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I have been wanting a 8 string for ever! I even started building my own NR 8 string but that project has stalled. I ordered a reliced Mod bird from Waterstone and it was damaged in shipping so they sent this a replacement for the same price! Very pleased so far good qc for the price. Very playable and sounds fantastic! I may mod it a bit, put a Dimarzio Model G in the neck position and add a w/b/w Tbird pg. More pics and thoughts to come.
Hi everyone I am T-Bird member #321. Here's some more recent pics of my hybrid T-bird. I use this bass for around 90 gigs a year and it has become part of my persona. It stays glued to my shoulder whether I am crawling under a bar stool or over a bar table or jumping through a drum kit. When I last posted a pic I was asked about the mods. Unfortunately I couldn't remember much at the time. Now I can elaborate a little further. The bass started off as a 70's brown coloured Gibson T-Bird (not sunburst). I hated the colour (stoopid stoopid me) and had the body and neck painted matt black. This is 10 years before matt black finishes became fashionable on T-bird Goth models. At some point over the next 10 years some one got bored and painted a giant set of hairy balls on the front using highly flammable paint. Many years later I accidently set fire to the bass while trying to remove the paint. The body had to be scrapped so I had a custom body built by a Brisbane Luther who modelled it of an epi. I prefer my input jack to be on the front not in the neel of the body. The centre piece is imported mahogany and the wings are Hoop Pine. I had the new body stained but hated it because the hoop pine and the mahogany had different textures and it clashed with the matt black neck. So I had the body painted with a rebel flag as I was going through a Southern Rock phase at the time. The pickups and wiring loom were done by a local pickup specialist. I wasn't fussed with the muddy tone of the original pickups and eBay didn't exist in my world at that time and local stores did not carry replacement pickups for T-Birds. Chris knew what I wanted and wound them to meet my requirements. I never bothered to fit the new body with a pick guard because I didn't want to block out any of the new paint work. My rebel T-bird lasted until the Qld floods in 2011. T-birds don't swim, they don't float, they sink into the river sediment and you can never get the smell out. Thinking the bass was a lost cause I gave it to the guys at Tym Guitars who rebuilt it for me. I don't know what is original any more or what has been replaced since the first re-build. To mark it's second re-birth I had the finish re-painted in a white jigsaw puzzle. I love this T-bird.
And that's where the Schaller 471 comes into play!
Can I humbly beg to join the Thuderbird Club? Please?
I have a 1990 Gibson Custom Shop, which was originally supplied to Floyd London of Glasgow band "The Almighty". All black with gold hardware and gold mirror scratchplate. I've had it for about 15 years, and it's showing some nice wear around the lower bout where me wrist's polished it up!
I recently got hold of a 2011 T-Bird Pro, which I've not gigged yet cos I've not finished fiddling with it - planning a white scratchplate for a start, and need to get on top of the active circuitry.
Also, an Epi Explorer landed in my house - no idea where it came from (or that's what I told the missus anyway).
Sorry for non-greatness of pics - all I have to hand!
Me, tuning up at the Balaclava Bar in Fraserburgh, Scotland:
Floyd from the Almighty playing my bass, supporting Alice Cooper in Manchester back in the day ...
And, hey, why not? First two of these pics are Mr Way at the Town & Country Club in London back in 1992 on the "High Stakes & Dangerous Men" tour with Lawrence Archer on guitar, and the second two were at Glasgow Barrowland on the reunion tour with Schenker ...
That was shortly after I bought it, 6 or 7 years ago. Was brand new. Little bit of wear and tear on it now. Well played, but never abused.
Hopefully the photo works, I'm not pro at this, lol.
INTENSE.
MAN do I love my 'Bird! If I was told a year ago that a T-Bird would becoming my main gigging bass I would have NEVER believed it.
