Thunderbird Club

[Mvf]

I can't really say I notice the bevel missing when playing, but that bass does hand a little differently. It's the least comfortable Thunderbird I one, even aside from the weight, but it's not uncomfortable, just different.

No belly cut on my 91 Orville either. Does not bother me either, comfortable bass to play (and no neck dive to speak about), only weights quite a lot.
Haven’t put it on a scale but for sure my heaviest bass.. maybe because of the lack of bevel..
But also the body seems just slightly thicker than what I remember my 2012 Gibson (sold it some years ago for some reason) had. Maybe the Orville is modelled after the 76?

 

[PillO]

Nice! Pillow's would be made out of a watermelon.

 

[PillO]

Have any of you used these covers & rings?

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup cover for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup mounting ring for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

They seem kinda "inexpensive", just wondering if they're worthwhile spending money on.

No specific comment on that, but when I went to look, under other items the algorithm thought I might like, there was this:
300 Pcs Screws for Guitar Bass Pickguard Back Plate Tuning Pegs Jack Chrome 634458682619 | eBay

I have dropped a couple of screws over the last couple of years, and spent the better part of perhaps an hour total in searching for them. But, if you have lost 300, you may have a much greater problem that requires a better solution. And if you are like me and do all your work on basses in the same general area, couldn't you just walk around in bare feet for a minute or so and find the last fifty tiny screws you have dropped?

And be careful if you do buy, as the picture shows only 288 screws.

 

[Nocturnal]

Have any of you used these covers & rings?

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup cover for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup mounting ring for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

They seem kinda "inexpensive", just wondering if they're worthwhile spending money on.

I have used these covers and rings on a couple of basses. I haven't had any issues with them and they still look nice. I have ordered other parts from the seller as well and have no complaints.

 

[dagrev]

air moving equipment..
View attachment 3962906

That's what you call a very loud fan.

 

[dagrev]

No belly cut on my 91 Orville either. Does not bother me either, comfortable bass to play (and no neck dive to speak about), only weights quite a lot.
Haven’t put it on a scale but for sure my heaviest bass.. maybe because of the lack of bevel..
But also the body seems just slightly thicker than what I remember my 2012 Gibson (sold it some years ago for some reason) had. Maybe the Orville is modelled after the 76?

Interesting. Very likely so. Seems like a few similarities.

 

[dagrev]

I listened this morning to the clip I put on of the '64 and the '06 again this morning through the Bose Bluetooth system in the living room. I was surprised at how much the two bases sounded alike. The recorded version makes them sound very similar. In front of an amp in any size room they sound pretty different. The 1964 seems to lose some of its bigness and they '06 seems to tighten up a fair amount, more so than the '64. I guess this is one of the many reasons why you can listen to a recording and never achieve the sound you were shooting for even with the same equipment--minus the hundred thousand dollars of studio equipment.

 

[TBird1958]

Have any of you used these covers & rings?

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup cover for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup mounting ring for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

They seem kinda "inexpensive", just wondering if they're worthwhile spending money on.

Very useful if you're skinning the black plastic off of pickups, I've done it a few times. Also good for potting pickups with a less than acceptable outward appearance, for example Seymour Duncan '51 P Bass types. Good to see you over on LBO too!

 

[MCF]

I listened this morning to the clip I put on of the '64 and the '06 again this morning through the Bose Bluetooth system in the living room. I was surprised at how much the two bases sounded alike. The recorded version makes them sound very similar. In front of an amp in any size room they sound pretty different. The 1964 seems to lose some of its bigness and they '06 seems to tighten up a fair amount, more so than the '64. I guess this is one of the many reasons why you can listen to a recording and never achieve the sound you were shooting for even with the same equipment--minus the hundred thousand dollars of studio equipment.

Couple that with our individual differences in hearing.

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

Couple that with our individual differences in hearing.

 

[MCF]

No belly cut on my 91 Orville either. Does not bother me either, comfortable bass to play (and no neck dive to speak about), only weights quite a lot.
Haven’t put it on a scale but for sure my heaviest bass.. maybe because of the lack of bevel..
But also the body seems just slightly thicker than what I remember my 2012 Gibson (sold it some years ago for some reason) had. Maybe the Orville is modelled after the 76?

The ‘15 is the thinnest of any of my basses. And only my MMM Mustang is lighter.

 

[dagrev]

Very useful if you're skinning the black plastic off of pickups, I've done it a few times. Also good for potting pickups with a less than acceptable outward appearance, for example Seymour Duncan '51 P Bass types. Good to see you over on LBO too!

Question if you don't mind: I hope I don't ever have to change the pickups in the modern Gibson, but could I buy something like Chinabuckers or ProBuckers and reinstall them in the black plastic covers? Would they fit or would that cause problems somewhere else that I'm on aware of? I know getting the replacement pickups out of their covers would be the most tricky part to achieve successfully. I guess I'm wondering if you take the original pickups out of the black covers, are the black covers still usable at that point or do they get destroyed in the process, being plastic? Hopefully I won't ever need to do this but I am wondering if that's even an option. If it's not, I'll no that's not even on the table because I seriously doubt I would put chrome pickups in the Gibson with all the black hardware. I'm not going to start changing all that out. Thanks!

