Thunderbird Club

[PhR75]

That same 'bird was recently restored by a UK shop. In the video it seems it has a Ric toaster pickup in the bridge position, the restored bass had an EB pickup. Anyway, most likely a modded 60's reverse II.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

That same 'bird was recently restored by a UK shop. In the video it seems it has a Ric toaster pickup in the bridge position, the restored bass had an EB pickup. Anyway, most likely a modded 60's reverse II.

that’s right (my bad) ‘‘twas the Ric neck pup which was replaced by the staggered J pups…

 

[Engle]

From the time before zip ties when electronics manufacturers hired butchers to bundle wires together...

I learned that method with the waxed string working in Telco Central Offices. When you have hundreds of cables in a tray, the heads of tie wraps take valuable space.
And if they aren’t trimmed correctly, you can get some nasty cuts.

 

[PhR75]

that’s right (my bad) ‘‘twas the Ric neck pup which was replaced by the staggered J pups…

Yes, most likely it was from his '71 (?) 4001JG before the JJ -mod.

 

[TBird1958]

Did anybody else here forget that Roger Glover played a Gibson Thunderbird bass?

I recall reading that he broke at least one onstage as well. Also worth noting that Rainbow's original bassist, the late Craig Gruber played a '60 Non Reverse on their first album, and his replacement on the second record the late Jimmy Bain played a '60s Reverse occasionally as well.

 

[PhR75]

Roger also had a '76-'79 'bird:

 

[PhR75]

I recall reading that he broke at least one onstage as well. Also worth noting that Rainbow's original bassist, the late Craig Gruber played a '60 Non Reverse on their first album, and his replacement on the second record the late Jimmy Bain played a '60s Reverse occasionally as well.

The "Gibson Reverb Firebird bass guitar" credit in the equipment list of Rainbow's "On Stage" used to be a headscratcher until I saw a pic of Jimmy playing a T-Bird II in some early Rainbow mark II pics. Reverb=reverse.
He used it also a bit with the Wild Horses alongside his trusty modded Telecaster bass until he settled on Yamaha BB's.

 

[TBird1958]

Here's my Thunderbird. I got this for Christmas back in 2018. It's by far the loudest bass I own and it has possibly my favorite tone as well. I sometimes wish I had a second T-Bird, actually. I often find myself regretting passing up on a white one that was at my local guitar center for a time in 2016.

My inspiration for taking the pickguard off was Pete Way of UFO

We're happy to enable the purchase of another Thunderbird! If you'd like a club number just let me know, and please feel free to hang out here - we love questions!

 

[Stealth57]

OK, folks, I am in need of some real help. My 2018 Epi was in perfect shape. Reasonably low setup, though looks like a pretty big shim at the body end of the pocket. Plays nice but I really prefer LaBella black tapes (50-105). Changed out the strings and now the strings are laying flat on the frets. I've never seen a string change make that big of a difference in setup.

Are there any good tutorials on setting up a Bird with the three point bridge? I wasn't expecting the bridge to actually be a separate piece from the three posts...but when it fell out when I removed the strings, I learned something new. Also, the bridge is set so that the front post is higher than the back two. Makes the bridge look like it is doing a wheelie. I'm not sure now much more the bridge posts can come up since they were feeling a bit loose when the strings were off.

 

[GBassNorth]

Here’s the correct set up steps for a three point…

something I clipped from TB some time ago and modified heavily that has proven to be spot on for all my Gibby needs

Do this...
1. Loosen the strings to a slack setting then adjust your truss rod to create a slight back bow. From a dead straight neck position it might take two or three 1/3 clockwise turns. BTW, it's clockwise as seen from the headstock end of the bass looking down the neck towards the bridge.

2. Next, lower your bridge until the rear of the bridge is just off the body and the front of the bridge is about 1/8" higher than the rear.

3. Bring your strings up to tension and tune each string (don't worry about intonation yet).

4. Now check your action around the 15th and higher frets to see if it's comfortable for you without any or too much buzz (some players don't mind a little buzz). Don't worry about buzzing in the lower registers at this point. Raise your bridge as necessary to eliminate unwanted fret buzz in the 15th to end of fretboard area but always make sure the front stud is keeping the front of the bridge at least 1/8" higher than the rear of the bridge.

