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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
Yeah Chinabuckers probably don't know if I can justify a Thunderbucker but maybe we'll see.
I dig the lower bout pickguard, who do I hit up for one?
Lol! Loving the Madonna reference there with the pointy headlights!
I love this look. How's she play?
The China buckers are tempting, the P I'm putting a tbird into only cost me 400, debating whether I go a bit less expensive or whole hog
I got a set of Rotosound 88s Tapewounds for my Blackbird. Cheep on eBay...
Glad to hear your Bird is alive and well!Hooo boy. Took the newly acquired Epi Bird Pro V to a guitar tech (fret polishing and to fix the noisy electronics). He then told me he couldnt fix the hum problem, the nut fell out when he removed the strings and that the bridge-tailpiece is warped, because there is a very small gap between the body and the metal. He basically told me the bass is sh*t and I shouldnt bother. Freaked the flip outta me. Then I took it back to the store because it is warranty covered even though I bought it as old stock for dirt cheap.
Told the guys in the store what the tech told me and suggested to call uncle Gibby for the limited lifetime warranty. They got real mad at me (in my country instrument stores generally treat their customers like crap, offtopic1: is it just my country or everywhere?) and said it aint gonna happen because Gibson doesnt care about Europe plus the 5string Epi 'bird is not manufactured since 2013 or so (offtopic2: does anyone living in the Old World have any experience with Gibson warranties?). Anyway they basically glued the nut back and sent me home.
At home turns out that the horrible hum problem went away (the guitar tech did some good after all and he only asked for $7), well there is still hum, but that is quite normal and only when I crank the treble. I put on new strings, set it up and now my bird sings and plays beautifully
Although now I kinda understand some of the prejudices to thunderbirds, though the tech was biased to begin with :/
First off I'd get a new tech. That one didn't sound too helpful and is possibly the kind of tech that can cause more damage than good. A nut that comes off with a string change is hardly worth mentioning, he should have just put a drop of adhesive on it and replaced it. I'd much rather have one come off that easily vs some of the ones I've dealt with that had to be cut out of position. Secondly, a warped tail piece (assuming he's not talking about the bridge) is hardly worth mentioning either. As long as it securely holds to the body it's doing everything it needs to do and should probably be left alone. But if he wanted it perfect he could have easily straightened it with a wood vice and leather mallet. As for the hum problem, there's a number of things that can cause that but frequently it's a grounding or shielding thing, both of which an amature can solve at home with a soldering iron or copper shielding tape.
Bottom line - that tech is a joker who'd rather piss and moan than actually fix something. Feel fortunate he only got seven of your hard earned dollars. Guys like this are usually into soaking the customer for a lot more.
Don't let the joker tech sh*t comment rain on your parade, he's obviously no authority on guitar matters or just too lazy to do things right. Now, get out there and enjoy your perfectly good bass. And by all means, shoot us a cool pic of the Bird in action!
Thanks - LarryV got her looking the way I envisioned.
She playes comfortably and outstanding. I call her The Thunderpigeon. She plays The Cure/Simon Gallup, and that is all.
I love the Inca Silver finish on basses/guitars. I'm also a big fan of some of the medium to darker grey colors out there. Charcoal Frost and Gun metal are big favorites. There is another dark silver color 7ender use on the MIM line that looks nice but would look better on a Bird
I used to have a 1970 Vette that was Laguna Grey and by far the best looking shade of grey I've ever seen. It would be smashing on a TBird bass body...I love the Inca Silver finish on basses/guitars. I'm also a big fan of some of the medium to darker grey colors out there. Charcoal Frost and Gun metal are big favorites. There is another dark silver color 7ender use on the MIM line that looks nice but would look better on a Bird
Hooo boy. Took the newly acquired Epi Bird Pro V to a guitar tech (fret polishing and to fix the noisy electronics). He then told me he couldnt fix the hum problem, the nut fell out when he removed the strings and that the bridge-tailpiece is warped, because there is a very small gap between the body and the metal. He basically told me the bass is sh*t and I shouldnt bother. Freaked the flip outta me. Then I took it back to the store because it is warranty covered even though I bought it as old stock for dirt cheap.
Told the guys in the store what the tech told me and suggested to call uncle Gibby for the limited lifetime warranty. They got real mad at me (in my country instrument stores generally treat their customers like crap, offtopic1: is it just my country or everywhere?) and said it aint gonna happen because Gibson doesnt care about Europe plus the 5string Epi 'bird is not manufactured since 2013 or so (offtopic2: does anyone living in the Old World have any experience with Gibson warranties?). Anyway they basically glued the nut back and sent me home.
At home turns out that the horrible hum problem went away (the guitar tech did some good after all and he only asked for $7), well there is still hum, but that is quite normal and only when I crank the treble. I put on new strings, set it up and now my bird sings and plays beautifully
Although now I kinda understand some of the prejudices to thunderbirds, though the tech was biased to begin with :/
When you say "tailpiece" are you talking about the heavy plate part of the bridge? Is it like the bridge in the photo? If so I think you can buy those on eBay fairly easy and install it correctly.
I used to have a 1970 Vette that was Laguna Grey and by far the best looking shade of grey I've ever seen. It would be smashing on a TBird bass body...
LOVE that color!!!! I need to refinish my Goth rebuild (used the wrong clear and now it is cracking in multiple areas) so this may be a front runner.
When you say "tailpiece" are you talking about the heavy plate part of the bridge? Is it like the bridge in the photo? If so I think you can buy those on eBay fairly easy and install it correctly.
Yep thats the one, when I say "warped" as the tech said, it only means that you can shove a thin piece of paper under the brass (I think that's the material) plate. To be honest, it is barely visible from up close and doesnt affect sound or playability any way. Might be a quality issue, but not one I am ever going to be concerned about.
Are the wings on yours korina? :O
That isn't mine. I pulled that image from a Google search.
As long as it doesn't hurt the play-ability then I don't see the issue. Sounds like your tech just didn't care enough to do anything to the bass. I understand some people don't like Birds, but to act like you can't be bothered to do anything to a customers bass just because you don't like it tells me that the quality of his work and the amount of effort he puts into the instrument is determined by his feelings about the bass/brand. I would (and have) find a different luthier to work on my gear based on that kind of snobbery and bad attitude.
As long as it doesn't hurt the play-ability then I don't see the issue. Sounds like your tech just didn't care enough to do anything to the bass. I understand some people don't like Birds, but to act like you can't be bothered to do anything to a customers bass just because you don't like it tells me that the quality of his work and the amount of effort he puts into the instrument is determined by his feelings about the bass/brand. I would (and have) find a different luthier to work on my gear based on that kind of snobbery and bad attitude.
Ok, that's the bridge not the tail piece. And ideally you should have good contact with the body wood with no gap under it. If you want to correct it you could simply run it across a grinding stone until the bottom is flat. But the other issue might be that there's too much grounding wire under the bridge. Under the bridge you should see wire only, no insulation should be exposed otherwise it could cause your bridge to sit up off the body and might even cause a poor grounding issue which will result in noisy pickups. So I'd check that first before I started modifying or replacing the bridge.
I fixed the wire thing, it wasnt the culprit. I really have no experience with the matter, but those 4 screws seem to be able to hold it to the body rock-solid, the bridge wasnt flexing even when I pushed hard. Well 50% of the bridge has full contact, so it seems you're right, that some sanding could fix it, but it seems harmless, I so I just leave it as is.
Really satisfied with the sound of this bass though. It is both "boomy" and "zingy" at the same time, cuts through the mix quite well
My bet he is a 7ender guy. So many of them like to pissnon a t-birds parade.
