Thunderbird Club

[Korladis]

how many of you go bead with a thunderbird? and what is available in thunderbirds with a 5string?

I tune BEAD on my Epiphone neck through bird. Thinking about tuning it to ADGC like this dude.

 

[marko57]

It's definitely been done, I've seen pix and someone will check in with them....

I'm doing it with a modded Explorer type body. I like to have access to all frets., that's why it has the modded lower (formerly upper) horn. Gonna be a Fiver.

Once you figure out exactly what you want, post in Luthiers' Corner. There's probably someone near you who can do it.

At a quick glance, reminds me of the old Guild Skylark guitars and basses...

 

[Dadagoboi]

At a quick glance, reminds me of the old Guild Skylark guitars and basses...

View attachment 938969

Nothing new under the sun!

 

[marko57]

Nothing new under the sun!

I like yours a lot better, guess I find the straight lines more appealing, where the curves of the Skylark always turned me off.

 

[marko57]

You know you want it!

I know I do too! Not a bad price but unfortunately not in the budget at the moment where my wife just went back to work today after being out for 2 months.

 

[Dadagoboi]

I like yours a lot better, guess I find the straight lines more appealing, where the curves of the Skylark always turned me off.

Thanks. I almost bought an X-702 a couple years ago. It was in mint condition with OHSC for about half of what people are asking now for beat ones.

I'm sure Guild started out with an Explorer body, just like Gibson with a Jaguar/Jazzmaster when they did the first Thunderbird. Standard procedure in the design world. Steal something cool, mod it, and claim it for your own. Sometimes it comes out better than the original, most times not.

 

[Gaolee]

Sometimes it comes out better than the original....

As happened with Firebirds and Thunderbirds, in my opinion. I think the Jazzmaster/Jaguar is sloppy and limp looking by comparison.

 

[JIO]

More on that process?...

The 3/4 scale Wulter carved upright was involved in a fire (in Houston). Luckily not directly but it severely blistered the varnish from the scroll toward the shoulders. May have been lying down with the headstock facing the fire - who knows. I needed to re-glue the table as the heat allowed it to separate in a couple of places, but once the varnish was removed - it looked like new. So it was sent to me wrapped like that. I live 1/2 block from the Pacific ocean and walked it down there to take pics before I unraveled it. The effected (blue tinted) pic was taken when I unwrapped the headstock. I stripped the varnish from the whole bass, cleaned the brass & ebony tuners/neck, dyed it indigo blue, copper gilded the hs/neck and shoulders, etched the copper, and sealed the bass w/multiple coats of varnish. It currently lives in Indiana w/it's owners. You can visit my Gildaxe link below where there is more on this bass. (sorry for the derail)

 

[Count Bassie]

The 3/4 scale Wulter carved upright was involved in a fire (in Houston). Luckily not directly but it severely blistered the varnish from the scroll toward the shoulders. May have been lying down with the headstock facing the fire - who knows. I needed to re-glue the table as the heat allowed it to separate in a couple of places, but once the varnish was removed - it looked like new. So it was sent to me wrapped like that. I live 1/2 block from the Pacific ocean and walked it down there to take pics before I unraveled it. The effected (blue tinted) pic was taken when I unwrapped the headstock. I stripped the varnish from the whole bass, cleaned the brass & ebony tuners/neck, dyed it indigo blue, copper gilded the hs/neck and shoulders, etched the copper, and sealed the bass w/multiple coats of varnish. It currently lives in Indiana w/it's owners. You can visit my Gildaxe link below where there is more on this bass. (sorry for the derail)

View attachment 939041

Dayum... I'll go have a look. Quite a piece of work there. Neat!

 

[PillO]

how many of you go bead with a thunderbird? and what is available in thunderbirds with a 5string?

I don't do BEAD, but I recently bought an epiphone Pro-V 5 string. It seems that they are around, but not common.

 

[JIO]

Dayum... I'll go have a look. Quite a piece of work there. Neat!

once on the site - click LINKS and from there BLOG for the full story w/pics

 

[marko57]

Thanks. I almost bought an X-702 a couple years ago. It was in mint condition with OHSC for about half of what people are asking now for beat ones.

I'm sure Guild started out with an Explorer body, just like Gibson with a Jaguar/Jazzmaster when they did the first Thunderbird. Standard procedure in the design world. Steal something cool, mod it, and claim it for your own. Sometimes it comes out better than the original, most times not.

I just never cared for the Guild (or Guilds in general) aside from not liking the Guild X-702, X-79, Skylarks aesthetically it also wasn't practical for me, being of 5' 6" stature, the "melted" butt of the guitar would have been banging my right knee! Much too short for a guitar/bass like that. A friend of mine had one but he was a tall drink of water so it worked for him.

 

[EdO.]

The Gibson version 5 strings are extremely rare and if you can even find one they're very expensive. The Epiphone 5 strings pop up from time to time, but they're still pretty rare and hard to come by. If you find one I'd snag it. Love mine.

 

[GBassNorth]

how many of you go bead with a thunderbird? and what is available in thunderbirds with a 5string?

I read this post first thing this morning, groggy and before my first cup of coffee. For a minute I thought the club was going to take a really different direction. I read the first line as "how many of you go to bed with a thunderbird?"

 

[veebass]

how many of you go bead with a thunderbird? and what is available in thunderbirds with a 5string?

Ha! Like @GBassNorth I thought it read "bed" at first glance and thought we have a real enthusiast here.

The Gibson Thunderbird Studio 5 comes to mind. They are out of production but come up second hand from time to time.
Also I am sure Carlo ( @Dadagoboi ) from Cataldo Basses could build you a lovely fiver.

Here's a pic of a Gibson Studio 5er to show what they look like.

 

[Dadagoboi]

Ha! Like @GBassNorth I thought it read "bed" at first glance and thought we have a real enthusiast here.

The Gibson Thunderbird Studio 5 comes to mind. They are out of production but come up second hand from time to time.
Also I am sure Carlo ( @Dadagoboi ) from Cataldo Basses could build you a lovely fiver.

Here's a pic of a Gibson Studio 5er to show what they look like.

ThunderBird Fivers? I've built a few.

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[veebass]

ThunderBird Fivers? I've built a few.

Thanks for the kind words!

Just beautiful!

 

[Dadagoboi]

THANKS!

 

[TBird1958]

The cherry one with the block inlay neck rules Carlo!

 

[Christine]

ThunderBird Fivers? I've built a few.

Thanks for the kind words!

Seriously nice, I love the cherry one with the white T Bird PG and chrome, one day perhaps