Thunderbird Club

[Ringhammer]

I’ll post this again, hoping for some direction. My 03 has a bad pot for the bridge, I put quite of bit of deoxit in and it solved the problem with the neck volume but not the bridge.

Has anyone replaced pots in their USA Gibson Thunderbird? I’d like to get genuine Gibson, but all they offer are 500k audio, and from reading what I have in my 2001, the Gibson branded ones in it are 250k. So maybe I need CTS?

I also want to be sure the shaft length is correct and the splines are the same.

 

[Engle]

Thanks, Jeff.

Miles, it sounded really good, especially for that room, but I didn't use the Ampeg's tone section. As usual, I ran my 800RB pre into the FX Return.

When you said it will be an 800RB, I was hoping you meant the pedal, not the amp!
I run 2 of those cabs with my D800+ sometimes, but I take it easy with the volume.

 

[Aledal]

Hello TB Thunderbird folks, I'd like to join your club and am looking for any tips/things to look out for when buying a Gibson Thunderbird. I've dug through a fair amount of posts here to get some info but thought I may as well ask for help more directly. If there is a previous thread that acts as an idiot's guide to picking a TBird then would love a link to it.

I want to gig with this bass so probably steering clear of anything too vintage, important or fragile. I am hoping to get some growl, and a fast-ish neck, I think I can sort out any output problems easily with preamps etc... I feel there's a lot of discussion about upgraded bridges and pup configurations and am also interested to find out if the bolt on versus thru neck makes much difference. Also...do they fit into gig bags?

Thank you!

 

[JJR58]

Thanks, Jeff.

Miles, it sounded really good, especially for that room, but I didn't use the Ampeg's tone section. As usual, I ran my 800RB pre into the FX Return.

That little micro SVT and 2x10 sounded soooooo good.
Even you running your 800RB through it was great.
And I absolutely loved the second band.
That dude on his P was getting that nice grindy SVT tone.

 

[TBird1958]

George and I had a nice visit yesterday. And I can’t thank him enough for taking the time to help me. It was a great day.

He gave a great soldering lesson. We with through basics of temp, cleaning the tip, tinning, wiring pot lugs and onto the back of the pot, and using clips for heat sinks when wiring caps. I learned what a pain soldering braided wire is. I’ve asked Santa for a soldering station and assorted accessories.

George was able to wire the new Gibson Vintage reissue pickup into the BaCH II.
View attachment 5214419

Final installation will be coming. I hope before the end of the year. The pickup route needs to be lengthened by a tiny amount. V reminded me of the depth that needs to be accounted for. I forgot that she also had to tweak the opening a bit for the Lull she installed in hers. Anyway, the existing wiring was “interesting.” Someone had been mucking about in there before. The job was a bit primitive with scorching on the tone pot. But all works well.

As A result of the current route, the pickup is mounted basically straddling the top of the route. The pickup won’t be adjustable until the route is tweaked. But it sounds awesome as is. We compared it with the ‘21 NR neck pickup soloed and they are definitely the same pickups. There is maybe a very subtle difference with mids/highs being slightly more perceptible due to pickup placement. I haven’t played it through the Mesa or Ampeg rigs yet so I’ll have a better idea in a few weeks.

View attachment 5214420

The Gibson reissues are awesome. At $129, these should be on the short list for someone looking for a “vintage” Alnico V tone. Gibson is doing right by us gang. As V said recently, “there’s a lot going on with the Gibsons.”

I like the 2021 NR Gibson pickups a lot, in my VP they really do have much more going on - I think it's most telling when you crank them up and play with the rest of the band that you really notice. Given the unavailability of Lulls, and Thunderbuckers I would unhesitatingly choose the Gibsons for any bass needing a new pickup.

 

[JJR58]

When you said it will be an 800RB, I was hoping you meant the pedal, not the amp!
I run 2 of those cabs with my D800+ sometimes, but I take it easy with the volume.

Was the pedal Irv

 

[KaraQ]

I’ll post this again, hoping for some direction. My 03 has a bad pot for the bridge, I put quite of bit of deoxit in and it solved the problem with the neck volume but not the bridge.

Has anyone replaced pots in their USA Gibson Thunderbird? I’d like to get genuine Gibson, but all they offer are 500k audio, and from reading what I have in my 2001, the Gibson branded ones in it are 250k. So maybe I need CTS?

I also want to be sure the shaft length is correct and the splines are the same.

Sorry I won't be much help, I don't have/haven't had any Gibson Thunderbirds.

