Thunderbird Club

[Big Wiggs]

We joke about FSOs and other non-birds, but we’re generally solidly in the “play what you like” camp. I personally haven’t found anything else I wanted enough to buy. If I did, it would likely be a Rick or some less common brand — Hagstrom, old Teisco, etc. But i’ve played Ps, Js, Yamaha, and Ibanez when I last minute subbed and didn’t have one of my basses, etc.

And that one’s gorgeous. With Lollars, it’s gotta sound good, too!

I have a variety of basses most of which were pawn shop finds that were underpriced and I couldn't walk away for long before returning to snag it. Other than my G3 and my roommates RD Artist I had never seen or played another Gibson. I started playing bass again in a band in 2021, I bought a couple of Fenders and some Schecter's. Then there was the day in 2023, at Music Mart, this chick whistled at me and said, "Hey you fella come play with me". It was a 21' NR that I had apparently ignored, that was the day I was chosen by the Bird. It was still priced at the 21' price of $1,700 and I couldn't walk away and leave her there. Then I was hooked and had to have a reverse, and ever since the two of them have been hatching eggs.

The Jazz with Lollars sounds great but believe it or not with a regular strap it has more neck dive than a bird with a Swade backed strap.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

They probably shaved off a pound with the smaller HS and lightweight tuners. 8^) And a bit more losing the raised bit on the back, although Scott said the body is thicker so that may have been a net gain.

Same slab, just not milled down on the back sides, would explain the extra thickness?

 

[Engle]

Are youn referring to this one?

View attachment 7462885

No this one:

 

[BuddhaFingas]

Whereas the Babicz looks to me like it would be more at home on a 1950s scifi cover’s rocket. It’s great to have choices!

I do love the confluence of Mid-Century Modern and Raygun Gothic...

I would happily live in the Gernsback Continuum.

I also am amused that the Babicz logo on my 'Bird is on the "bottom" rather than facing me when I play.

 

[Big Wiggs]

Congratulations! I would have waited on a plek unless Gibson has stopped doing them as part of the build process. But I suppose it won’t hurt to make sure everything is as perfect as can be when you get it.

I’m interested to hear what you think. My supposition is that that round of DeColas will sound close to vintage reissues.

Thanks for the information I was not aware about Gibson pleking them. The rep has contacted me about my plek preferences which they haven't done yet, I think I will cancel it and use the money on a better-looking bridge. Lol, I agree with you all about the aesthetics of it, we'll see. I thought a plek job was basically an automated fret leveling, crown and polish. I thought I should have it done there before it was shipped, but I if Gibson has assured the leveling there is no need. After looking at what the parameter are a lot of it sounds like giving it a proper setup, which is the first thing I have always had to do with a new guitar, except for the Lull. Tighten all hardware, file the nut, neck relief, string height, pickup height, and intonation. I thought the Lull was that good because of the plek job, but it might be more of them doing a really good setup. Any comment on pleking would be appreciated before I talk to Sweetwater tomorrow.

 

[bylar13]

Thanks for the information I was not aware about Gibson pleking them. The rep has contacted me about my plek preferences which they haven't done yet, I think I will cancel it and use the money on a better-looking bridge. Lol, I agree with you all about the aesthetics of it, we'll see. I thought a plek job was basically an automated fret leveling, crown and polish. I thought I should have it done there before it was shipped, but I if Gibson has assured the leveling there is no need. After looking at what the parameter are a lot of it sounds like giving it a proper setup, which is the first thing I have always had to do with a new guitar, except for the Lull. Tighten all hardware, file the nut, neck relief, string height, pickup height, and intonation. I thought the Lull was that good because of the plek job, but it might be more of them doing a really good setup. Any comment on pleking would be appreciated before I talk to Sweetwater tomorrow.

I had my 2014 T-Bird Plekked and thought it made a differnece in the playability and the action. I was never sure if Gibson plekked the entire bass back then or if the used the plek machine just to cut the nut.

