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New Epiphone Vintage Pro Thunderbird
- Thread starter A. D. Fairhurst
- Start date
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- epiphone pro thunderbird vintage
that's true, unless the sound becomes too "boomy" and, in case of two pickups, unbalanced between the two.
in this case the neck pickup overwhelmed the bridge pickup, and had to be lowered a lot. it still sounds growly, but balanced
that's true, unless the sound becomes too "boomy" and, in case of two pickups, unbalanced between the two.
in this case the neck pickup overwhelmed the bridge pickup, and had to be lowered a lot. it still sounds growly, but balanced
Of course they have to be balanced (unless you only use one). But my statement stands.
I’ve never heard some accuse a Thunderbird - especially a VP/60s model - of being too boomy. Was yours?
with stock heights, yes, the neck pickup was less clear and boomy. after the good setup, it growls with unexpected clarity
Hi guys, I'm having a little big problem with this bass:
in the last days I've noticed that it didn't stay in tune, and always went some cents lower, and thought it was the nut with narrow slots, so I just adapted the slots a bit without any issue.
BUT the problem kept returning, and yesterday, as I came back home, I picked it up to a semitone lower, and it wouldn't stay in tune not even for a second.
checking the bass all around I've noticed that the tailpiece of the bridge was tilted and lifted at the bottom, showing the screws!
the first thing I did was trying to tighten them, but they just turned without stopping, so I removed the strings and the tailpiece to find that the holes were probably too wide and stripped.
I'm trying to adjust it by myself (I'm used to this type of maintenance), so I took a toothpick and Tite-bond glue, put the glue first in the holes, cut the toothpick to the right length and then added some glue.
now I'm just waiting for the glue to dry, hoping it will work recreating the holes and the thread, and that the bridge will stay in place...
I'm a bit disappointed because I'm using regular tension strings, nothing too hard, and I have them on most of my basses without issues.
I don't know if it's a fault from the factory, because I didn't check the tailpiece at the beginning, with stock strings, and replaced them immediately, so I don't know if it was already lifting.
I really hope to resolve it this way, because I wanted to use this bass with the band this weekend...
in the last days I've noticed that it didn't stay in tune, and always went some cents lower, and thought it was the nut with narrow slots, so I just adapted the slots a bit without any issue.
BUT the problem kept returning, and yesterday, as I came back home, I picked it up to a semitone lower, and it wouldn't stay in tune not even for a second.
checking the bass all around I've noticed that the tailpiece of the bridge was tilted and lifted at the bottom, showing the screws!
the first thing I did was trying to tighten them, but they just turned without stopping, so I removed the strings and the tailpiece to find that the holes were probably too wide and stripped.
I'm trying to adjust it by myself (I'm used to this type of maintenance), so I took a toothpick and Tite-bond glue, put the glue first in the holes, cut the toothpick to the right length and then added some glue.
now I'm just waiting for the glue to dry, hoping it will work recreating the holes and the thread, and that the bridge will stay in place...
I'm a bit disappointed because I'm using regular tension strings, nothing too hard, and I have them on most of my basses without issues.
I don't know if it's a fault from the factory, because I didn't check the tailpiece at the beginning, with stock strings, and replaced them immediately, so I don't know if it was already lifting.
I really hope to resolve it this way, because I wanted to use this bass with the band this weekend...
If you drop the nose of the 3 point bridge the back will lift. Do not drop the nose of the bridge.
@Pier_ I had(sold to a very good friend in 1989 to help finance relocation to Texas) a 1963 T-Bird that LAUNCHED the rear tailpiece one night many decades ago(we had songs that required detuning and other songs in standard tuning) while tuning it. All 3 screws let go. It got fixed FOR GOOD using T-nuts and bolts thru-body. It NEVER had that issue again and sound better than the 1964 T-Bird owned at that time. Spent over a decade with that bass as a main player, has "old school" strap locks as the front strap button came out one night and I luckily caught the bass. If I Recall Correctly, 1/4" bolts were used and the tailpiece got drilled slightly to enlarge the holes. Here's that bass for reference:
The "new"(2017) sunburst Epi T-Bird will get the same repair if/when the wood drys thoroughly and decides to let go of the screws.
The "new"(2017) sunburst Epi T-Bird will get the same repair if/when the wood drys thoroughly and decides to let go of the screws.
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Hopefully that works. Longer term, I’d remove the tailpiece, drill out the screw holes, plug them with glued-in dowels, and drill those for the tailpiece screws.
If it’s under warranty, I would first see if Epi will do anything. They might or might not since you worked on it.
I'm asking the shop, because actually all I did was trying to glue some toothpick, but it didn't work, and the screws just didn't catch.
I hope they'll change it for me
I was hoping to play it at a gig next week, but...
For 3-point bridge inserts that let go, either a VERY SMALL AMOUNT of JB Weld or Crazy Glue Gel in the body insert holes works. No, I don't like fixing things more than once.