Note: the saddles on the 3 point bridge are specific in height to each string to ensure the strings match the FB radius, they are sequentially numbered so check to make sure each one is in the proper position. Also note that it is much easier on you, the studs and your stud inserts to slightly loosen the strings before raising the bridge height. Yes that means you'll need to retune after each adjustment. As an alternate, you can start step 4 with the bridge in a higher position and keep lowering and tuning until you get the level of buzz in the 15th and higher frets that suits you. Just be sure to always keep the front stud higher than the rears.

5. Now you've got your bass retuned with a lower action at the high frets. Your lower frets will now either buzz (see 6a for the subsequent steps) or the action will still be too high even in the low registers (see 6b for the subsequent steps).

6a: Low Register buzzes: You need to loosen the truss rod. Take off the truss rod cover and insert an allen wrench in the allen nut (the cheaper Epis generally have allen nuts). Don't detune the bass for that, rather lift the A and the D string to the side to the slots of the G and E string to have room for turning the allen wrench. With the bass' butt resting on your toes and the strings/fretboard facing away from you, you - while standing up and looking down - will now turn the allen wrench counterclockwise maybe 1/3 of a turn and immediately look to find out how the action of the bass has altered and buzzing has become less or disappeared. Don't be scared of overdoing it - it is impossible to break a truss rod by loosening it as you are releasing tension. That said, one or two "one third turns" counterclockwise should do it. sometimes you will need a few more of those to actually adjust the bass if the neck is too straight or even curved away from the fretboard (called back bow).

6b: Low Register has too much action: Same as 6a, except that you have too tighten the truss rod now which is done by turning the allen wrench clockwise. You will also have to be more careful as you can break a trussrod by overtightening it. When tightening a truss rod its best to slacken the strings a bit first, then make your truss adjustment followed by retuning and checking to see if your adjustment eliminated unwanted fret buzz.

7. After a combination of either steps 5 and 6a or steps 5 and 6b you should have a relatively or even totally buzz free bass with good to reasonable action. If there is still some persistent buzzing at some places then raise the bridge a little. Raising the front stud will raise all strings (remember to slacken the strings first then after raising the front stud retune the bass). Raising the treble side rear stud just a very tiny bit more may help the D and G string, or raising the bass side rear stud just a tiny bit more may help the E and A strings. The bridge does not have to be dead level but it should be very very close.

8. You should be done... but if you're still getting buzzing just on one string (while the other strings are buzz-free) and you have to raise the bridge considerably to make it go away even though you could stay much lower if it were just for the other strings, then double check you're saddles to ensure they're in the proper sequence. In a pinch you might be able to swap the D and A saddles but only as a last resort. If you still have unwanted buzzing then your low action expectations may be too much or you might have a string or fret level or neck hump problem. See step 9 for string checking. For fret level or twisted neck or neck hump or ski jump problems find a good luthier and see if they can fix the problem.

9. Occasionally it's possible to twist a string when installing a them on a bass. A twisted string can potentially have an odd oscillation that may make it vibrate in more of an elliptical pattern vs a flatter pattern. In some cases the effect is great enough to cause fret buzz on that specific string. To fix this, detune the string and starting at the nut pinch the string between your fingers and slowly slide down the string towards the bridge allowing the ball end of the string to spin as needed to eliminate any accidental twist you may have put in the string when installing. Once untwisted, hold the ball end in position and retune the string without letting the ball flip or spin. This should eliminate any twist related issues.

Edit: follow all the above steps in order. Don't skip steps or start in the middle.

OK, folks, I am in need of some real help. My 2018 Epi was in perfect shape. Reasonably low setup, though looks like a pretty big shim at the body end of the pocket. Plays nice but I really prefer LaBella black tapes (50-105). Changed out the strings and now the strings are laying flat on the frets. I've never seen a string change make that big of a difference in setup.