 

[MCF]

Thanks for the information I was not aware about Gibson pleking them. The rep has contacted me about my plek preferences which they haven't done yet, I think I will cancel it and use the money on a better-looking bridge. Lol, I agree with you all about the aesthetics of it, we'll see. I thought a plek job was basically an automated fret leveling, crown and polish. I thought I should have it done there before it was shipped, but I if Gibson has assured the leveling there is no need. After looking at what the parameter are a lot of it sounds like giving it a proper setup, which is the first thing I have always had to do with a new guitar, except for the Lull. Tighten all hardware, file the nut, neck relief, string height, pickup height, and intonation. I thought the Lull was that good because of the plek job, but it might be more of them doing a really good setup. Any comment on pleking would be appreciated before I talk to Sweetwater tomorrow.

Double check with Gibson re the Plek. My ‘15 and ‘21 were both factory plekked for sure and were right on. The ‘21 came from SW and it was perfecI except I dropped the string height a bit to my taste. I believe my ‘13 NR was as well (it could use a refresh; my Thunderbirds are always “basses out of cases” so they experience seasonal changes).

I’m excited for your new Thunderbird. 7 1/2 pounds is pretty sweet! I love the smell of nitro in the morning.[/QUOTE]

 

[RedVee]

What are your thoughts on the new Gibson Thunderbird? Personally I find it hard to get excited about it:

- flipped headstock (meh)
- new bridge (YES)
- MM style humbuckers (meh)
- glued neck (meh)

Prefer the previous headstock with the band of colour around the edge. Not terribly concerned about it facing the ‘wrong way’.
The Hipshot tuners seems a good choice as a lot of people do that as soon as they get a bass.

Bridge. I don’t know but I’m ok with it. I quite like the look of the 3 point, but must admit to panic when my Goth arrived stringless and with the string guides in a little plastic bag.

DeCola pickups are excellent afaik. I have watched reviews on the EB basses that was super impressed. In fact I was keen on getting one until I found Thunderbirds.

Set neck? Nothing to complain about there although I would prefer neck through. My Goth is a bolt on, and my Gibson neck through.
The wider neck at the nut (1.6 vs 1.5) is ok by me. I seem to prefer a wider neck. But I’d have to try for myself.

It seems to me that this T’bird has a Studio-like body (adding the raised piece) with the recent NR neck and DeCola pickups and Hipshot tuners and bridge. Pretty much what someone building one from pieces might well select.

Please correct me gang if I’m wrong with this.

BUT they really need to offer a (even limited) range of colours. I’ll take a Sparkling Burgandy please.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Bentonville, Arkansas. Wright’s BBQ. Excellent on the burnt ends with a touch of fat.

you at WM?

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Yeah, go get a Thunderbird!

I wish....too tight...I prefer headstocks staying on.....

 

[Stealth57]

you at WM?

Not for work but staying right by the new 400 acre campus.

 

[Ringhammer]

Can anyone explain how using 500k (as opposed to 250k) volume pots have an effect on the tone (if it does have any at full on volume)? I might be wrong, but when the volume controls are all the way up, aren’t they at 0 ohms or dead short/closed circuit, allowing signal to pass through the pot with no resistance?

Or do I have that backwards, and when the pot is at 0 ohms the related pickup is shorted/off?

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

this just came up for sale....hmm....66...

 

[MCF]

I dont mind the headstock size too much but prefer original orientation and overlay/contrasting edge/logo on TRC. Looks plain and low-rent this way IMO.

New Bridge is okay I guess. Hanen't used a Supertone yet: Babicz, HS Kickass, 3-point, 7ender, Guild, even old school trapeze and floating wood, have been able to get what I need out of each so far. The Kickass is easy to adjust, assuming these are too.

Pickups: Similar design to whats inside the cover on my Les Paul DC Tribute bass, which is sn awesome sounding pickup.
Maybr you can put them in standard covers if you like the older-school look?

'Glued Neck': I love the laminated body-thru T-Bird original, but let's be real, its a 'glued' neck too, just on a different plane. 9 plys don't grow that way. Glued 2-dimensionally on the single X-Z plane instead of glued in all 3 dims in the case of a set neck. Glued neck on my DC Tribute is rock solid.
Does seem though that "less expensive to make" (OG T-Bird construction notoriouly the 'hardest design to build' for Gibson) is not translating to the bottom line.

