Thunderbird Club

[Count Bassie]

While I do love my Epiphone, they seem to have been irritatingly inconsistent with their screw hole locations for their pickguards.

I've been trying to match my pickguard to one of the templates on here: Link Removed

It matches exactly none of them.

Argghh.

I taped graph paper to my Pro IV after removing the pickguard, and ran a razor knife around the edge to cut the paper to the shape of the bout... then I took a pencil, and holding it firmly ran my hand around the outside of the bout while holding the pencil point to the paper I'd taped to the top of the body.
After a few trials this worked really well and I got a shape that fit the way I wanted. After you get the outline very tight and clean in this way, you can customize how you want the pickguard to follow the curve of the bout.
And you can easily copy the screw hole pattern.
Then send to LarryV...

 

[Korladis]

I taped graph paper to my Pro IV after removing the pickguard, and ran a razor knife around the edge to cut the paper to the shape of the bout... then I took a pencil, and holding it firmly ran my hand around the outside of the bout while holding the pencil point to the paper I'd taped to the top of the body.
After a few trials this worked really well and I got a shape that fit the way I wanted. After you get the outline very tight and clean in this way, you can customize how you want the pickguard to follow the curve of the bout.
And you can easily copy the screw hole pattern.
Then send to LarryV...

Already worked out the details for the aesthetics with Ertmer. Good idea about the graph paper and stuff, though.

It's going to be similar to her previous T-bird pickguards, but brass on top of a copper backing. Also going to get the TRC done while I'm at it.

 

[TBird1958]

Been a proud 'bird owner since yesterday. Side-by-side with a Cort B4 this bass looks like (and feels like) heavy artillery compared to a rifle
Bought it new in a store as "b-stock" for $480

Sorry for the delay in bringing the club list forward, work was, well, work yesterday!

Please be welcome here shandou, you're club #609 with a very nice Epiphone Pro 5er!
Please feel free to join the fun, post your show pics, videos etc - If you own a Subaru you get bonus points



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kat888 #888

 

[Count Bassie]

Already worked out the details for the aesthetics with Ertmer. Good idea about the graph paper and stuff, though.

It's going to be similar to her previous T-bird pickguards, but brass on top of a copper backing. Also going to get the TRC done while I'm at it.

That sounds really cool!

I'm mulling over some brass, etc for my Blackbird. Stealth, yes that's cool, but I may not want it to completely disappear.

 

[EdO.]

I havent checked the year yet (probably should look up the serial nr.) but based on the patina on the frets it's definitely a couple of years old. I tried out the bass a couple of times in the shops and its not perfect by any means. There is a little buzz at the nut of the E string and the electronics are pretty much haywire. I was very well aware of these but they are nothing a good luthier cant solve. Fortunately luthiers in my country are comparatively cheaper, so I expect to throw in around 70-80 bucks more to make it gig-ready. I have planned these in and its still worth it imo. Especially that 5-string 'birds are very hard to find around here and Epiphone doesn't make them anymore.

Look at the serial number on the back of the headstock. First two numbers should be the year of manufacture, next two are the month. They were only built from 2008 - 2012, or so I've been advised anyway.

Even with the issues that's a good find. They're fairly rare and don't pop up often, even over here, and the Gibson versions even less so. Well worth investing in, mine was great from the get go and now with a pro setup and the pickup improvements it's just awesome.

 

[Count Bassie]

Any of you guys know where to get those guitar hangers that you can stick between your amp and top cab (when you have a tall enough rig)? I'm looking for less stage footprint, and to not have to lay a bass on top of my head... it ruins my hat.

 

[Klondike]

Any of you guys know where to get those guitar hangers that you can stick between your amp and top cab (when you have a tall enough rig)? I'm looking for less stage footprint, and to not have to lay a bass on top of my head... it ruins my hat.

You need a bigger stage!

 

[GBassNorth]

Any of you guys know where to get those guitar hangers that you can stick between your amp and top cab (when you have a tall enough rig)? I'm looking for less stage footprint, and to not have to lay a bass on top of my head... it ruins my hat.

String Swing brand - see link below and use #6 thru #9 depending on the type of rig you have.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Amazon and Guitar Center carry these. There are other brands as well if you search the Amazon site you'll find them.

 

[Count Bassie]

You need a bigger stage!

Well yes, in fact I do! I'm working on that... soon as Chrissie calls back I may have that one solved.

 

[Count Bassie]

String Swing brand - see link below and use #6 thru #9 depending on the type of rig you have.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Amazon and Guitar Center carry these. There are other brands as well if you search the Amazon site you'll find them.

Thanks!

 

[shandou]

Look at the serial number on the back of the headstock. First two numbers should be the year of manufacture, next two are the month. They were only built from 2008 - 2012, or so I've been advised anyway.

Even with the issues that's a good find. They're fairly rare and don't pop up often, even over here, and the Gibson versions even less so. Well worth investing in, mine was great from the get go and now with a pro setup and the pickup improvements it's just awesome.

