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Thunderbird Club

#271,941
Alright ya'll... I placed an order for a 2014 and joined the club...

I intend to use the thunderbird with a pick and I like that the darker pickups interact with pick in a really cool way. But it seems like a lot of folks have other pickup preferences... Are the original T Birds brighter than current birds? I heard something about a thunder bucker?
 
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#271,942
carsonchilders said:
Alright ya'll... I placed an order for a 2014 and joined the club...

I intend to use the thunderbird with a pick and I like that the darker pickups interact with pick in a really cool way. But it seems like a lot of folks have other pickup preferences... Are the original T Birds brighter than current birds? I heard something about a thunder bucker?
Click to expand...
Actually the 2014 has wonderful pickups in it. They are the modern sounding Tbird variant called TB+ pickups. Those combined with the pickup placement do offer a warmer tone than the vintage Tbirds but with a pick they really come to life. I’m always talking about different Tbird pickups in this thread along with many others, but don’t read that as any kind of short coming on the part of Gibson or Epiphone, for me it’s really more a function of having a lot of different Tbird basses in my collection and I don’t want them to all sound the same. I have TB+ pickups in my Gibson Anniversary Tbird and in my Epiphone CP - two of the best sounding Tbirds in my collection.

I suggest keeping the original pickups and playing the snot out of the bass in every genre you normally play in. If you find the bottom, mids or top end lacking or the attack or decay not to your liking be sure to check back in with this group to see if there’s a string recommendation that will meet your needs (lots of great string advice in this club). Heck, there’s even some really sound amp and cab advice in this group as well as tons of pickup experience.

Enjoy your new bass, play it in good health and don’t be surprised if you feel the urge to buy additional Tbirds down the line.
 
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#271,943
Engle said:
Dumbasses around here will shoot off fireworks for any reason at anytime.
Click to expand...
img_0172-jpeg.5295423
 
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#271,944
GBassNorth said:
Actually the 2014 has wonderful pickups in it. They are the modern sounding Tbird variant called TB+ pickups. Those combined with the pickup placement do offer a warmer tone than the vintage Tbirds but with a pick they really come to life. I’m always talking about different Tbird pickups in this thread along with many others, but don’t read that as any kind of short coming on the part of Gibson or Epiphone, for me it’s really more a function of having a lot of different Tbird basses in my collection and I don’t want them to all sound the same. I have TB+ pickups in my Gibson Anniversary Tbird and in my Epiphone CP - two of the best sounding Tbirds in my collection.

I suggest keeping the original pickups and playing the snot out of the bass in every genre you normally play in. If you find the bottom, mids or top end lacking or the attack or decay not to your liking be sure to check back in with this group to see if there’s a string recommendation that will meet your needs (lots of great string advice in this club). Heck, there’s even some really sound amp and cab advice in this group as well as tons of pickup experience.

Enjoy your new bass, play it in good health and don’t be surprised if you feel the urge to buy additional Tbirds down the line.
Click to expand...
Thank you!
 
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#271,948
GBassNorth said:
Actually the 2014 has wonderful pickups in it. They are the modern sounding Tbird variant called TB+ pickups. Those combined with the pickup placement do offer a warmer tone than the vintage Tbirds but with a pick they really come to life. I’m always talking about different Tbird pickups in this thread along with many others, but don’t read that as any kind of short coming on the part of Gibson or Epiphone, for me it’s really more a function of having a lot of different Tbird basses in my collection and I don’t want them to all sound the same. I have TB+ pickups in my Gibson Anniversary Tbird and in my Epiphone CP - two of the best sounding Tbirds in my collection.

I suggest keeping the original pickups and playing the snot out of the bass in every genre you normally play in. If you find the bottom, mids or top end lacking or the attack or decay not to your liking be sure to check back in with this group to see if there’s a string recommendation that will meet your needs (lots of great string advice in this club). Heck, there’s even some really sound amp and cab advice in this group as well as tons of pickup experience.

Enjoy your new bass, play it in good health and don’t be surprised if you feel the urge to buy additional Tbirds down the line.
Click to expand...
:thumbsup: Well said! Sage advice.
 
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#271,956
carsonchilders said:
Alright ya'll... I placed an order for a 2014 and joined the club...

I intend to use the thunderbird with a pick and I like that the darker pickups interact with pick in a really cool way. But it seems like a lot of folks have other pickup preferences... Are the original T Birds brighter than current birds? I heard something about a thunder bucker?
Click to expand...

The original pickups are a completely different design from the TB Plus in the 2014, they changed again with the '76-'79 re-issue as well. In recent years there have been a number of maker that have reproduced the original '60 Gibson design, Lull, Thunderbucker Ranch and Jason Lollar, similar but slightly different would be the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop and of course, now Gibson is selling their version separately as well. Anymore, only Lollar, SD and Gibson are available, were I buying any, Gibson would be my choice.
Congratulations on your new Thunderbird, please do post us a pic when it arrives, I'll add you to the club and of course please do be welcome here!
 
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#271,960
GBassNorth said:
Wait, did you say Greco pickup recreations? I’m all ears (with cash in hand) if they can pull off a convincing Greco thunderbird pickup clone. I haven’t seen any documentation on Greco pickup designs, so did you send them a Greco pup to reverse engineer?
Click to expand...

Well, armed with the articles from the Tokai chat thing shared on here Aaron Armstrong took measurements from the TB+ set, the current NR/reissue set (in the chrome covers) and the Grecos (the Tokai info being most pertinent to these p'ups) - originally intending to replicate the NR/reissue set in epoxy or plastic units as an alternative to the TB+ set (also with coil taps). The Alnico V magnets he's got in stock are doing some weird poopy stuff so we're going for the Greco spec/sound. Will def put recordings and info on here when they're ready.
 
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