More color choices would be nice, but considering Gibson has so far decided to stiff lefties again, its all moot to me anyway.

Maybe if it sells more than whatever number the initial run is, they’ll do a run of lefties. But DeCola told Ken a couple years ago that there wasn’t a lefty on the horizon. My point is I don’t think they’ve ruled it out entirely. But I wouldn’t be counting on one at this point.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

Can anyone explain how using 500k (as opposed to 250k) volume pots have an effect on the tone (if it does have any at full on volume)? I might be wrong, but when the volume controls are all the way up, aren’t they at 0 ohms or dead short/closed circuit, allowing signal to pass through the pot with no resistance?

Or do I have that backwards, and when the pot is at 0 ohms the related pickup is shorted/off?

IIRC, when pickups are parallel wired, the volume pots are each wired voltage-divider style: one end of the element grounded, the other end is the output, signal from pickup comes in on the wiper.

So at 0 volume you have near-zero resistance pickup to ground, 500k to output.

At max volume you have near-zero pickup to output, 500k (or 250k) to ground.

Unless you use no-load pots, the 'ground load' is never fully gone, and equals the fixed value of the pot.

Series wiring is very different; they are shunt-wired across each pickup, so at max vol the full resistance is across each coil.

 

[MCF]

IIRC, when pickups are parallel wired, the volume pots are each wired voltage-divider style: one end of the element grounded, the other end is the output, signal from pickup comes in on the wiper.

So at 0 volume you have near-zero resistance pickup to ground, 500k to output.

At max volume you have near-zero pickup to output, 500k (or 250k) to ground.

Unless you use no-load pots, the 'ground load' is never fully gone, and equals the fixed value of the pot.

Series wiring is very different; they are shunt-wired across each pickup, so at max vol the full resistance is across each coil.

So if this the case, I wonder what volume pots are in @GBassNorth ’s ‘79. That Thunderbird is a monster.

 

[dagrev]

Yeah, they look really good. Plus they finally managed to build them in RHD from the factory. So full marks to GM on that.

I just can’t afford one.
On the other hand I’m also not sure I could get in and out of one. Not elegantly anyway!

Been reading that the NASCAR (and probably Supercars) racer from 27 will be based on the Corvette shape. No clue how they will get that to look decent in a Camaro style size and package.

They can certainly do some weird things with them.
I've watched NASCAR (and other stock car racing) since I was a kid, and that the cars now are Mustangs, Camaros, etc., is a joke. (Not directed at you Geoff, but the way things have evolved.) There are some slight body differences but the only thing that makes them a Camaro are the body wrap. I'm sure glad the cars are much safer, but have never been a fan of the sheet metal cars that look nothing like what it's supposed to be.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2024/0...chevy-camaro-looks-like-without-a-wrap-video/

 

[MCF]

Three Epis, two Grecos, one beer. I mean, Gibson.

6 Gibson Thunderbirds and 1 Gibson ‘13 EB.
11 Epi Thunderbirds.
2 BaCH Thunderbirds.
3 7enders (and not a one is a J).
1 Squier PJ,
1 Ibby,
1 Peavy.
1 Silvertone.
1 Breedlove ABG.
1 Squier Strat.
1 Aria Accoustic guitar.
1 Harpsichord.
I gave my Kimball upright piano to my niece.

I would like an Orville, a Greco, a Burny, a Lull, a Cataldo, and for my 70th birthday, a Brooks build. I also want a keyboard and a drum set. I won’t go into amps. And of course more Gibson Thunderbirds in various vintages and flavors.

None of this is making any sense the older I get. But my Dad is 94. So there’s that.

 

[dagrev]

Who?

I was lost too. Pretty sure it wasn't Ringo the neighbor's old dog.

 

[dagrev]

I agree with the Hipshot bridge. Just doesn't look right to me on a Tbird. The Babicz looks a lot better on a Tbird to my eyes.

I don't mind the black Hipshot on my '06, but nothing looks right to me but a two piece. Been playing and looking at one for 44 years and that's the only thing that looks normal to me.

I guess this looks kind of normal because the black pups already make it look somewhat not normal.