Thunderbird Club Pt. II

[TBird1958]

here's my beauty
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Mahogany body, thick bolt on mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard (but darkend to apear as ebony, because i prefer the look), hipshot hardware and...

old gibson pickups. Not shure how old. i think they are from the sixties because of the 2 screws, and i think they are from nonreversed model because they are chrome, not nickel finished. If anyone can identify them, I'd love to know.

Cool Thunderbird!

Who makes it?
I've added you and Johnny78 to our roll.

Welcome here, post your gig shots too.


TBird1958 #1
Godof Thunder59 #2
Funkster#3
Gibenbackerbass #4
Sidd Laroy #5
Jazzbo58 #6
Tender Prey #7
Showdown #8
The Mojo Hobo #9
Doctorpunch #10
Stiles72 #11
Brenner182 #12
Baird6869 #13
Poorbassist15 #14
PWV #15
Mr Typhus #16
Tracii #17
Aditya #18
amimbari #19
knifedge #20
Nitrofix #21
Atoz #22
bassphreak #23
Seydlitz #24
bassclef112 #25
bassplayer8953 #26
D.M.N. #27
Edhunter #28
kruno maestro #29
Tombowlus #30
Kalik #31
winterburn69 #32
Walter Vega 33
Carlos 840 #34
Shadowtippy #35
Saltymonkey #36
lel95 #37
gaffster787 #38
mc2ny #39
Low Sound Love #40
BrianKrashpad #41
Deep Six #42
BenEd #43
Bassmachine2112 #44
ponkoponk #45
Heatheroo #46
darkside 88 #47
GCool#48
TedhHernstorm #49
Darbo #50
uncletupelo #51
Vaider #52
Rip Topaz #53
bmb73 #54
Badfish #55
Afireinside #56
Redstrand #57
reptyls #58
dabido #59
96tbird #60
whilke #61
JIO #63
thebrain #64
Rob Martinez #65
bazzandeson #66
PhR #67
Dr.Eagle #68
lowend1 #69 Mopar or no car!
Basvarken #70
s mcsleazy #71
Burruss #72
Matty H #73
moonshinegtrs #74
bass lord mutha #75
jumbodbassman #76
davidprice #77
A-Step-Towards #78
birdman14 #79
Quadzilla #80
jbalou02 #81
johnk 10 #82
electrocoyote #83
ih8law #84
muzukman7 #85
3rdcurve #86
rdwil191 #87
BluesBear #88
JAF #89
Swin #90
TBirdie #91
bassplayerbob #92
trevorguns #93
Clammy #94
jammi_fool #95
Molochnik #96
Rocker47 #97
Shark1 #98
BlueTalon #99
Fab Superlative #100
Doragon #5150
ThumpsAlot #102
Doelle #103
AllyDetours #104
Southway #105
mav #106
tw63 #107
Casperrobo #108
Killa #109
roffe #110
SOB H.R.MC #111
icks #112
thepunisher #113
PatQ #114
Venom of God #115
Jirishman #116
Midas #117
GibsonBassCAZ #118
snowblinder #119
Tilli #120
3l3phantstomp #121
Thrust Meatnozl #122
gaudenti #123
Birdbrain #124
CBTB #125
greghol #126
DV6 #127
marlond #128
DWest1981 #129
Shinji #130
jaibeau #131
Warrioralex #132
jonesn4bass #133
Rono7003 #134
hillerup #135
Dadagoboi #136
MRDOOM #137
secretsound5 #138
trevorguns #139
J Sinister #140
Capitian Bob #141
guitarded #142
Fullback32 #143
Johnny78 #144
jelenko #145
Jools4001 #146

 

[jelenko]

beleve it or not, this little dude:
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His name is Robert Basic, and he's 19 years old, but made doesens of basses and guitars allready. I told him what i wanted, and he did his magic. Some people like model airplanes, he likes to make guitars and basses

 

[TBird1958]

That is really cool, I'm in awe of his abilities. Well done!

 

[nismaniac]

here's my beauty

Mahogany body, thick bolt on mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard (but darkend to apear as ebony, because i prefer the look), hipshot hardware and...

old gibson pickups. Not shure how old. i think they are from the sixties because of the 2 screws, and i think they are from nonreversed model because they are chrome, not nickel finished. If anyone can identify them, I'd love to know.

Regarding the hipshot bridge, I think it was asked earlier but I didn't notice an answer. Will the hipshot mount to the Epi's with no issues even though the bolts that mount to the body are different between the Gibson and the Epi?

 

[Nocturnal]

The Hipshot comes with two sets of screws that fit either the Epi or Gibson.

 

[nismaniac]

The Hipshot comes with two sets of screws that fit either the Epi or Gibson.

Awesome, thanks! As soon as I get my pics together I will post and join the club with my Epi Pro V and Epi Silverburst Ltd. Ed.!!!

 

[BluesBear]

This is a project I was working on, trying unsuccessfully to get it finished before the most recent GTG in Seattle. Note the pick guard:

It really grabs the ambient light, and has a glowing, shimmering effect that the camera somewhat captures, but not very well.

If anyone is interested in something similar, I hope to start a small business making pick guards. If there is interest.

