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Thunderbird Club

#312,041
I took that BA II bridge off the NR. Just looked wrong and it had to go. Notice the claw is slightly to the bass side and will need to be reset. Only an issue with the G and D. May need to be angled just a bit. Never ran into that before, but have seen weird things like that. The strings still go in the groves fine. Seems like the gold two piece makes for a little darker tone. Not a bad thing. May have thickened it up a bit. Had to eyeball the intonation then tighten it down in place. Once the height was set there would be no easy way to adjust it. For once I made a fantastic guess and got all four correct. I was shocked.
 
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#312,043
Bulltrout said:
After watching @godofthunder59 's video on the Indonesian VP, I asked our local L&M to bring one in (they had a few left in the system). Everything Scott said is 100% on point; the '64 is a great bass, but at least this Indonesian made VP smokes it for tone, playability, finishing, fret work. Just a great bass and a great value too.
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Yep! Congrats!
1740097891004.png
 
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#312,044
BuddhaFingas said:
I have been too long without a Thunderbird.
I sadly had to sell my RH Epi IV years back as I turned out to be too profoundly a lefty to play it well.

And lefty T's are rare birds indeed.

So Im setting out to build one.

Important question though... cant find a clear answer anywhere:

Do the wings on the body actually taper from root to tip, and if yes by how much?
And both faces, or only front or back?

Wish I could find some reliable dimensioned plans for sale somewhere.
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Hey, I took some measurements of my Reverse Tbirds’s wings:
1991 Orville: 33-26mm
2017 VP: 34-30mm
My built from scratch: 32-30mm (I’m going to go to 26mm)
2014ish Epi IV 31.5-31.5mm
IMG_3673.jpeg
 
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#312,055
Nocturnal said:
Not sure if this has been posted but GC has a '[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] in their used section.
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No neck repair--and even more rare--the pickguard is in tact. Likely gave the guy 4500 to 5500. Seems a lot of places tend to give you about half what they think it's going to be worth.

Would have loved to seen their faces when that guy opened that case. Of course the first person to open it likely say, "Cool. A Firebird bass."
 
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#312,056
Chucky Stiletti said:
is that what they go for without headstock repairs?....
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That may not be too far off given it just looks dirty and needs a good cleaning and polishing and otherwise is in fantastic condition. As Remember there were a lot fewer IVs than IIs made, so it's more rare. More desirable is a preference. There's one in Nash at George's place for $18k. He won't get that, but he also will sit on it until he does get a good price. The more rare colors can get what George is asking.
 
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#312,058
dagrev said:
That may not be too far off given it just looks dirty and needs a good cleaning and polishing and otherwise is in fantastic condition. As Remember there were a lot fewer IVs than IIs made, so it's more rare. More desirable is a preference. There's one in Nash at George's place for $18k. He won't get that, but he also will sit on it until he does get a good price. The more rare colors can get what George is asking.
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so realistic for a PB IV in excellent condition with the covers and mute and OHSC to fetch upwards of 20k I guess.......hey, if 335s of the same vintage go for at least twice that.....
 
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#312,059
dagrev said:
Selling my '64 Reverse now. At your numbers I should be able to get around 25 Goths that sound fantastic!

I do think it's fascinating that such great results can in fact be found without spending thousands. Likely similar to food tests. People think it tastes better the better it is presented. Show someone a vintage or boutique bass and that will "see" it sounding better.

Right now, no band setting yet, but at home the Koreabuckers in the old NR sound pretty doggone good. We've all picked up basses and after a couple notes knew it had a sucky sound. This is by no means the case with those. Not so far anyway. If there is a weakness, it might be they are a little shy in the lows, but have strong low mids.
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I’m probably going to do George’s cap mod on the Sparkling Red LE Custom shop Epi to give it a little different tone than the Sparkling Pelham Blue one.

I have two basses that suck tone wise. An old Ibby Ergodyne and a SBMM Ray 4. Both have preamps. All my other basses are passive. Sad thing about the Ergodyne is that is has a wonderful neck. The Ray just pretty much sucks.
 
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#312,060
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