Thanks. Come to think of it there may be one if not two cheap ones in my late FILs old tool chest. I need to bring his tools to the house anyway--after making room.
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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- club thunderbird
That's great. (Not the old part.) Yes, we have that here. Called a Homestead exemption. Which makes no sense to me. Since I'm 62, I don't qualify yet and since my mother is listed on the property (house anyway), we get something like a $40k discount knocked off the assessed value of the house. I think at 65 I can apply for that myself, if she were not around.
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,230
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
The Magic year (2012) CP is just such a perfectly built inexpensive bass. Its purpose in the Eppi/Gibby line up was to offer a less expensive option than a full spec Gibby Tbird but with the same sound, look and feel of the Gibby. Epiphone succeeded with the CP. However, in true Eppi fashion, they took the extra step of bumping the neck pickup nearly a full pickup width towards the bridge. This gave it a tighter punchier low end. For some reason they only did that for one or two years then moved the neck pickup back to standard Gibby spec location closer to the neck. Love my modern Gibson Reverse (gold anniversary edition) and my 2015 Tbird with the DeCola pickups but the magic year CP is the one of the three I reach for more the most. To my ears it’s very much a Gibson Tbird in sound only better.THANKS for confirming EMG dominance.
I’ve had a P a J and MM EMG pickups and although great tone— it’s the same tone.
Thanks for your expertise on the CP ID , pointing out the “magic” year I’ll mull that one over.
I’ve considered getting a Goth or even an E1
On the cheap, and modding the {*^%} out of it.
I have been looking for a sad, abused Goth or possibly an E1 to “personalize”
Then again Purple Sparkle 64 is drawing me in like a magnet.
Thanks for the correction on the model name.
I like the 760sperhaps I’d like the Gibsons more. ;-)
Again thanks for the confirmation of my recollection that EMGs assert their character, like it or leave it.
Been there done that.
Intrigued by a local to me pickup builder:
Nine One Six Pickups – Custom Guitar and Bass Pickups
www.916pickups.com
Has anyone tried out their TB pickups?
“
T Bird Bass Pickups
$110.000 – $240.000
916 Alneo T Bird Bass pickups were designed to provide a fuller tone than vintage factory pickups. The pickups Alnico 5 magnets are paired with Neodymium bars to add gauss to the alnico magnets providing the pickup with the power needed for a fuller, fatter tone.
U.S. Nickel Silver Cover dimensions are 3 5/8″ (91.5mm) x1 1/2″(39mm) x 15/32″(12mm) thick.
Mounting hole spacing measured center to center is 3 9/32″(83.5mm)
Mogami 2 connection lead wire.
Contact us for variations of this pickup not shown here.”
As for Goths - don’t get me started. My absolute hands down favorite mod platform in the Eppi/Gibby line up. I gravitate towards deep and dark in a lot of my playing and the Goths come voiced that way stock. Tou can pick them up for as little as $250 on the used market (although that’s getting much harder to do lately, the word is getting out I guess). But you’ll also see many in the $600 and up category. Which means if you pick one up for cheap you can still dump some serious mods in it and not be completely underwater on resale value.
I’ve had four of them, still have three left (the original FrankenGoth had an unfortunate accident, so I parted some of it out and built a new one). I have a lot of different and top end birds, but from a sound and player standpoint my number two bass is my Capped Goth (Lull TP Tbird is #1). Simple $5 mod on a $200 bass and it hangs with my birds that cost 10 to 20 times more money. I dont gig anymore but this is the perfect gig bass - cheap, indestructible, ballz galore and easily replaced if lost or stolen. I did add a Hipshot bridge because the stock bridge inserts were toast when I bought it (that’s why it was $200). Also has Cobalt Flats - the perfect string for this bass.
Then there’s my FrankenGoth. Bartolini pickups, Aguilar OBP-2 two band preamp (Vol, Vol, treb boost/cut, bass boost/cut) and a coil tap switch that takes both humbuckers to single coil (outside coil of each pup) when needed. Equipped with LaBella Black Tapes this thing goes from hard rock monster to baritone guitar at the flip of a switch. Paid $300 for the bass and sunk about $300 in upgrades in it. Very unique sounding with the Bart pickups, my go to bass for noodeling out bass lines or doing guitarish riffs due to it’s crystal clear output.
