Thunderbird Club

[fasterpussycat]

Thank you for the suggestions...

Unfortunately, online demos are not something I put a lot of weight behind.

As for Orville/Greco...I own a '96 Orville EB-3 and the build quality is excellent. However, people seem to be asking top dollar for both of these brands. If I could pick up an Orville Bird for as much as I bought my EB-3 for I would be a happy camper, but I don't foresee that happening.

I have never played a Gibson Thunderbird, or the Epi VP (or even seen one in a shop here). Personally, I'm not keen on the thick poly finish on the VP and any Gibson is well out of my price range ... and I'm really attached to my Orville and two Cataldos.

Epi Classic Pros are well thought of and cheap enough you can afford to play around with different pickups if the Gibson pickups aren't giving him the tone he wants.

 

[ajkula66]

Personally, I'm not keen on the thick poly finish on the VP

That makes two of us.

and I'm really attached to my Orville and two Cataldos.

Not a difficult position to understand...

Epi Classic Pros are well thought of and cheap enough you can afford to play around with different pickups if the Gibson pickups aren't giving him the tone he wants.

Unfortunately, I don't have much time on my hands to play with anything these days, but I appreciate the recommendation nevertheless.

 

[BklynKen]

Love me some flanger, and love me some Banshees.

Weird trivia. I once had Steve Severin in my car.

 

[GonePlaid]

Nothing wrong with a 7ender P. They’re great. But yeah, particularly Yamaha, if you want a nice, well built all around bass. $500 - $700 gets a lot of instrument. Some upper SBMMs are also very good; but for not much more you can get a EBMM used and a much better bass. Epis are the value leader.

I can play a J neck. I'd rather not. My short-ish, fat-ish fingers can't deal with a P neck. I gots nothing against 7enders[esp. my fingers]other than their ubiquitousness. In the words of Chicken Man "they're everywhere, they're everywhere!"-in falsetto.

 

[fasterpussycat]

Weird trivia. I once had Steve Severin in my car.

And you let him go?!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Weird trivia. I once had Steve Severin in my car.

Was he flanging?

 

[BklynKen]

Epi Classic Pros are well thought of and cheap enough you can afford to play around with different pickups if the Gibson pickups aren't giving him the tone he wants.

That's a really good point. Get a cheap CP and throw Chinabuckers or Thunderbuckers in there and you're done. Unless the two-piece bridge a big factor and then you'd need the VP.

@ajkula66 Was it the looks or the sound of the VP that your son loved?

 

[BklynKen]

And you let him go?!

I think we all got out together. A friend of mine was dating (or something) him and we all went somewhere. Too long ago to remember what we were doing.

@Miles_ONeal He didn't have a bass with him. Unless you can flange without one. Maybe we were on our way to a Flangers Anonymous meeting.

 

[GonePlaid]

I think we all got out together. A friend of mine was dating (or something) him and we all went somewhere. Too long ago to remember what we were doing.

@Miles_ONeal He didn't have a bass with him. Unless you can flange without one. Maybe we were on our way to a Flangers Anonymous meeting.

I've never used a flanger. I do, however, have a stunning phaser.

 

[BklynKen]

I've never used a flanger. I do, however, have a stunning phaser.

Is it set to Stun?

 

[TerribleTim68]

I once owned a flanger back in the day, even used it for the intro to one of our songs. To be honest, I was probably using it wrong and would have been better off without it. But hey, try telling a 17 year old kid his crazy new effects pedal isn't cool.

These days, I find myself wondering why I ever did that. I just can't get into the odd effects like flangers, phasers and wah type stuff. I do, however, love me a very subtle touch of reverb, chorus and delay.

 

[GBassNorth]

A non-Thunderbird player stopping by to ask for advice...

First and foremost, I apologize for asking a question that was likely asked before but search on the subject matter got me pretty much nowhere.

Long story short, after trying 30 or so basses within a matter of a couple of days, my bass-playing-son fell in love, head-over-heals with an Epi Vintage Pro.

I'm not cheap but tend to be frugal and am not necessarily keen on buying new. The problem is that GC used has zero to offer, and what I see on Reverb is priced way too close to new for my liking.

