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Thunderbird Club

#295,601
Dark Horse said:
So a dumb question for you guys….

I typically participate in the “build offs” they hold in the Luthier section of this forum. Well, because I’m currently in radiation and chemo treatment for stage 4 cancer , I won’t be able to do the typical “scratch build” , but I’m still hoping to participate with a “assembly build”. The plan is to use pretty much parts that I have here already, as finances are so tight, as you can imagine…. A career musician that can’t currently work and has medical bills keeping things tight. Anyway, here’s the plan…. And though it’s not a T-Bird, I could consider it to be “T-Bird adjacent :)

Precision body - black
Telecaster bass neck - rosewood board
Hipshot vintage ultralight tuners
Badass/omega or vintage style bridge

the pickups are where I have questions….

I have three EMG Thunderbird pickups here. Two of the TBP ones, and one of the TBTW ( I think that’s the model…. Tappable humbucker). I’m sure they’d sound amazing, but I’m kind of feeing that I want to go a “bit” more true to the thunderbird sound with some chrome old school passive t-bird pickups. The caveat is that I’d have to spend a little money (hopefully as little as possible), but I think if I make it through this cancer treatment that I’ll be happier overall with the bass.

So ….. with that in mind, I was wondering what recommendations for pickups that are affordable would you guys have ? I can’t spend much, but I can maybe sell a couple things and get something halfway decent. Orville’s ? Gibson reissues ? The inexpensive EY ones on EBay ? Epiphone ? Or do any of you guys have pickups you would want to sell or trade ?

thanks ….. I appreciate your time !

andy
Click to expand...
All the best with your treatment regimen.:thumbsup:
 
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#295,602
Dark Horse said:
So a dumb question for you guys….

I typically participate in the “build offs” they hold in the Luthier section of this forum. Well, because I’m currently in radiation and chemo treatment for stage 4 cancer , I won’t be able to do the typical “scratch build” , but I’m still hoping to participate with a “assembly build”. The plan is to use pretty much parts that I have here already, as finances are so tight, as you can imagine…. A career musician that can’t currently work and has medical bills keeping things tight. Anyway, here’s the plan…. And though it’s not a T-Bird, I could consider it to be “T-Bird adjacent :)

Precision body - black
Telecaster bass neck - rosewood board
Hipshot vintage ultralight tuners
Badass/omega or vintage style bridge

the pickups are where I have questions….

I have three EMG Thunderbird pickups here. Two of the TBP ones, and one of the TBTW ( I think that’s the model…. Tappable humbucker). I’m sure they’d sound amazing, but I’m kind of feeing that I want to go a “bit” more true to the thunderbird sound with some chrome old school passive t-bird pickups. The caveat is that I’d have to spend a little money (hopefully as little as possible), but I think if I make it through this cancer treatment that I’ll be happier overall with the bass.

So ….. with that in mind, I was wondering what recommendations for pickups that are affordable would you guys have ? I can’t spend much, but I can maybe sell a couple things and get something halfway decent. Orville’s ? Gibson reissues ? The inexpensive EY ones on EBay ? Epiphone ? Or do any of you guys have pickups you would want to sell or trade ?

thanks ….. I appreciate your time !

andy
Click to expand...
First of all, thoughts and prayers are with you on your treatment, been down that path and it’s a tough one. One of the best things you can do under those circumstances is to keep yourself occupied with something you love to do. Sounds like bass building does that for you, so by all means dig in and have fun.

There are a lot of Tbird shaped pickup choices out there and some such as the EY (or ChinaBuckers as many here refer to them) are dirt cheap, while others (like Lulls or vintage Tbird pickups) will break the bank if you can even find them. A little over a year ago I did a modified assembly semi Hollow Tbird build with three pickups and a custom wiring design I came up with. I used ChinaBuckers (about $45 each) and it came out looking and sounding fantastic, very pleased with the results…
IMG_0520.jpeg
The only word of caution I have on the EY pickups is that they sound best in a two or more pickup bass. It’s kind of hard to describe but basically IME a lone EY pickup doesn’t have as complex of an output as most of the more expensive pickup options out there. It’s not exactly thin sounding, there’s plenty of bass, mids and top end but to my ears just not as rich and full sounding as other options. But in a two or more pickup bass when multiple puckups are used they sound much fuller and richer and actually quite good. So they would be my cost effective choice on any multi pup bass where low build cost is a major consideration.

