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Thunderbird Clarification

beebassdude

beebassdude

Supporting Member
Sep 29, 2008
4,735
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Ashburn, VA
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#1
So this bass is for sale at my local vintage guitar shop, and i cannot figure out what this is. any information would be great, but google doesnt even understand the title of this guy.

looks just like an epi T-bird with some nicer hardware/pickups, but no clue what Glitist means.

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thoughts?
 
#2
That's a typo. They meant Elitist. The Elitist series Epiphones are higher quality, and made in Japan as opposed to Korea or Indonesia like the standard Epi's are. The Elitist T-birds are really nice. I'd jump on this if you're in the market for one!
 
#3
lol, howd they spell Elitist wrong that many times? haha thats awesome.

ok cool, id just never heard of those. i actually just bought an Epi T-bird and im gonna swap out the bridge, tuners, and put those mike lull pickups in it. excited about getting a set of those (not excited about the price!)
 
#4
That's an Epiphone Elitest, likely made by Orville ( Gibson Japan), it's very nice quality with a set neck and good pick ups, the neck profile is much like a Jazz bass. The heel shape is identical to my Orville, a very nice Thunderbird - $799 is a pretty good price, it's a far better bass that any of Epi's current Thunderbirds and in many ways is the equal or better than a contemporary Gibson.
 
#6
beebassdude said:
T-bird, i know ive asked this before, but how good are these mike lull pickups? im gonna splurge in a week or so and buy two of them, and i know this is probably a ridiculous question but just how much better are they than the stock epiphone T-bird pickups?
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night and day. the lulls rock. Mark will chime in shortly but I got mine on his word and I am not disappointed.

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#7
beebassdude said:
T-bird, i know ive asked this before, but how good are these mike lull pickups? im gonna splurge in a week or so and buy two of them, and i know this is probably a ridiculous question but just how much better are they than the stock epiphone T-bird pickups?
Click to expand...


There's really no comparing them, Lulls just produce a very warm vintage growl with a nice balanced output, usually Mike suggests an 8k for the neck and a 9k at the bridge. They are a bit pricey but well worth it - While many factors contribute to the tone an instrument produces, pickups are a major factor and if you're after that vintage tone you won't be dissappointed. I've used them in two of my single pick up BaCH Non Reverse 'Birds and have retro fitted a Gibson as well - with plans to do another later this year.
You might check Pt II of the Thunderbird club thread as well, one member has already re done an Epi this way and it came out just fantastic.
 
#8
beebassdude said:
T-bird, i know ive asked this before, but how good are these mike lull pickups? im gonna splurge in a week or so and buy two of them, and i know this is probably a ridiculous question but just how much better are they than the stock epiphone T-bird pickups?
Click to expand...

Standard Epiphone pickups are overwound, and are hotter and darker than the stock TB+ or Lulls. I actually like the sound of them, but they aren't for everyone. What's funny - is that my Gibson Blackbird sounds just like the Epi pickups - so you can either say "Yeah Epiphone!" :) or you can say "You suck Nikki Sixx!' :spit: All depends on your outlook lol

When I pimped my Epiphone Bluebird, I kept the neck Epi pickup and used a Lull in the bridge position. The Lull has more definition than the Epi, but isn't overly crisp or bright. Definitely has a more vintage character. They are great pickups and well built - the only downside for most folks is the sticker shock. Just one Lull costs as much or more than a new Epi T-bird bass! If you use them on an Epi however, one good thing is that there's no routing involved. They'll just sit right on the surface of the body over the existing cavity since they are a very thin design and the Epi route is much narrower.


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#9
hey stiles, glad you came in to this thread. im trying to a little bit of what youre doing, but could you let me know where you ordered your tuners (and what you got), your bridge, and the bridge/pickup covers? id like to order these.

also, i tested my epi bird out last night, IMO the pickups were pretty poor. very honky sounding, definitely cut well but way too honky. i guess they just sounded "cheap" from what i could tell. even with heavy fuzz i was getting a lot of harsh honk, it just wasnt as deep and gritty as what im used to with my other gibsons (artist/grabber). do the lull pickups sound closer to vintage gibson tone? cause thats what im looking for.
 
#10
beebassdude said:
hey stiles, glad you came in to this thread. im trying to a little bit of what youre doing, but could you let me know where you ordered your tuners (and what you got), your bridge, and the bridge/pickup covers? id like to order these.

also, i tested my epi bird out last night, IMO the pickups were pretty poor. very honky sounding, definitely cut well but way too honky. i guess they just sounded "cheap" from what i could tell. even with heavy fuzz i was getting a lot of harsh honk, it just wasnt as deep and gritty as what im used to with my other gibsons (artist/grabber). do the lull pickups sound closer to vintage gibson tone? cause thats what im looking for.
Click to expand...





