Thunderbird Club

[Gaolee]

Is there a direct replacement for the tuners on a 2001 Gibson ‘bird? I want to change to nickel without adding any screw holes if possible.

Hipshot Ultralight 3/8" tuners will do that. It you want clovers, you have to order mini-clovers or there will be a bit of interference. The Flamingo is a 1991 and had different tuners than Gibson used in 2001, and I had to drill a hole and ream out the hole for the post to make Hipshots work. I don't know when Gibson made the change, but it was before 2001.

I'm a little superstitious about messing with my 2001. That didn't stop me from putting a Hipshot Bass x-tender on it and swapping the bridge for a Babicz. Neither of those changes seems to have made any difference in how good it is. My hardware will stay black, and the tuners will stay Y tuners, just to avoid tempting fate. I think there's another 2001 floating around that somebody has, that's got some magic as well. It has been extensively modified without altering the magic. So there's that.

 

[BklynKen]

1964 Thunderbird IV

 

[JIO]

mid '60s MIJ Damian - gold-foil pu and metal pg/control-plate.

 

[JIO]

Really digging, KaraQ's white VP. Still no fretting hand pain, if/when I do I may consider a neck change. Now, may just keep an eye out for a Drop tuner, which one will fit?

Hipshot sells one in many tuner options.

 

[GBassNorth]

mid '60s MIJ Damian - gold-foil pu and metal pg/control-plate.

View attachment 5034373

I for one, really enjoy seeing all the thunderbird inspired basses out there. Not sure why the Ric guys get so wound up about copies while the Tbird, P bass and Jazz bass guys seem to embrace the alternate options concept.

 

[WillyW]

I for one, really enjoy seeing all the thunderbird inspired basses out there. Not sure why the Ric guys get so wound up about copies while the Tbird, P bass and Jazz bass guys seem to embrace the alternate options concept.

some peepholes just live to be offended...

 

[JIO]

I for one, really enjoy seeing all the thunderbird inspired basses out there. Not sure why the Ric guys get so wound up about copies while the Tbird, P bass and Jazz bass guys seem to embrace the alternate options concept.

I imagine that one was one of the first in the early-mid '60s. Basses/guitars coming out of Japan then were riffing off of the major brands (yes, Ric's too) but not as 'clones' as they later did in the '70s. There was so many unique designs referencing one brand or another creating some whacky-cool instruments.

 

[MCF]

This is a cool finish - I've never seen one like it.

Epiphone THUNDERBIRD PRO IV used Electric Bass Guitar | eBay

It looks cool from what little the pics show. Translucent ebony?

 

[JIO]

It looks cool from what little the pics show. Translucent ebony?

looks like it -

 

[MCF]

I like the taste of quinine in tonic. I had a g&t in Germany that wasn't right. The tonic contained artificial quinine flavour. The bartender searched around and found tonic with quinine for me.

From memory (so I may have a number of details wrong, up to completely wrong), there are 3 major strains of malaria. Quinine is a treatment/prophyaxis for two of them including the most common strain. Another drug (which eludes me right now) treats the strains other than the most common strain.

Fun fact - quinidine (an anti-arrhythmic) is an enantiomer of quinine. That is, same atomic structure, but a chiral centre has the opposite orientation (left-handed vs right-handed molecules).

Chloroquine? Recently in the news re Covid. I have a friend who got Malaria in Zaire while in the Peace Corps circa 1981. He still has occasional relapses. And nothing touches it when he’s sick. He got a particularly nasty strain.

 

[MCF]

mid '60s MIJ Damian - gold-foil pu and metal pg/control-plate.

View attachment 5034373

That is very cool. Same ashtray as on my Sears Silvertone 1490 and Dave’s National. I’d rock that any day.

 

[MCF]

I for one, really enjoy seeing all the thunderbird inspired basses out there. Not sure why the Ric guys get so wound up about copies while the Tbird, P bass and Jazz bass guys seem to embrace the alternate options concept.

And just today:
Not sure what to make of this statement.

 

[JJR58]

1964 Thunderbird IV

One of my fav songs ever!

 

[Thumper]

Hipshot sells one in many tuner options.

I use Hipshot BT3s on all my Fender necks. I just checked a Hipshot Detuner I have for my Embassies, it looks like 3/8" with 1 mounting screw. The VP, which is wearing 4 screw Wilkinsons, looks like 1/2" posts. Ideally, I don’t want to drill screw holes.

 

[BklynKen]

One of my fav songs ever!

Nice! I recently got the CD box set of the entire Epic album collection. CD sleeves are the album covers.

 

[JIO]

That is very cool. Same ashtray as on my Sears Silvertone 1490 and Dave’s National. I’d rock that any day.

Yep, many overlapping parts from '60s Japanese factories.

 

[JIO]

One of my fav songs ever!

I like it too - learned it at one point thinking I'd eventually be in a band who would play it... hummm...

 

[JIO]

I use Hipshot BT3s on all my Fender necks. I just checked a Hipshot Detuner I have for my Embassies, it looks like 3/8" with 1 mounting screw. The VP, which is wearing 4 screw Wilkinsons, looks like 1/2" posts. Ideally, I don’t want to drill screw holes.

I'm not aware of any other company producing a de-tuner... other than Steinberger for their headless basses.

 

[GonePlaid]

And just today:
Not sure what to make of this statement.

Well, everyone's entitled to a ridiculous opinion.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I like the taste of tonic water/quinine also. These days there are boutique brands that have many varieties of flavor.

At some point in my childhood (in the 5-10 y/o range), we had quinine water in the fridge in El Paso. I don't recall why. I just remember tasting it and liking it, so I drank a bottle and Mom was annoyed at my "wasting it".