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Thunderbird Club Pt.7

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#822
Wow.
That is very slick.
Do you have a price on it yet?
I have pretty low action with my 3 point bridge but the front screw is in as far as it goes preventing me from lowering it any more.
Will your bridge provide lower action than the stock Gibby bridge?
 
#823
trex69 said:
Wow.
That is very slick...
Will your bridge provide lower action than the stock Gibby bridge?
Click to expand...

Thanks! It definitely will let you get your strings lower than the Gibby. Plus providing a much better string 'break angle' that really tightens up tone. There's almost none with a Three Point and it's not much better with a Supertone.

Should have a price in a week or so. This is a PROTOTYPE and Steve and I need to finalize some details.

P1050465_zps05f36826.jpg
 
#826
IMO it looks quite good. If it plays as it should......I believe you have a winner. The extra screw will go unnoticed to most all but the discerning eye of a Thunderbird enthusiast. You may have a hit on your hands. Good fortune to you; and thanks for coming up with yet another mod for me to throw money at :D



BTW: I have a new T-Bird Ritter gig bag up for sale in the accessories section of this site...
 
#827
SlingBass4 said:
IMO it looks quite good. If it plays as it should......I believe you have a winner. The extra screw will go unnoticed to most all but discerning eye of a Thunderbird enthusiast. You may have a hit on your hands. Good fortune to you; and thanks for coming up with another mod for me to throw money at :D
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
#828
I've modded my Epiphone Thunderbird IV Classic Pro to an extend where I am reluctant to even call it T-Bird. But boy does it sound nasty now...

- pickups changed for EMG TBDC actives
- added Spector Tonepump 2-band electronics.
- Supertone bridge

The look is (for now) pretty standard, but the sound is so completely different. It is one nasty gritty monster now with very crips treble response. This was neccessary for the band I play in, with lots of modulation and reverb parts the classic T-Bird tone just causes a lot of undiscernable rumble. It was absolutely fine in the more normal bass parts though.

It now covers both... but now that I know of the T-Bird sound goodness I will save for a Gibson T-Bird and not mod it in any way (bridge maybe ;)). The mods sound awesome, and did what I was hoping for, but I already miss the classic T-Bird thud.
 
#830
Well, I stopped by the store today to have a look around and there were several T-birds there 4 Gibsons and 2 Epi's, in cluding the Gibby Gold Anniversary model. All I can say is WOW! I really like the Anniversary model, what a beautiful bass. The thing that really surprised me is how light they were, much lighter than several of my Fenders! I didn't have a scale handy but I'm positive it was under 9lbs.

There were also 3 Fano Alt de Facto PX4s there, which did NOT impress me. They looked kinda cool with their NR Fenderbirdish vibe. But the relic look was overdone and the price was ridiculous ($2500)! Invalid Link Removed

Unfortunately I didn't have an opprotunity to plug in and play any of them :( but now I am positive that I must have a Thunderbird! There were no lefties there of course, but I have heard that Gibson is still making lefthanded basses this year, so maybe once I am able to get the $$ together I might even luck out and find a used one.....hey, it could happen. :D
 
#831
Basshappi - just do it. :)

Out of interest, you can get LH Tokai Thunderbirds ... I know because I bought one for my son. It seems solid enough.

Meanwhile, I posted recently about the Blackbird I took possession of recently. Well, here it is ...

DSCF0705_zpsa767a554.jpg


...and with my other two ...

DSCF0712_zpse69bb91a.jpg



So, I was quite happy with that. And then ...

... the guy at the guitar shop in Aberdeen called me to say they had a pair of new Classics just arrived this morning. A white and a sunburst. These are disappearing out of the shop as soon as they get them in. I really had no option, now, did I? :)

Needless to say, here we go again ...

DSCF0726_zpsa5014e67.jpg


... and the new family line-up ...

DSCF0734_zps0eb70824.jpg


Funnily enough, guitar shop guy was asking "how are you going to sneak that into the house, then?" ;) We decided between us that the best thing was to just haul it out from under the bed and say "Oh, I'm just going to change the strings on this one".

"I haven't seen that one before" can then be met with "Well, I've had it for ages, that's why the strings need changing ...".

Still, it does look fairly noticeable sitting between all those black ones, doesn't it? :lol:
 
#837
About a year ago I bought a pretty beat up Blackbird I planned to restore, but after a few months of looking for parts I gave up and had different pups and pot holes put into bass. Fast forward to August I get a email from a post I had made on Motley's website and dude had all the parts to make bass original. Took bass back to luthier had him undo everything he did plugged pot holes and got it ready for paint. Took it to my friend who owns a paint shop, his shop got robbed in middle October and bass was stolen. Well point of the story is he found one on Gbase and replaced it, it's beautiful, in fact when I got it plastic was still on truss rod cover . I've wrestled with the decision one because I love the Crue Nikki's why I play and I love the bass. But I've decided to sell it, I played one gig with it and I was nervous as hell, I'm othe king of how the hell did that ding get there?? It is setting in a case unplayed since October, I'd rather someone have it who can enjoy it, I'm to afraid to touch it. Lol I have 3 other birds to get my fix. Besides ten year old case wear. ( a few tears and gauges in Tolex but still a. 7/10) everything is perfect. If intersted I'll send pics it will not let me post them .
$1025+ 40 shipping.
Thanks.
 
#838
Johnny78 said:
About a year ago I bought a pretty beat up Blackbird I planned to restore, but after a few months of looking for parts I gave up and had different pups and pot holes put into bass. Fast forward to August I get a email from a post I had made on Motley's website and dude had all the parts to make bass original. Took bass back to luthier had him undo everything he did plugged pot holes and got it ready for paint. Took it to my friend who owns a paint shop, his shop got robbed in middle October and bass was stolen. Well point of the story is he found one on Gbase and replaced it, it's beautiful, in fact when I got it plastic was still on truss rod cover . I've wrestled with the decision one because I love the Crue Nikki's why I play and I love the bass. But I've decided to sell it, I played one gig with it and I was nervous as hell, I'm othe king of how the hell did that ding get there?? It is setting in a case unplayed since October, I'd rather someone have it who can enjoy it, I'm to afraid to touch it. Lol I have 3 other birds to get my fix. Besides ten year old case wear. ( a few tears and gauges in Tolex but still a. 7/10) everything is perfect. If intersted I'll send pics it will not let me post them .
$1025+ 40 shipping.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

I know exactly how you feel. I went thru the same thing with my mint condition 90's LP Standard bass several years ago. I was always so nervous playing it that I couldn't enjoy it. I ended up selling it and buying something else. When I bought my Blackbird, I purposely bought one with some minor wear on it so that I wouldn't be afraid of damaging it. Solved my dilemma ;)

Good luck with the sale!
 
#839
Yeah it sucks man, in 2001 they blew them out at Mars for $700 and I got one and I beat the hell out of it and ended up loosing it when
my furnace caught fire. Swore if I ever got another I'd do it right, I didn't want one this nice. Lol I know that sounds weird, but that's the way I feel. I notice they are a weird bass they are either all jacked up, ok, or perfect when they come up used.
Tender , how is the Rd project coming along?
 
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