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Thunderbird Club

I'm about to assemble one. The body arrived from Lowe Custom Guitars, and I'm very happy with it. It's nicer than I was expecting, and it's too well matched to be hidden under a solid color. It was going to be some outrageous metal flake green or purple or something, but that would hide how well matched the two pieces are. So, I'm thinking some kind of burst finish, just like the rest of everything I own except the Zombiecaster. The neck is here, but now I have to come up with pots, a bridge, and a pickup. It will make the 7ender Precision surplus. It will be pretty tough to sell the P, though, since we have put on a few miles together.
 
Been hearing about single pickup Fenderbird style basses becoming available soon in the UK, long & short scales
are options. Also 5 string versions coming.

Anybody here interested in hearing about them ?

It is your duty to provide the details to the TBird brotherhood!!!
 
Been hearing about single pickup Fenderbird style basses becoming available soon in the UK, long & short scales
are options. Also 5 string versions coming.

Anybody here interested in hearing about them ?
Waiting with baited breath, actually I think I'm gonna go brush my teeth, but I still wanna hear bout them new Birds.
 
Ok but no sales pitch from me. This things called the "Dirtybird" and is Yorkshire bass player Adam Jows'
idea.The UK market is a really strange place these last few years so he's using a common business model.

Design the bass then get a Chinese builder to do very small runs,12 of each in this case.This method has worked
well for Stephen Chow of Chowny Bass,Scott Whitley and David Konig.Stephen and Scott use the same factory and
ship orders together to save on costs. The fickle market here also means things have to be priced right so below
£400 ($480) is the norm.

Enough of this background,here's the thing and the link.
Dirtybird.jpg

Link Removed

A quirky looking beastie for sure and I'm glad Adam is going to offer different colour schemes as that Tort/burst
combo doesn't do it for me.Hopefully the next few weeks will see another UK bass player I know take delivery of his so there's some nitty gritty info.
 
Ok but no sales pitch from me. This things called the "Dirtybird" and is Yorkshire bass player Adam Jows'
idea.The UK market is a really strange place these last few years so he's using a common business model.

Design the bass then get a Chinese builder to do very small runs,12 of each in this case.This method has worked
well for Stephen Chow of Chowny Bass,Scott Whitley and David Konig.Stephen and Scott use the same factory and
ship orders together to save on costs. The fickle market here also means things have to be priced right so below
£400 ($480) is the norm.

Enough of this background,here's the thing and the link.
View attachment 976718

Link Removed

A quirky looking beastie for sure and I'm glad Adam is going to offer different colour schemes as that Tort/burst
combo doesn't do it for me.Hopefully the next few weeks will see another UK bass player I know take delivery of his so there's some nitty gritty info.
From the website:
Jow decided he really wanted a 'non reverse' Thunderbird bass, in short scale (30"), made famous by legendary players such as John Entwhistle (The Who) and Bill Wymen (The Rolling Stones) in the 60's & early 70's.

Is that ^ true ? Did Bill Wyman rock a non reverse, short scale, Thunderbird???
 
Ok but no sales pitch from me. This things called the "Dirtybird" and is Yorkshire bass player Adam Jows'
idea.The UK market is a really strange place these last few years so he's using a common business model.

Design the bass then get a Chinese builder to do very small runs,12 of each in this case.This method has worked
well for Stephen Chow of Chowny Bass,Scott Whitley and David Konig.Stephen and Scott use the same factory and
ship orders together to save on costs. The fickle market here also means things have to be priced right so below
£400 ($480) is the norm.

Enough of this background,here's the thing and the link.
View attachment 976718

Link Removed

A quirky looking beastie for sure and I'm glad Adam is going to offer different colour schemes as that Tort/burst
combo doesn't do it for me.Hopefully the next few weeks will see another UK bass player I know take delivery of his so there's some nitty gritty info.

Website quotes £300 / $366 USD.

Also: "Sorry, we can't deliver any of these items to United States, please change your shipping country or remove the item(s) from your basket."

However the FAQ reads:

Q & A
Q: What are your postage charges?
A: Postage rates are as follows;
UK mainland = £10
European Union = £20
US & Canada = £50

At the same time if you enter UK as a shipping destination the shipping cost is £20.

Not that the single pickup interests me much anyway, but I wouldn't bother if a "builder" can't even get simple very pertinent info and sale functionality straight.
 
Dang, and I've been looking for a reasonably priced SS bird. I guess the headstock might be an issue for them here in the U.S. Or maybe the woods used.

I suggest you're being far too charitable. The website doesn't give me any confidence that this person would've even considered this much less researched it. It's just a bassist that got the gumption to get some cheap cool-looking basses made in China. Full marks for that though.

I'd bet very heavily he just doesn't have the basic functionality down within the sales widget. If you contact him directly, you can probably get one sent to you.
 
Ok but no sales pitch from me. This things called the "Dirtybird" and is Yorkshire bass player Adam Jows'
idea.The UK market is a really strange place these last few years so he's using a common business model.

Design the bass then get a Chinese builder to do very small runs,12 of each in this case.This method has worked
well for Stephen Chow of Chowny Bass,Scott Whitley and David Konig.Stephen and Scott use the same factory and
ship orders together to save on costs. The fickle market here also means things have to be priced right so below
£400 ($480) is the norm.