Finally, there’s the SilverGoth. Just finished it up a few weeks ago. Loved the Aggie preamp in the FrankenGoth so I did another one of those except I configured it with a push/pull active passive volume pot and a blend knob (instead of two volume knobs like the FrankenGoth). Then I added a third pickup, a DiMarzo one right up at the neck and a Dingwall 4way selector switch connected to the blend pot. Now I can pan and blend anything from full mudbucker to whatever setting the pup selector is on (mid pup, mid and bridge in series, mid and bridge in parallel or bridge pup). Sounds great and very gig friendly with the fast pan and pickup selector. IIRC I paid under $300 for the bass and sunk about $250 in it. Still trying to figure out just where it sits in my bass line up, the pickup in the Mudbucker position is much clearer and more articulate than I was expecting (I may change it out for a 1960’s EBO pickup if I can find a nice one at a good price).
All pickups on tone flat…
Mudbucker solo with some treb boost…
Danger Will Robinson.2sday with these two!
A sharp II
He makes beautiful Thunderbirds. And other striking basses.2sday with these two!
A sharp II
What is the one with the wood cap and 3x gold pickups based on?
more Marshall action on this fine Tube Tuesday......
Longer wire = Neck
Shorter wire = Bridge
I will add a N/B to the sets going forward. No biggie to change the laser file
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You mean this one…
It was just a wild idea I had to come up with an exceptionally flexible thunderbird that was not only over the top on sound, but looks as well, hence The BlingBird. I used three ChinaBuckers (bridge, neck, bridge) and a dedicated stacked volume and tone pot for each pickup. This also allowed me to use different tone cap values for each pickup. All the hardware is gold, the strings are gold plated, the semi hollow body was sourced as a Tbird shaped body blank from an eBay luthier. It’s tiger maple on poplar and the neck is a highly flamed Fender Jazz neck that I sourced from eBay as well. I reshaped the headstock and did the necessary body routes and Pat Wilkins did the finishing work in a Tiger Eye burst on the body and neck. When finished it exceeded all my expectations and was very well received at the 2023 GTG. It’s a wonderful playing and sounding bass that is very well suited for studio work. The three separate volume and tone knobs make it a bit less friendly on stage where quick tone or volume changes may be needed. That learning helped drive the SilverGoth three pickup control layout, which is very stage friendly.
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The offshore T Birds are actually fine. When the request for a better than factory T Bird came in i asked for the pickup to be sent in so i could examine. After opening up the pickup i was surprised. Good cover , Alnico magnets , coils looked good. No problem , good price. This is why i don't bother offering a standard T Bird. Just buy the offshore pickup. They are nice quality and priced fairly. What was noticed was the short magnets. The coils and pickup package do not leave much room for modifications. Over winding is a option but to keep the original sound but fuller and fatter the neo boosters were added to beef up those short A5 mags on the Alneo T Birds
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Here ya go!
For sale Gibson Non-Reverse Thunderbird - Inverness Green
Up for offer is a beautiful NR Gibson Thunderbird - this is great bass that deserves to get played! I got it in the last year, but it hasn't seen much play time aside from home and a rehearsal or two. In the end of the day it's just not my thing - but it should go then to someone else who will...
- everydaybassist (+0 /0 /-0)
- Updated
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- Category: For Sale: Bass Guitars
- bass gibson non reverse thunderbird
$1,500.00
$1,250.00
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That depends on how you’ve known her.
I completely agree but think some people see the CP only as an entry-level through neck, ergo a mod platform.
Thanks George.
For some reason I misremembered and thought it was another Goth build.
Thought I’d post a live clip of my Lull Tbird 5, had a band reunion gig last Thursday, haven’t played together since 2019 with these folks. It’s my lull Tbird 5 going thru my pedalboard to Foh straight to board. Had my gk700rbii thru my lowend 2/12 cab as my monitor. I’m really digging the tone of the Lull! ! It really has a distinct presence in the mix, nice bottom end, and I can hear myself very well onstage with it, and a great overall sound! (Not to mention a very cool looking bass!)
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Thanks. Or just a small note indicating that. I don't think I pulled them out enough to notice.