I did put 250k pots in my CP originally, and ended up switching to 500k, which afaik is what all? passive epiphone thunderbirds came with from the factory

 

[Engle]

I’ll post this again, hoping for some direction. My 03 has a bad pot for the bridge, I put quite of bit of deoxit in and it solved the problem with the neck volume but not the bridge.

Has anyone replaced pots in their USA Gibson Thunderbird? I’d like to get genuine Gibson, but all they offer are 500k audio, and from reading what I have in my 2001, the Gibson branded ones in it are 250k. So maybe I need CTS?

I also want to be sure the shaft length is correct and the splines are the same.

These are my go to for anything with humbuckers:
WD Music - Full Size Pot Split Shaft 500ka

 

[GBassNorth]

George and I had a nice visit yesterday. And I can’t thank him enough for taking the time to help me. It was a great day.

He gave a great soldering lesson. We with through basics of temp, cleaning the tip, tinning, wiring pot lugs and onto the back of the pot, and using clips for heat sinks when wiring caps. I learned what a pain soldering braided wire is. I’ve asked Santa for a soldering station and assorted accessories.

George was able to wire the new Gibson Vintage reissue pickup into the BaCH II.
View attachment 5214419

Final installation will be coming. I hope before the end of the year. The pickup route needs to be lengthened by a tiny amount. V reminded me of the depth that needs to be accounted for. I forgot that she also had to tweak the opening a bit for the Lull she installed in hers. Anyway, the existing wiring was “interesting.” Someone had been mucking about in there before. The job was a bit primitive with scorching on the tone pot. But all works well.

As A result of the current route, the pickup is mounted basically straddling the top of the route. The pickup won’t be adjustable until the route is tweaked. But it sounds awesome as is. We compared it with the ‘21 NR neck pickup soloed and they are definitely the same pickups. There is maybe a very subtle difference with mids/highs being slightly more perceptible due to pickup placement. I haven’t played it through the Mesa or Ampeg rigs yet so I’ll have a better idea in a few weeks.

View attachment 5214420

The Gibson reissues are awesome. At $129, these should be on the short list for someone looking for a “vintage” Alnico V tone. Gibson is doing right by us gang. As V said recently, “there’s a lot going on with the Gibsons.”

I like the 2021 NR Gibson pickups a lot, in my VP they really do have much more going on - I think it's most telling when you crank them up and play with the rest of the band that you really notice. Given the unavailability of Lulls, and Thunderbuckers I would unhesitatingly choose the Gibsons for any bass needing a new pickup.

I have to say, I was VERY impressed with the new TBird pickup in Marshall’s BaCH. It was a massive improvement over the already good sounding Altec pickup and IMHO even an improvement over the new Gibson NR bass with the same pickups. The BaCH pup location is more in line with the vintage Tbirds (unlike the new NR) and that makes it really shine. This leads me to believe that a new Gibson NR pickup would be an excellent drop in for Rosser body NR builds (which utilize vintage pup spacing) and possibly even a good reasonably priced upgrade for the neck pickup on a VP.

 

[Engle]

Hello TB Thunderbird folks, I'd like to join your club and am looking for any tips/things to look out for when buying a Gibson Thunderbird. I've dug through a fair amount of posts here to get some info but thought I may as well ask for help more directly. If there is a previous thread that acts as an idiot's guide to picking a TBird then would love a link to it.

I want to gig with this bass so probably steering clear of anything too vintage, important or fragile. I am hoping to get some growl, and a fast-ish neck, I think I can sort out any output problems easily with preamps etc... I feel there's a lot of discussion about upgraded bridges and pup configurations and am also interested to find out if the bolt on versus thru neck makes much difference. Also...do they fit into gig bags?

Thank you!

If you're only looking at Gibsons, they are all neck through or set neck.

 

[GBassNorth]

Hello TB Thunderbird folks, I'd like to join your club and am looking for any tips/things to look out for when buying a Gibson Thunderbird. I've dug through a fair amount of posts here to get some info but thought I may as well ask for help more directly. If there is a previous thread that acts as an idiot's guide to picking a TBird then would love a link to it.

I want to gig with this bass so probably steering clear of anything too vintage, important or fragile. I am hoping to get some growl, and a fast-ish neck, I think I can sort out any output problems easily with preamps etc... I feel there's a lot of discussion about upgraded bridges and pup configurations and am also interested to find out if the bolt on versus thru neck makes much difference. Also...do they fit into gig bags?

Thank you!

Here’s the cliff notes version of Tbird Bass buying for dummies…

You want a gigging machine - durable but affordable and nice but not rare, see answer below.
You want fast neck vs baseball bat, see answer below.
You want ability to go from cream to growl, see answer below.
You want something that doesn’t need a bridge upgrade, see answer below.

