Thunderbird Club

[MCF]

I recall that Mott The Hoople's Overend Watts and Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash were where I saw/heard a T-bird for the first time.

Martin was the man for me. Thunderbird on Live Dates after his Ric got stolen. He took Overend’s Thunderbird and made it soar. The tone on Wishbone Ash IV is scrumptious.

 

[GBassNorth]

Happy Thunderbird Thanksgiving brothers and sisters. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful day.
I'm deep frying a couple of 15 pound turkeys while Mrs Gator cooks everything else.
Cheers to all!

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. One of these days I’m going to try a deep fried turkey, sounds great. Just be safe while cooking that bird, the fire can get out of hand very fast. One of my workmates burned his house to the ground that way.

Looks like I’ll be fixing Prime Rib and Alaskan King Crab this year. Yummmm

 

[PillO]

I’m probably in the minority In this club at what sparked me to play the bass and thunderbirds in particular.

I was drawn to the bass lines in most songs at an early age (possibly because my dad played the upright in a swing band when I was a young kid in grade school). However, I was never actually drawn to the thunderbird as an instrument at all when I started playing bass, that happened by pure chance much later.

Started out on Jazz basses, then P basses, then I switched to active basses and locked in on Stingray and G&L. When I could afford more expensive gear I started buying Alembic, Warwick and Spector basses. By this time I had almost completely gravitated away from passive single coils and focused almost exclusively on active humbuckers.

I really liked my Spector Rex5 Pro look, sound, feel and shape. Since it was thunderbird inspired I joined the club here and more or less lurked for the first year or so. Then I stumbled across a rare Gibby SG Supreme bass on eBay at a good price. Bought it more for investment than anything else. After all, everything I had read and heard about Gibson basses here on talkbass as well as band buddies was that they sucked big time. One trick, muddy, neck diving, horrible QA, overpriced and the CEO of the company was a complete jerk.

After getting the SG I found every one of those attributes to be completely false (with exception of the CEO). I really was enjoying my SG but just assumed I got lucky and it wasn’t very representative of the Gibby “norm”. Then along came a Gold Anniversary bird at a great price, so again I figured what the heck it’s a good investment. And once again I was completely set back by the fantastic quality, craftsmanship, design complexity, attention to detail, sound, feel and balance.

At that point the light bulb went off. There’s something to this brand and model that isn’t reflected accurately in its reputation among the bass playing community. That turning point for me was around 2015. Since then every bass I’ve purchased has been a Gibby or Eppi or Thunderbird. No regrets. I hardly pick up my FSOs anymore, and don’t even spend that much time with my other high end basses. The thunderbird really does meet all my needs and then some and does so at a decent price. I’m a happy camper!
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My journey was a bit different.

I was into music in high school, but didn't play an instrument. Instead, i would make/troubleshoot/repair guitar pedals and amps; I would argue much more an engineering perspective than artistic. My artistic needs were covered by photography.

It was as we were preparing to sell our parkinson's company that I knew I would want a year off (given working like a dog for the prior 3 years, including monster travel (at least 1 and often 2 or more international trips a month), long hours, and multiple complex and competing priorities). I needed something to do in that year and it occurred to me that I should learn music (as I had never really learned any before).

I started by reading a book on music theory. It required a bit of music to work, so I dug out the old keyboard that I inherited when dad died. That got me through most of the theory, but I found that to get a deeper understanding, I really needed to learn an instrument. I spent some time thinking about what music I wanted to play, what I like about that music, and what role each instrument plays. In the end I realized what I like (and want to play) is best described as riff rock and that the riffs typically are the bass line. So bass was the choice.

Thunderbirds took a bit of time. I started with a Yamaha entry level bass. It is actually a lot of instrument for the money and it continues as my couch bass. My second bass was a fluke. I saw a used 5 string Thunderbird at L&M. After some minimal research I realized that it was going cheap (I could flip it on Reverb for a tidy profit if I didn't like it). It was a gateway. The next was the CP and the lights went on - that is the tone! Being something of an iconoclast, the Yamaha is my only 7SO and will likely be the only ever. I picked up other basses to have a range of tones and feels, but all are Eppy or Gibi. Because I kind of like appreciating something that others deride....

 

[MCF]

Apparently Adele insisted that her new album cannot be shuffled on Spotify.

She’s the artist and should have a say. Good on her if she has that clout. Her music isn’t my thing, but artists should have some control over how their music is delivered.

 

[MCF]

Hey everyone, need some help and I could find any mentions of this in here or other Thunderbird threads, so apologies if it’s been discussed…

Recently acquired an Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage-4, and while I like the way it plays I am looking to swap the bridge…this model has the OG claw tailpiece bridge thought. I’ve seen the Hipshots mentioned as replacement for the terrible stock Gibson/Epiphone bridges, curious if anyone knows if this will fit this model of T-Bird?

Nope. Most here like the VP bridge. Just curious. Why do you want to replace it?

 

[PillO]

She’s the artist and should have a say. Good on her if she has that clout. Her music isn’t my thing, but artists should have some control over how their music is delivered.

Adele is a very talented singer. But I keep hearing a snippet of one of the songs from the new album and I can't get past the fact that it sounds like she is yodeling. I am not a fan of her music but I think she is very talented.

I both agree and disagree. She's the artist, she gets to express a preference. If she truly believes that the songs need to be delivered in the order o the album, then I expect that when she performs live, she will do the new songs in teh album order, else it diminishes the argument that the song order is important.

However, I am the consumer and I get to listen how I want. If I want to skip tracks or play them in a different order, that is my privilege.

