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Thunderbird Club

#127,182
GBassNorth said:
Just because I'm completely OCD and bored outta my gourd while I'm laid up with this mangled foot, I might try to make up a magnetic field register (iron filings sandwiched between two thin sheets of clear plastic sheet. Laid over the tops of the pups and beneath the strings should give an interesting view of what's going on with the 2015 vs my other TBirds. If I do it I'll take pics and post them here.
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Was Looking for your input on the whole magnetism thread out in the GP.
 
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#127,184
MCF said:
It was a great Thunderbird Tuesday!

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I’ll provide more detail later. Not sure if fret end finish work is factory; it’s extremely good. Could be? Decently set up except for bridge angle. Intonation is spot on. Needs strings, fret polish, FB oiling and a light cleanup. Description by seller as “near mint” is accurate. Bridge PUP V pot is a tad sticky. Everything works and sounds great. Nice dark rosewood board. Appears to be an original EPI case in VG condition. This one was babied. I’m a fortunate guy that it chose me. It will be well played.

Seller was AxeShop Inc., Wappingers, NY, via Reverb. I’m very impressed. They will get excellent feedback from me.
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Congratulations! Beautiful Bird!
 
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#127,185
GBassNorth said:
That it is. But I also know from my 2013 EB5 (same electronics) that the final result will be very rewarding.
And as JJR noted, it's sonically so different from the other birds that it makes perfect sense to have it in the line up.

I'm still perplexed by the magnetic orientation of the pup poles. Neck pup, neck poles are the same polarity as the bridge pup bridge poles. All my other birds are neck poles on both pups the same polarity and bridge poles on both pups are the other polarity.

If you or @MCF have a horseshoe magnet or bar magnet and some spare time it would be great to know if the polarity on your 2015 is the same as mine - neck pup neck poles the same polarity as the polarity on the bridge pup bridge poles. In other words, do the neck pup neck poles attract or repel a given end of your hand held magnet, and do the bridge pup bridge poles attract or repel the same end of that magnet?
That's the last bit of set up info I need to answer.
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Don’t have either. But I suppose a compass would work. I’ll try to dig one up.
 
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#127,186
Dadagoboi said:
Yeah, there's a '77 Thunderbird in there somewhere...
ZaeGz80.jpg
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Camo by bubblewrap.:thumbsup:
 
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#127,193
gidbass said:
Now that I purchased the set, I think I can see how I can make them work, the $4 set from Harbor Freight...I love that place!

Thanks for the suggestion and I'll report back here, hopefully later tonight with the results.
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$4. Well. Spent.

I was able to get the nut to my liking in a few minutes with the files.

Stoked!
 
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#127,194
Guitar shop got back to me, $500.00 to bind my Blackbird body, neck, and head stock in red. That's routing, any paint, and clear coat. Totally worth it, just not in the budget right now.

And now for something completely different:

I'm not sure how many people on here have one but can anyone weigh in on neck stability of the Gibson Blackbird? (I'm not talking about the Epiphone version) By 'neck stability' I specifically mean bow/back bow changes due to temperature swings. This is the situation, and it's repeatable:

70 degree basement to summer heat (80 - 90 deg F) for an hour and the truss rod needs adjustment. I can't leave it in the car at all, it's got to go RIGHT inside, and forget playing outdoors. Guy at guitar shop said it's a known issue specifically with the Blackbird but he also offered to sell me a new bass so I figured I'd check here with y'all. ;)

I like the way it plays and sounds once it's stable but I took it to record something for a friend a couple weeks ago and felt like an ******* because it looked like I didn't have my poopie together sitting on the floor diddling the truss rod. Maybe if I wasn't such a princess about my 6/64 string height it wouldn't be a big deal.

Anybody have this problem with a 'real' Thunderbird? Anyone else have same problem with their Blackbird? Are my expectations ridiculous?

Nikki Sixx has a Twitter account, guess I could try to get his attention on there and see what he has to say about it since it was his specification.

Thanks for your time and any input you can offer.
 
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#127,196
GBassNorth said:
Just because I'm completely OCD and bored outta my gourd while I'm laid up with this mangled foot, I might try to make up a magnetic field register (iron filings sandwiched between two thin sheets of clear plastic sheet. Laid over the tops of the pups and beneath the strings should give an interesting view of what's going on with the 2015 vs my other TBirds. If I do it I'll take pics and post them here.
Click to expand...
That would be really cool to see what those fields look like. Take pics, please!
 
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#127,197
MCF said:
It was a great Thunderbird Tuesday!

View attachment 3535224
View attachment 3535225 View attachment 3535226 View attachment 3535227 View attachment 3535228 View attachment 3535229
I’ll provide more detail later. Not sure if fret end finish work is factory; it’s extremely good. Could be? Decently set up except for bridge angle. Intonation is spot on. Needs strings, fret polish, FB oiling and a light cleanup. Description by seller as “near mint” is accurate. Bridge PUP V pot is a tad sticky. Everything works and sounds great. Nice dark rosewood board. Appears to be an original EPI case in VG condition. This one was babied. I’m a fortunate guy that it chose me. It will be well played.

Seller was AxeShop Inc., Wappingers, NY, via Reverb. I’m very impressed. They will get excellent feedback from me.
Click to expand...

Well that's just great.:eyebrow: Thanks for posting all those great pics for us--me to lust over. Now I want to be on the lookout for one. :D

Seriously, that does look fantastic.:thumbsup: Sounds like you did alright. Can't wait to hear your review after some playing time. Congrats on a fantastic score! I love that blue!
 
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