Thunderbird Club

[dagrev]

I feel like Epi really screwed up by moving production for these.

Weird stuff can happen anywhere, but I'm with you on this one. My new Donor Embassy was made in Indonesia where the VPs were made. Other than slight intonation issue it's very well made and feels fantastic. A great buy for whatever they were going for.

 

[Stealth57]

This is the one for sale, but it was the same when I test fitted mine:
View attachment 7171835

String spacing is adjustable on a Supertone. How much, I don’t know.

 

[Engle]

I finally found time to install the LaBella Low Tension Flats. LTF-4A .042, .056, .075, and .100.

View attachment 7171830

I put them on my 2010 Epiphone IV LE.

Initial impressions are that they're a little brighter than the Roto 77's usually are. Probably will darken up a bit with age obviously but I'm guessing they'll end up brighter overall than a broken in set of 77's. I did find that I wanted to roll off my tone knob a bit, though. Way smoother than what I'm used to with Rotos. These things are silky smooth.

Took a little bit of adjustment at the bridge but they intonated really nicely, all the way up and down the fretboard. My action may be sitting a touch lower, but you won't find me complaining about that.

Tension is definitely less than my older flats, I needed to add just a touch more relief to the neck to correct some buzz at the first fret. Nothing crazy, but this bass has been set up with those. Bends feel more like they would with rounds.

Lots of room for dynamics. Super mellow played with fingers, but you can really dig in with a pick still.

Probably a new favorite flatwound for me.

Good to know! I bought a set last year, but haven't decided what to install them on.
Do they sound like LeBella DTFs?

 

[Bighouse]

Guess what I just picked up!!! Here, I’ll show ya!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

That sucks. It's good to know for any who have the latest version so they can keep an eye on them.

I've been waffling on whether to buy a purple (lavender, puce, whatever) 64, swap the Thundbuckers from the VP with the 64 pickups, and selling the VP or to just get the VP painted. The latter approach looks better every week even though it will likely cost a bit more. I know some here are happy with their 64, but it sounds more and more like a crap shoot.

 

[Engle]

The CP was my fave for several years, then the Grecos claimed top slot. The CP beat the VP both in terms of tone (yay, low end!) and neck feel (finish type (paint vs clear), I assume) but Thunderbuckers brought the VP back into contention. That said, the VP bridge doesn't have enough travel to intonate EBCFs and the string spacing on the neck is slightly off. And, of course, the VP headstock has its own zip code. I believe it's almost the size of Rhode Island.

On my 2017 VP, the bridge is mounted too close to the neck. I didn't realize until I was measuring to put the 2 piece bridge on my Orville and I thought I'd compare the VP. Are you running heavy EBCFs?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

On my 2017 VP, the bridge is mounted too close to the neck. I didn't realize until I was measuring to put the 2 piece bridge on my Orville and I thought I'd compare the VP. Are you running heavy EBCFs?

The 45-105 set like @Bighouse showed just above.

 

[AllieCat]

That sucks. They must have had a batch of crappy or poorly dried wood.

I think with laminated necks you're supposed to match the grain direction so that the sections counteract one another as they settle in. Could be that they're not paying attention to the grain as they select pieces to laminate.

I have an old Washburn P-style bass, one of their "Lyon" series made in china entry level basses, which has some figuring in the maple neck. It was actually really pretty for a $175 bass, surprised me at the time. As a kid though, I had no idea that figuring is a sign that the wood won't actually be stable. The neck wound up twisting over the first 3 or 4 years I owned it. It hasn't moved any more in probably 15 years though. It has more of a Fender style bridge though, and I was able to adjust the height of the saddles and add neck relief to keep it playable despite the twist. Still suboptimal.

I guess anyone who winds up stuck with a '64 Epi that twists on them could consider something like a Hipshot or Babicz if they want to avoid re-profiling the fretboard. Or maybe in 10 years we'll have some cheap candidates for Fenderbird builds...

Good to know! I bought a set last year, but haven't decided what to install them on.
Do they sound like LeBella DTFs?

I couldn't tell you. This is my first set of LaBellas.

 

[Engle]

String spacing is adjustable on a Supertone. How much, I don’t know.

Enough for an EBO or similar.

 

[MCF]

Well, pretty gutted. Looks like my purple thunderbird 64 has a twisted neck. This will be the second T bird 64 that I will be returning with neck issues. Took it in to get plek'd and the scans don't lie. It's a shame because this is such a cool bass, but I have no idea if this neck is going to get worse over time and for over a grand, it's unacceptable. The bottom of the image shows the neck scans at the 1st, 12th and 20th frets, and you can see the twist. The tech said there wouldn't be any frets left in the upper register if they ground down the frets to flatten it out, so the only option is to plane the fretboard and do a complete re fret, which would be more than half the cost of the bass.

