Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

Sooooo.... tell me, how many TBirds do you have on your collection??

One actual Thunderbird - my '64 II bought in '78. Prior to that I owned a (very rare) '63 II, bought in '73 which was stollen in '78. I have 3 TSO's in my collection and have made a number of TSO's that have sold over the years.

 

[JIO]

The stalling of posting is still happening - here's another trick; once you hit Post Reply and it stalls - refresh your computer. Bob's yer' uncle.

 

[Loretta]

One actual Thunderbird - my '64 II bought in '78.

The bridge PU is original? Why doesn't it have a chrome cap?

 

[JIO]

The bridge PU is original? Why doesn't it have a chrome cap?

No, the bridge pu is not original as it is a II - I installed it in '86. It's a Seymour Duncan Hawkbucker, which they made expressly for a Thunderbird. They are still being made - our Jeff had one installed in his P-bass. I've never played a '64 IV but I can't imagine it sounding better than mine.

 

[MCF]

That concerned me with the VP too, but was told it’s normal.

There’s not a whole lot of difference on my VP. But I have it set for very low action as the neck and nut can accommodate it. The neck is visibly straight up and down the fretboard. I only wish the reach (as you’ll recall, I’m only 5’ 8”) was a little less. Then it would pretty much be perfect.

 

[TBird1958]

No, the bridge pu is not original as it is a II - I installed it in '86. It's a Seymour Duncan Hawkbucker, which they made expressly for a Thunderbird. They are still being made - our Jeff had one installed in his P-bass. I've never played a '64 IV but I can't imagine it sounding better than mine.

I ordered some Seymour Duncan standard Thunderbird pickups for my Orville, they'll take a little while to get here, but I'm pretty excited to give them a try.

 

[JIO]

I ordered some Seymour Duncan standard Thunderbird pickups for my Orville, they'll take a little while to get here, but I'm pretty excited to give them a try.

Wasn't aware they made one. I'm sure they will sound great.

 

[bobyoung53]

We played all the CCR classics in our HS band. Pretty much the music, along with Grand Funk, Neil/CSN, Black Sabbath, Bowie, (and God forbid, bread, America, the Carpenters) of our generation.

I joined my first band in 1967 when I was about 14, we were playing stuff like 'Midnight Hour', 'Mustang Sally' (Young Rascals versions), some Beatles, 'I Need You' 'Abilene' George Hamilton IV, believe it or not, lots of others but those stand out, oh yeah, Barry and The Remains. Two Silvertone Twin Twelves for two guitars, two mics and a bass . They actually sounded pretty good at a moderate volume, I didn't own a bass amp at that time. We had no keyboard so we pretended.

Really great, slow soulful version:

 

[MCF]

think you’d like it here….
View attachment 5008363

Are you still down there? I thought you had a real job….

 

[bobyoung53]

Wait - is this a joke or is there actually a glitch? If not a glitch... we got it already...

It's still doing it today, three posts sometimes from one.

 

[Stealth57]

I ordered some Seymour Duncan standard Thunderbird pickups for my Orville, they'll take a little while to get here, but I'm pretty excited to give them a try.

Beat me to it.

 

[bobyoung53]

The stalling of posting is still happening - here's another trick; once you hit Post Reply and it stalls - refresh your computer. Bob's yer' uncle.

Me?

 

[BklynKen]

I ordered some Seymour Duncan standard Thunderbird pickups for my Orville, they'll take a little while to get here, but I'm pretty excited to give them a try.

Excellent! Can't wait to hear your impressions. Did you ask for any customization on them, like wound hotter or anything?

 

[Stealth57]

The stock SD’s claim to be an exact copy of the original Gibsons.

“The original pickups were humbuckers under stunning chrome covers, but that sound and appearance faded away years ago. We are seriously obsessed with vintage pickups, so ours are built to original spec and cosmetics so you can restore an original or upgrade your reissue.”

 

[MCF]

I ordered some Seymour Duncan standard Thunderbird pickups for my Orville, they'll take a little while to get here, but I'm pretty excited to give them a try.

Like you, I like the ‘21 NR pickups. A lot. When @godofthunder59 posted that he believes they are made by SD, I went looking. Alnico V magnets. Unless I’m missing something, I only see them in nickel and black chrome. But I’m really thinking the black would be great the in the red Epi I bought from @KaraQ….it is a great upgrade platform. My goal is to have different pickups in most of my Thunderbirds. Within reason, of course.

 

[TBird1958]

Excellent! Can't wait to hear your impressions. Did you ask for any customization on them, like wound hotter or anything?

Nothing custom, they're hot, I think around 12K so they'll be fine in the Orville - I just don't get to play that bass enough, the pickups being the reason.

The stock SD’s claim to be an exact copy of the original Gibsons.

“The original pickups were humbuckers under stunning chrome covers, but that sound and appearance faded away years ago. We are seriously obsessed with vintage pickups, so ours are built to original spec and cosmetics so you can restore an original or upgrade your reissue.”

It's be interesting to compare them to Lulls - since they ( along with TV Jones) make them for Lull in the first place.

 

[BklynKen]

Nothing custom, they're hot, I think around 12K so they'll be fine in the Orville - I just don't get to play that bass enough, the pickups being the reason.

A while back, SD told me, "Our Thunderbirds are based on a set we thought were particularly good sounding from a bass that was made in the initial 63-65 era. We currently do not have any sound samples of these available. We hope to make more content for the website in the near future."

 

[Loretta]

Seymour Duncan Hawkbucker

Seymour Duncan standard Thunderbird

Veeeery interesting! Well, I...not yet...wait...maybe in a couple of days...we'll see...

 

[JIO]

Me?

Bob.., not "Bobby's your uncle"!

 

[JIO]

The stock SD’s claim to be an exact copy of the original Gibsons.

“The original pickups were humbuckers under stunning chrome covers, but that sound and appearance faded away years ago. We are seriously obsessed with vintage pickups, so ours are built to original spec and cosmetics so you can restore an original or upgrade your reissue.”

I wonder how long they've made them - they certainly weren't around in '86 or that's probably what I would have used. Having said that, no way would I consider changing mine at this point as I'm very content with the way it sounds and have been for.., a lot of years!

 

[JIO]

It's still doing it today, three posts sometimes from one.

To repeat, once a posting reply stalls - refresh page. If it still stalls, re-reply until it does appear (in duplicate) and it then delete redundant posts as soon as possible.