Thunderbird Club

[BklynKen]

The examples you posted are both modern pickup placement. The 2011 had the modern placement. If I’m reading the 2013 serial number correctly it’s a very late example from the 2013 year (maybe the last week of December) so it may have been made right after the cut over date. Here’s an earlier model 2013 that clearly shows the neck pickup closer to the bridge pickup…
View attachment 5036438
This is pretty much the same pickup spacing as the VP and the vintage 1960’s Tbirds.

Ah, thank you. So weird that they did that for such a short window.

 

[GBassNorth]

While we’re on the topic of pickup spacing, I just noticed something for the first time. Apparently some Goth basses do in fact have modern pickup spacing.
Case in point, this 2007 model has the neck pickup closer to the neck (modern spacing)…


Then all these other ones for sale on Reverb where the neck pickup is clearly closer to the bridge pickup. Some of these Goths are older than 2007 and some are newer…


Makes one wonder, if it really is a function of the model year. It might possibly be more a function of which facility the bass was built in. Which would roughly correlate to model year but may have exceptions during the model year if production was shifted from one location to another temporarily.

 

[GBassNorth]

Calling Marshal, @MCF
A bass is waiting in the bay with your name all over it…
Epiphone Thunderbird Blue Free Shipping From Japan | eBay

 

[RedVee]

While we’re on the topic of pickup spacing, I just noticed something for the first time. Apparently some Goth basses do in fact have modern pickup spacing.
Case in point, this 2007 model has the neck pickup closer to the neck (modern spacing)…
View attachment 5036492 View attachment 5036493

Then all these other ones for sale on Reverb where the neck pickup is clearly closer to the bridge pickup. Some of these Goths are older than 2007 and some are newer…
View attachment 5036496 View attachment 5036497 View attachment 5036498 View attachment 5036499 View attachment 5036500

Makes one wonder, if it really is a function of the model year. It might possibly be more a function of which facility the bass was built in. Which would roughly correlate to model year but may have exceptions during the model year if production was shifted from one location to another temporarily.

Must be. I look for alignment to the pickguard screw. That shows it quickly, unless of course they change those all the time as well?

Afaik they change by product rather than any other factor. So all Goths should have the same pickguard design or very close, but CPs, VPs and Gibson’s would likely be different.

 

[KaraQ]

While we’re on the topic of pickup spacing, I just noticed something for the first time. Apparently some Goth basses do in fact have modern pickup spacing.
Case in point, this 2007 model has the neck pickup closer to the neck (modern spacing)…
View attachment 5036492 View attachment 5036493

Then all these other ones for sale on Reverb where the neck pickup is clearly closer to the bridge pickup. Some of these Goths are older than 2007 and some are newer…
View attachment 5036496 View attachment 5036497 View attachment 5036498 View attachment 5036499 View attachment 5036500

Makes one wonder, if it really is a function of the model year. It might possibly be more a function of which facility the bass was built in. Which would roughly correlate to model year but may have exceptions during the model year if production was shifted from one location to another temporarily.

I wonder if it could be an early '07? When they first moved to China, using the Unsung factory, before switching to the DaeWon facility?
The pickup locations in early 2007 bolt-on 'bird I had were different than the others I've had, and from the later-2007 models I've seen.....

 

[JJR58]

Does anyone have any comparison photos of this 2013 CP and other years? Every photo I've seen of a 2013 seems to have the same spacing as every other CP.

Epiphone Thunderbird IV Classic Pro 2013 - Redburst | Reverb

Epiphone Thunderbird Classic IV PRO 2011 Redburst with original case. | Reverb

I know it's stamped 13. But that is definitely not 2013 spacing.

 

[JJR58]

The examples you posted are both modern pickup placement. The 2011 had the modern placement. If I’m reading the 2013 serial number correctly it’s a very late example from the 2013 year (maybe the last week of December) so it may have been made right after the cut over date. Here’s an earlier model 2013 that clearly shows the neck pickup closer to the bridge pickup…
View attachment 5036438
This is pretty much the same pickup spacing as the VP and the vintage 1960’s Tbirds.

Def you can see the difference between this and the burst.

 

[Stealth57]

I know it's stamped 13. But that is definitely not 2013 spacing.

My 2/14 CP has 2013 stamped parts but definitely non-2013 pickup locations.

 

[KaraQ]

Does anyone have any comparison photos of this 2013 CP and other years? Every photo I've seen of a 2013 seems to have the same spacing as every other CP.