By golly, it says 2009 October hard to believe no one wanted to grab this 'bird for so many years. explains the price though!
Guess everybody was scared of the neck-dive problem Ain't gonna scare me!

How did you improve the electronics of yours?

 

[Count Bassie]

Thanks!

Now I'll go make one... lol

 

[Dadagoboi]

Now I'll go make one... lol

This, good match for your rig.

Link Removed

Ace has similar, theirs are nitro safe

 

[Christine]

Guess everybody was scared of the neck-dive problem Ain't gonna scare me!

Neck dive, where does this come from? a little neck heavy perhaps but a half decent strap will stop that 100%, neck dive, they must be drying their soggy grots on the headstock or something

How did you improve the electronics of yours?

I'd play it for a few weeks first to see how it fits in with you. A pair of ChinaBuckers seem like a nice choice

 

[EdO.]

By golly, it says 2009 October hard to believe no one wanted to grab this 'bird for so many years. explains the price though!
Guess everybody was scared of the neck-dive problem Ain't gonna scare me! How did you improve the electronics of yours?

The luthier I took mine to worked for Peavy late 80's - early 90's, had quite a hand in developing a lot of their guitars and basses from that era. Said he'd learned a trick using neodymium magnets to boost/balance pickup output. Used that to do something to my pickups to balance out the levels between strings. As I stated the B seemed a bit wimpy even though supposedly that issue had been fixed by the previous owner. My B string now has all the presence and oomph the E and A have, made a very noticeable difference. Otherwise he just went through and gave it a full pro setup (all strings level in the nut slots, whatever fret work if any required, neck properly adjusted, intonation properly set, proper bridge setup etc etc). Played great before, it's even better playing and sounding now.

I think a lot of the Pro V's lack of acceptance when released were due to some of the detail issues that those of us who own them and play them have had to fix to get them playing right. IMO they quickly got a reputation for being crap, never gained a lot of acceptance, and some of that may still exist today. IMO they really are a diamond in the rough, get them set up and playing right and I'll put mine up against anything out there for ease of playability and quality of sound.

Correction - I stated that they were made 2008 - 2012. I believe it was actually 2009 - 2012. Looked at mine, it's actually March 2009 FWIW.

 

[Christine]

Look at the serial number on the back of the headstock. First two numbers should be the year of manufacture, next two are the month. They were only built from 2008 - 2012, or so I've been advised anyway.

Even with the issues that's a good find. They're fairly rare and don't pop up often, even over here, and the Gibson versions even less so. Well worth investing in, mine was great from the get go and now with a pro setup and the pickup improvements it's just awesome.

Never knew that, mine is August 15, be a vintage one soon

 

[hillerup]

Indeed, thanks for the advice.

Seems kinda weird for them to change the screw hole pattern so much. Why not just make all the pickguards exactly the same except for graphic/color (black for the Pro, Goth, and Blackbird, obviously) and put them on all the basses? Seems needlessly complicated.

I'm totally with you on this - However, even the basses themselves differ a bit between the different productions... I have Epi birds with perfect aligned pickguards, which doesn't even fit properly on some of the other birds - even if you don't take the screw holes into account...

 

[hillerup]

Already worked out the details for the aesthetics with Ertmer. Good idea about the graph paper and stuff, though.

It's going to be similar to her previous T-bird pickguards, but brass on top of a copper backing. Also going to get the TRC done while I'm at it.

I'm quite interested in seeing how your TRC will turn out...

I have one of her pickguards (aluminum one with gothic weave and no bird), and would love to get a matching TRC.

I did write her a couple of month ago about it, but never got a response back...

 

[kat888]

@shandou

Paid $AU450 for my Pro-IV - marked down from $AU1150. Some clown had dropped it and the fingerboard near the nut had needed repair (no headstock or neck break though) and it had been languishing on the sale rack ever since (and to think I only went in to that shop to buy a cable).

After the initial 'I've got a Tbird man!' exhilaration wore off, the soggy cardboard quality of the pickups began to shine through. The simplest and cheapest option is to rip out the electronics and replace with a pair of passive pups with traditional wiring (or a variant thereof: VVT, VVTT, VV...)

new pickups2

• kat888
• Sep 1, 2016
• 1
• pickups thunderbird

 

[Butcherboy]

Please, for the love of Zeus, tell me you call that a "Thundercat".



RD is for Research and Development (Read, Gibson's experimental stuff). I am inclined to believe that they changed the whole neck, that could have been an explorer one, although it is not spot on. As it was on sale on the Bay I read that it had a couple of problems, so I did not take the risk. But it is a nice RD nonetheless!

Tranks for explaining RD, didn't know that......the risk was high but I think it was a good deal.....IMO the neck is original (ebony fretboard, nut, truss rod cover and tuners), headstock is completely different, not an explorer one, this one is way smaller....