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Thunderbird Club

wow i didn't know there are such ESP Birds
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Very cool, but it's over $4500 US for that one. Kinda steep.

There was a black ESP Thunderbird that was on eBay a week or so ago that was crazy cool looking. Three pickups and chrome hardware. If it hadn't already sold I would have found a way for sure.
 
I had one pull up on me that had been shimmed and glued. Closer examination revealed that the hole was (what I would guess to be) about a quarter inch beyond the required depth, so I ended up adding 2 more shims & a half tube of Gorilla brand super glue, then I clamped the stud in & let it sit for 3 days before restringing it. It hasn't popped out since (I'm guessing the rest of the body will rot from around it before it does).

Yer 'bird's lookin' mighty spiffy if ya don't mind my sayin' so:cool::thumbsup:

The Mod came shopping with me and handed me a bottle of guitar polish when the fella was ringing up the foam and spanner thing. It works pretty well.

With the 3 point, I've been hoping to avoid glue altogether. I have PVA, superglue and no epoxy in the house atm.

Here's the little bastard:
96188948-873D-4FA7-8DD9-FCB54F33E26C.jpeg
 
The Mod came shopping with me and handed me a bottle of guitar polish when the fella was ringing up the foam and spanner thing. It works pretty well.

With the 3 point, I've been hoping to avoid glue altogether. I have PVA, superglue and no epoxy in the house atm.

Here's the little bastard:
View attachment 2918280
If you're trying to avoid adhesives... try whittling a few well shaped and sized slivers, and use one of these to press the stud in:

One-Handed Mini Bar Clamps - Tools - IRWIN TOOLS
 
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Has anyone swapped out the electronic components in the Epiphone Tbird for higher quality and taken out the tone cap? I might try that. I do like the stock pickups but I could use a little bit more snarl.

I don’t think your question ever got answered, but the answer is yes. Some have :)
What pickups are you considering?
 
@RedVee, it's Sydney Guitar Setups on the corner of Parramatta Road and Nelson Street in Annandale. They only had the 5/16 Gibson version, so it's a good thing it fits! I'm struggling with one of the 3 point ferrules coming out at the moment. I tried shimming it but it still pulls up. I worry about splitting the body if I stuff too much packing in.

This one has been rewired with Chinabuckers and is ready to find a new home.
View attachment 2918254

Fine looking rig Kat.
 
Seem to have managed to get the bridge to stay in place. Straightened the neck with the 5/16 majick spanner earlier. There's some buzzing around the 12th fret, caused by 13th and above being less worn that the lower frets. It sounds fine through the amp, so I'm not going to sweat it for the moment.

Job done.

Party!
 
I have heard that ESP in Japan has a custom shop that will literally build you anything you can conceive of...if you can pay for it. If I got crazy Powerball type money ($500 million or more) I'd fly there and have them make me Haji signature models.
My favourite ESP custom shop... so far....
WARNING.... HAS 6 THIN STRINGS
Melancia.jpg


EDIT: Upon further investigation, this is not a custom shop, the owner had someone repaint it for him :banghead:
Still cool though
 
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Here is the HD version of the original. It’s originally from 1978, the year I turned 16... hmm... a long time ago, haven’t heard it for ages.
Written by the bass player, mostly used Fenders but did use a couple of Rippers for a while.
Singer Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strahan unfortunately died when the helicopter he was piloting crashed into a mountain (during a storm from memory).

Very different vibe to the Iron Maiden cover.



I really liked the Maiden version much better. It's funny to hear early 80's metal compared to today's metal. So different.

@RedVee, it's Sydney Guitar Setups on the corner of Parramatta Road and Nelson Street in Annandale. They only had the 5/16 Gibson version, so it's a good thing it fits! I'm struggling with one of the 3 point ferrules coming out at the moment. I tried shimming it but it still pulls up. I worry about splitting the body if I stuff too much packing in.

This one has been rewired with Chinabuckers and is ready to find a new home.
View attachment 2918254

That looks great, Kat! So, what are we looking at exactly?

An Epi Thunderbird Pro IV turned passive with Chinabuckers and the tone pots removed for V-V only? Or V-B?

What did you plug the unused pot holes with?

Did you happen to make any sound clips with this one for posterity?
 
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I really liked the Maiden version much better. It's funny to hear early 80's metal compared to today's metal. So different.



That looks great, Kat! So, what are we looking at exactly?

An Epi Pro Thunderbird IV turned passive with Chinabuckers and the tone pots removed for V-V only? Or V-B?

What did you plug the unused pot holes with?

Did you happen to make any sound clips with this one for posterity?

V-V. Plugged with black nylon fasteners. Proper bone nut. Planning to hang on to the HSC, seeing as the Orville is living in there now.

I might have a clip somewhere.
 
Damn cat woke me up at 5am...he was on a mission and he succeeded. Drug him (literally kicking and screaming) out of the bedroom and shut the door so the girl could sleep a couple more hours before work. Now she’s peeved at me for being mean to that awful, spoiled a$$hole when all I did was pick him up and carry him out so she could sleep. One of those two will be the death of me. Pretty sure it’ll be the cat...fine, more coffee then :)
 
Damn cat woke me up at 5am...he was on a mission and he succeeded. Drug him (literally kicking and screaming) out of the bedroom and shut the door so the girl could sleep a couple more hours before work. Now she’s peeved at me for being mean to that awful, spoiled a$$hole when all I did was pick him up and carry him out so she could sleep. One of those two will be the death of me. Pretty sure it’ll be the cat...fine, more coffee then :)

I'm too much of a pragmatist for an a$$hole cat that belongs to the "girl", wife in my case. I'd just divorce it entirely from my life. I wouldn't look at it, feed it, touch it or decide what room it should occupy and when. It would just be the "girl's" cat and none of my concern.

Thankfully I've been very successful with warding off the, "we should get a cat" pleas from the wife and daughter.

I use their love for our dog as the reason not to mess with the house's current balance. Molly the dog is the princess that doesn't need to compete for attention and territory and adding a cat could ruin her life. I mean, it is possible... we just have to consider Molly's needs in all this... am I right? ;):)