i can't wait to start building the one for my friend. Although it'll look like the original, it's getting an update into today's era, and mostly cause we can 
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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Lovely, great score!
These are uncommon. I have seen a few modded Standards and a couple with repaired headstock breaks, so an original one is a score. As you say, only a relatively small number were made and I understand only about 100 were black with the ebony board. So I couldn't resist this black one when it became available a few years back. I have since bought a NOS loaded guard which I have put away. They only used these pickups in this model. Great basses with a tone all their own and quite different to the RD Artist actually. Both monster basses.
As you say, I find them quite well balanced- I suspect because of the heavy body.
I think you will be glad you held off buying the Krist.
I have posted these here before, but hey.....any excuse.
I must say, I'm not into natural Basses, but this was just too good to pass on. I would definitely love getting my hands on an artist or a black RD, time will tell.
I am liking it more and more, the neck is awesome!
Mine weights 4.8kg and it is a one piece body and 3 piece neck. How light (heavy!) are yours?
Yours is actually quite light!
My Standard (3 piece body and 3 piece neck) is 5.5 kilos (12 lb 2 oz) and the Artist is a little lighter at a little under 12 lbs. I put this down to the rout being bigger in the Artist to accommodate the Moog board.
It is interesting that they really don't feel that heavy to me gigging them. They are quite well balanced, maybe that is why Gibson went for such a thick body (Fender thickness)- for balance. The RD and Victory bass bodies are about 41-42mm thick- like Fenders. The RD six string is quite a light guitar- my son has a lovely antique burst 79- with a body a little over 30mm thick. My Gibson TBird's body is around 30- 31 mm thick on the wings as is my Ripper's body. Must get a pic of my boy using his RD and me using an RD bass together live.
I have some Fender Telecaster Basses (a 69 & a 73) which are relatively heavy as well- around 4.8- 4.9 kilos but they feel well balanced and feel fine for long gigs as well.
What is guaranteed to set off my sciatica are Jazz Basses, even relatively light ones. I find them unbalanced- not to mention tonally unsatisfying. I have a couple of Jazzes which sound great at home, but leave me somewhat cold in a band setting .But saying that would unleash a hate storm in some parts of the forum.
Actually, the RD Standard reminds me a bit of a Jazz with real thump.
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hillerup
There are basses, and there are Thunderbirds!
What is guaranteed to set off my sciatica are Jazz Basses, even relatively light ones. I find them unbalanced- not to mention tonally unsatisfying. I have a couple of Jazzes which sound great at home, but leave me somewhat cold in a band setting .But saying that would unleash a hate storm in some parts of the forum.
I'm pretty sure you are safe saying this in our T-bird forum...
Yours is actually quite light!
My Standard (3 piece body and 3 piece neck) is 5.5 kilos (12 lb 2 oz) and the Artist is a little lighter at a little under 12 lbs. I put this down to the rout being bigger in the Artist to accommodate the Moog board.
It is interesting that they really don't feel that heavy to me gigging them. They are quite well balanced, maybe that is why Gibson went for such a thick body (Fender thickness)- for balance. The RD and Victory bass bodies are about 41-42mm thick- like Fenders. The RD six string is quite a light guitar- my son has a lovely antique burst 79- with a body a little over 30mm thick. My Gibson TBird's body is around 30- 31 mm thick on the wings as is my Ripper's body. Must get a pic of my boy using his RD and me using an RD bass together live.
I have some Fender Telecaster Basses (a 69 & a 73) which are relatively heavy as well- around 4.8- 4.9 kilos but they feel well balanced and feel fine for long gigs as well.
What is guaranteed to set off my sciatica are Jazz Basses, even relatively light ones. I find them unbalanced- not to mention tonally unsatisfying. I have a couple of Jazzes which sound great at home, but leave me somewhat cold in a band setting .But saying that would unleash a hate storm in some parts of the forum.
Actually, the RD Standard reminds me a bit of a Jazz with real thump.
The guy who sold it to me praised it as light, I now see he was right. I rehearsed with it yesterday for the first time. I did feel the weight since the bass is HUGE but I could manage it, since it IS really good balanced. Our guitar player gave it a go and he said the neck feels infinitely long, I had the same feeling (the first time I played it at home I was always landing two frets up to where I wanted to play) but it takes nothing to get used to it.
And then there it was: The Sound!
Coming out of my AD200B it was thump and cream, and she loves my big muff!
I ended the rehearsal asking myself if she's the one, I got so many compliments from my bandmates for the sound. I love my Fenders, and I'm in no way bashing on them, but this beauty is in another world!