I'm interested!

 

[trevorguns]

man, i sure am bad at posting pictures... ha ha
but i tried to post this earlier, a shorty t-bird i build with an epiphone ebo neck and fender bridge

 

[trevorguns]

You mean this one........

Which is a cousin to mine

yep... them's the ones!

 

[Jools4001]

Ahhh....so an Epi T-Bird is an entry ticket to the club eh? Here's my relatively new Pro IV languishing on it's stand. My Ric and my fretless are trying to muscle in (and my son-in law's Tele), but the T-Bird is basking centre stage.

Can I get a number?

 

[TBird1958]

trevorguns, love that short scale Thunderbird!

Jools4001, I've added you to the list, you're #146 - Epi's are most welcome here.

 

[rshack]

I should be getting two Epi thunderbirds soon

Well, two Birds is exactly two more than I've got. So, lucky you. (Since I don't have one, I wonder if I should even be here.)

Ones going to be complete, the other for my [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I clicked on your link to gaze at your project pix. Since I am Bird-less, I have no way to even guess whether a 3-pup Bird is a good idea. If it is, I wonder if it would be worthwhile to consider arranging the pups a wee bit differently.

In your pix, it looks like you're gonna squeeze a third pup between the two pups that are already there. Instead of bunching up all three pups v. close to each other, I'd guess you might get a greater range of different pup-sounds if you spread them out more.

If you moved the neck pup about as far north as it could go (just a tad away from the south end of the neck), and then positioned the middle pup equidistant between the bridge pup and the relocated neck pup, then perhaps you'd get something v. interesting. You might get some of the sonic goodness that Jack Bruce & Felix Pappalardi got from their EB-0's, back when they were making lotsa bass players feel like hanging it up. I think part of what they did (in addition to playing great) was to make good use of the sonic properties of having a stout humbucker about as far north as it would go. It made the sound seem bigger. (Their walls of Marshall stacks helped too, but still...)

Whatcha think?

 

[Dadagoboi]

more like this? Empty pup hole is the standard vintage TBird 'sweet spot' position

Third pup can be easily installed if the need arises and of course it could be centered between the two. Those are SDs. Quite a bit more bass response in that neck position

 

[rshack]

more like this? Empty pup hole is the standard vintage TBird 'sweet spot' position

Third pup can be easily installed if the need arises and of course it could be centered between the two. Those are SDs. Quite a bit more bass response in that neck position

Beautiful job!

What kind of F-neck is that?

That's the basic idea. The Gibsons Jack Bruce and Pappalardi played went even further in that direction. Both of them played one of these:

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IIRC, some of the EB-0's made later than theirs moved the pup away from the neck a bit... but not a lot. The ones they played had the pup as far north as it could go. (Plus, they both used the clever little wiring trick Pappalardi thought up to add a bit of built-in overdrive tone.)

When Pappalardi wasn't playing an EB-0 he was playing the little-known EB-1:

As you can see, the thing those basses had in common (aside from being Gibsons) is that their one and only pup was right up against the neck.

I don't know what that would do to a Bird... except make the bass even bassier. I'd guess it would make mixing the 2 pups be a more dynamic blend... but, hell, it might make things worse for all I know...

 

[BlueTalon]

I'm interested!

And you're close enough that we can work something out!

 

[BluesBear]

When Pappalardi wasn't playing an EB-0 he was playing the little-known EB-1:

Oh I wouldn't classify the EB-1 as "little-known" since it was Gibson's very first electric bass and they were still in the production into the early 1970s.

 

[PhR]

That's the basic idea. The Gibsons Jack Bruce and Pappalardi played went even further in that direction. Both of them played one of these:

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Jack Bruce played an EB-3 which has another pickup near the bridge. That contributed a lot to his sound.

 

[stiles72]

As you can see, the thing those basses had in common (aside from being Gibsons) is that their one and only pup was right up against the neck.

I don't know what that would do to a Bird... except make the bass even bassier. I'd guess it would make mixing the 2 pups be a more dynamic blend... but, hell, it might make things worse for all I know...

Mike Lull made a Bird for Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick with one in the standard neck position, and one in the mudbucker position ( up against the neck).

 

[snowblinder]

I almost resigned my membership here. Got home from a 3-week U.S. tour, had no money for rent, and consigned my Epiphone Elite Thunderbird to a local guitar shop. It sat at the store for 10 days. Every day and night I dreamed about that bass, asking myself over and over "Is the cash you'll get from this instrument REALLY worth losing it forever?" Today, I decided it wasn't. Drove straight to the store, pulled it off the wall, and went home. So, so happy I came to my senses. That bass rules.

 

[BluesBear]

I almost resigned my membership here. Got home from a 3-week U.S. tour, had no money for rent, and consigned my Epiphone Elite Thunderbird to a local guitar shop. It sat at the store for 10 days. Every day and night I dreamed about that bass, asking myself over and over "Is the cash you'll get from this instrument REALLY worth losing it forever?" Today, I decided it wasn't. Drove straight to the store, pulled it off the wall, and went home. So, so happy I came to my senses. That bass rules.

Good for you!