• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Thunderbird Club

#264,002
GBassNorth said:
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.
Click to expand...

This is awesome, I’ve been looking at a few of these greco tbirds but haven’t found one locally enough to play and (seemingly incorrectly) was dubious of them not being a Gibson etc. am going to do some diving onto YouTube to get a feel for them but if you say they have that sound then I’m mostly convinced already.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WillyW, Gaolee, RedVee and 7 others
#264,004
"How to hide a 'fridge in one? easy :rollno: step"

20231009_115616.jpg






20231009_115624.jpg







:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, GreaserMatt, Gaolee and 10 others
#264,006
Aledal said:
This is awesome, I’ve been looking at a few of these greco tbirds but haven’t found one locally enough to play and (seemingly incorrectly) was dubious of them not being a Gibson etc. am going to do some diving onto YouTube to get a feel for them but if you say they have that sound then I’m mostly convinced already.
Click to expand...
The Greco has a maple set neck with a beefier neck. Nut width is 1 5/8" IIRC. I think they are also 33 1/4" scale like a Ric.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RedVee, MCF, Chucky Stiletti and 4 others
#264,007
Aledal said:
This is awesome, I’ve been looking at a few of these greco tbirds but haven’t found one locally enough to play and (seemingly incorrectly) was dubious of them not being a Gibson etc. am going to do some diving onto YouTube to get a feel for them but if you say they have that sound then I’m mostly convinced already.
Click to expand...
The Greco will absolutely deliver exactly what you’re after in spades! It’s not for the meek, the bold deep bass output and growl grit and grind from the Greco is like nothing else I’ve heard on a sub $5000 bass. I have plenty of Fender P basses, Jazz basses, Stingrays, Telecasters, Spectors, Warwicks and Alembic basses. The Greco will literally walk all over them in a live setting and mix. There’s better choices for studio work and finesse but for hard driving rock-n-roll stage work the Greco just dominates. They are very highly sought after basses in this club and by those that are very well versed in Thunderbirds. I have two of them and they’d be the last two Tbirds I’d ever get rid of. If you get one just be sure it’s all original, the magic is in the pickups, outside of that it’s a pretty run of the mill thunderbird.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, RedVee, MCF and 2 others
#264,010
Roger W said:
You people have corrupted me. I am going to get a NR Thunderbird. The requirement, personally imposed since my wife doesn’t care, is pruning the collection. I put 5 basses on reverb this afternoon and already have offers for the JMJ Mustang and the EBMM Stingray Special 4HH.
Click to expand...

A Couple of nice options for you that are local:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/gibson-nr-thunderbird.1624093/

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/20...thunderbird-price-drop.1616672/#post-27722047
 
  • Like
Reactions: MCF, Nocturnal, GBassNorth and 1 other person
#264,012
Roger W said:
You people have corrupted me. I am going to get a NR Thunderbird. The requirement, personally imposed since my wife doesn’t care, is pruning the collection. I put 5 basses on reverb this afternoon and already have offers for the JMJ Mustang and the EBMM Stingray Special 4HH.
Click to expand...

I see Ken has already enabled...............
It's almost a contest here :laugh:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gaolee, Chucky Stiletti, Nocturnal and 7 others
#264,013
Aledal said:
This is awesome, I’ve been looking at a few of these greco tbirds but haven’t found one locally enough to play and (seemingly incorrectly) was dubious of them not being a Gibson etc. am going to do some diving onto YouTube to get a feel for them but if you say they have that sound then I’m mostly convinced already.
Click to expand...

Some daft Bird going on about a Greco II......
I chat it up at about 3:20......

 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, Bassmike62, RedVee and 9 others
#264,015
Aledal said:
This is awesome, I’ve
Click to expand...
TBird1958 said:
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!

2nxzmrk.jpg
Click to expand...
Butthe price these days….
Roger W said:
You people have corrupted me. I am going to get a NR Thunderbird. The requirement, personally imposed since my wife doesn’t care, is pruning the collection. I put 5 basses on reverb this afternoon and already have offers for the JMJ Mustang and the EBMM Stingray Special 4HH.
Click to expand...
Excellent!!!!!!!!!!
Trust me. You will love it. I would keep the JMJ if it doesn’t have the bridge issue. Which JMJ, to his credit, went above and beyond to make sure 7ender resolved and fixed for those that had it were happy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RedVee, Nocturnal, Engle and 2 others
#264,017
Ringhammer said:
Well, I get the feeling they’re a good place to do business, I just emailed them yesterday to inquire if they would sell me a couple of the trim rings only in black nickel and they replied this morning that they would be happy to. I should expect an invoice soon.
Nice!

Definitely check with them to see if they offer black nickel covers. If they are made to order, they may have no problem doing this.
Click to expand...

Just sent them an email, wait game for a reply. Would be sweet if they can do black nickel covers, i'd possible order a set at the end of the month when my financials are stable again.

Ringhammer said:
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.
Click to expand...

Deoxit doesn't always work, least in my experience having been a guitar tech at my local music store for some time this past year. Sometimes electronics are just done & still scratchy/etc. As far as USA bird, i can offer little help as i don't own one, but if yours has the pots valued at 250k for all 3, you don't need gibson branded specifically because they just have their logo branded on the casing of a CTS pot. Those are 24 splines for the knobs to fit perfectly on (18 splines is more the imports/epiphones), shaft length would be their standard short length (they offer long shaft which is found on Les Pauls because of the carved top thickness). Hope this helps!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, RedVee, Nocturnal and 4 others
#264,020
ThaCoast said:
Just sent them an email, wait game for a reply. Would be sweet if they can do black nickel covers, i'd possible order a set at the end of the month when my financials are stable again.



Deoxit doesn't always work, least in my experience having been a guitar tech at my local music store for some time this past year. Sometimes electronics are just done & still scratchy/etc. As far as USA bird, i can offer little help as i don't own one, but if yours has the pots valued at 250k for all 3, you don't need gibson branded specifically because they just have their logo branded on the casing of a CTS pot. Those are 24 splines for the knobs to fit perfectly on (18 splines is more the imports/epiphones), shaft length would be their standard short length (they offer long shaft which is found on Les Pauls because of the carved top thickness). Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I’m not worried about “Gibson” branded, but I am surprised that that are standard length, I thought they would be long. So the regular ones that you would use on a Fender type through the pick guard or control plate are long enough?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Roger W, MCF, Chucky Stiletti and 3 others

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back