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Thunderbird Club

#239,361
Count Bassie said:
May end up with a Supertone for my CP. After breaking the three point on the Les Paul my confidence is a little down on it. And the Supertone looks pretty sharp
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I've got a Babicz fch-3 in nickel that's going up for sale soon (the one that used to be on my CP), if you might be interested?
It's for a Gibson though, so the body inserts will have to be changed on an Epiphone (I have a set of the Babicz inserts that go with it, for that purpose)


If your heart's set on the Supertone though, just pay me no mind :)
 
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#239,363
Thunderbird Thurs/Firebird Fri?…
upload_2023-3-9_8-32-7.jpeg
 
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#239,365
Thumper said:
Well, I still haven't found any saddles, or even a replacement bridge for my Thunderbird IV body... I have thought about getting that cheap Chinese bridge in hopes it fits, but they take weeks to get. Or maybe a Gotoh Japanese...
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Are you looking for black three point replacement parts? I have a Goth bridge that I might be able to scavenge parts off of for you if that’s what you need.
 
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#239,368
Thumper said:
Yes, just need saddles 1 & 2, and the screws/bolts that adjust them
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It’s Gibson/Epiphone, so zero guarantee that the two saddles off of my bridge will be slotted like yours were. So, I’ll send all four saddles and associated screws/bolts that adjust them, that way you’ll have a guaranteed matching set. PM me with your mailing address.
 
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#239,369
Miles_ONeal said:
Gotta concur!
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I will say the Supertone didn’t work out for my Goth. I couldn’t get it to intonate without having Hipshot send me longer screws. They have great customer service and that problem was solved. But the string height was too high with it even with the saddles lowered to the deck. I was working on finding the right shim for the neck, but getting the neck angle right was a pain. I gave up and went back to the three point. It’s fine now.
 
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#239,370
MCF said:
I will say the Supertone didn’t work out for my Goth. I couldn’t get it to intonate without having Hipshot send me longer screws. They have great customer service and that problem was solved. But the string height was too high with it even with the saddles lowered to the deck. I was working on finding the right shim for the neck, but getting the neck angle right was a pain. I gave up and went back to the three point. It’s fine now.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. On my Gibson, the Hipshot saddles are almost as high as they can go.
 
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#239,374
MCF said:
I will say the Supertone didn’t work out for my Goth. I couldn’t get it to intonate without having Hipshot send me longer screws. They have great customer service and that problem was solved. But the string height was too high with it even with the saddles lowered to the deck. I was working on finding the right shim for the neck, but getting the neck angle right was a pain. I gave up and went back to the three point. It’s fine now.
Click to expand...
I gotta admit, I had my share of issues fitting a Supertone to my Goth. The Supertone essentially (and unfortunately) served the purpose as an extractor for the body inserts. Not necessarily the fault of the bridge, just a weak link in the three point design. So as opposed to continuing to use the Hipshot bolts that rely on the biggest design shortcoming of the three point I decided to “Fenderize” the Supertone and drilled 4 countersunk holes thru the bridge into the body. Works fantastic and has made the bridge truly high torque full body contact.
541E32AD-2468-4893-94AE-907D804F3B33.jpeg
 
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#239,375
MCF said:
I will say the Supertone didn’t work out for my Goth. I couldn’t get it to intonate without having Hipshot send me longer screws. They have great customer service and that problem was solved. But the string height was too high with it even with the saddles lowered to the deck. I was working on finding the right shim for the neck, but getting the neck angle right was a pain. I gave up and went back to the three point. It’s fine now.
Click to expand...

Bummer. I had to get longer screws for the lower strings as well, but like you said, no problem. I had no issues getting a nice, low action on my CP (or the bolt-on before that). But there is no one size fits all.
 
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#239,376
MCF said:
You’re a great guy George.
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Thanks. There’s a lot of great folks in this club (yourself included), I’m just happy to be one of the Queens subjects. This club truly gives more pleasure and support to me than I get most anywhere else. Just paying some of it back once in a while is a treat. :thumbsup:
 
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#239,377
Does anybody here know where to find the single string hard tail ball end holders for a bass. They take the place of the standard four string hard tail but you’d use four of them instead (one for each string). I’ve seen them somewhere but can’t seem to find them now.
 
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#239,378
GBassNorth said:
I gotta admit, I had my share of issues fitting a Supertone to my Goth. The Supertone essentially (and unfortunately) served the purpose as an extractor for the body inserts. Not necessarily the fault of the bridge, just a weak link in the three point design. So as opposed to continuing to use the Hipshot bolts that rely on the biggest design shortcoming of the three point I decided to “Fenderize” the Supertone and drilled 4 countersunk holes thru the bridge into the body. Works fantastic and has made the bridge truly high torque full body contact.
View attachment 4993581
Click to expand...


I have a Supertone on my 73 EB4-L, I think they are a little too thick, I can't really get the action as low as I like it, the only reason I keep it on is that the original 2 point bridge was such a piece of crap, it's a much better bridge but aesthetically lacking IMHO and too thick.
 
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#239,379
KaraQ said:
I've got a Babicz fch-3 in nickel that's going up for sale soon (the one that used to be on my CP), if you might be interested?
It's for a Gibson though, so the body inserts will have to be changed on an Epiphone (I have a set of the Babicz inserts that go with it, for that purpose)


If your heart's set on the Supertone though, just pay me no mind :)
Click to expand...
Well I've got that insert glued in, I'd hope to not remove any finish when pulling it... But I would be interested. I like the look of those.
Would it work in a curved top instrument?
 
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