Enough of this background,here's the thing and the link.
View attachment 976718

Link Removed

A quirky looking beastie for sure and I'm glad Adam is going to offer different colour schemes as that Tort/burst
combo doesn't do it for me.Hopefully the next few weeks will see another UK bass player I know take delivery of his so there's some nitty gritty info.
It would be nice to get some feedback, I'm wary of unknown build quality Chinese products, some are outstanding and some are truly carp. A 34" in Pelham blue might tempt me if the quality was good
 
Don't you just hate delivery companies? The parts Scott sent me are ready for delivery but the company won't deliver without a signature even though I said it was OK to leave in the greenhouse, so they're getting delivered next Saturday at extra cost. The tuners are almost here, they have been despatched from Stansted airport in the UK so fingers crossed they should be here Monday or Tuesday so I'll be able to make a start on the blinging of the Epiphone soon :bassist:
Three weeks later I'm still waiting for this delivery, I've called the depot and it is sat there on a shelf gathering mould like an old cup of forgotten tea. Allegedly being delivered this Friday, we'll see, Parcel Force UK are without doubt the worlds worst delivery company!!
 
I'm the one kodiakblair (Davie) referred to.
Having had plenty of discussions with Jow over the last couple of weeks, we've both learned a lot.
For me, I've long lusted after a single pup (chrome) non reverse Tbird. Options are very limited and generally expensive.
As somebody mentioned, since Brexit, prices have gone a little bit daft over here (Fender Elite P nearly £1800).

So, sometime in the next couple of months (for only a little more than £300) I will be receiving a Sea Foam Green (matching headstock), tortie plate, rosewood boarded, jazz neck, single chrome pup non reverse TBIRD style bass in hardcase.
If it works out I like it, I will get another. Light Burgundy Mist, gold scratchplate, maple board, jazz neck.
The two together would cost almost exactly what a single Mex Standard Jazz goes for.
If the 1st one turns out to be a bit lacking in hardware, electronics, I'll sort them myself.

YES, it's aleap of faith.
YES, I'm not ecstatic about having to go to China.
However, it's an itch I've wanted to scratch for a very long time. I'm also old enough to remember the derision Japanese basses were met with in the mid 70's, certainly in the UK.

Anybody who does become interested, speak to Adam (Jow) . I wouldn't be at all surprised if he would send direct to the states (although you may miss out on him setting it up for you). He is a one man band, a bassist who couldn't find what he wanted and did something about it. He is also, I guess, his own IT director, and he may not be the most skilled at that :)
 
Last edited:
I'm the one kodiakblair (Davie) referred to.
Having had plenty of discussions with Jow over the last couple of weeks, we've both learned a lot.
For me, I've long lusted after a single pup (chrome) non reverse Tbird. Options are very limited and generally expensive.
As somebody mentioned, since Brexit, prices have gone a little bit daft over here (Fender Elite P nearly £1800).

So, sometime in the next couple of months (for only a little more than £300) I will be receiving a Sea Foam Green (matching headstock), tortie plate, rosewood boarded, jazz neck, single chrome pup non reverse TBIRD style bass in hardcase.
If it works out I like it, I will get another. Light Burgundy Mist, gold scratchplate, maple board, jazz neck.
The two together would cost almost exactly what a single Mex Standard Jazz goes for.
If the 1st one turns out to be a bit lacking in hardware, electronics, I'll sort them myself.

YES, it's aleap of faith.
YES, I'm not ecstatic about having to go to China.
However, it's an itch I've wanted to scratch for a very long time. I'm also old enough to remember the derision Japanese basses were met with in the mid 70's, certainly in the UK.

Anybody who does become interested, speak to Adam (Jow) . I wouldn't be at all surprised if he would send direct to the states (although you may miss out on him setting it up for you). He is a one man band, a bassist who couldn't find what he wanted and did something about it. He is also, I guess, his own IT director, and he may not be the most skilled at that :)
Well Brexit has to be good for something then :roflmao:

I think you're right, for £300, even if it needed some work and parts it can't be bad, get some new CTS pots and a chinabucker and it's not going to be far from the mark
 
  • Like
Reactions: karlfer
Nice to see the reaction folks :)

@ColinLP
I understand the concerns about the Chinese build but as Karl says Jow is a one man band so all basses go through
him first. Any problems and unlike buying from Ali Express you'd only deal with Adam Jow. It's the same deal with Chowny,Retrovibe and Scott Whitley.

Oh regarding Parcelfarce ! Royal Mail aren't any better,had a replacement pot for a Tone Monster in the UK since 21/09/16. Was deliverd half hour back.

@karlfer
I think there might be some issue with the headstock shape in the USA but that would only affect sales based in the States.
 
As I understand from the website, maple body, maple neck, rosewood board. Are any of those a problem in the US? Genuine question, not being a smart ass.
Oooh ek! (as they say in Yorkshire) That's going to neck dive :roflmao:

I doubt it's a problem anywhere, maybe depending on where the Rosewood was imported from but given the price I think we can rest easy, most banned Rosewoods command a premium price