 

[dagrev]

The ‘15 is the thinnest of any of my basses. And only my MMM Mustang is lighter.

I would say my '64 is thinnest and lightest, then the '06 (which is in part why I like playing it so much).

Actually the '64 Embassy is likely a tad lighter than the '64 Thunderbird. Not looking at either one right now, but I think the Thunderbird might be a tad thinner than the body on the Embassy, at least the wings.

 

[Gaolee]

Have any of you used these covers & rings?

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup cover for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

Chrome Plated Metal bass pickup mounting ring for Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar | eBay

They seem kinda "inexpensive", just wondering if they're worthwhile spending money on.

Covers are always good. The originals were cheap junk, so cheap junk is authentic.

 

[KaraQ]

Very useful if you're skinning the black plastic off of pickups, I've done it a few times. Also good for potting pickups with a less than acceptable outward appearance, for example Seymour Duncan '51 P Bass types. Good to see you over on LBO too!

I meant to sign up there sooner, just hadn't had a chance to get it done. Still got to spend a bit of time exploring around there

As for the pickup covers, I saw your write up on swapping them, figured I'd give it a go. Really, how bad could I possibly screw it up?
Just wanted to be sure those would work before I bought some. Unlike my current situation with the pots...

 

[Miles_ONeal]

No specific comment on that, but when I went to look, under other items the algorithm thought I might like, there was this:
300 Pcs Screws for Guitar Bass Pickguard Back Plate Tuning Pegs Jack Chrome 634458682619 | eBay

I have dropped a couple of screws over the last couple of years, and spent the better part of perhaps an hour total in searching for them. But, if you have lost 300, you may have a much greater problem that requires a better solution. And if you are like me and do all your work on basses in the same general area, couldn't you just walk around in bare feet for a minute or so and find the last fifty tiny screws you have dropped?

And be careful if you do buy, as the picture shows only 288 screws.

Ew! Two gross!

 

[Nocturnal]

Question if you don't mind: I hope I don't ever have to change the pickups in the modern Gibson, but could I buy something like Chinabuckers or ProBuckers and reinstall them in the black plastic covers? Would they fit or would that cause problems somewhere else that I'm on aware of? I know getting the replacement pickups out of their covers would be the most tricky part to achieve successfully. I guess I'm wondering if you take the original pickups out of the black covers, are the black covers still usable at that point or do they get destroyed in the process, being plastic? Hopefully I won't ever need to do this but I am wondering if that's even an option. If it's not, I'll no that's not even on the table because I seriously doubt I would put chrome pickups in the Gibson with all the black hardware. I'm not going to start changing all that out. Thanks!

i don't think you can remove the black plastic and salvage it in any way. It takes a little work to remove it and basically destroys the plastic. I think that Philadelphia Luthier also sells the covers in black at times. I could be wrong about that but I have seen black metal covers out there.

 

[TBird1958]

Question if you don't mind: I hope I don't ever have to change the pickups in the modern Gibson, but could I buy something like Chinabuckers or ProBuckers and reinstall them in the black plastic covers? Would they fit or would that cause problems somewhere else that I'm on aware of? I know getting the replacement pickups out of their covers would be the most tricky part to achieve successfully. I guess I'm wondering if you take the original pickups out of the black covers, are the black covers still usable at that point or do they get destroyed in the process, being plastic? Hopefully I won't ever need to do this but I am wondering if that's even an option. If it's not, I'll no that's not even on the table because I seriously doubt I would put chrome pickups in the Gibson with all the black hardware. I'm not going to start changing all that out. Thanks!

As Andy said, you'll destroy the plastic shell, there's no way to separate it from the pickup without doing so.
On the other hand going all chrome will give you a classic, vintage looking Bird it's what I did to my '89 - when finished with a good Repro pickup you'll likely get tone more like your '64.
I love my rebuilt '89, modern Gibson necks are amongst the slimmest, fastest out there, fit my small hands well, with Lull pickups I get '64 vintage tone out of a modern Bird, a bass I feel fine about taking to any show, best of both worlds.

 

[Mvf]

I would say my '64 is thinnest and lightest, then the '06 (which is in part why I like playing it so much).

Actually the '64 Embassy is likely a tad lighter than the '64 Thunderbird. Not looking at either one right now, but I think the Thunderbird might be a tad thinner than the body on the Embassy, at least the wings.

I just had to measure. To my surprise, the Orville bird is the thinnest of my bases if I measure on the edge of the body, only 28 mm, thickening towards the neck to 33 mm, the neck part is 39 mm.
I thought either my Rick or 66 EB3 would be thinner, but both are also 33 mm. The EB3 obviously getting thinner towards the edges of the body.
And my lightest bass by far is my Hofner violin.

 

[JIO]

This picture makes my back hurt.

Never owned a fridge, never played through one. Did build a 2x15 Heathkit SS "combo" amp. (1st amp in about 1967) I cut the head off to make it more portable. I had no concept of tone back then so I don't recall it being anything but loud.