Thunderbird Club

[BklynKen]

My Gibsons are my pride and joy. There is also an '05 Studio Thunderbird, a rare "11 Short Scale Thunderbird, a '13 Pelham Blue NR with a hint of sparkle (but not as stunning as the Epi), and a wonderful '15 Reverse. None of them are going anywhere. I'm about to get a '13 eb fiver which will be my first non-Thunderbird Gibson. The only other USA built bass I have is an '86 Peavy Foundation with a '93 neck. It's really nice.

Funny, as an unintentional coincidence, all four of my basses are USA-made. The 2013 Gibson Reverse and NR, Carvin, and 1976 BC Rich.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Stunning. Love that clear pickguard.

I've always been curious, what's the benefit of a thumb rest below the strings?

Thank you!.....the rest is for thumb players (old school) anchoring their fingers....I like them for the vintage look...

 

[BklynKen]

Anchor your pinky and play with your thumb. Called a tug bar.

Thank you!.....the rest is for thumb players (old school) anchoring their fingers....I like them for the vintage look...

Both of you owe me a Coke. Preferably Mexican.

 

[AllieCat]

I wondered the same thing for quite a while, since it's called a "thumb rest." It's to anchor your fingers when you're plucking with your thumb.

Anchor your pinky and play with your thumb. Called a tug bar.

Ohhhh okay. I always understood them when they're on top, never thought about using one to aid in plucking with the thumb. Thanks.

 

[AllieCat]

Thank you!.....the rest is for thumb players (old school) anchoring their fingers....I like them for the vintage look...

Yeah, thumb rests in general are kind of a vintage vibe, but especially on the bottom. I'd wondered if maybe it was a sign that it had been used left handed at one time, but the explanation offered makes much more sense.

 

[Stealth57]

Both of you owe me a Coke. Preferably Mexican.

Homebrew ok?

 

[GBassNorth]

TBird FOUR FRI......
View attachment 7140130

And a fine IV Friday it is….

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Homebrew ok?

still trying to figure out what for.....do you take payment in farofa?....

 

[BklynKen]

Homebrew ok?

No, Mexican Coke.

 

[AllieCat]

And a fine IV Friday it is….
View attachment 7140162

I may be detecting a theme here

 

[Gaolee]

GC in Gilroy just closed its doors......
buying strings (not online) can be such a crapshoot these days..... want a lighter gauge on my Gretsch for this weekend's gigs and this is all I could find......les see...:
View attachment 7139914

Coated? They think they are DR or something.

 

[Gaolee]

SVT 300 tube watts. M6 Carbine 600 MOSFET watts. TT800 800 Class D watts. Pick your weapon.

ACC 360 with an extremely deceptive 200 1968 solid state watts. That works for me.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I may be detecting a theme here

yeah, no Enigma machine needed here....

 

[BklynKen]

Day one of mastering. The dream team. Martin Bisi and Fred Kevorkian.

 

[Stealth57]

still trying to figure out what for.....do you take payment in farofa?....

Can I brew with it?

 

[Stealth57]

No, Mexican Coke.

White or brown?

 

[AllieCat]

So, I actually have some nits to pick about this. I've been reading some posts here and other places to that effect, and, inspired by a certain lobster themed Youtuber, I decided to look in to this claim myself, as I believe putting regular guitar pickups in a bass could result in some weirdness like inconsistent string volume stemming from misalignment in the poles and strings.

I bought some magnetic viewing film on Amazon for about $10 and decided to have a look.

First up is the Epiphone:
View attachment 7139868

To my eyes, these look like rails rather than individual poles.

Now my Gibson NR:
View attachment 7139872

These look narrower and a little longer than the Epi pickups, but similar.

For reference, here's how my only six-string looks under the film:
View attachment 7139873

Now I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm starting to question whether Epiphone really just put LP pickups on these birds.

In 2010, Epiphone should have been using the Alnico Classic and Alnico Classic Plus humbuckers in the bridge and neck positions, respectively, on their LP's. These look like this:
View attachment 7139874View attachment 7139875

Note the exposed adjustable poles on the front of the covers, and the exposed threaded ends of the poles on the bottom side.

Now let's look at the pickups used on the models of Thunderbird IV that came with the LP size humbuckers:
View attachment 7139877View attachment 7139878

Note that the bass pickup lacks the poles protruding through the bottom, as well as four screws to hold the coils to the bottom plate.

I haven't taken the covers off of mine, and I need to take the time to put a meter on each of these pickup to compare them to the 8.1kΩ and 13.3kΩ specs I've seen listed for the Alnico Classic and Classic Plus models, but right now, I suspect there's something special about the bass pickups, although they clearly are wearing the same "BHC" sticker, and I think they share a cover, bottom plate, and ring with their six-string sisters.

What do you folks think?

Mkay, so I remembered to meter these P/U's after all.



Looks to be slightly different to the 6-string pickups, but with a sample size of one it's hard to say. This is fairly close to the Alnico Classic and Classic Plus set. Maybe they're wound the same, in the same package, but with rails instead of 6 poles?

12.9k for the bridge isn't insane or anything, but it would probably be hotter than vintage TB pickups right?

 

[dagrev]

Hmmm, never tried the Cobalt Rounds. I wonder how bright they will be?

George will no doubt confirm, but I believe he said they are horribly rough.

 

[dagrev]

Ughhh, anytime I have tried coated strings they feel a little sticky and they come off the bass.

DR Dragon Skins feel good. Bought a bass with them on it once. Still have them. I'm almost certain I would not have known they were coated unless the package was in with the bass.

 

[MCF]

I wondered the same thing for quite a while, since it's called a "thumb rest." It's to anchor your fingers when you're plucking with your thumb.

Leo thought (and some players actually did) that a lot of players would prefer playing with the thumb.