In reality, I wonder how much of the song order thing is just diva behaviour for the sake of it (or to steal the spotlight from Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga/Madonna/<insert your favourite diva> (ahem)).

 

[MCF]

Does it not intonate properly? Both of mine do. And they look cool and vintage like they should!

Intonation can be an issue with heavier gauge strings. Easily solved with lighter strings. 45-105 are as thick as my VP will accept and still intonate

 

[PillO]

Intonation can be an issue with heavier gauge strings. Easily solved with lighter strings. 45-105 are as thick as my VP will accept and still intonate

Post hand surgery, my fingers are still weak and are likely to remain that way for 4-6 months (but ongoing improvement). I have been contemplating reducing string gauge to compensate. 45-105 is about right for D standard. I am thinking 100 or 95 might be needed for a few months for the standard tuned basses.

 

[Count Bassie]

Happy Thunderbird Thanksgiving brothers and sisters. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful day.
I'm deep frying a couple of 15 pound turkeys while Mrs Gator cooks everything else.
Cheers to all!

Have a happy!

 

[Gaolee]

I respect the shallow reasons for parts replacement more than I do the "improves my tone" BS.

I added the claw to my 3 point cuz it looks so damn cool!

Shallow is a higher calling.

 

[WillyW]

Shallow is a higher calling.

I’m not embarrassed by it.

 

[Swerve]

Almost 22 years in and I finally got my first T-Bird. I was concerned because it got stuck in the FedEx black hole for two extra weeks but eventually arrived flawless and nearly in tune.

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I’ve been playing a P-bass exclusively for the past two years so it took a few days to adjust but now I absolutely love this thing. Looks badass and the pickups sound great.

The only issue I could find was slight neck dive, definitely not bad, but enough to bug me. A wide strap would probably be enough to fix it but I’m not a fan of them. I also really like the Wilkinson tuners and don’t want to bother replacing them.

The control cavity on these is in a great spot so I bought some adhesive wheel weights from Harbor Freight ($10) and added 7oz. Totally fixed the balance and the bass still only weighs right at 9lbs overall.

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(not pictured is the strip of electrical tape I put on top of the weights for added security)

I’ve got some flats on the way. I know this is typically a rock bass but I’ll be using it in my classic country band for now.

Needless to say I’m a fan!

 

[JIO]

Martin was the man for me. Thunderbird on Live Dates after his Ric got stolen. He took Overend’s Thunderbird and made it soar. The tone on Wishbone Ash IV is scrumptious.

Yah, I saw them live around that time (mid '70s) in KC/MO at a place called Cowtown Ballroom and the Flying V and Thunderbird were visually arresting and awesome sounding.

 

[Gaolee]

And @bylar13 likes them for windmills.

That is pure rock and roll.

 

[Gaolee]

Almost 22 years in and I finally got my first T-Bird. I was concerned because it got stuck in the FedEx black hole for two extra weeks but eventually arrived flawless and nearly in tune.

Link Removed

I’ve been playing a P-bass exclusively for the past two years so it took a few days to adjust but now I absolutely love this thing. Looks badass and the pickups sound great.

The only issue I could find was slight neck dive, definitely not bad, but enough to bug me. A wide strap would probably be enough to fix it but I’m not a fan of them. I also really like the Wilkinson tuners and don’t want to bother replacing them.

The control cavity on these is in a great spot so I bought some adhesive wheel weights from Harbor Freight ($10) and added 7oz. Totally fixed the balance and the bass still only weighs right at 9lbs overall.

Link Removed
(not pictured is the strip of electrical tape I put on top of the weights for added security)

I’ve got some flats on the way. I know this is typically a rock bass but I’ll be using it in my classic country band for now.

Needless to say I’m a fan!

An Epiphone VP like yours is the Thunderbird that is most prone to neck dive due to the big headstock. And even so, they balance reasonably well. Don't tell anybody now that you know our little secret. And the other little secret is how versatile they are. A Thunderbird can go from angry piano on steroids to somewhere beyond P thump. It all depends on strings and technique.

Congratulations and welcome! A Thunderbird chose you. You are truly one of us now.

 

[Gaolee]

Question - my VP has black knobs. I just focused on that a few nights ago and thought it was odd. They come with gold knobs, don't they? Or do they put black knobs on black ones?

I am contemplating a refin. Black instruments aren't really my thing. Purple or green would be better. Or maybe orange.

 

[PillO]

Question - my VP has black knobs. I just focused on that a few nights ago and thought it was odd. They come with gold knobs, don't they? Or do they put black knobs on black ones?

I am contemplating a refin. Black instruments aren't really my thing. Purple or green would be better. Or maybe orange.

Black and Orange? A TigerTail Thunderbird.
Purple and Orange would be striking.
Purple sounds familiar...

 

[Count Bassie]

Question - my VP has black knobs. I just focused on that a few nights ago and thought it was odd. They come with gold knobs, don't they? Or do they put black knobs on black ones?

I am contemplating a refin. Black instruments aren't really my thing. Purple or green would be better. Or maybe orange.

Ochre... Rippin', bright, burning, ochre.

 

[WillyW]

Question - my VP has black knobs. I just focused on that a few nights ago and thought it was odd. They come with gold knobs, don't they? Or do they put black knobs on black ones?

I am contemplating a refin. Black instruments aren't really my thing. Purple or green would be better. Or maybe orange.

first thing I do when I open the case is change the knobs, hate those fugly gibsonish knobs no matter what the colour.

purple green or orange sound like nice choices.

 

[Gaolee]

Ochre... Rippin', bright, burning, ochre.

As long as it is metallic, I am IN!