Epiphone Thunderbird IV Classic Pro 2013 - Redburst | Reverb

Epiphone Thunderbird Classic IV PRO 2011 Redburst with original case. | Reverb

The examples you posted are both modern pickup placement. The 2011 had the modern placement. If I’m reading the 2013 serial number correctly it’s a very late example from the 2013 year (maybe the last week of December) so it may have been made right after the cut over date. Here’s an earlier model 2013 that clearly shows the neck pickup closer to the bridge pickup…
View attachment 5036438
This is pretty much the same pickup spacing as the VP and the vintage 1960’s Tbirds.

Based on the s/n, unless I'm reading it wrong?, isn't that second one a 2015 not a 2011? Afaik, the Classic Pro didn't start production until 2013?

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Summer of '76 me with my H.S. graduation present.
See, I'm a sharing individual

I swear we could be friggin brothers….you sure you’re not Siciliano instead of Deutsch?….class of 82…

 

[MCF]

They are retro-cool, but hearing it's heavy is a deal-breaker. Both versions are short-scale.

Full size bass six bodies with the bridge way up towards the neck to make it a 30” scale. So they’re heavy compared to most shorties. I recall being annoyed with the Fender that the neck had to be removed to adjust the TR. The three lipsticks on the Fender gave it a different sound with a lot of pickup combinations. I played a few before ending up passing. None of them said “take me home.” They were $800 in 2014. Well made MIMs in a very cool color. Just not for me.

 

[GBassNorth]

I wonder if it could be an early '07? When they first moved to China, using the Unsung factory, before switching to the DaeWon facility?
The pickup locations in early 2007 bolt-on 'bird I had were different than the others I've had, and from the later-2007 models I've seen.....

That may very well be the case. I haven’t ever seen a list of which model basses were made where by year.

 

[GBassNorth]

Full size bass six bodies with the bridge way up towards the neck to make it a 30” scale. So they’re heavy compared to most shorties. I recall being annoyed with the Fender that the neck had to be removed to adjust the TR. The three lipsticks on the Fender gave it a different sound with a lot of pickup combinations. I played a few before ending up passing. None of them said “take me home.” They were $800 in 2014. Well made MIMs in a very cool color. Just not for me.

I found pretty much the same thing, back when the Rascals were first released with the lipsticks.
Cool color, cool shape. I like SS basses so I thought I’d love this one. It played as fast as a SS but felt more like a standard scale because of the neck placement in the body. I wasn’t keen on the truss access feature, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. The deal breaker for me was the weight of the one I tried, it had to be bumping up towards 11 pounds. At the time I was dealing with a torn rotator cuff, so it was a no go. I did like the sound of the original but I’d probably like the sound of the dual humbuckers even more.

 

[MCF]

This is interesting. EY is making drop-in replacement pickups for bolt-on Epiphone Thunderbirds with Gibson internals.

Thunderbird Bass for Original Epiphone,With Gibson Thunderbi

Yeah. Someone started a discussion here a few weeks ago. Didn’t get much traction. Good luck finding the posts back some hundreds of pages by now. I guess they could be putting Tbird+ coils inside Epi style covers. Resistance levels seem close.

Maybe we could convince our mad scientist friend George to get a set and test/compare them to the stock Epis.

 

[JJR58]

I found pretty much the same thing, back when the Rascals were first released with the lipsticks.
Cool color, cool shape. I like SS basses so I thought I’d love this one. It played as fast as a SS but felt more like a standard scale because of the neck placement in the body. I wasn’t keen on the truss access feature, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. The deal breaker for me was the weight of the one I tried, it had to be bumping up towards 11 pounds. At the time I was dealing with a torn rotator cuff, so it was a no go. I did like the sound of the original but I’d probably like the sound of the dual humbuckers even more.

I’d rock a light weight one.

 

[MCF]

A supercomputer told me the answer is 42. It's always 42.

Jackie Robinson.

 

[JJR58]

In the parallel universe.
Ken’s a righty.

 

[BklynKen]

In the parallel universe.
Ken’s a righty.

View attachment 5036613

My evil doppelganger!

 

[JJR58]

Summer of '76 me with my H.S. graduation present.
See, I'm a sharing individual

Wow!

 

[JJR58]

I too digs me some nice Ric action.
And those original pick ups are now living vicariously through someone's bass here.