Yes they are big basses. Like T Birds, as you say, you get used to the position of the neck pretty quickly.
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Been a few months since I've visited on here.
Has anyone posted any feedback/comments on the 2015 t-birds, specifically the Babicz bridge, as I was considering adding them to my birds
Has anyone posted any feedback/comments on the 2015 t-birds, specifically the Babicz bridge, as I was considering adding them to my birds
I played one last week. The bridge looks cool - it's held on by two anchor posts, similar to the three point bridge. I asked if I could take the bridge off to see if there was a thirds post hole underneath it, but no dice.
IMVHPO, the experience with the bass was underwhelming. I liked one setting - the one that sounded like a Thunderbird. Specifically regarding the bridge (I was considering putting one on a Precision build I finished recently), I felt that there was little to no benefit to that particular bridge. It seems lighter than a classic three-point. Fill disclosure, I actually like the three-point bridge and have totally gotten used to setting them up (I've got two basses that use it).
As an aftermarket thing, the Babicz is in the same ballpark price wise as pretty much every other high-quality aftermarket bridge. As for the claims of enhanced sustain, I dunno. Felt pretty much the same as the sustain on my current Thundy. I think more than the contact and sustain claims, that Babicz bridge's adjustibility is really cool, but nothing you can't get out of Hipshot A-Style for about 1/3 less of the price (aluminum one is about the same weight; brass one is MUCH heavier).
True but the extra weight of the brass at the heal is good for balance.
Got to run my thunderbird last night and it sounded killer!!! Very manly sound. The back of the bass lost a chunk of paint due to my belt, but that's rock n roll.
Through a darkglass b7k and svt vr it was smokin.
I'm getting a little bit of bottoming out/buzzing on my A and D strings around the 10th fret. I have a slight relief in the neck because I do tend to play quite hard. Would a straighter neck fix this or more relief? I've figured fenders and rickenbackers out set up wise but haven't nailed the gibson.....I've got a good few cm between the bridge and the body too, I see you guys can get them real close to the body. Does that entail more neck relief to get the bridge in a lower sitting position? Havin it that way would also greatly help getting the pockups to not be sitting up so high in the route.
Through a darkglass b7k and svt vr it was smokin.
I'm getting a little bit of bottoming out/buzzing on my A and D strings around the 10th fret. I have a slight relief in the neck because I do tend to play quite hard. Would a straighter neck fix this or more relief? I've figured fenders and rickenbackers out set up wise but haven't nailed the gibson.....I've got a good few cm between the bridge and the body too, I see you guys can get them real close to the body. Does that entail more neck relief to get the bridge in a lower sitting position? Havin it that way would also greatly help getting the pockups to not be sitting up so high in the route.
hillerup
There are basses, and there are Thunderbirds!
I too have seen those T-birds with the bridge almost flush to the body, but I think those are older ones...
It seems that somewhere down the road Gibson has either slightly changed the angle of the neck or maybe used slightly different bridges. My 2005 has the bridge pretty close to the body, whereas on my 50th Anniversary the bridge has quite a distance to the body. On close inspection I noticed a huge difference on the saddle height between the two of them: The 2005 has saddles which are much higher than on the 50th Anniversary, which may account for the bridge being closer to the body to get the same string height on both of them.
- Jul 1, 2005
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Yes, Gibson changed the neck angle a few years back. It puts the strings and 3 point high off the body.
The less neck relief (straighter) the lower the strings can be set. To get minimum neck relief you need perfectly leveled and dressed frets, that wasn't one of Gibson's strong points in the past. Might be a good idea to have that done before or after experimenting with your current set up.
- Jul 1, 2005
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15 degrees is a six to one slope, for every six inches horizontally there's a one inch height change. I'd guess the original was less than three degrees, one inch per 30 inches. Probably closer to 2 degrees.
I suck at math... I think what I was getting at was it was a 2 degree change (that's probably wrong, too). Thanks Carlo.
- Jul 1, 2005
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You're welcome. Whatever the angle is, I hear there's a huge spacer under the Babicz bridge to make it work with current 'birds. That doesn't make sense to me.I suck at math... I think what I was getting at was it was a 2 degree change (that's probably wrong, too). Thanks Carlo.
That still seems big. As a Newby to working on instruments, read I'm not a Luthier, I have a lot to learn but one inch raise per thirty Inches seems like a lot. Am I understanding this incorrectly?I suck at math... I think what I was getting at was it was a 2 degree change (that's probably wrong, too). Thanks Carlo.