Good decision to return it. I am an unabashed Epi Fanboy. But some of the reported QC issues on some of the ‘64’s give me pause. I played a friend’s purple one two weeks ago and loved it. No neck issues that I could tell. And it sounded great. Better than a ‘17 VP that I own. I guess just keep returning than until you get a good one. Sort of sad. But when you get a good one, you have a great Thunderbird.

 

[dagrev]

Used the Donor Embassy today. Can't remember the last time a bass drew that much attention. Drummer loved the sound. I agree, it sounded fantastic. I can't say positively I could tell the intonation was slightly out on the D and G. I knew it was and at times I think I was hearing with what I saw on the tuner not my ears. But even when I ventured up the neck a bit I can't swear I could notice a problem. I used SIT Power steels during the run through and wasn't sure I was as happy with the Boomers from Wed. or the Fender flats at had on at home. I slapped the Fender's on and did like those better. However, nothing was wrong with the SITs and they would have been fine, but I'm me.... Given this thing plays (a dream to play), looks, sounds so good I can't gut it for the 760s. I gotta keep it. If I find the intonation does become apparent I will move the bridge.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

My EBCF CP did great this morning, from quiet to near-riot, using fingers and pick everywhere from 12th fret to over the bridge pickup. Flanger on one song. I ended up running the bass tone at 7 or 8, which is high for me on that bass, but the room was accentuating the lows. One of the reasons I use a longer cable is to get out into the space to hear the sound from the amps properly. That paid off today! Also, it's freaking gorgeous. I could live with that as an only bass (but I'm glad I don't have to!)

 

[dagrev]

That sucks. They must have had a batch of crappy or poorly dried wood.

Yes, you would think all those layers of wood would just about prevent that--unless as you say the wood wasn't dried completely (to whatever the spec is). I don't think I've ever heard of a Thunderbird neck twisting.

 

[MCF]

I feel like Epi really screwed up by moving production for these.

What is strange to me is that I have three Chinese bolt-ons that are as good as the earlier Korean ones. And my Indo VP is perfect as far as build quality, neck, fretwork, etc. Not sure what the problem is. Maybe the 64’s are so popular that they’re just pumping them out without paying attention to the wood? Too green?

 

[dagrev]

Good to know! I bought a set last year, but haven't decided what to install them on.
Do they sound like LeBella DTFs?

Not to me but I'll jump in if OK. I have found they are definitely related but don't think I would say they sound the same. Not exactly anyway. It's been a while since the same bass has had them, but I've have DTFs on other things. I would say the Flexible roundcores are a little more smooth in tone and round sounding than the DTFs. They sound bigger might be a way to describe them, but do sound like LeBellas to my ear, just not exactly.

 

[Stealth57]

Guess what I just picked up!!! Here, I’ll show ya!
View attachment 7171844

I have those on my CP and Dano. Good even tone across all strings.

 

[Engle]

The 45-105 set like @Bighouse showed just above.

I have 50 -105s on mine. The intonation is OK, but the E saddle is all the way back.
Measure from the center of the 12th fret to the point where the string would leave the G string with the saddle moved as close as possible to the neck. On my VP it's 16 13/16". The bridge is 3/16" closer to the neck than it should be at a minimum.
If I was repainting it, I would move the bridge 1/4" back.

 

[AllieCat]

Yes, you would think all those layers of wood would just about prevent that--unless as you say the wood wasn't dried completely (to whatever the spec is). I don't think I've ever heard of a Thunderbird neck twisting.

To my eyes, when you can see through the finish the Epi Thunder and Firebirds seem to use different ply thicknesses than Gibsons and depending on the model I suspect fewer segments overall. I seem to remember the old Epi Firebird being 7 ply vs the 9 ply of the Gibson on the spec sheet.

 

[Stealth57]

What is strange to me is that I have three Chinese bolt-ons that are as good as the earlier Korean ones. And my Indo VP is perfect as far as build quality, neck, fretwork, etc. Not sure what the problem is. Maybe the 64’s are so popular that they’re just pumping them out without paying attention to the wood? Too green?

No issues with my Chinese bolt ons.

 

[AllieCat]

No issues with my Chinese bolt ons.

My Korean and Chinese bolt ons are very similar. I actually think I might have nicer electronics in the Chinese example though.