Thunderbird Club

[Gaolee]

Could any of you say, based on first hand experience, that a THUNDERBIRD usually has more solid lows than a Jazz bass? Any general statement?

Yes. That's the only answer there is.

 

[Gaolee]

I was thinking of moving the neck button also, to be behind the neck. Shouldn't be difficult to drill through the center of the neck plate, I think?

Not difficult at all. That's what I did with my bolt-on.

 

[Gaolee]

Yes, generally. I have two Js and they have a very different lows than the Thunderbirds. I'm not good at describing tonal textures, but I would say the Thunderbird lows are thicker, and sound lower as well. The VPs don't seem to have the lows of my '64 or the '06--or the '64 Embassy for that matter. The modern Thunderbirds are the monsters of low! Due to the PUs and the neck PU placement.

A J has a murky green quality to its sound. A Thunderbird has a lot of black, with teal and sometimes purple. It's got electric blue edges to the sound. The J sound is all the same color most of the time until it gets burpy, then it gets some maroon and some white. It will occasionally get some blue or teal, but it will never get the black that a Thunderbird has.

 

[redstrand]

 

[TBird1958]

went well! thx...the stock bridge pup on the 13 NR continues to be a PITA as the bottom screw (controls side) slowly comes undone (forgot about this since the bass sported three screw 70's winders for a while) and starts rub on the G string (I know ahem) making it useless...then I remember and screw it down and all good until next time....don't wanna super glue it down a' la Fred Flintstone soo trying to figure out how to fix it....no spring? different screw? dunno..
as for the sound, pretty much any tone (except aggressive slap/synth) available from the EQ and beautiful evenness when played with Dunlop nylon 60 and 73s. used my Promethean P500H into a MB 2X12 which never went past 2...all in all pretty good but could have really used a second bass (which I brought but left in the car ) with steel rounds for some of the more synthy 80's stuff, thing is, with yesterday's BL we go from a pool of great Bay Area players but you never know who's showing up to play so....

I use ACC a lot with the model trains, I'd say it's actually a good idea to cure this problem. Just use a little on the end of the screw, put it into place before it dries, should you need to remove it the bond it easily broken as it's of a crystalline nature.

 

[BklynKen]

From a playability and feel standpoint, it's a Gibson Thunderbird. From a sound standpoint, it has the amazing DiCola pickups and coil tapping. I put tapes on mine to see how that would work. Just fine, as it turns out. The pickup magnets could move a Volkswagen, so you have to lower the pickups instead of raising them. If you want overdrive, they will blow things up if you let them. Or you can get a much sweeter sound out of them. It's hard to explain all the tone colors that come out of that bass. I haven't found any strings that don't work on it, either.

Wow, I just learned that Jim de Cola is the master luthier and product development manager at Gibson USA. I wonder why they went back to the TB+ after that one year.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

A J ... will never get the black that a Thunderbird has.

Ok, *THAT* I understand. Thanks.

 

[bassgtarman]

Donnervogel Donnerstag

Nice! We did that in the band I just left (due to moving).

 

[DanGouge]

That started out the heavy dark burst?

It left the factory with that sort of dark tobacco burst that the Epi Pros had, and then the previous owner put a bunch of matte black paint on the front of the body and headstock. There was also an attempt to hack out a contour on the body which I've tried to smooth out (there were visible rasp marks).

 

[Engle]

I've decided to use Badass 1 from my Ash/Maple bird (self built) for my BCRich Eagle. So I'm looking for a 2 piece bridge for the Ash/Maple Bird. I know Scott sells the Badbird and Philadelphia Luthier Tools has them, but thought I'd check in case someone here has one. Can't remember who was possibly parting an Embassy a little while back.

 

[bassgtarman]

My guess is that it probably was some kind of ground/power surge issue, the output jack is new, never connected, and the hole looks a bit cooked. Ground from bridge & both wires from the (original) jack are a bit cooked also

View attachment 3998077 View attachment 3998078

Jeeze... It looks like the original owner might have been killed in that incident. I'd tell everyone that that happened anyway.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Jeeze... It looks like the original owner might have been killed in that incident. I'd tell everyone that that happened anyway.

once saw an ES-335 with a bullet hole at a pawn shop....always wondered....

 

[Gaolee]

Wow, I just learned that Jim de Cola is the master luthier and product development manager at Gibson USA. I wonder why they went back to the TB+ after that one year.

Probably because they use those pickups in the current EB. I guess they decided they wanted different pickups in the different bass guitars. I have a 2013 EB with the same pickups. They are just a little brighter in EB than in the Thunderbird. So, wood does matter a bit. The EB is ash or alder with a maple neck instead of mahogany.

DiCola or DeCola - I'm not sure how you spell it - pickups can be Thunderbird-like. TB+ pickups are plenty versatile, but they aren't as broadly versatile. I find myself using them all in humbucker mode anyway. Sometimes I'll use the coil tap on the bridge pickup as a tone modifier more than as a major contributor to the sound. But I don't remember the last time I had the neck pickup in single coil mode.

 

[Gaolee]

Ok, *THAT* I understand. Thanks.

Some of us have wiring issues. I thought it was normal until recently.

 

[Gaolee]

It left the factory with that sort of dark tobacco burst that the Epi Pros had, and then the previous owner put a bunch of matte black paint on the front of the body and headstock. There was also an attempt to hack out a contour on the body which I've tried to smooth out (there were visible rasp marks).

It looks much better where you have stripped it. I have a Pro IV that's been defretted and rewired. It's that dark burst, and I have been thinking about refinishing it. Mostly because it can be done.

 

[Gaolee]

once saw an ES-335 with a bullet hole at a pawn shop....always wondered....

If it was cheap enough, it would be worth picking up just for the hole. Plus it's an ES-335. I would love to have one of those someday. Not that I could play it.

 

[BklynKen]

DiCola or DeCola - I'm not sure how you spell it

Oh, it's DeCola. No space. I wonder if people complained that it ruined the simplicity of the Thunderbird.

 

[Gaolee]

Oh, it's DeCola. No space. I wonder if people complained that it ruined the simplicity of the Thunderbird.

Could be. I didn't understand why they switched back. They ditched Babicz bridges on Thunderbirds, too. That didn't make any sense to me, either.

 

[BklynKen]

Could be. I didn't understand why they switched back. They ditched Babicz bridges on Thunderbirds, too. That didn't make any sense to me, either.

Yeah, the bridge thing is interesting. I'd guess it was all down to cost. The traditional 3-point must cost next to nothing.

 

[dagrev]

Happy Monday Thunderbird loving sisters and brothers. Took a swing through my old home town on my way to pick up the better half over the weekend. Always interesting to see what has become of the home place, and a chance to visit a good friend that has run a record store there for decades. Picked up a few hours of music from Jerry and the boys. Looking forward to some hours of great listening pleasure.
Happy to report the flats on my bird just sound better and better. Waiting for all this to end so the band can get back together. Have a great day everyone.

Nice!

Flats on a Thunderbird is an amazing and seemingly contradictory secret! Just installed some Roto Flats on the burst VP. Sounds great at home. I'd really like one of the VPs to wear flats.