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NBD Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage Pro
- Thread starter johnk_10
- Start date
Why not fit your own? Not a big job especially for you. I have to agree, inlays can be let down on guitars these days, details that make the all the difference from a personal level
godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
- 9,062
- 38,453
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
Your right of course Christine, just a matter of time I suppose .
I just posted this in the Thunderbird club, it may be of help to VP owners here as well...
Well I finally got around to removing the Cobalt Flats from my Eppi VP (which had been on for months and sounded great) to try the next string option with this TBird. On a club members recommendation I tried Fender Pure Nickel rounds. Here's the journey so far...
Stock VP strings - killer aggressive sound, tons of upper mids and lower mids, too much finger noise and fret clack for my tastes. Preference on a scale of one to ten (with 10 tops) = 7
DR Silver Stars - completely tamed the top end, beautiful bright silver color, reduced finger noise, lost the aggressive nature of the bass, tension seemed low compared to the stock strings. Preference on a scale of one to ten = 6
EB Cobalt Flats - sweet top end, brighter sounding than the Silver Stars but less finger noise than the stock strings, great bottom end and solid mids, very bright for a flat, maybe even brighter sounding than some nickel rounds, with tone knob rolled off a lot of note definition is lost. Preference on a scale of one to ten = 8
Fender 7150 Pure Nickel Rounds - not too much finger noise, very nice top end, ultra punchy, beautiful lower mids and lows, very nice tension, excellent note definition even with the tone knob rolled off. Approaching nirvana for me. Excellent option for finger players who like Cobalt Flats but want a tad crisper sound. Preference on a scale of one to ten = 9
After a month or two of play time I'll flip these out for Roto rounds, if anyone else has a string selection they recommend for the VP please speak up. I'm still looking for the perfect string for this bass.
Notes:
Tone preference = deep, dark, smooth, well defined, lower mid punch, sweet upper mids, no brittle highs, no finger noise.
Feel preference = tight, not floppy, not rubbery, slick, not sticky, not rough, well balanced tension across all strings.
Visual preference = not much, no gaudy silk colors.
Playing style = fingers only, no pick, no slap, no tap, no pop.
Right hand home position = between the neck pup and neck heel.
Tone knob position = at or less than 50% up.
Pup volume positions = neck solo or neck set at twice the volume of the bridge pup.
Music played = everything from hard rock to polka and waltz, mostly swing and classic/progressive rock.
Well I finally got around to removing the Cobalt Flats from my Eppi VP (which had been on for months and sounded great) to try the next string option with this TBird. On a club members recommendation I tried Fender Pure Nickel rounds. Here's the journey so far...
Stock VP strings - killer aggressive sound, tons of upper mids and lower mids, too much finger noise and fret clack for my tastes. Preference on a scale of one to ten (with 10 tops) = 7
DR Silver Stars - completely tamed the top end, beautiful bright silver color, reduced finger noise, lost the aggressive nature of the bass, tension seemed low compared to the stock strings. Preference on a scale of one to ten = 6
EB Cobalt Flats - sweet top end, brighter sounding than the Silver Stars but less finger noise than the stock strings, great bottom end and solid mids, very bright for a flat, maybe even brighter sounding than some nickel rounds, with tone knob rolled off a lot of note definition is lost. Preference on a scale of one to ten = 8
Fender 7150 Pure Nickel Rounds - not too much finger noise, very nice top end, ultra punchy, beautiful lower mids and lows, very nice tension, excellent note definition even with the tone knob rolled off. Approaching nirvana for me. Excellent option for finger players who like Cobalt Flats but want a tad crisper sound. Preference on a scale of one to ten = 9
After a month or two of play time I'll flip these out for Roto rounds, if anyone else has a string selection they recommend for the VP please speak up. I'm still looking for the perfect string for this bass.
Notes:
Tone preference = deep, dark, smooth, well defined, lower mid punch, sweet upper mids, no brittle highs, no finger noise.
Feel preference = tight, not floppy, not rubbery, slick, not sticky, not rough, well balanced tension across all strings.
Visual preference = not much, no gaudy silk colors.
Playing style = fingers only, no pick, no slap, no tap, no pop.
Right hand home position = between the neck pup and neck heel.
Tone knob position = at or less than 50% up.
Pup volume positions = neck solo or neck set at twice the volume of the bridge pup.
Music played = everything from hard rock to polka and waltz, mostly swing and classic/progressive rock.
Earlier on in the thread someone asked about this, but has anyone here owned both the Classic IV pro and this new Vintage Pro thunderbird and could maybe talk a bit about the differences between them?
I bought a white Classic back in 2014 and have enjoyed it a lot, but I've always wished that it had chrome hardware and a different finish. Now I'm on the fence, trying to decide whether to trick my bass out with new hardware and pickups (perhaps even refinish in nitro) or whether I should just sell it and buy a VP bird.
I bought a white Classic back in 2014 and have enjoyed it a lot, but I've always wished that it had chrome hardware and a different finish. Now I'm on the fence, trying to decide whether to trick my bass out with new hardware and pickups (perhaps even refinish in nitro) or whether I should just sell it and buy a VP bird.
^ surely the answer is: keep it and buy a VP bird ^
Yes the comparison would be nice to see
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,639
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
