NBD I made a NR T-bird style

[Skillet]

And it's blue!

Certain body styles that are rather off the beaten path or otherwise somewhat "odd" seem to appeal to me. This doesn't stop me from playing Pbasses and Jazzs. I like those too and lots of others.
But I Really like the shape of the Non-Reverse Thunderbird. I enjoyed wrapping my head around the concept of the nomenclature. It's so silly. I like the idea of John Entwistle and his "Fenderbird".
These are hard to come by, so I built my own using a neck from Eden.

I decided to manage some of the ergonomic challenges of the original design by using a Warwick bridge and spacing the tailpiece back far enough to use long scale strings with a medium scale neck. The 32" scale reduces the reach to the lower frets.

I purchased the bridge and the Warwick tuners from the Talkbass classifieds. Thanks @wolfkeller . I also made use of the TB ads to get a pair of Seymour Duncan passive soapbars (SSB4-S). Thanks @bullitproof .

Some pics.


I took great inspiration from the work of @Dadagoboi of Cataldo Basses. Also shout out to @godofthunder59 for his timely information regarding the original Gibsons. I think this is going to be one of my regular players. I'm proud of it and wanted to share.

Skillet.

 

[GoesThump]

Great looking bass! Outstanding job.

How long did it take you build?

-GT

 

[godofthunder59]

That came out great! Nice upper register access! Sound clips when you get a chance!

 

[Skillet]

Great looking bass! Outstanding job.

How long did it take you build?

-GT

Thanks! It took months of thinking about it, a couple of weeks for the woodwork, then say three weeks for a paint job (including curing time) using Duplicolor rattlecan lacquer topped with Mohawk catalyzed lacquer clear for the body/headstock and an enamel for the back of the neck.

 

[bullitproof]

That came out awesome man congrats!
I'm happy to know/see where the pickups went and the Warwick hardware gives it a special touch!
Funny recently I've been looking into a few non reverse T-birds as well!
Cheers!

 

[rickster4003]

Very nice! How was the mounting of bridge/tailpiece? Thinking of converting one of my basses to that. Do you have to drill out holes for the bridge? Thanks.

 

[Skillet]

That came out awesome man congrats!
I'm happy to know/see where the pickups went and the Warwick hardware gives it a special touch!
Funny recently I've been looking into a few non reverse T-birds as well!
Cheers!

I love the adjustability of the bridge and I don't think I've ever used tuners that operate as smoothly as those Warwicks. The Duncans are perfect for this bass, and the EMGs that I had as a second option will find a different home.

 

[Skillet]

Very nice! How was the mounting of bridge/tailpiece? Thinking of converting one of my basses to that. Do you have to drill out holes for the bridge? Thanks.

Yes both of the pieces of the bridge had to be recessed into the body, so I built templates fitting them and routed out for them. Having that separate tailpiece really opened up string choices for me.

 

[Clutchcargo]

That's a cool bass Skillet. Well thought out and executed. Congratulations my friend......

 

[bobba66]

I like it!

 

[Instagator]

Very cool..Nice work!

 

[blacktocomm]

Sweet

 

[ejaggers]

That's a sweet looking bass.

057912

 

[klejst]

Interesting however I dig odd ball stuff, great job.

 

[Skillet]

Originally I intended to incorporate a pickguard but routed it in such a way I wouldn't have to use one.... I'm leaning toward leaving it like this though.

 

[LuckyScott]

Looks Great!

 

[Engle]

And it's blue!

Certain body styles that are rather off the beaten path or otherwise somewhat "odd" seem to appeal to me. This doesn't stop me from playing Pbasses and Jazzs. I like those too and lots of others.
But I Really like the shape of the Non-Reverse Thunderbird. I enjoyed wrapping my head around the concept of the nomenclature. It's so silly. I like the idea of John Entwistle and his "Fenderbird".
These are hard to come by, so I built my own using a neck from Eden.
View attachment 3638305

I decided to manage some of the ergonomic challenges of the original design by using a Warwick bridge and spacing the tailpiece back far enough to use long scale strings with a medium scale neck. The 32" scale reduces the reach to the lower frets.

I purchased the bridge and the Warwick tuners from the Talkbass classifieds. Thanks @wolfkeller . I also made use of the TB ads to get a pair of Seymour Duncan passive soapbars (SSB4-S). Thanks @bullitproof .

Some pics.
View attachment 3638312 View attachment 3638313 View attachment 3638314 View attachment 3638315 View attachment 3638316 View attachment 3638317

I took great inspiration from the work of @Dadagoboi of Cataldo Basses. Also shout out to @godofthunder59 for his timely information regarding the original Gibsons. I think this is going to be one of my regular players. I'm proud of it and wanted to share.

Skillet.

Nice!

 

[Marhmol]

Goofy, weird. I like it!!!
And its blue.

 

[thisSNsucks]

Very cool!

How are those Duncan’s?

 

[Skillet]

Very cool!

How are those Duncan’s?

They've got some real growl and bite to them. I was going to wait until my new pc interface gets here to record some audio, but I may do a quickie recording with my phone (S8). I've been surprised by it's fidelity. I'll see what it can do.