Thunderbird Club

[Stealth57]

1999 Korean reissue.

 

[MCF]

Masonite, not formica.

Sveltlana Zombierella of the Messer Chups
View attachment 5275734

Oh my!

 

[dagrev]

I know thats what they used, but Masonite is the last material I would think of to make a guitar or bass.

Yes, no kidding. Other than glass maybe. (Which someone actually did.)

 

[MCF]

Go with the Neck Position!!! Extra boom!!!

That’s what I was thinking!

 

[MCF]

1999 Korean reissue.

View attachment 5275880

I played that last weekend. It is an awesome bass.

 

[MCF]

New tuner Thursday!

 

[JIO]

I have a Reverend Rumblefish 5L bass in faux Blackwood. I generically refer to it as Formica, just as I do with Dano basses (at least the reissues). I have no idea what either are actually made out of, but to me it’s all Formica. Like all facial tissues are Kleenex and all adhesive bandages are Band-aids. I suspect there's a big difference between Masonite and Formica but without researching it I’m clueless.

Formica is what table-tops were/are made of. There were early '90s 'retro' inspired guitars/basses that had formica veneer's (over solid-cores) but formica is thin (plastic) and not structural like masonite. Dano's are masonite. (engineered wood product)

Masonite - Wikipedia

Formica (plastic) - Wikipedia

 

[JIO]

Put a Curtis Novak H22 gold foil in a old peavey bass recently View attachment 5275784
But sat it up on my epi T bird first for some possible future mods View attachment 5275785 View attachment 5275786

The heal-hugger position would give an added (deep) tone but I like the looks of it between the pu's. If you wire it to be selected alone, it would offer a tone related to that position that would be different from the other two. Could sound good, especially being a single if that's what it is.

 

[Bent77]

Masonite and Formica

both are tone woods

 

[greggory garner]

The heal-hugger position would give an added (deep) tone but I like the looks of it between the pu's. If you wire it to be selected alone, it would offer a tone related to that position that would be different from the other two. Could sound good, especially being a single if that's what it is.

Exactly. Love a pickup right against the neck. I play a peavey T-40 a lot and an EB-0. But with this thunderbird I’m going to remove the bridge pickup and plug the cavity and refinish in blue, so it would be amazing to have just “middle” t bird pickup, and gold foil in the neck. But the gold foil is surface mount, and it’s too tall to put in the neck. Would have to counter sink a route and drill through for the wire, not sure it’s worth all the effort.

 

[Engle]

Exactly. Love a pickup right against the neck. I play a peavey T-40 a lot and an EB-0. But with this thunderbird I’m going to remove the bridge pickup and plug the cavity and refinish in blue, so it would be amazing to have just “middle” t bird pickup, and gold foil in the neck. But the gold foil is surface mount, and it’s too tall to put in the neck. Would have to counter sink a route and drill through for the wire, not sure it’s worth all the effort.

Sounds like you prefer the Explorer pickup locations:

 

[RedVee]

You can cut the plastic covers off of TB Plus pickups easily, the ones in these pics are from a Burny Thunderbird, but Gibson will peel as well.

@Miles_ONeal

I’m pretty sure V did a step by step post on the process of removing TB+ pickups from the plastic cover and rehousing them in chrome covers.

If we can find it (has someone bookmarked it?) it sounds like a candidate for the DIY section of the new Wiki?

 

[JIO]

Oh my!

Exactly. Love a pickup right against the neck. I play a peavey T-40 a lot and an EB-0. But with this thunderbird I’m going to remove the bridge pickup and plug the cavity and refinish in blue, so it would be amazing to have just “middle” t bird pickup, and gold foil in the neck. But the gold foil is surface mount, and it’s too tall to put in the neck. Would have to counter sink a route and drill through for the wire, not sure it’s worth all the effort.

If you're going to the extent of plugging the B pu and re-finishing - countersinking the surface mount pu doesn't seem like that much more work. But.., having said that it would require hand chiseling of that rout (a router won't fit on a neck-thru) but you have the surround to cover any less-than-crisp opening. I'd go for it. On filling the B pu rout - you'll need to rout and replace a thin veneer (1/8") of the center section from the current neck pu to the butt to not have its reappear later, which it will (if filled) no matter how good you do it.

 

[TBird1958]

This Guy! He's everywhere!

 

[greggory garner]

Sounds like you prefer the Explorer pickup locations:
View attachment 5275969

Probably so. But much prefer t bird body.

 

[JIO]

Sounds like you prefer the Explorer pickup locations:
View attachment 5275969

Only bass I own that has a pu close-to-the-neck pu is my Grass Roots/ESP Bass IV - it sounds good but I never use the neck-hugger pu. Maybe someday in a recorded song requiring a specific sound/tone. I'm more of a mid-centric player.

 

[JIO]

This Guy! He's everywhere!

Love it - it's like a haiku

 

[Gaolee]

Good info to know. My exposed pole 2013 EB and 2015 Tbird pickups are wax potted (IIRC, I’ll check to be sure) but just silicone glued into the black plastic covers. Not a bad sounding pickup at all, but not my favorite Tbird humbucker either.

Funny thing is that the covers are coming off of my EB. They were loose when I got it, way back when, and I have never seen a need to do anything about it.

 

[JJR58]

This Guy! He's everywhere!

I listened with good headphones.

 

[Gaolee]

I have a Reverend Rumblefish 5L bass in faux Blackwood. I generically refer to it as Formica, just as I do with Dano basses (at least the reissues). I have no idea what either are actually made out of, but to me it’s all Formica. Like all facial tissues are Kleenex and all adhesive bandages are Band-aids. I suspect there's a big difference between Masonite and Formica but without researching it I’m clueless.

There's a huge difference between Formica and Masonite. Formica is plastic laminate, and Masonite is pressboard. Making anything out of Masonite is a challenge because it fuzzes up so easily.