Epiphone 760ProBuckers are great pickups but as far as I know are unobtainable as stand alone new purchases, you’d have to find someone willing to part with a set, good luck with that, they are pretty well liked in these parts. I ended up buying a used Epiphone Embassy bass for $200 and scavenged the pickups, rings, bridge, tail piece and strap locks off of it for a NR Tbird build that is currently at the finishers getting a vintage shoreline gold paint job…
IMG_1757.jpeg


Gibson reissue Tbird pickups are another fantastic option and all things considered are very economically priced at about $125 each but currently on back order as of yesterday. You’ll need to by trim rings and ring screws separately for about $15 each from Philly Luthiers if you want them. I just modded an old rarely ever used Short Scale Bronco with one last week. It’s a single pickup bass and sounds excellent with this pickup in it (I would not have used an EY pickup in this bass)…
IMG_3107.jpeg


Good luck with the build and keep us all posted with its progress.
 
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#295,603
Engle said:
It's the equivalent of the keyboard player using the transpose function.
Click to expand...
:laugh: Yeah. I worked a coupla gigs with a keys man who played almost everything in C. He called a tune I wasn't too familiar with, so being an ex-keys player myself, I tried to watch his hands. Well, that didn't work(I think we were in Ab).o_O
 
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#295,605
GonePlaid said:
:laugh: Yeah. I worked a coupla gigs with a keys man who played almost everything in C. He called a tune I wasn't too familiar with, so being an ex-keys player myself, I tried to watch his hands. Well, that didn't work(I think we were in Ab).o_O
Click to expand...
I always prefer to stand to the right of a guitarist. One reason is I have a better chance of seeing what chord is being played if unsure of the song.
 
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#295,609
GBassNorth said:
First of all, thoughts and prayers are with you on your treatment, been down that path and it’s a tough one. One of the best things you can do under those circumstances is to keep yourself occupied with something you love to do. Sounds like bass building does that for you, so by all means dig in and have fun.

There are a lot of Tbird shaped pickup choices out there and some such as the EY (or ChinaBuckers as many here refer to them) are dirt cheap, while others (like Lulls or vintage Tbird pickups) will break the bank if you can even find them. A little over a year ago I did a modified assembly semi Hollow Tbird build with three pickups and a custom wiring design I came up with. I used ChinaBuckers (about $45 each) and it came out looking and sounding fantastic, very pleased with the results…
View attachment 5482433 The only word of caution I have on the EY pickups is that they sound best in a two or more pickup bass. It’s kind of hard to describe but basically IME a lone EY pickup doesn’t have as complex of an output as most of the more expensive pickup options out there. It’s not exactly thin sounding, there’s plenty of bass, mids and top end but to my ears just not as rich and full sounding as other options. But in a two or more pickup bass when multiple puckups are used they sound much fuller and richer and actually quite good. So they would be my cost effective choice on any multi pup bass where low build cost is a major consideration.

Epiphone 760ProBuckers are great pickups but as far as I know are unobtainable as stand alone new purchases, you’d have to find someone willing to part with a set, good luck with that, they are pretty well liked in these parts. I ended up buying a used Epiphone Embassy bass for $200 and scavenged the pickups, rings, bridge, tail piece and strap locks off of it for a NR Tbird build that is currently at the finishers getting a vintage shoreline gold paint job…
View attachment 5482435

Gibson reissue Tbird pickups are another fantastic option and all things considered are very economically priced at about $125 each but currently on back order as of yesterday. You’ll need to by trim rings and ring screws separately for about $15 each from Philly Luthiers if you want them. I just modded an old rarely ever used Short Scale Bronco with one last week. It’s a single pickup bass and sounds excellent with this pickup in it (I would not have used an EY pickup in this bass)…
View attachment 5482434

Good luck with the build and keep us all posted with its progress.
Click to expand...


Thank you so much, that is a ton of really useful information! I definitely appreciate it.

Yeah, in 2020 I had a cancer fight as well, So I’m attacking this one the same way. Just deal with what you can deal with, control what you can control, let go of the stuff you can’t, and keep yourself occupied!

It sounds like in my situation, maybe the EY Pick ups are going to be the best bet. I think budget wise it’s just gonna be too tough to do any of the others. I can always change them out later.

Again, thank you!



And to the rest of you guys on this thread, thank you so much! You are all super helpful and I really appreciate that!
 
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#295,610
GBassNorth said:
First of all, thoughts and prayers are with you on your treatment, been down that path and it’s a tough one. One of the best things you can do under those circumstances is to keep yourself occupied with something you love to do. Sounds like bass building does that for you, so by all means dig in and have fun.

