare find, but one of those where the market value will probably be low.
 
#8
Miles_ONeal said:
If the serial number is still visible on the back of the headstock, that will help with date determination.
It's not going to be worth anywhere close to what a complete Thunderbird in good condition would be. The value will definitely depend on what original hardware is available.
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No serial numbers.

godofthunder59 said:
That's definitely worth bringing back! That's a 66-69 Nonreverse Thunderbird. Great basses I've been playing them since '77 🙂😎 I have Reproduction Thunderbird parts available, pickguards, tug bars, tailpieces and the Badbird Bridge the only direct replacement for 66-69 Gibson Thunderbirds, " intonation without modification "
Click to expand...
I bet it was a great bass! Thanks for the infos about the parts. :)
 
#9
HaphAsSard said:
Tiny how? what's the scale length? (Can you measure the distance between the nut (where the zero fret would be) and the 12th fret, and then multiply the result by 2?)
This seems to be a rare find, but one of those where the market value will probably be low.
Click to expand...
Looks like this the Burswood is 40" long against the T-Bird that is 50 inches long.
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#10
Auspis said:
No serial numbers.


I bet it was a great bass! Thanks for the infos about the parts. :)
Click to expand...
The serial number "may" be under paint or finish on the back of the HS. It's possible some if the stamp remains but has been filled in with paint. If you remove the finish, it may begin to show up. I would hate to think someone would have sanded so much that it was removed, but people can get carried away sanding. But there's no good or typical reason to sand the back of the HS that much--unless damaged.
 
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#13
Auspis said:
Hello, i have this bass body and neck, my fathers bass, he had some troubles with the neck (I think) and he wanted to restore it.. never did it in the end.

I would like to get some advises here, if this stuff can be used by an enthusiast, to restore that bass. What would be the year and the model and if it's worth something.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

This is my father with the bass many years ago, probably in the early 80s, maybe late 70s pretty sure it's the same bass.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The complete gallery
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I've got some hardware but some parts are missing, the fretboard I don't have that, the frets.. I'll take pictures of the hardware later.
Click to expand...
You definitely came to the right place to get info on your dad’s bass. If I were you I’d follow up with godofthunder59. He’ll steer you right on Thunderbirds.
 
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#14
If your interested in "restoring " your dads Tbird, with original parts, good luck with your searches, and prepare for sticker shock. I just finished restoring a 61 Epiphone Newport and couldn't believe what original parts for old Gibsons are going for.
I finally embraced the "reproduction " parts to make it a player bass instead of a wall-hanger museum piece. Even that cost me some coin!
But you definitely gotta get that cool old bird back in shape. Its your dads bass!! 😉👆
 
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#16
Pdaddy1978 said:
If your interested in "restoring " your dads Tbird, with original parts, good luck with your searches, and prepare for sticker shock. I just finished restoring a 61 Epiphone Newport and couldn't believe what original parts for old Gibsons are going for.
I finally embraced the "reproduction " parts to make it a player bass instead of a wall-hanger museum piece. Even that cost me some coin!
But you definitely gotta get that cool old bird back in shape. Its your dads bass!! 😉👆
Click to expand...
Yeah it's my dads bass, I need to do something about this for sure.. I've got his second Thunderbird as well from the early 90s, that one is fully functional. I'll have to learn and to become a Gibson Thunderbird player. :)

He loved the unusual design of that bass. And frankly it's just recently that I started to highly appreciate it as well,

***

Here some pics of the head. I examined it and couldn't see a serial number.. I think it's the original paint and there is a gray white primer under. The neck was partially fractured and repaired as well. An accident happened there.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#17
Auspis said:
Yeah it's my dads bass, I need to do something about this for sure.. I've got his second Thunderbird as well from the early 90s, that one is fully functional. I'll have to learn and to become a Gibson Thunderbird player. :)

He loved the unusual design of that bass. And frankly it's just recently that I started to highly appreciate it as well,

***

Here some pics of the head. I examined it and couldn't see a serial number.. I think it's the original paint and there is a gray white primer under. The neck was partially fractured and repaired as well. An accident happened there.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...
Yeah , well, its a Gibson.
So a broken headstock is par for the course. 🤷‍♂️
 
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#18
Not a Gibson man, but that is going to need a lot of specialized work done to it. The fretboard is off and it kinda looks like the truss rod is missing. Maybe this was done in an attempt to repair the headstock. A lot depends on whether you have the missing parts or not. The mini bass is some sort of Asian brand I guess and is not going to be worth much as far as I know. The scale length of an instrument is the length of the string that actually vibrates. Measure from the bridge saddles to the nut (the grooved part that holds the strings in place at the headstock).
 
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#20
Auspis said:
Yes

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Danke.

bcbassman said:
The other bass looks tiny. IDK the scale is prob. less than 30"
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Fender_Bender said:
The scale length of an instrument is the length of the string that actually vibrates. Measure from the bridge saddles to the nut (the grooved part that holds the strings in place at the headstock).
Click to expand...
Miles_ONeal said:
Scale length is nut to 12th fret, then double that.
Click to expand...
Judging from [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] in post #15 above, scale length indeed seems to be a little under the 30" short-scale 'standard': namely 29.25" or thereabouts.

The neck seems to be slim side-to-side (38mm tops, I believe); string spacing at the bridge is, I think, standard 19mm.
The body was designed to be proportionally smaller (the standard Precision-style, split-coil pickup wasn't, of course, which throws things a little off-balance visually), which is not always the case.

Overall, a very compact affair, but neck specs being very close to those sported by most shortie basses makes it attractive to a short-scale aficionado.
(As opposed to being significantly smaller than that, which was what sparked my initial curiosity. Guitar-scale basses (22-26") have existed since the late Fifties, and also have their fans: we're talking of a minority within a minority, though.)
*Not* to the point of realistically expecting to make good money out of it, I reiterate: brand is the generic China import affair
post #15 above
ergo not collectable in the least.

Here's its twin, by the way:

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