Thunderbird Club

[GBassNorth]

Damn!, that PJ Club is Fn' tough and I mean hard as nails know what I mean?. I put my Epiphone Thunderbird neck pickup into my Squire PJ bridge cavity with the help of a dremel and I thought I would post it and their security was the first reply to call me out on the conversion jobby I had done and warned it may not qualify for the club. Hell I posted a pic of my ThunderBacker in the Thunderbird club and walked away only to have our Queen roll out the red carpet and throw down pedals as she yelled frantically "Please wait"!.."We have a place for you with a number good sir and all we ask is if you can dance in a straw skirt around a fire please provide pictures"!. Or something like that. Since I have a fragment of Thunderbird DNA in my Squier I will post it here. Damn I could post a picture here of when I was 2 months old with my 135 year old Baba and no one would call security. View attachment 1180905 View attachment 1180906

I'm in that P Bass club and your right, puritans looking for witches to burn.

If you want to have some real fun with them just state a simple fact - the one and only defining factor in the true definition of a Fender P Bass is the "Precision Bass" wording on the headstock. Throughout its history Fender has changed every single feature of the P bass (except the name) and yet still called it a P bass. Headstock, neck, number of frets, body shape, body wood, pickup types, pickup locations, number of pickups, active/passive, bridge, ashtrays, pup covers, pickguard shapes... You name it, it's all been changed over the years by Fender. The only thing that hasn't is the name.

So yours, which appears to have a an original P bass sticker on an original headstock is technically every bit as much a P bass as any other Squier PJ. If they would accept a 1990's Precision Bass Plus (which has a PJ layout) or a MIM P bass deluxe with a PJ layout and active preamp then they should accept yours. If the logic is that yours no longer has the split precision pup so it's not a P bass then they'll have to admit that everyone in the club that has one of the first generation early 1950's P basses with a single coil non split pup should leave.

Bottom line, you have a P bass, you modded it, so what. It's still a P bass. If anyone else in that club has modded their P basses in any way I guess they should be following you right out the door (not gonna happen).

Enjoy your bass, it looks cool with all mods in good taste and I bet sounds cool too.

 

[TBird1958]

Damn!, that PJ Club is Fn' tough and I mean hard as nails know what I mean?. I put my Epiphone Thunderbird neck pickup into my Squire PJ bridge cavity with the help of a dremel and I thought I would post it and their security was the first reply to call me out on the conversion jobby I had done and warned it may not qualify for the club. Hell I posted a pic of my ThunderBacker in the Thunderbird club and walked away only to have our Queen roll out the red carpet and throw down pedals as she yelled frantically "Please wait"!.."We have a place for you with a number good sir and all we ask is if you can dance in a straw skirt around a fire please provide pictures"!. Or something like that. Since I have a fragment of Thunderbird DNA in my Squier I will post it here. Damn I could post a picture here of when I was 2 months old with my 135 year old Baba and no one would call security. View attachment 1180905 View attachment 1180906

Hey! you never did post us some pics of you in the grass skirt and coconut shell bra

 

[GBassNorth]

Non Bird content but .....ahh......umm...drooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrool

drooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrool......ahh.............yeah.

I'm in the Stingray club also. And that's not a true Stingray. The real ones have one massive PUP not two and a two band preamp not three. Leo would have never ever approved of that bass monstrosity, the player maybe, but not the bass.
There, see how easy it is to be a purist!

 

[TBird1958]

Can anyone help me with the weight on a Gibson Thunderbird. I've been offered one in a trade but concerned that it will be too heavy to use comfortably, but have heard they're lighter than Precisions. The guy offering hasn't any scales!

If it's a post 1988 Thunderbird it'll be under 10 lbs, mahogany just isn't that heavy and the walnut laminated strips are quite thin.

 

[ProgressiveDoom]

Hey! you never did post us some pics of you in the grass skirt and coconut shell bra

Yeah.....umm......the photo lab was closed that day......

 

[JJR58]

For the Cherry lovers.

Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick refin.

 

[GBassNorth]

Sounds a bit like my double humbuckers Blacktop P-Bass

Love the sound of that bass! That's what a P bass should sound like in my book of dreams. I just wish I had bought one before they discontinued it. I did buy the Blacktop Strat, which is a killer in my guitar arsenal.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

I'm in the Stingray club also. And that's not a true Stingray. The real ones have one massive PUP not two and a two band preamp not three. Leo would have never ever approved of that bass monstrosity, the player maybe, but not the bass.
There, see how easy it is to be a purist!

Oh there was a Stingray in that video

 

[theFixer]

No idea why people thought that cherry was a color option - Neither the preliminary info, nor the Epi website has mentioned that color option, and they ought to know best...

Anyway, I would vote both an Alpine White and an Ebony bird - White looks sexy under stage lights and Ebony just looks classy with the chrome hardware.

Weeeeellll... I'm not trying' to ruffle any feathers here... but the Epi website also says that it comes with a 3 way pickup selector switch. I agree that they ought to know best...

 

[TBird1958]

I'm in the Stingray club also. And that's not a true Stingray. The real ones have one massive PUP not two and a two band preamp not three. Leo would have never ever approved of that bass monstrosity, the player maybe, but not the bass.
There, see how easy it is to be a purist!

In '79 I wanted a backup for my '73 4001 Rick and traded off a '73 Pee with some cash for an original Stingray, truly the neck was a pleasure to play - but I never really got what I thought was good tone from that bass, lots of unpleasant clackiness and less G string than Stripper, sent it packing after a year or so, no regrets!

 

[JJR58]

Love the sound of that bass! That's what a P bass should sound like in my book of dreams. I just wish I had bought one before they discontinued it. I did buy the Blacktop Strat, which is a killer in my guitar arsenal.