There are a lot of Tbird shaped pickup choices out there and some such as the EY (or ChinaBuckers as many here refer to them) are dirt cheap, while others (like Lulls or vintage Tbird pickups) will break the bank if you can even find them. A little over a year ago I did a modified assembly semi Hollow Tbird build with three pickups and a custom wiring design I came up with. I used ChinaBuckers (about $45 each) and it came out looking and sounding fantastic, very pleased with the results…
View attachment 5482433 The only word of caution I have on the EY pickups is that they sound best in a two or more pickup bass. It’s kind of hard to describe but basically IME a lone EY pickup doesn’t have as complex of an output as most of the more expensive pickup options out there. It’s not exactly thin sounding, there’s plenty of bass, mids and top end but to my ears just not as rich and full sounding as other options. But in a two or more pickup bass when multiple puckups are used they sound much fuller and richer and actually quite good. So they would be my cost effective choice on any multi pup bass where low build cost is a major consideration.

Epiphone 760ProBuckers are great pickups but as far as I know are unobtainable as stand alone new purchases, you’d have to find someone willing to part with a set, good luck with that, they are pretty well liked in these parts. I ended up buying a used Epiphone Embassy bass for $200 and scavenged the pickups, rings, bridge, tail piece and strap locks off of it for a NR Tbird build that is currently at the finishers getting a vintage shoreline gold paint job…
View attachment 5482435

Gibson reissue Tbird pickups are another fantastic option and all things considered are very economically priced at about $125 each but currently on back order as of yesterday. You’ll need to by trim rings and ring screws separately for about $15 each from Philly Luthiers if you want them. I just modded an old rarely ever used Short Scale Bronco with one last week. It’s a single pickup bass and sounds excellent with this pickup in it (I would not have used an EY pickup in this bass)…
View attachment 5482434

Good luck with the build and keep us all posted with its progress.
Click to expand...

PS: those are some great looking basses you have!
 
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#295,611
godofthunder59 said:
I've been having to deal with a lot of key changing latley to accommodate singers, I bought the digi-tech drop pedal to make things easier. Totally worth it, I can stay in standard tunning and with a turn of a knob be where I need to be.
Click to expand...
I use the Simple Pitch in Helix to do exactly this. Combined with a five-string bass and I can play every song without changing bass or tuners.
 
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#295,612
GonePlaid said:
:laugh: Yeah. I worked a coupla gigs with a keys man who played almost everything in C. He called a tune I wasn't too familiar with, so being an ex-keys player myself, I tried to watch his hands. Well, that didn't work(I think we were in Ab).o_O
Click to expand...
In a former band we had a trumpet player that was also a classical piano player/teacher. We brought in a guy to audition on keys and he used the transpose key...instant disqualification!
 
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#295,616
GBassNorth said:
First of all, thoughts and prayers are with you on your treatment, been down that path and it’s a tough one. One of the best things you can do under those circumstances is to keep yourself occupied with something you love to do. Sounds like bass building does that for you, so by all means dig in and have fun.

There are a lot of Tbird shaped pickup choices out there and some such as the EY (or ChinaBuckers as many here refer to them) are dirt cheap, while others (like Lulls or vintage Tbird pickups) will break the bank if you can even find them. A little over a year ago I did a modified assembly semi Hollow Tbird build with three pickups and a custom wiring design I came up with. I used ChinaBuckers (about $45 each) and it came out looking and sounding fantastic, very pleased with the results…
View attachment 5482433 The only word of caution I have on the EY pickups is that they sound best in a two or more pickup bass. It’s kind of hard to describe but basically IME a lone EY pickup doesn’t have as complex of an output as most of the more expensive pickup options out there. It’s not exactly thin sounding, there’s plenty of bass, mids and top end but to my ears just not as rich and full sounding as other options. But in a two or more pickup bass when multiple puckups are used they sound much fuller and richer and actually quite good. So they would be my cost effective choice on any multi pup bass where low build cost is a major consideration.

Epiphone 760ProBuckers are great pickups but as far as I know are unobtainable as stand alone new purchases, you’d have to find someone willing to part with a set, good luck with that, they are pretty well liked in these parts. I ended up buying a used Epiphone Embassy bass for $200 and scavenged the pickups, rings, bridge, tail piece and strap locks off of it for a NR Tbird build that is currently at the finishers getting a vintage shoreline gold paint job…
View attachment 5482435

Gibson reissue Tbird pickups are another fantastic option and all things considered are very economically priced at about $125 each but currently on back order as of yesterday. You’ll need to by trim rings and ring screws separately for about $15 each from Philly Luthiers if you want them. I just modded an old rarely ever used Short Scale Bronco with one last week. It’s a single pickup bass and sounds excellent with this pickup in it (I would not have used an EY pickup in this bass)…
View attachment 5482434

Good luck with the build and keep us all posted with its progress.
Click to expand...
Nice stuff...as usual plus some useful information on pickups!
 
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#295,620
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