Are there any good tutorials on setting up a Bird with the three point bridge? I wasn't expecting the bridge to actually be a separate piece from the three posts...but when it fell out when I removed the strings, I learned something new. Also, the bridge is set so that the front post is higher than the back two. Makes the bridge look like it is doing a wheelie. I'm not sure now much more the bridge posts can come up since they were feeling a bit loose when the strings were off.

 

[WillyW]

OK, folks, I am in need of some real help. My 2018 Epi was in perfect shape. Reasonably low setup, though looks like a pretty big shim at the body end of the pocket. Plays nice but I really prefer LaBella black tapes (50-105). Changed out the strings and now the strings are laying flat on the frets. I've never seen a string change make that big of a difference in setup.

Are there any good tutorials on setting up a Bird with the three point bridge? I wasn't expecting the bridge to actually be a separate piece from the three posts...but when it fell out when I removed the strings, I learned something new. Also, the bridge is set so that the front post is higher than the back two. Makes the bridge look like it is doing a wheelie. I'm not sure now much more the bridge posts can come up since they were feeling a bit loose when the strings were off.

sounds like mostly neck relief

I set my front bridge screw higher than the back

 

[FirstHelmetDrop]

We're happy to enable the purchase of another Thunderbird! If you'd like a club number just let me know, and please feel free to hang out here - we love questions!

a club number would be quite nice, actually. Thanks!

 

[dagrev]

Here's my Thunderbird. I got this for Christmas back in 2018. It's by far the loudest bass I own and it has possibly my favorite tone as well. I sometimes wish I had a second T-Bird, actually. I often find myself regretting passing up on a white one that was at my local guitar center for a time in 2016.

My inspiration for taking the pickguard off was Pete Way of UFO

Wanting more than one Thunderbird is normal. It's how normal people think. Well, that's actually an exaggeration, but not by a huge amount.

 

[WillyW]

Wanting more than one Thunderbird is normal. It's how normal people think. Well, that's actually an exaggeration, but not by a huge amount.

What's norman peepholes?

 

[Stealth57]

Here’s the correct set up steps for a three point…

I can’t get to step 3 as the strings are still on the frets. I’ve put at least 3/4 clockwise turns on the TR and not seeing a lot of relief. Also, the shim looks mighty high.

EDIT: Sorry, misread. It was asking for back bow and I do have that. I was confused as most fixed bridge bass setups ask you to start with some relief and go from there. Still have the strings on the frets so can't tune per step 3.

 

[dagrev]

Some people are very superstitious.

I don't reply to posts that use the word superstitious.

Oh, crap...... . We're all doomed now.

 

[dagrev]

What's norman peepholes?

I have no clue. Was hoping for some help here.

 

[JJR58]

I’m not Norman.

 

[bobyoung53]

OK, folks, I am in need of some real help. My 2018 Epi was in perfect shape. Reasonably low setup, though looks like a pretty big shim at the body end of the pocket. Plays nice but I really prefer LaBella black tapes (50-105). Changed out the strings and now the strings are laying flat on the frets. I've never seen a string change make that big of a difference in setup.

Are there any good tutorials on setting up a Bird with the three point bridge? I wasn't expecting the bridge to actually be a separate piece from the three posts...but when it fell out when I removed the strings, I learned something new. Also, the bridge is set so that the front post is higher than the back two. Makes the bridge look like it is doing a wheelie. I'm not sure now much more the bridge posts can come up since they were feeling a bit loose when the strings were off.

Most tape wounds that I've seen are actually very light round wounds with a thick layer of tape on them, they are probably exerting much less pressure on your neck than whatever you had on there before. I would loosen the truss rod counter-clockwise, the strings should come off the neck. I would do that before I did anything else, you may not even need to adjust your bridge, just set the truss rod correct for your new strings. As long as that has not been like that for a long time the neck should spring back depending on how much you turn the truss rod, remember you want to loosen it, not tighten it. Having the truss rod too tight for your now much lighter strings is what is causing the neck to bow backwards.

 

[5StringBlues]

Norm!

What's norman peepholes?