Here's my dilemma: by the time I add a case to VP, I'm looking at close to $900 with taxes. I know that I can pick a used Gibson Bird for 100-150 more.

What am I missing ? Are VPs *that* good when compared to more recent Gibbys ?

The only Birds I have some experience with are Bicentennials, but they are out of the equation, so please educate me...

Thanks in advance.

Your son has good taste. The Epiphone Thunderbird VP is an excellent bass. It's worth quite a bit more than its new asking price and a steal in the sub $600 used bracket. I have one and I also have a couple of Gibson Thunderbirds and a cheaper Epiphone Goth bird. The VP is by far the best bang for the buck of the bunch. They can be found on Reverb and other used bass sites for under $600 in mint condition. It's one of the very few basses that I wouldn't hesitate to buy sight unseen, the QC on them is very good. Most seem to favor the lighter weight ones best (8.5 pounds and under).

Here's a couple of used ones that look like good deals and are about half the price of a used Gibson Thunderbird...
Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage PRO Bass-Ebony | Thomas 's Shop
Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage PRO Black 4 String Electric Bass Guitar

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I think we all got out together. A friend of mine was dating (or something) him and we all went somewhere. Too long ago to remember what we were doing.

@Miles_ONeal He didn't have a bass with him. Unless you can flange without one. Maybe we were on our way to a Flangers Anonymous meeting.

I meant him, not an instrument. You’d know if he had. It’s a quantum realm imposition on this reality.

 

[ajkula66]

Your son has good taste.

Thank you for the kind words. He's growing up into a fine young man, and I love the fact that the name brands and price tags mean absolutely nothing to him. He shrugged his shoulders at a couple of fairly expensive basses during our tryout sessions. But this VP Bird got him really excited. I was getting a huge kick out of him beating the living daylight out of the poor thing, and it sounded pretty good.

Given your reputation/collection, I'm inclined to take your words seriously. One of those VPs was already on my watch list, the second one just got added.

Much obliged...

 

[PillO]

A non-Thunderbird player stopping by to ask for advice...

First and foremost, I apologize for asking a question that was likely asked before but search on the subject matter got me pretty much nowhere.

Long story short, after trying 30 or so basses within a matter of a couple of days, my bass-playing-son fell in love, head-over-heals with an Epi Vintage Pro.

I'm not cheap but tend to be frugal and am not necessarily keen on buying new. The problem is that GC used has zero to offer, and what I see on Reverb is priced way too close to new for my liking.

Here's my dilemma: by the time I add a case to VP, I'm looking at close to $900 with taxes. I know that I can pick a used Gibson Bird for 100-150 more.

What am I missing ? Are VPs *that* good when compared to more recent Gibbys ?

The only Birds I have some experience with are Bicentennials, but they are out of the equation, so please educate me...

Thanks in advance.

This might be helpful: Thunderbird Club (from earlier today).

[Update:] You might also look out for Orville by Gibson (were made in Japan by Gibson for the Japanese market) or Greco Birds.

This post is very instructive also.
Thunderbird Club

 

[PillO]

Weird trivia. I once had Steve Severin in my car.

Ahem.

 

[ajkula66]

This post is very instructive also.
Thunderbird Club

Thank you.

VP definitely sounded very aggressive to my ears, and as my son put it "It's dirty but it's my kind of dirty". If that makes any sense.

I can't play a Bird to save a life - ergonomics don't work for me - but the ones I toyed with in the past (which were mostly Bicentennials) sounded far more polite from what I can recall. VP has - to my ears at least - a very recognizable "grind" that reminds me to some extent of my old RD Standard when I played it through an Orange stack. Not the sound for the faint at heart for sure.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

gotta love this club......@Larry V, GRAZIE MILLE!!...
Sei un Capo.

 

[BklynKen]

Ahem.

Hey, I didn't say he came in my car; just that I had him there.

 

[ajkula66]

@ajkula66 Was it the looks or the sound of the VP that your son loved?

The sound. Some time ago I had him try a "regular" bolt-on Epi Bird and he wasn't moved at all.

No denying that looks play a role, though.