Don't throw rocks at me, i wish i still had my beat up '65.

 

[ProgressiveDoom]

I'm in that P Bass club and your right, puritans looking for witches to burn.

If you want to have some real fun with them just state a simple fact - the one and only defining factor in the true definition of a Fender P Bass is the "Precision Bass" wording on the headstock. Throughout its history Fender has changed every single feature of the P bass (except the name) and yet still called it a P bass. Headstock, neck, number of frets, body shape, body wood, pickup types, pickup locations, number of pickups, active/passive, bridge, ashtrays, pup covers, pickguard shapes... You name it, it's all been changed over the years by Fender. The only thing that hasn't is the name.

So yours, which appears to have a an original P bass sticker on an original headstock is technically every bit as much a P bass as any other Squier PJ. If they would accept a 1990's Precision Bass Plus (which has a PJ layout) or a MIM P bass deluxe with a PJ layout and active preamp then they should accept yours. If the logic is that yours no longer has the split precision pup so it's not a P bass then they'll have to admit that everyone in the club that has one of the first generation early 1950's P basses with a single coil non split pup should leave.

Bottom line, you have a P bass, you modded it, so what. It's still a P bass. If anyone else in that club has modded their P basses in any way I guess they should be following you right out the door (not gonna happen).

Enjoy your bass, it looks cool with all mods in good taste and I bet sounds cool too.

Thanks for your take on the "P" and echoing my sentiments on the PJ Club. I should just copy your quote and paste along with a picture of my P bass......again. And brace myself for a full staff of security launching an onslaught of argumental judgment calls. Or leave it be and live easy.

 

[JJR58]

In '79 I wanted a backup for my '73 4001 Rick and traded off a '73 Pee with some cash for an original Stingray, truly the neck was a pleasure to play - but I never really got what I thought was good tone from that bass, lots of unpleasant clackiness and less G string than Stripper sent it packing after a year or so, no regrets!

I dumped a Ray about 5 months ago, really disliked it, don't want to use the H word.
And it had the weight of a battle ship.

 

[theFixer]

Did you check the pictures?

That's nothing special - It's just a regular Vintage Sunburst bird...

I can see a "burst" effect... but it definitely looks like a dark red to me (that may be 'cuz I'm lookin' through bloodshot eyes)

 

[GBassNorth]

In '79 I wanted a backup for my '73 4001 Rick and traded off a '73 Pee with some cash for an original Stingray, truly the neck was a pleasure to play - but I never really got what I thought was good tone from that bass, lots of unpleasant clackiness and less G string than Stripper, sent it packing after a year or so, no regrets!

Not an uncommon complaint about the PreEB Stingrays. Mine plays fine but I spent a lot of time on the setup to get it that way. It's a very different beast from the TBird.
Rumor has it that Leo's hearing was just about shot by the time he got around to designing the Stingray. That might have a lot to do with the pickup and preamp voicing on that bass that is decidedly brighter, zingyer and clackyer than most previous basses he designed. If that's true, he must have gotten the word from his advisors when he set about designing the G&L basses, which sound quite nice.

 

[GBassNorth]

Thanks for your take on the "P" and echoing my sentiments on the PJ Club. I should just copy your quote and paste along with a picture of my P bass......again. And brace myself for a full staff of security launching an onslaught of argumental judgment calls. Or leave it be and live easy.

be careful, you wouldn't want to trigger any snowflakes with micro aggressions over there, could cause a real meltdown.
Just enjoy being cool and knowing that your bass can run circles around a number of theirs.

 

[GBassNorth]

I dumped a Ray about 5 months ago, really disliked it, don't want to use the H word.
And it had the weight of a battle ship.

In its original hard shell case, my 1978 Stingray is by far the heaviest bass I own. Well over 25 pounds. I have solid maple 5 string Alembics that aren't that heavy in their OHSC.

But in a bar fight the Stingray would be the weapon of my choice. Unless I had a Lucite Dan Armstrong bass handy, then I could at least get the pleasure of seeing the look on the fools face as it smashes into the guitar.

 

[Off-Beat]

I can see a "burst" effect... but it definitely looks like a dark red to me (that may be 'cuz I'm lookin' through bloodshot eyes)

Filter and brightened up picture. It's pretty obvious in the case picture that it's brown. Still brightened up, but the filter is missing.

General advice, because you caught the bird flu and are pretty excited, as we all are and especially were when it first hit us, but be cautious when it comes to supposed rare breeds. Always ask here first before you jump the gun. Godofthunder, TBird1958 and Carlo are very knowledge about any Bird produced and Hillerup basically knows(owns?) every Epi Bird ever build and most other people here owned a few themselves.

 

[JJR58]

In its original hard shell case, my 1978 Stingray is by far the heaviest bass I own. Well over 25 pounds. I have solid maple 5 string Alembics that aren't that heavy in their OHSC.

But in a bar fight the Stingray would be the weapon of my choice. Unless I had a Lucite Dan Armstrong bass handy, then I could at least get the pleasure of seeing the look on the fools face as it smashes into the guitar.

You posted a pic of it a while back, really is a good looking rig.
I've had 3 Rays in my trials and tribulations of basses, was hard to hang with them.

 

[Off-Beat]

In its original hard shell case, my 1978 Stingray is by far the heaviest bass I own. Well over 25 pounds. I have solid maple 5 string Alembics that aren't that heavy in their OHSC.

But in a bar fight the Stingray would be the weapon of my choice. Unless I had a Lucite Dan Armstrong bass handy, then I could at least get the pleasure of seeing the look on the fools face as it smashes into the guitar.

Always liked the stingray's looks, but the weight and sound are just offputting for me. It's anything the Bird is not. Was ready to drop some money on one years ago, but bought a car instead and kept playing my Ibanez 'til I first played a Bird.