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Thunderbird Club

#283
hillerup said:
I saw that listing as well... It seems that the PO used to have 2 huge round stickers on it, since it's still flat black where they used to be.

If you want the entire bass to get back to the origianl flat black finish, you can do that with some very fine coarsed steel wool pads.

As you can see black dome knobs will looks just fine on this bass.

IMG_4951.gif


And welcome to the best club on TB! :)
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Thanks! After reading more than a thousand replies I feel like its family. :) I called the shop before I bought it, and they confirmed that it was in fact sticker residue from a couple big stickers. The bass shows normal wear marks other than that; didn't figure I'd go wrong for $150. I shot Epiphone an email and they said Goo Gone should work just fine, since the finish is urethane.

Since it is urethane, I thought about using a Scotch Brite pad to knock it back, but perhaps that's a little too aggressive. I have a bit of 0000 steel wool on hand. Is that too fine to avoid shining it up?

I guess I was right in my thinking on the knobs. That looks great. Nice stick ya got there!
 
#286
0000 is pretty darn fine, and it won't remove much material. I can always knock it back if its too shiny. I had already planned on needing to rub down the whole thing. I'm OK with that for what I have in it.

Dammit, I knew I shoulda stayed in touch with the guys I worked with at Taylor Guitars. I was in the finishing department for about seven months...and they gave me at least four months more than they should have. I don't have a talent for production work. Apparently, neither do I have a talent for networking. That woulda come in handy right about now!

Research will continue! I'm all ears to any suggestions.
 
#287
My Carvin is from a friend who had it on tours (Moby and such) with all sorts of tape on it for various reasons. When she gave it to me I pulled off all the tape and there was a lot of residue. Rubbing alcohol ended up taking it right off. YMMV, though, depending on the finish I guess. I suppose try it in a weird spot that no one will see just in case.
 
#288
This is tough...

I know the subject is relative and has been beaten to death...but still, I'll ask this question....

There's an '08 Gibson TB in EC at Elderly..$1050 with case.

At Amazon/Sam Ash a blemished( but new) Epi Classic pro IV for $374 .
I would buy a case for another $94... Together I'd still pay less than a new Epi alone.


Are the 'minimal' differences worth another $500 for the Gibson?
Again I know its a subjective issue/question. Will I be missing any 'growl' in getting the Epi?
I am not a pro or gig ( yet).
I just want a good bass to compliment my sweet P bass..

Thanks
 
#293
Got my Thunderninja (Goth that I'm gonna totally black out) yesterday, and had it started apart after about eight minutes of being home for cleaning and maintenance. Its got a hum which I'm betting is a ground problem. Are TBirds grounded to the ferrule that the bridge mounts to? Its not up under the bridge like I'm used to seeing.

Second question: Epiphone says its a urethane finish, but it appears to be a very thin one. There's something sticky on the upper register side of the neck that sorta looks like the finish is wearing off; can't quite tell and I'm not sure I could get it to show up in a photo. I'm gonna go ahead and polish it with some 0000 steel wool and see if that clears it up. If not and I go through the finish, I'll just sand the rest of the paint off and finish the neck in boiled linseed oil, so win/win either way. Its a bit more of a project than I thought, but just a bit. I'm diggin' it.
 
#294
Pondering the thought of replacing my stock goth bridge pickup with a seymour duncan stingray pickup. But i'm wondering how i'm supposed to wire it up since my bird has a killswitch only. And the stingray pickup pickup has 4-5 wires, and my tbird stocks have 2. I'm wondering if it's even possible. IT would also be cool if i had a parallel/series rotary knob.
 
#296
DethByDoom said:
Don't get an active sting ray pickup...

With what you're talking about doing to it you need some decent woodworking/electric tools and knowledge or a few hundred bucks and a decent tech/luthier.
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Well i could do it myself, i set up all my instruments and repair them and modify them. Was just wondering cause the bridge pickup on mine seems kind off tame. I figured with the ray pickup it'd have more bite and i could get a bit more out of it.
 
#297
Andii Syckz said:
Well i could do it myself, i set up all my instruments and repair them and modify them. Was just wondering cause the bridge pickup on mine seems kind off tame. I figured with the ray pickup it'd have more bite and i could get a bit more out of it.
Click to expand...

Raise the bridge pickup until you get it at its loudest clear tone. Then lower the neck pickup until its output matches the bridge pickup. Then turn up you amp. Problem solved.
 
#298
Dadagoboi said:
Raise the bridge pickup until you get it at its loudest clear tone. Then lower the neck pickup until its output matches the bridge pickup. Then turn up you amp. Problem solved.
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TRue, but my bridge pickup is as high as i can put it without the strings touching it, and the neck pickup is fairly low, but not so low that i loose total bottom end. IDK, i'd just want something different for this bird.
 
#300
I know it's a very relative subject...
But what strings do you all like on tour TB's?

I will be getting one and want to string sort of 'opposite' of my PBass, which has ChromemFlats on it.

Though, If I can still get that Thunderbird sound with flats I would love to stay with them.

Thanks
 

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