My only bass now is this exact Thunderbird, but in white. When poopie happens and I need to sell all of my other basses, this is the one to keep. Sire V7 first gen, American Traditional J, 70s RI MIJ P
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NBD: 2019 Epiphone Vintage Pro Thunderbird
- Thread starter /\/\3phist0
- Start date
Sorry you had to sell some. Been there. But at least you have a white Thunderbird!
Ok did the surgery.
New pots and cap
Went with modern wiring
Original A500k tone pot audio taper
The original wiring harness
New harness
***process notes:
2x500k Tocos 10% tolerance Linear taper pots
1x250k Tocos 10% tolerance Audio taper pot.
1x.047 cap.
Skipped shielding , mainly because I ran out of tape which comes Friday , but did not want to wait.
Wired traditional “modern” wiring.
Made all wires only as long as necessary.
The shafts are US spec, so the holes in the body needed to be opened up.
The original harness used shielded TINY gauge wire coax.
Replaced with thicker fine strand tinned high grade silicone jacketed wire at all points.
Reassembled, assessment:
The pots have a pleasing amp control like smooth resistance.
With the new knobs this feels particularly solid.
Tone:
Audibly not much/no tonal change all controls dimed, no surprise.
The stock pot did little to nothing most of the rotation , even fully shut it was still too bright.
After update, start to dim the tone, and the taper cuts treble smoothly to about 6/8’s of the rotation after that it progresses a bit faster. The .047 cap shaves off more of the treble, but leaves the mids alone till about that same 6/8’s and then starts to pull down high mids. Exactly as I wanted it!
The volumes:
There is SO much more range, blending the pickups works more effectively. The volume drops smoothly: when one pickup employed, and the other shuttered.
Bring up the turned down pickup, and almost immediately its influence can be heard.
The loading from the other pickup becomes more evident at about the 3/4 to full volume.
With the stock alpha pots, there was SO LITTLE room at the end of the rotation, that it was fiddly to find the sweet spot.
Now there is 1/4 of the turn to blend !
That’s all for now.
New pots and cap
Went with modern wiring
Original A500k tone pot audio taper
The original wiring harness
New harness
***process notes:
2x500k Tocos 10% tolerance Linear taper pots
1x250k Tocos 10% tolerance Audio taper pot.
1x.047 cap.
Skipped shielding , mainly because I ran out of tape which comes Friday , but did not want to wait.
Wired traditional “modern” wiring.
Made all wires only as long as necessary.
The shafts are US spec, so the holes in the body needed to be opened up.
The original harness used shielded TINY gauge wire coax.
Replaced with thicker fine strand tinned high grade silicone jacketed wire at all points.
Reassembled, assessment:
The pots have a pleasing amp control like smooth resistance.
With the new knobs this feels particularly solid.
Tone:
Audibly not much/no tonal change all controls dimed, no surprise.
The stock pot did little to nothing most of the rotation , even fully shut it was still too bright.
After update, start to dim the tone, and the taper cuts treble smoothly to about 6/8’s of the rotation after that it progresses a bit faster. The .047 cap shaves off more of the treble, but leaves the mids alone till about that same 6/8’s and then starts to pull down high mids. Exactly as I wanted it!
The volumes:
There is SO much more range, blending the pickups works more effectively. The volume drops smoothly: when one pickup employed, and the other shuttered.
Bring up the turned down pickup, and almost immediately its influence can be heard.
The loading from the other pickup becomes more evident at about the 3/4 to full volume.
With the stock alpha pots, there was SO LITTLE room at the end of the rotation, that it was fiddly to find the sweet spot.
Now there is 1/4 of the turn to blend !
That’s all for now.
Last edited:
OT question: how are those hangers attached to the wall?Again: cannot leave well enough alone!
TRC screws now black
Pickguard screws now black
Control plate screws now black.
Black knobs!!
Opened her up: what nice clean wiring.
No cavity shieldingwill copper tape when replacing the pots.
Already B500k linear Alphas !? Nice.
(Tokyo Cosmos wil still be an improvement)
I have no idea what the cap value is, or the tone pot resistance.
Plate has shielding.
Cousins
GREAT .
Sleek sturdy, stable (a few earthquakes)
Highly recommend
If your ask is the mounting process to the wall?
Mine are screwed to studs, hence the spacing.
Last edited:
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It’s a keeper, updated tuners, relocated front pin to the upper horn, added 6oz tungsten weights to the cavity: no dive.