Mike's pickup was reverse engineered from two '63 Gibson pickups, so they are identical in tone to that. The original donor bass for the project had "that perfect Thunderbird tone", to recreate that both pickups were tested and found to be 8k for the neck and 9k for the bridge. The bobbin shape, wire, chrome cover stamp and attached bottom plate are all exactly as the Gibson originals were made ( Mike even uses the same California based manufacturer that Gibson used for the metal covers. Bottom line is, they are vintage Thunderbird pickups faithfully reproduced.
In the the Thunderbird club PtII thread you'll another member, Rob Martinez has posted some shots of his rebuilt White Gibson, very nice!
 
#11
TBird1958 said:
Mike's pickup was reverse engineered from two '63 Gibson pickups, so they are identical in tone to that. The original donor bass for the project had "that perfect Thunderbird tone", to recreate that both pickups were tested and found to be 8k for the neck and 9k for the bridge. The bobbin shape, wire, chrome cover stamp and attached bottom plate are all exactly as the Gibson originals were made ( Mike even uses the same California based manufacturer that Gibson used for the metal covers. Bottom line is, they are vintage Thunderbird pickups faithfully reproduced.
In the the Thunderbird club PtII thread you'll another member, Rob Martinez has posted some shots of his rebuilt White Gibson, very nice!
Click to expand...


my concern is just that ive never actually heard a real T-bird from that era, as only like 1000 exist (1040 to be exact!). i find it hard to believe a real T-bird sounds all honky like my epi did last night, and people rave about these pickups so id like to snag them for this little project.

have you had any experience with other gibson basses from that general era? how would you compare the T-bird sound with an EB series or ripper/grabber or artist?
 
#12
beebassdude said:
my concern is just that ive never actually heard a real T-bird from that era, as only like 1000 exist (1040 to be exact!). i find it hard to believe a real T-bird sounds all honky like my epi did last night, and people rave about these pickups so id like to snag them for this little project.

have you had any experience with other gibson basses from that general era? how would you compare the T-bird sound with an EB series or ripper/grabber or artist?
Click to expand...

Actually a pretty big question!
Other Gibson basses from that time don't share any important common components with Thunderbirds, which if anything are similar to Ricks - both are neck thru with single coil pickups.
EB's, Rippers and Grabbers are very different, set neck with much different pickup placements and most are short scale.
RD's (I really GAS for one!) are set neck with several variations of woods used as well as active (Artist) or passive (standard) electronics, different pickups than a T Bird too.

Listen here, Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash and his early '60s Thunderbird playing "Blowin' Free" Hope you have good speakers :)

YouTube - Wishbone Ash - Blowin' Free - 1973
 
#13
beebassdude said:
hey stiles, glad you came in to this thread. im trying to a little bit of what youre doing, but could you let me know where you ordered your tuners (and what you got), your bridge, and the bridge/pickup covers? id like to order these.

also, i tested my epi bird out last night, IMO the pickups were pretty poor. very honky sounding, definitely cut well but way too honky. i guess they just sounded "cheap" from what i could tell. even with heavy fuzz i was getting a lot of harsh honk, it just wasnt as deep and gritty as what im used to with my other gibsons (artist/grabber). do the lull pickups sound closer to vintage gibson tone? cause thats what im looking for.
Click to expand...

I used Hipshot Ultralites, which are what the Lull basses have and what Mark used on his Nikki Sixx Thunderbird, so I just followed suit. The spacing is a little tight but they drop right in - no drilling out of the post holes needed. The bridge was a chrome Epi that I got from Ebay, and the covers came from the guy on Ebay who currently has the bridge covers for sale.

As for the pickups - A lot of times I run with the tone rolled all the way off on the neck pickup to get a big deep tone - so grit and clarity have never been high on my priority list. The Epi did a good enough job for what I wanted, so I figured if it aint broke dont fix it. Plus it's hidden under than handguard anyway, so no one is ever going to see it.

I did experiment with the Lull before I put it in, and I made a makeshift support for it to try it out "over" the strings in differnet positons on different basses. The Lull sounded great no matter where I placed it. If you have the money to get the Lulls - go for it. You wont be disapointed. One way to describe the Lulls (to my ears) is that they have a wide frequency range. You're getting the full pallette of possibilities. If you want more lows, you can EQ out the highs. If you want more highs, EQ out the Lows. If you want mids, they're there. They don't seem to be centered around one specific tonal area, so they should be pretty versatile for whatever you need.
 

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