Thunderbird Club

[RedVee]

My 2011 Gibson, it’s a bit hard to see but I get 9 looking carefully

 

[MCF]

When I emailed them, support eventually told me the vendors must be selling old stock - because the E1 wasn’t anywhere on the web site.

Now that’s funny. SW, AMS, GC, et, al. have been selling them for a couple years now at least. That’s an awful lot of old stock to have hanging around in warehouses. And they have the old style wide necks. I call shenanigans.

 

[TBird1958]

These are the large Wilkinson machines on the original Vintage Pro, frankly, the whole headstock and tuners are too big, much bigger than any of Gibsons headstocks from any era.

Chinese tuners on my very nice Bombay Saphire Blue sparkle '64.

 

[Stealth57]

My VP has the same tuners.

Weren't there two versions of the tuners? The first ones had the larger back plates. Even the 2017 Willbird has the smaller ones. Must have been a short run of the larger.

 

[MCF]

GC is letting people backorder them

SW has them in stock. But “hurry, limited stock available.” The last couple years they have been featuring them as the holiday season approached. Someone has been making them. Maybe that company selling New Probuckers on EBay?

 

[Stealth57]

These are the large Wilkinson machines on the original Vintage Pro, frankly, the whole headstock and tuners are too big, much bigger than any of Gibsons headstocks from any era.

Chinese tuners on my very nice Bombay Saphire Blue sparkle '64.

Interesting, this one is just a 3 month newer production date and it has the smaller Wilkinson.

 

[MCF]

Weren't there two versions of the tuners? The first ones had the larger back plates. Even the 2017 Willbird has the smaller ones. Must have been a short run of the larger.

I think so. My ‘17 has the large ones. So does the ‘17 I picked up that has the broken neck.

 

[MCF]

Interesting, this one is just a 3 month newer production date and it has the smaller Wilkinson.

View attachment 7172067

Mr. House can let us know what are on his. I have seen newer VPs without the Wilkinson branding stamped on them.

 

[RedVee]

SW has them in stock. But “hurry, limited stock available.” The last couple years they have been featuring them as the holiday season approached. Someone has been making them. Maybe that company selling New Probuckers on EBay?

Nah, the probuckers are coming from the returned sparkle birds

 

[Bighouse]

Mine are also Wilkinson, but they’re smaller than those big ones. I swear the key required a LOT of turning to get the peg to move even a little. I believe my bass was made in Samick, Indonesia in September of 2022.

 

[Bighouse]

My other two basses both have prefinished maple fingerboards. This is the first unfinished fingerboard I’ve owned. Do I need to apply any kind of oil to the fingerboard on this bird or just leave it alone? What do you all do?

 

[dagrev]

I may have a problem with my D tuner- and maybe it has something to do with why the prior set of strings was resonating oddly. When I turn the key to tune, even though I’m turning the key many times, the actual peg will sometimes barely turn. I’ll do like 3 or 4 full rotations of the key to get the peg to move up half a step when tuning. This can’t be right. Everything LOOKS like it’s turning on the outside of the tuner, I can see the gears all spinning and the worm drive mechanism turning, but the peg itself just doesn’t turn as expected. The screws on the back of the tuners are all tight.

What’s up with that???

Never encountered that one. Possibly the seller would make a adjustment or replace tuners.

 

[dagrev]

If you keep telling us this, you are going to cost us all money. Please stop.

Well the Embassy would be ideal for someone who thinks the VP are a bit thin sounding. Just saying. (I think I recall hearing the neck pickup was moved towards the neck a little. Have not confirmed this, but it is not as aggressive a either VP, but in a good way.

 

[dagrev]

I might end up using them for a project, but I was buying up parts for an unrelated project and came across a set, and knowing they're not super common and definitely not something we'll see another run of, I couldn't help myself.

I have a sort of pseudo LP six string that I was thinking about trying them in too.


Honestly I suspect we may be one of those so-called "high consumption groups," within a week of joining the club I had a third Thunderbird in the mail.

This club has cost me a fair amount of money as well. You are not alone. Gibson and Epi should sponsor this thread.

 

[dagrev]

So, these EBCF are interesting. They aren’t as buttery smooth on the fingers as the LaBella Flats, but they feel okay and are easy enough to play and finger. The sound is not quite what I expected. They almost sound like round wounds, absent the fingering artifacts. They’re punchy, and slightly bright and edgy, with a nice growl and plenty of rich tone/timbre. I’m no expert, but that’s my impression of them.

That's exactly how they feel and sound.

 

[dagrev]

My VP has the same tuners.

My burst had the taller tuners that look original, the white one has the stubby tuners.

 

[dagrev]

Weren't there two versions of the tuners? The first ones had the larger back plates. Even the 2017 Willbird has the smaller ones. Must have been a short run of the larger.

Yes.

 

[dagrev]

Mine are also Wilkinson, but they’re smaller than those big ones. I swear the key required a LOT of turning to get the peg to move even a little. I believe my bass was made in Samick, Indonesia in September of 2022.

My '17 (tall) and '18 (short) are both Wilkinsons.

 

[dagrev]

Slightly better pic of my '64 backside. Still nearly impossible to see/count then. I don't see that the plies are nay thicker on the '64 than the VP.

 

[dagrev]

Here's a mopey one! "Grudge"... Then we end the set with an Iggy and the Stooges number.

As mentioned, bass is anemic. It was difficult to hear myself most of the time. Amazing how your confidence can take a bullet when your sound is compromised. That should never be part of a performance. Ehhh... Can't wait to make it right.

Thunderbird Last Friday... Here's an example of the need for a proper Doom-able bass rig.
But check out the guitar solo, this dude can play. Three of us are ex-Plan 9 folk, so we're pretty acclimated as an ensemble.
But the bass is largely buried.

This one's called "Burning Couch", vid by The Earthmen bandmate Lori... Fun to have friends!

Finally got to watch/listen it on YT. You cats will killing it! I'd pay to see!