Thunderbird Club

[TBird1958]

Have any of you guys swapped out your stock Epiphone VP/60s Thunderbird pickups for higher quality ones?
If so and you'd like to sell the stock ones you took out, I'd like to buy them and put them in this bass.
Also, if any of you experts think I'll run into trouble making this swap, let me know.View attachment 4974908 View attachment 4974909

I think the pickups will fit just fine, finding a set of 760s for sale is going to be the difficult part as most guys really like them a lot.
Neat bass you have there too!

 

[JIO]

If the neck is good, it could go for that. I have the square pole piece pickups in a MIJ guitar and they sound great. EDIT: and Geo has basses with them

Yep - those pu's sound great - very strong output. Japan in the '60s made over 127 different pu's! Teisco was at the forefront and that square-pole pu was one of their most famous.

 

[STR8 UP BASS]

Have any of you guys swapped out your stock Epiphone VP/60s Thunderbird pickups for higher quality ones?
If so and you'd like to sell the stock ones you took out, I'd like to buy them and put them in this bass.
Also, if any of you experts think I'll run into trouble making this swap, let me know.

 

[Engle]

@MCF I have this bridge. You're welcome to parts (or the whole thing) if it will work.

 

[MCF]

T

@MCF I have this bridge. You're welcome to parts (or the whole thing) if it will work.
View attachment 4974937 View attachment 4974938

Thank you Irv. If I can’t find a screw, I may take you up on that. Or I may have the saddles tapped to use a more standard screw, if that’s that’s possible.

 

[Stealth57]

Have any of you guys swapped out your stock Epiphone VP/60s Thunderbird pickups for higher quality ones?
If so and you'd like to sell the stock ones you took out, I'd like to buy them and put them in this bass.
Also, if any of you experts think I'll run into trouble making this swap, let me know.View attachment 4974934 View attachment 4974935

Might have some in a couple months.

 

[STR8 UP BASS]

I think the pickups will fit just fine, finding a set of 760s for sale is going to be the difficult part as most guys really like them a lot.
Neat bass you have there too!

Thanks for getting back with me. I hear you on the sound of the 760s, I have a white VP & they are music to my ears! I think those pickups will fit aesthetically in that Schecter as well!

 

[Engle]

T

Thank you Irv. If I can’t find a screw, I may take you up on that. Or I may have the saddles tapped to use a more standard screw, if that’s that’s possible.

If you can find a standard screw that's larger, it would be easy enough to tap the saddles.

 

[STR8 UP BASS]

Might have some in a couple months.

Thanks for letting me know.
Please keep me in mind.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Oh yeah, I was even known to my friends when I was a kid as someone who was able to call them all out. I'm still pretty good with the old cars. I was sitting in a restaurant out here fifteen- twenty years ago and my gaze got drawn to a Plymouth parked outside which had two little hood scoops on it and thought it looked like a '67 Plymouth GTX but those had 440's in them and there was no way someone here was going to drive a car that got ten MPG going downhill and there were a lot of 60's Plymouths here back then, Plymouths and Dodges. Me and my buddy went outside though and were looking at it and the owner came along and it was a real one. I asked him about the engine and he said it had a slant six, the 440 was in his garage but I hadn't seen one of those things for years. It didn't have the wheels on it but was identical and cars don't rust out here so it was pretty nice. A friend of mine had one years ago and there were torque monsters, I think the HP was close to 400 too.

those were heavy big blocks….
200 pounds lighter and about the same torque output…….Vince will prolly say something and Geoff agree with me…
https://youtube.com/shorts/meUgJBXCwl8?feature=share

 

[TBird1958]

Steve Priest (RIP) and The Sweet.

 

[GBassNorth]

those were heavy big blocks….
200 pounds lighter and about the same torque output…….Vince will prolly say something and Geoff agree with me…
https://youtube.com/shorts/meUgJBXCwl8?feature=share

I’d have to agree. The AMC 390 packed a ton of punch for its size and is certainly one of the more overlooked gems from the muscle care era. The 440 was a big old brute with plenty of power but I found them to be slow winding compared to the AMC 390 and just too heavy for their HP ratings.

Did a quick google and found a list of the top ten greatest high performance engines. The 390 is in the list but the 440 didn’t make the cut (maybe bumped by the mopar Hemi). It’s a fun read that I’d pretty much agree with (except the bizarre Merlin they threw in the mix)…
The Top 10 Greatest High Performance Engines of All Time (Says You)

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Steve Priest (RIP) and The Sweet.

coolest glam rock ever…

 

[Thumper]

I think the pickups will fit just fine, finding a set of 760s for sale is going to be the difficult part as most guys really like them a lot.
Neat bass you have there too!

What are these going for? I may have a pair I might part with...

 

[bobyoung53]

those were heavy big blocks….
200 pounds lighter and about the same torque output…….Vince will prolly say something and Geoff agree with me…
https://youtube.com/shorts/meUgJBXCwl8?feature=share

Oh I know it, but once they got going they were monsters. A buddy of mine had a '68 when I was a kid.

One of my old girlfriends had a '72 Javelin with something like a 343(?) in it. You could bake the back tires.

 

[D.M.N.]

Ok, anybody find me a pic of Glenn Hughes playing a Rickenbacker bass during the Deep Purple Mark III's three final gigs in April 1975? Can't find any? Neither can I since he was a P-bass guy during that period.
*Only losing my sleep over some thread*

I was only aware of him using that Fireglo Rick early on, only seen him with the Precision after Burn.

 

[dagrev]

A fool and his money....

Just bought one of these used and in great condition (supposedly).
Seems to be mostly the same as the bigger Root Master 300 minus the EQ sliders.
It will be fine for my purposes. Something of a different flavor and has a headphones out or if I don't want to fire the tubes up. Also handy if the tube heads go down. 4.5 lbs. Back in the Ashdown family.

 

[dagrev]

Might have some in a couple months.

Whaaaat?

 

[wango55]

What are these going for? I may have a pair I might part with...

if you have a set, I’m interested. I’ve got Chinabuckers in my VP I’d love to put the actual 760s in.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

A fool and his money....

View attachment 4975194

Just bought one of these used and in great condition (supposedly).
Seems to be mostly the same as the bigger Root Master 300 minus the EQ sliders.
It will be fine for my purposes. Something of a different flavor and has a headphones out or if I don't want to fire the tubes up. Also handy if the tube heads go down. 4.5 lbs. Back in the Ashdown family.

those are great heads….hard to tell they are Class D! nice score D