- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
No - impaling the singer is like killing the goose who lays the golden eggs… at least in my band.
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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- club thunderbird
No - impaling the singer is like killing the goose who lays the golden eggs… at least in my band.
Carlo posts those photos and gets me day-dreaming about a single pickup NRBird in Monza red with white PG, single volume pot and no tug bar [sigh]...
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If I didn't already have one I'd be all over this! $800! If someone has to have this bass and they won't ship, I can help even though it's a bit of a drive to Taylor for me.
If I didn't already have one I'd be all over this! $800! If someone has to have this bass and they won't ship, I can help even though it's a bit of a drive to Taylor for me.
I think I've come across them before- The problem is, being in the UK, importing stuff adds a pretty significant additional cost to some already fairly expensive gear (plus shipping)- At the moment that pushes it into just about unjustifiable expense on my apprentice wage.
Poking around this morning I notice Mojo Pickups have an updated website and do them now (the last time I checked the only bass pickups they did were P/J ones), so maybe there is hope.
I've been looking at Mojo too, the only thing that stops me buying a few sets is that they say they are based on the original early pups and also say they use alnico5 magnets but @Dadagoboi says the originals us alnico3 magnets. I have no idea how that affects anything or even if Mojo have adjusted the windings to bring the sound in line or for that matter if they are talking complete tosh. £150 a pair is cheap enough but if they are no better than Chinabuckers then it's £50 wasted. I can get them in gold though for my next project
I know a few guitarists that have Mojo pickups (My brother's Thinline tele has Mojo P90s, they sound especially fantastic) and they all swear by them. I'm inclined to trust the quality of Mojo's products, although I'd still like to hear them before shilling out £150 on them.
Basvarken
Commercial User
- Dec 3, 2010
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- Hobby Luthier / Gibson Bass Book
For what it's worth; I have installed quite a few of these Chinabuckers on various bases. All of them were excellent.
Not just for the money, but really great pickups. Haven't seen a single dud among them.
Don't be fooled by all that chauvinist talk.
Not just for the money, but really great pickups. Haven't seen a single dud among them.
Don't be fooled by all that chauvinist talk.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't knocking them, they seem to have a good reputation. My point was if the Mojo pups were no closer to the original design then we might as well save £50 and buy another copy of your book
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I have Chinabuckers on the '91. I don't know for sure what the originals sound like, because I have never heard a 1960s 'Bird in person. I like them well enough. With Cobalt Flats, they can be bright and aggressive, or I can back off and dial them down by playing softer and higher up the neck. They may or may not be better than the stock pickups. I put them in rather than cutting up the stock pickups when I chromed out the bass. What's absolutely true is that there are detail issue, especially the mounting screws. Those are not pleasant to deal with if your fingers encounter them while you are playing.
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Too bad they didn't do an ebony fb on this model - is that a Hipshot bridge?
Basvarken
Commercial User
- Dec 3, 2010
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- Hobby Luthier / Gibson Bass Book
That's a pretty significant difference. Which part of the recording is the thunderbucker and which is the chinabucker?
- Jul 1, 2005
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- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
One and three are ThunderBuckers. More defined than the CBs and closer to sound of my '60s TBirds. Actually, EXACTLY the sound of my 60s.
Can't seem to get the clip to stay uploaded, here it is again.
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Ebony fingerboard? That would be waaaayyyyy too creative for Gibson in the mid-2000's. LOL As for the bridge, I don't remember it saying Hipshot anywhere on it but it sure does look like one. The only thing I could find on it online was that a reviewer said it was a Hipshot style bridge. I'll look at it when I get home to see if there's anything stamped on it.
- Mar 13, 2008
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- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
They are different but I'd be happy to live with either of them. Shame you haven't got a set of the Mojos to compare too, send me the 64 and I'll do it for you
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Oh, I'm aware it's stock, just wondered if Gibson used a Hipshot Type A for this one. (excellent bridges) If it is a Hipshot, there won't be any markings on it - probably a knock-off as it would be a Gibson selling point to specifically say it was a Hipshot bridge.
A Hipshot Type A is 2"x 3 3/8" for reference. (4 string) The one on the Studio model looks a bit longer than 2" but it could be a perspective illusion.
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I managed to find the dud. Then again I'd be the person who was flattened by a piano falling out of a clear blue sky. My first two were out of phase with one another.
During the ensuing email conversation to get things sorted out, Eric Y revealed that these pickups are Gibson in all but logo and chrome cover.
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Thanks for the quick follow up.
Both pups sound nice but there's definitely a lot more tonal content in the Thunderbuckers.
That would imply that with Thunderbuckers it would be relatively easy to adjust the tone knob on the bass or at the amp to achieve a sound similar to the Chinabucker if that's what you wanted but not vice versa.
Now it would be really interesting to hear a Thunderbucker back to back with a 2015 TBird pup, which I think is the same pup my 2013EB has.
Another interesting idea would be to put a Thunderbucker all the way up at the neck in SG style,
might be the perfect combination of broad tonal capability in the Max deep sweet spot. I guess you can tell, I like to be different
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