In the meantime, I am gassing for another Tbird to feel more comfortable taking out and about. How do you guys here like the Epiphone Vintage Pro model from about 5 years ago?
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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- club thunderbird
The Epiphone VP is an absolute killer bass! So good in fact that a number of folks in the club have multiple VPs. I love the one I have and posted a link a few pages back to a smashing good deal on a used one. I think it might have been in Austin Texas. If you can find a clean used one for under $600 jump on it!
Thank you! is the neck on the slimmer side?
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
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- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
A little larger than your Gibson Reverse.
Interesting about the noisy pickups. Not sure how many years that went on, but I have noticed in the past my '06 would have some noise at church if both pickups were fully on. Turn one off and the hiss/buzz would go away. The first few times it happened I was shocked as I never experienced humbuckers make any noise together or separate. It wasn't real loud, but at times I would need to turn a pickup off if nothing was going on. Haven't played it there in a while so I don't know if it was just a thing at that time or what.
So good I bought one, then another. As close as you can get to a 60s Thunderbird anywhere near that price. It sounds more like my '64 than any other Thunderbird out of the five I have. Can't go wrong.
yep! Humbuckers that don’t buck the hum
mine were very annoying with any gain or pedal in front of them
So weird in your case. I wonder if a ground wire got displaced when the bridge was changed out. Assuming that is in fact a variable with these basses.yep! Humbuckers that don’t buck the hum
Thanks! I have 2. The Simmons has a large rounded profile and the 2000 has a slim taper (my favorite). Could you please share which profile the Epiphone VP comes closest to?
?? No "Stairway to Heaven"?
Nope.
That was my first thought. we went through everything, each cap and pot and wire was isolated until we got to the humbuckers. I asked my tech to see if he could probably fix them as he makes pickups for his guitars but removing the epoxy in the stock pickups would destroy them.
I liked the tone enough that I wanted to preserve them if possible but I went through many threads here and on Google searches to learn it is a known issue from that time.
I also recall having that same experience with an SG when I was shopping for them around those years. The salesman at Sam Ash thought I was naive enough to believe that the noise from microphonic pickups was “static built up in the wood, which will degrade over time”. I recall looking at his boss’ face who was sitting there with us, deadpan he got up and left.
Ah, damn. Yeah, not much you can do when it's all packed into epoxy. I'm sure you'll love the Lollars. I look forward to your impressions of them compared to the stock TB+. I think your GS Thunderbird has the TB+?
Just picked up a couple of (non-Thunderbird, non-working) projects......
Will be sure to post my thoughts when they are installed. I’m not 100% sure if they’re the TB+, they’re pretty nondescript.
I used to do "I know a Little" years ago, that song was fun. 'Gimme Three Steps' too, Van Zandt was a great lyricist.
That would have to be a great paying gig to get me to even listen to most of those songs, much less learn them.
A similar memory I have is getting onto the bus for school (bus & train trip) and that stinkin’ Tie a Yellow Ribbon was on, everyday, at the same time - a minute or so after I got on. I developed an aversion to that song
that persists to this day. I think it was the sheer repetition day after day for such a long time.
No offence intended to any Tony Orlando & Dawn fans we have amongst us.
I was lucky, we had The Beatles and the Stones when I was riding the bus to school. I still remember one of the first times I heard The Monkees, Last Train To clarksville, I thought it was a new Beatle song at first.
