NBD
Fernandez Burny Thunderbird
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OMG, this thing is beautifully put together and finished! Exactly what you’d expect from a bass made in Japan. The soft pink sparkle is drop dead gorgeous in person, pictures don’t do it any justice. Pink is a tough color to pull off, to bright and it looks cheap and gaudy like Pepto Bismol, this is very close to a Shell Pink with a wonderful fine glitter in it to spruce it up. The build quality and attention to detail and fit and finish is well above Eppi and Gibby. Could easily sit right beside my Lull and Dingwall in that regard. Tuners are silky smooth and precise, the volute is beautifully done (come on Gibson, follow this lead), the through body stringing with nice ferrules on each side creates a great downforce string contact and eliminates three point stud lifting as well as silk or winding on the saddles. The three screw layout on the pickups allows a precision alignment between the strings and the top of the pup. The pickup screws are incredibly smooth and precise as well (makes me wonder if they are machine screws threaded into stud inserts). Control cavity is nice and tidy. Wonderful neck contour and fretwork as well, nice low action with no fretbuzz. The headstock is almost as long as a VP and a bit wider, I like the proportions and the two tone finish is top notch. I bought this bass thinking it was used, if so it must have been used as a closet filler, there isn’t a mark on this thing and the plastic wrap is still on the guard and control cavity. I’ll try to run the serial number to see when it was built.
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That’s all great, but how does she sound? In a word, Fantastic! Very Eppi ‘64ish in sound. A bit more balls than the VP. Great news is these pickups which sound wonderful as is are standard Tbird can style (Eppi VP, Gibby NR size) so lots of great drop in no route options out there, if you desire that option.
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First impressions are everything, and I have to say, when I opened the box I was floored with how beautifully stunning and perfect the finish was. Then when I lifted it out of the box I was floored with how light it was, about seven and a half pounds. Then when I tuned it up (came 1/2step detuned) I was floored with how smoothly and precisely the tuners worked and the low action and lack of fretbuzz anywhere on the neck and the perfect intonation. Then when I plugged it in I was floored with the beautiful articulate and rich sound from the pickups at every setting.
Bottom line - if you can find one of these at the same price or better than a new VP, grab it, you won’t be disappointed, you’ll have all the VP goodness and then some.
The seller has another one, it’s a beautiful aged white. He was fantastic to work with and somehow managed to get this bass here from overseas and thru customs in about two weeks, here’s a link…
....they're deep fried whole baby calamari (chipirones) hard to tell from the pic but they're under 2" long.....like eating popcorn when done right....
