Thunderbird Club

[_Tay_]

And last and last …

And rust and rust! ....Well for me and my corrosive sweat anyway

 

[Engle]

Played my Epi CP last night through the Eden WT405>Hartke 4.5 XL. Compared to the modded Hamer w/Rickie pups and guttie-works, the 'Bird tended to sound somewhat blurry, not well defined.
Now the modded bass (heretofore referred to as "the Heckinhecker") has considerably lower output, but delivers a clean tone with clearly defined attack and sustained notes. It's got a clean attack, smooth presence, and ready low end bloom. Very clear, with some nice growl. No dirt. The 'Bird is a little blurry, and its presence is not so consistent from one area of the strings (position) to another.
I'm wondering if it's the Rotosounds going dead...
The Heckinhecker has a fairly new set of Black Beauties, the Rotos on the 'Bird are about 4 months old, and honestly not played to death at all. I've been playing the 'Hecker and the Fauxnder (different brand neck) lately, and miss the 'Bird action...
I'm also thinking about those pickups it's got, Gibson TB+. Any thoughts on those?

Maybe clean the rotosounds with Methyl alcohol?
But you are also comparing single coils to humbuckers.

 

[_Tay_]

Probably my next string.

Gibson Brites strings are very good with my NR T bird. They shipped with it. Nice bright, solid tone. Cheap too

 

[Stealth57]

Thanks everybody, yeah @TBird1958 I remember about those a Ken Smiths... might like those SITs though for heft in the lower mids...
Had the Cobalt Flats on the Heckinhecker, I liked them but the highs were kinda bristly. Maybe for the CP...

I have EBCF on my CP and love the sound.

 

[Count Bassie]

Maybe clean the rotosounds with Methyl alcohol?
But you are also comparing single coils to humbuckers.

Yeah, but I notice a difference in the TB+s... I wasn't sure because I've been playing the Fender and the Ric-loaded bass lately, but I'm pretty sure now that it's the strings.

 

[GBassNorth]

Played my Epi CP last night through the Eden WT405>Hartke 4.5 XL. Compared to the modded Hamer w/Rickie pups and guttie-works, the 'Bird tended to sound somewhat blurry, not well defined.
Now the modded bass (heretofore referred to as "the Heckinhecker") has considerably lower output, but delivers a clean tone with clearly defined attack and sustained notes. It's got a clean attack, smooth presence, and ready low end bloom. Very clear, with some nice growl. No dirt. The 'Bird is a little blurry, and its presence is not so consistent from one area of the strings (position) to another.
I'm wondering if it's the Rotosounds going dead...
The Heckinhecker has a fairly new set of Black Beauties, the Rotos on the 'Bird are about 4 months old, and honestly not played to death at all. I've been playing the 'Hecker and the Fauxnder (different brand neck) lately, and miss the 'Bird action...
I'm also thinking about those pickups it's got, Gibson TB+. Any thoughts on those?

I have TB+ pickups in my Gibson Tbird and I'd describe them as warm and round, less attack than most pickups but nice bloom with the potential to be somewhat boomy on the E with some darker sounding strings. They respond very well to round wounds and generally strings that are a bit brighter and more defined at the bottom. They would do very well with Black Beauties, XL's and SITs.

I just recently acquired an Epiphone CP equipped with Gibson TB+ pickups, but unlike my Gibson Tbird these pickups are located at roughly the same spot as the Epiphone VP bass (neck pickup closer to the bridge). It has what appear to be XL's on it but no idea how old. Not sure which CP you have (most CPs use the Gibson pickup placement not the Eppi VP placement). It's still early but in the few hours I've had to work with the bass it appears to have more attack and better note definition than my TB+ equipped Gibson Tbird, but still plenty warm.

If you can, try putting a set of Black Beauties on your CP and setting the pickup heights at roughly the same pup to string gap that you have on the Heckinhecker. That'll give you a very good feel for which bass will excel in which settings and how to EQ for similar sound across the two basses.

 

[GBassNorth]

Since I'll be listing the Greco on Cl, do I want to scavenge the pickups?

if I scavenge, do I want to replace them with the Duncan's or the TB+?

do I have enough projects I'll just leave it as is?

Most of the folks interested in the Greco are interested because of the pickups. If you remove them, and make it clear the pups with the bass are not Greco pups, you'll likely drastically reduce the number of buyers that will be interested in the bass and the amount they'd be willing to pay for the bass.

I'd recommend selling it intact if you want it to move it quick at a good price. If you just want to get rid of it and don't really care about the sale price then by all means remove the stock pups and keep them for a future project, they are fantastic pups. Just don't be that guy that doesn't mention the alteration in the sale listing.

 

[Count Bassie]

I have TB+ pickups in my Gibson Tbird and I'd describe them as warm and round, less attack than most pickups but nice bloom with the potential to be somewhat boomy on the E with some darker sounding strings. They respond very well to round wounds and generally strings that are a bit brighter and more defined at the bottom. They would do very well with Black Beauties, XL's and SITs.

