Thunderbird Club

[kat888]

All of the above. pffffsssssttttt....pssszzap....lights blink out....

The ProIV picked you out as a 'Bird person, so you can't send it away. Putting Alumitone pickups in it is a much more humane and better idea. That should give the obsessive compulsive thing a joyride for a while. Alumitones are so different that I would put in two, but for practical purposes, you might put in one at a time. They are freakishly quiet when you aren't playing.

It's just my strange fascination with those particular pickups. Sensible me will win and things will remain as they are.

 

[kat888]

Neck and bridge pickups?

Actually 2 x 'bridge' Chinabuckers (9kΩ).

 

[Klondike]

Got sent home sick. So I took a couple of pics. No filter on these. A thin cloud passed by the sun coming through the window as I took them. Kinda looks like a water color.

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Now that I have been gigging and plying this bass for almost a year now it has developed some "organic relic-ing"...


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After just about a year of gigging and use: battle scar or the term I coined "Organic Relic"
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Oh my, that wood is georgous! Epi or Gibby? Model, year and proper ‘color’ please.

 

[TBird1958]

Sitting with my VP (day off) today and playing through a bit of the band's material in prep for a drummer audition this Sunday I'm really enjoying a lot, personally I'm pretty happy with what the bridge pick up adds to it's range of available tone. For example we're working up "Rio" by Duran Duran and the bass in that song definitely sounds much better played with the neck pickup notched back slightly so the bridge is dominant, nails John Taylor's tone pretty well!
Conversely, with bridge pup dialed off and played with a bit of conviction and pick, it rawrs damm nice!

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

It's just my strange fascination with those particular pickups. Sensible me will win and things will remain as they are.

If I was more 6 string canny I would love to try their Hemi and/or Nitro Hemi humbuckers. Mainly cause of the name.

 

[Klondike]

Damn, this club is growing fast!

There is practically 1-2 new members every week...

And four pages a day!

 

[hillerup]

And four pages a day!

696 new members since I joined TB in August 2009 - That’s more than 1 new member a week!

 

[Gaolee]

It's just my strange fascination with those particular pickups. Sensible me will win and things will remain as they are.

They are strange pickups, worthy of being fascinated by.

It's not sensible when I don't do things. Usually it's inertia.

 

[bylar13]

Oh my, that wood is georgous! Epi or Gibby? Model, year and proper ‘color’ please.

Thanks! 2014 Gibson Thunderbird. Color is: Heritage Cherry.

 

[ThunderFox]

Thanks! 2014 Gibson Thunderbird. Color is: Heritage Cherry.

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Cooooool...

 

[DerekW]

So anyway, guess it’s safe to say the new Epi pickups are not Chinabuckers?

 

[Gaolee]

Thanks! 2014 Gibson Thunderbird. Color is: Heritage Cherry.

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It may have been pictures of yours that convinced me the P-Bird needed to be red. It won't look like yours, but it ought to look pretty good. Whenever I get around to finishing it.

 

[Feral Feline]

Thanks! 2014 Gibson Thunderbird. Color is: Heritage Cherry.

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Gorgeous!

If I had an Anni, I'd leave it out in the sun until it faded and mellow-yellowed into a glowy orange ...

Don't hate me 'cause it's beautiful.

 

[Stevis]

Bad news - where I live in Southern California is surrounded by three out of control wild fires.

Hopefully I still have a house standing to deliver the bass to.

I was watching some coverage of this on CNN last night. The images of the flames were surreal. I wish you and others in the area all the best and fingers crossed that it doesn't affect you and your homes.

 

[Stevis]

I did an experiment with the pickups in the '15 last night. I raised them like you would other 'Bird pickups. Bad move. It made the amp sound blown up, made weird chorusy noises, and sounded awful.

If memory serves, you have mentioned having some Lace Alumitones in one of your basses. While a totally different type of design from those on '15 bird, I would think that those pups would be somewhat the same in setting up, no? You set them up straight and low?

 

[JJR58]

Thanks! 2014 Gibson Thunderbird. Color is: Heritage Cherry.

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That truly is my favorite Gibson color ever, ok, along side with Inverness.

 

[bylar13]

Gorgeous!

If I had an Anni, I'd leave it out in the sun until it faded and mellow-yellowed into a glowy orange ...

Don't hate me 'cause it's beautiful.

Don't forget to rotate it for even color!

 

[kat888]

@dukeorock, it's 20:05 -- your Bird land?

 

[Count Bassie]

Ok, gibson is home (big Red).
My review;
Overall quality=A
Finish=A
Set up=A+
Hardware=A
Sound=A+
Extras=A+

The case is really nice, tan with yellow piping, red interior. There were some really great extras such as a multi tool with the usual stuff plus it has a truss rod wrench on it. It actually came with a cool Gibson strap. There is a picture of it sitting on a work bench, pretty sure it's at the Gibson factory. That stuff is very cool in my book since my '13 had non of that.

I have 2 gripes, the pots we're wired backwards and the knobs we're upside down. If I didn't already need to do wiring (install a kill switch) I might be angry but it's the usual Gibson thing. Second, a few of the black pickguard screws were showing chrome through the black paint. Sharpy took care of that. Otherwise, no real problem.

The finish is awesome with 1 tiny spot were the red is a little thin but nearly unoticable. Pickups, tuners and nut are great as always. Sound is standard Thunderbird.

Zero neck dive, good weight. Aside from the bridge, it's identical to my '13.

Now for the bridge. I swapped the strings already for mine, easy job. I didn't have to touch the neck, only lower a couple strings. The saddles have 2 Allen screws on the back, one is a lock and the other adjusts. The strings sit on a slotted can so it's really easy to do this adjustment, easiest I've done. No need to do intonation.
The bridge is a massive block. It looks cool but to me it just doesn't look right. I hear no difference sound/sustain wise.

I will say the action/playability was perfect. Zero buzz, low but not supper low and actually in tune. If I played in standard tuning I wouldn't have done anything to it. There was a strange film on the fretboard, almost chalky. I cleaned it up, no prob.

So, imo whatever crap is going on, it's not affecting their bass building for this run. Very happy.

I changed strings/tuning, fixed pot wiring, added a kill switch, added strap locks, wrapped the pg and used a "Larry" decal. It's good to go. I will be changing the knobs to something red/black. View attachment 2835252

That looks super nice man.

 

[kat888]

This looks quite nice:

Epiphone Thunderbird Bass Guitar Limited Edition w/ Hard Case 3-Point Bridge 711106265759 | eBay

Addendum: Someone on Gumtree in Australia is advertising a Bird for sale with the following encouragement "There has been a limited supply of Epiphones (made by Gibson) in Australia in the last 5 month, so grab this while you can."