Haji
Supporting Member
Along those lines: Epi pickups have a mounting hole right in the middle where I rest my thumb. Any solutions for covering or filling that hole non-permanently for the sake of it not sucking?
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
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- Tags
- club thunderbird
godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
- 9,057
- 38,405
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
Definitely killing it! Turn up the bass!
Haji
Supporting Member
Better than the original. Must be the lack of Coke.
About $42k Aust.
Pretty close to $AU50K landed (with Australian taxes and charges).
That is just silly. I could buy a couple of collector grade, carefully played but all original pre CBS Fenders for that.
The story about Overend Watts had me waiting for a connection to the bass that is for sale (although wasn't that the bass that Martin Turner ended up with in Wishbone Ash?) or at least the obligatory Jaco story that seem to go with ridiculously priced basses.
I also got a laugh out of the reasoning why Polaris White is uncommon ie "Being a very feminine color choice, obviously Gibson had very few takers as with most of its color options & no more than a few were ever produced."
Seriously though guys, what do you reckon this bass would realistically fetch, assuming it is as represented? How about if it is a refin? How about a refin over a neck repair?
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,895
- 142,212
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
As Carlo said he paid a lot less and his doesn't have the issues he's mentioned, it's really hard to see much clearly. Between Carlo and Scott you've got the guys that really know Thunderbirds, if they're both saying not worth it - I'd trust their opinions. Worst case scenario, broken neck, refin 3-4K I'm thinking. It is still a rare bass....
I put duct tape over the screws on another bass that has that problem. They still stick out, of course, but atleast they don't hurt my fingers anymore
Haji
Supporting Member
I tried tape, but it didn't stay stuck and that caused even more problems. Fat people sweat.
godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
- 9,057
- 38,405
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
That yellowed headstock has me perplexed, first red flag. Same for the tug bar location,as Carlo pointed out. Without having it in had I would have to say it's a refin.
Yep, if I had that sort of money I'd be looking for a Birth year bass. A '62 P bass wouldn't be that much.
(TBH I wouldn't be paying $50k Australian for anything.)
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I stand corrected. That's good information, since I have never seen a Gibby case from that era.
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I can say from experience that the screws Hongkonbuckers come with stick up proud of the cover. From that standpoint, Thunderbuckers are far, far superior if the screws sit flush.
- Jul 1, 2005
- 4,291
- 21,932
- 79
- Disclosures
- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
They're also closer to vintage specs than China Buckers. I sent a pair to Steve (ThunderBucker) to scope:
"So I got to compare a set of my 66s against CBs. They measure out a
little different
Pup R L Q
66N 8.635 3.713 2.095
CBN 8.420 3.031 1.801
66B 9.231 4.371 2.267
CBB 9.382 4.026 2.054
I get a little more L for R than they do, that could be a difference
in the mag perm of their magnets. I'd expect my N to be a bit louder
than theirs due to the large diff in L.
That does show up in the VU meters once recorded.
66 NB pair -5.9
CB NB pair -5.4
66N -3.2
CBN -6.9
Their N seems a little quieter and brighter than mine. I could easily
unwind mine a little to get the same."
As they say in auto racing, the last 10% of performance cost 90% more.
ThunderBuckers sound more 'musical' to me. There's more harmonic content compared To CBs, probably due to how they're wound. ThunderBuckers are hand scatter wound, CBs probably by machine. (BTW Chinabuckers are shipped from Heilongjiang which is about as far north of Hong Kong as you can get.) No electronics get made in HK these days, land is too expensive for factories.
Luckily, I don't have to compromise, the basses I build get ThunderBuckers.
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,895
- 142,212
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
Haji
Supporting Member
That's one of the best lookin' Explorer style basses I've ever seen. It's fantastic!
Agree. That's one cool bass, and I'm not an Explorer guy. Very sharp.
- Jul 1, 2005
- 4,291
- 21,932
- 79
- Disclosures
- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
Thanks, Mark...and everyone else! It's a lefty strung right handed. With the front strap button on the heel it's easy to play 'upside down' so it was a snap to set up.
I'm probably going to build myself something similar but as a neck through Twelver.
They're also closer to vintage specs than China Buckers. I sent a pair to Steve (ThunderBucker) to scope:
"So I got to compare a set of my 66s against CBs. They measure out a
little different
Pup R L Q
66N 8.635 3.713 2.095
CBN 8.420 3.031 1.801
66B 9.231 4.371 2.267
CBB 9.382 4.026 2.054
I get a little more L for R than they do, that could be a difference
in the mag perm of their magnets. I'd expect my N to be a bit louder
than theirs due to the large diff in L.
That does show up in the VU meters once recorded.
66 NB pair -5.9
CB NB pair -5.4
66N -3.2
CBN -6.9
Their N seems a little quieter and brighter than mine. I could easily
unwind mine a little to get the same."
As they say in auto racing, the last 10% of performance cost 90% more.
ThunderBuckers sound more 'musical' to me. There's more harmonic content compared To CBs, probably due to how they're wound. ThunderBuckers are hand scatter wound, CBs probably by machine. (BTW Chinabuckers are shipped from Heilongjiang which is about as far north of Hong Kong as you can get.) No electronics get made in HK these days, land is too expensive for factories.
Luckily, I don't have to compromise, the basses I build get ThunderBuckers.
Very cool bass, Carlo!
Interesting info from Steve. Seems he ran a nominal 8K (8.42) for neck and nominal 9.2K (9.382) for bridge.
This paired with my couple of readings suggests quite a variability in the resistance of nominal 9.2K Chinabuckers (9.382 up to 9.58 on the three measured).
The pair of Chinabuckers I used (what I call nominal 9.2Ks ) actually measured- 9.52 and 9.58K (using the same multimeter I measured the TB+s I took out at both exactly 9.7K ie no difference between neck and bridge).
I have an 8K Chinabucker spare here and it measured around 8.4K from memory.
- Jul 1, 2005
- 4,291
- 21,932
- 79
- Disclosures
- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
Yes, that's correct, The ChinaBuckers tested were marked 8K and 9.2K. They don't read as spec'd on the cans. I prefer clarity to dirt in pickups but Steve will wind them any way a customer wants. Our initial concept was exact clones of Reverse and Non Reverse sets. Since then we've experimented.
This bass, my personal Tmax, has a 63N and 66B with the B moved a little closer to the bridge than the 60's position. Combined with stacked pots I get the widest range of tones out of them. Maple one piece body and one piece neck.