Answer - the Epiphone VP or 60’s bass as it’s now called is exactly what you are looking for. Strung with Cobalt flats if you’re a flat kind of guy or strung with SIT stainless rounds if you’re a bright kind of guy. Buy one used for around $500, extra bonus if it comes with a case (an after market case will run another $150). Very giggable and possibly the best Tbird you can buy for under $1000.

Here’s a good one, no affiliation…
https://reverb.com/item/72675906-epiphone-60s-thunderbird-ebony

 

[Aledal]

Here’s the cliff notes version of Tbird Bass buying for dummies…

Answer - the Epiphone VP or 60’s bass as it’s now called is exactly what you are looking for. Strung with Cobalt flats if you’re a flat kind of guy or strung with SIT stainless rounds if you’re a bright kind of guy. Buy one used for around $500, extra bonus if it comes with a case (an after market case will run another $150). Very giggable and possibly the best Tbird you can buy for under $1000.

Here’s a good one, no affiliation…
Epiphone '60s Thunderbird - Ebony | Reverb

Thank you! This is great! I was budgeting c.$2K so I'm sure my wife will also be a big fan of this one

 

[greggory garner]

https://www.youtube.com/live/ytw2xeBoCVU?si=6BgISJKBsSbpmPwc

First Gig with the epi vintage pro the other night. Put some flats on it and a foam mute at the bridge, pretty much stayed on the neck pickup all night. Felt and sounded great. Long video but theres a bass solo at 1:35:50 if anyone wants to hear it by itself

 

[JJR58]

https://www.youtube.com/live/ytw2xeBoCVU?si=6BgISJKBsSbpmPwc

First Gig with the epi vintage pro the other night. Put some flats on it and a foam mute at the bridge, pretty much stayed on the neck pickup all night. Felt and sounded great. Long video but theres a bass solo at 1:35:50 if anyone wants to hear it by itself

Love it! Great playing man.

 

[BklynKen]

That little micro SVT and 2x10 sounded soooooo good.
Even you running your 800RB through it was great.
And I absolutely loved the second band.
That dude on his P was getting that nice grindy SVT tone.

That guy's P and the Ampeg sounded perfect together.

 

[BklynKen]

That guy's P and the Ampeg sounded perfect together.

View attachment 5214579

Wrong P bass. But still a cool shot.

 

[BklynKen]

 

[GBassNorth]

Thank you! This is great! I was budgeting c.$2K so I'm sure my wife will also be a big fan of this one

The VP Tbirds are an exceptional (best in my opinion) buy in the under $1000 bracket. It you can swing a bit more this is about the only Tbird under $1500 that will best it…
No affiliation
Vintage Greco Thunderbird 1989 - Made in Japan | Reverb
The Greco basses have phenomenal pickups and will out perform and growl just about anything out there, even the VP. But it’ll cost you about twice as much as a VP. To get a better sounding Tbird than this you’ll need to jump up to the $8000 and up bracket for a vintage 1960’s Tbird, which is a very rare beast and isn’t something to gig with without a lot of thought first.

 

[TBird1958]

https://www.youtube.com/live/ytw2xeBoCVU?si=6BgISJKBsSbpmPwc

First Gig with the epi vintage pro the other night. Put some flats on it and a foam mute at the bridge, pretty much stayed on the neck pickup all night. Felt and sounded great. Long video but theres a bass solo at 1:35:50 if anyone wants to hear it by itself

Really nice playing and tone - I checked in at a few different spots.

 

[TBird1958]

The VP Tbirds are an exceptional (best in my opinion) buy in the under $1000 bracket. It you can swing a bit more this is about the only Tbird under $1500 that will best it…
No affiliation
Vintage Greco Thunderbird 1989 - Made in Japan | Reverb
The Greco basses have phenomenal pickups and will out perform and growl just about anything out there, even the VP. But it’ll cost you about twice as much as a VP. To get a better sounding Tbird than this you’ll need to jump up to the $8000 and up bracket for a vintage 1960’s Tbird, which is a very rare beast and isn’t something to gig with without a lot of thought first.

Under 1K a VP is pretty hard to beat, you can even trade out the pickups for Gibson and still not be too far past that 1K mark.
At about 1.5 K a Greco Thunderbird II is, for me one of the very best basses you can buy, it comes closest to a '60s Gibson in tone. It has a few refinements from the Gibson, a stouter neck and slightly reduced scale length 33 1/2" and you needn't fear taking it to a dive bar show - Highly recommended!