I just recently acquired an Epiphone CP equipped with Gibson TB+ pickups, but unlike my Gibson Tbird these pickups are located at roughly the same spot as the Epiphone VP bass (neck pickup closer to the bridge). It has what appear to be XL's on it but no idea how old. Not sure which CP you have (most CPs use the Gibson pickup placement not the Eppi VP placement). It's still early but in the few hours I've had to work with the bass it appears to have more attack and better note definition than my TB+ equipped Gibson Tbird, but still plenty warm.

If you can, try putting a set of Black Beauties on your CP and setting the pickup heights at roughly the same pup to string gap that you have on the Heckinhecker. That'll give you a very good feel for which bass will excel in which settings and how to EQ for similar sound across the two basses.

Interesting, my CP is a 2013, which I'm told has the neck pup moved back toward the bridge a bit- iirc... I had Black Beauties on an Epi Blackbird and that worked out really well.
I suppose I could use the BBs I have and swap them over for the comparison. Record them both into Reaper or something. Good idea, thanks!

 

[Stealth57]

Interesting, my CP is a 2013, which I'm told has the neck pup moved back toward the bridge a bit- iirc... I had Black Beauties on an Epi Blackbird and that worked out really well.
I suppose I could use the BBs I have and swap them over for the comparison. Record them both into Reaper or something. Good idea, thanks!

The neck pickup on my 2014 CP is 3/4" and the bridge pickup is 3/8" closer to the neck than a 2013.

 

[Count Bassie]

The neck pickup on my 2014 CP is 3/4" and the bridge pickup is 3/8" closer to the neck than a 2013.

I think the 2013 is the one that's an exception for the run of CPs.

 

[GBassNorth]

Interesting, my CP is a 2013, which I'm told has the neck pup moved back toward the bridge a bit- iirc... I had Black Beauties on an Epi Blackbird and that worked out really well.
I suppose I could use the BBs I have and swap them over for the comparison. Record them both into Reaper or something. Good idea, thanks!

My CP is a 2012. I know they had the VP pup location for a very short time, maybe a year. If the top edge of the neck pickup is below the center pickguard screw (pickguard screw closest to the neck pickup) then you have the VP location, if the top edge of your pickup is above that pickguard screw then you have the modern Gibson location. CP with VP pup location visual check, should look like this…

 

[MCF]

Gibson Brites strings are very good with my NR T bird. They shipped with it. Nice bright, solid tone. Cheap too

I have a set of the Nickels on my short scale Thunderbird. Thought I would give them a try. They're just ok to my ears. Next change will be to something stainless steel.

 

[Count Bassie]

My CP is a 2012. I know they had the VP pup location for a very short time, maybe a year. If the top edge of the neck pickup is below the center pickguard screw (pickguard screw closest to the neck pickup) then you have the VP location, if the top edge of your pickup is above that pickguard screw then you have the modern Gibson location. CP with VP pup location visual check, should look like this…
View attachment 5176032 View attachment 5176033

My neck pup is indeed in the VP spot, like yours.

 

[GBassNorth]

I think the 2013 is the one that's an exception for the run of CPs.

I don't think we've (as a club) definitively determined the actual start and stop dates for this particular CP attribute. My bass is a 2012 model made in August of that year. There my be earlier copies than mine and we know there are later copies. @KaraQ put out a plausible hypothesis that it may also be related to the Factory where the bass was made. Mine is from factory code 23 which IIRC is a Sammick factory in Indonesia.

 

[Stealth57]

I believe @STR8 UP BASS has a June 2012 CP and the pickups look like the VP positions.

My February 2014 CP has the modern spacing.

 

[GBassNorth]

I believe @STR8 UP BASS has a June 2012 CP and the pickups look like the VP positions.

My February 2014 CP has the modern spacing.

Actually, he doesn't have that bass any longer, I bought it from him a couple of days ago from a Craigslist ad. Great guy BTW!

 

[WillyW]

Most of the folks interested in the Greco are interested because of the pickups. If you remove them, and make it clear the pups with the bass are not Greco pups, you'll likely drastically reduce the number of buyers that will be interested in the bass and the amount they'd be willing to pay for the bass.

I'd recommend selling it intact if you want it to move it quick at a good price. If you just want to get rid of it and don't really care about the sale price then by all means remove the stock pups and keep them for a future project, they are fantastic pups. Just don't be that guy that doesn't mention the alteration in the sale listing.

I would tout how I "upgraded" them to premium Gibson TB+++ or Seymour Duncan

 

[Stealth57]

Actually, he doesn't have that bass any longer, I bought it from him a couple of days ago from a Craigslist ad. Great guy BTW!

He had a 2012 and 2016. I assume you got the 2012.

 

[GBassNorth]

He had a 2012 and 2016. I assume you got the 2012.

Correct.

 

[Gaolee]

Ken Smith Rockmaster, they last. SIT Power Steels are similar but have more presence in the bass/lo-mids.

I had Rockmasters on the Flamingo and then put Cobalt Flats on it. It will probably be back to a new set of Rockmasters in a bit, not because the EBCFs don't sound like they should any more, but because I like the way Rockmasters sound better.