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Thunderbird Club

#254,023
GBassNorth said:
@TBird1958 @GonePlaid
Just got done watching an old 1930’s movie that had some great vintage steam engine train scenes in it. Here’s an excerpt of some of the train footage…

The movie is a fun light hearted B movie watch, great with some popcorn on a Friday night. Enjoy
Click to expand...

Fun watch. Kinda ridiculous, but fun.
Lotta train scenes in movies were filmed on Southern Pacific even if it s'posed to be somewhere else.
 
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#254,024
Bruce Pete said:
Good morning Ladies and Gents,
On the subject of Epiphone Thunderbirds (the good ones), what model's (names) am I looking for?

Is it any of them with thru neck construction?

Ignorance is bliss, and I'm the happiest man in three counties.
Click to expand...
You want a Classic Pro or a Vintage Pro (aka 60s). Neck through construction. Made in Indonesia. CP is like a modern Gibson and uses Gibson TB+ pickups. VP is more of a 60s Gibson with Probucker 760 pickups.
 
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#254,026
CP on the left, VP on the right.

DCDAB053-8558-423C-98CC-214A30875639.jpeg
 
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#254,028
Bruce Pete said:
I'll give the white Classic Pro a good home ...........

Beautiful!
Click to expand...
The CP is out of production, so you will have to look hard to find one. A good price would be anything $400 or less. I paid $400 including the original Epi hard case. The bass was in perfect condition save for a small crack in the poly finish on the lower top horn.
 
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#254,031
Bruce Pete said:
Thank You very much!
I'll take it from there .............
Click to expand...
Stealth57 said:
CP on the left, VP on the right.
View attachment 5124726
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Stealth57 said:
The CP is out of production, so you will have to look hard to find one. A good price would be anything $400 or less. I paid $400 including the original Epi hard case. The bass was in perfect condition save for a small crack in the poly finish on the lower top horn.
Click to expand...

@BPE
study those pictures from Stealth closely. It’s not uncommon at all to find Epiphone CP basses and VP basses mismarked as standard Epiphone Tbird IV basses. There’s nothing wrong with the IV but it’s quite a bit cheaper on the used market than either of the other two Epiphone Tbirds, by about half. Typical used pricing on the CP and VP these days is $600 and up. However, if it’s been incorrectly identified in the ad as a Tbird IV or priced as a Tbird IV you can pick it up for closer to $400.

The easiest way to spot either of these basses when quickly scanning through on line ads is to look for the missing output jack. If there is no output jack on the front of the Epiphone (and it only has three control knobs) it’s likely a CP or VP. To confirm, make sure it’s a neck through. The CP will have two plastic covered pickups that only have two screw holes (not 3). The VP will have chrome or nickel pickups and a bridge with a separate claw.

The CP is voiced pretty much identical to a modern post 2000 Tbird and the VP is voiced pretty close to a vintage 1960’s tbird. Both sound great! Within each model are a couple of hidden gems that most of us look for. The 2013 CP was the only model year CP to have pickup spacing similar to the vintage Tbirds. And the 2017 model year VP had larger tuners than the current VP. Both basses seem to draw a premium price if they are white, the black and burst models may be as much as $100 cheaper than the white ones.

Lastly, I’ll throw another option out there - a pre 2013 Epiphone Goth Tbird made in Korea. Sound is darker than a typical bird, but very solid players, especially with the wide neck.
 
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#254,032
GBassNorth said:
@TBird1958 @GonePlaid
Just got done watching an old 1930’s movie that had some great vintage steam engine train scenes in it. Here’s an excerpt of some of the train footage…

The movie is a fun light hearted B movie watch, great with some popcorn on a Friday night. Enjoy
Click to expand...


Real trains running around like Hot Wheels cars! The Southern Pacific's route through the Siskiyou's is torturous, we'll travel through Dunsmir in a couple weeks - yes, I'm looking forward to it!
 
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#254,037
GBassNorth said:
BTW - the topic of “Where can I get a Tbird kit so I can build my own” occasionally pops up here. I ran across this one the other day. Haven’t tried it, so no idea on how good it is, but I thought I’d throw it out there for future reference if needed.
Thunderbird DiY guitar bass kit to build your own
Click to expand...
I would imagine that you could glue in the neck and shape the body for better upper fret access if you wanted to with a kit like that. As long as you have it aligned properly, I don't see a reason gluing in the neck wouldn't work.
 
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#254,038
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#254,039
Bruce Pete said:
Good morning Ladies and Gents,
On the subject of Epiphone Thunderbirds (the good ones), what model's (names) am I looking for?

Is it any of them with thru neck construction?

Ignorance is bliss, and I'm the happiest man in three counties.
Click to expand...

I have a CP and I honestly don't know if it's a set neck or neck thru, it's just a great bass.

The bolt on neck ones are reportedly good too from the many fans here in this forum, so if you run across one cheap enough don't hesitate....

here is my CP story....

2 years in the making…. I’m glad I like it.
 
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