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Thunderbird Club

#16,441
veebass said:
A few of us here have them and love them. I was lucky enough to pick this 1977 model up about twelve months ago.
Yes the looks are great, as you can see.
335ebg3.jpg


...###...

All in all the Greco is a perfect bass for me. A P Bass killer with added benefit of the superior looks of a TBird. I play rock and these things excel there.
Click to expand...

thanks for your reply, exactly what I thought the Greco II would be like.

maybe someone like Carlo or Marc can say more about the pickups.
 
#16,443
19mm tall instead of 12. Ceramic magnets instead of alnico. Thicker wire with fewer turns. Fairly easy to remove the cover and take a look. The combo of the very hot mags and thicker wire give the greco/orville pickups an overdriven sound. The traditional (vintage, and by that I mean '60s) approach is a lot of very thin wire and alnico 3 magnets.
 
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#16,447
wolfkeller said:
With some help from good olde dremmel I got these TB+ onto the bird. Best part, these came out of one of Nikki Sixx's actual used basses. Had to leave the rings to cover the mess lol. View attachment 894094
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Care to share any details as to how you were able to buy his pickups? Pretty cool that you are actually using his stuff!!
 
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#16,448
Nocturnal said:
Care to share any details as to how you were able to buy his pickups? Pretty cool that you are actually using his stuff!!
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I bought them off of Brian Scott owner of the Motley Crue museum. He has a ton of Crue stuff including many of Sixx's basses. He owns the skull bass. He said that they were in one of Nikki's cases. Sixx will frequently swap out pups and other parts for some reason. They are clearly uses. So,he had them for sale on eBay for a ridiculous price. I contacted him, he needed money to buy one Mick Mars guitars. We came to a deal, an excellent price. I've known Brian for awhile, he's told me alot about all things Crue. He's the real deal.

So, my band is headlining Crue fest at the Whisky in Hollywood next month...I'll be using this bass for certain!
 
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#16,450
I've been watching a Goth on Gumtree (an eBay coy but direct sale rather than auction).

It is only $300, but the pics show it all nice and set up; but the text mentions that he has taken the strings off it and adjusted the truss rod to compensate, and that everything works.

I am a bit uneasy about it, unless it is restrung I wouldn't be able to try it 'in action' and there could be something hidden... It has been advertised for quite a few weeks so I guess I'm not the only one uneasy.

So, am I being overly cautious?
 
#16,451
RedVee said:
I've been watching a Goth on Gumtree (an eBay coy but direct sale rather than auction).

It is only $300, but the pics show it all nice and set up; but the text mentions that he has taken the strings off it and adjusted the truss rod to compensate, and that everything works.
For that price ya really can't go wrong. Long as that truss rod is good, anything can be handled cheap and easy.
I am a bit uneasy about it, unless it is restrung I wouldn't be able to try it 'in action' and there could be something hidden... It has been advertised for quite a few weeks so I guess I'm not the only one uneasy.

So, am I being overly cautious?
Click to expand...
 
#16,452

My feeling is I may just watch a little longer.

If I jump at it, do I get him to demonstrate that the truss rod works? I guess I can offer $200 as is, extra if he restrings and sets it up so that I can try it.

Does that sound unreasonable?

(It's a little while before I can drive again (18/7) so I may watch until then, he is down past Wollongong, so an hour drive.)
 
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#16,455
RedVee said:
My feeling is I may just watch a little longer.

If I jump at it, do I get him to demonstrate that the truss rod works? I guess I can offer $200 as is, extra if he restrings and sets it up so that I can try it.

Does that sound unreasonable?

(It's a little while before I can drive again (18/7) so I may watch until then, he is down past Wollongong, so an hour drive.)
Click to expand...
$200 is reasonable in my opinion. I have bought two bolt-on Thunderbirds for $200 so far, including cases. If I'm not mistaken, an Epi Goth is also bolt-on. Of course, I'm thinking US prices, not Oz prices which are utterly insane by comparison.
 
#16,458
Gaolee said:
$200 is reasonable in my opinion. I have bought two bolt-on Thunderbirds for $200 so far, including cases. If I'm not mistaken, an Epi Goth is also bolt-on. Of course, I'm thinking US prices, not Oz prices which are utterly insane by comparison.
Click to expand...

You are correct about the Goth having a bolt-on neck. You can pick them up here for 150-200 for good condition and sometimes with a case. Right now on my local Craigslist there are 2 sunburst Epi's for sale. One with a case and dents/dings on the bass for $250, one without a case but clean for $260. They will probably sit for a while at those prices.
 
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