Thunderbird Club

[Engle]

But Geo, it was said on the interweb--Youtube even with all it's untruth detectors. It must be true! Another Thunderbird myth lives on. Proving yet again many people firmly believe and repeat things and are simply not true!

That narrative (about discontinuing the Reverse because of a lawsuit from Fender) has been around since the 70’s. I’m pretty sure it’s in one or two of my paper books.

 

[Engle]

Saw this in the IG. Still debating how I feel
View attachment 4548102

I like the block inlays!

 

[Bent77]

I like the block inlays!

I do like that, and on the SG’s also

 

[WillyW]

stolen picture Sunday!

not sure who I stole this picture from, but I likes this Greco...

 

[Gaolee]

I grew up in the mid-west and watched The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction and Hee-Haw on TV ... I know what a Real hillbilly is!

As a gin-you-wine Appalachian by ancestry, I have a genetic knowledge of what a real hillbilly is. Not a redneck, though. That's a different animal altogether, and I am always insulted any time anybody calls me a redneck.

 

[Gaolee]

Saw this in the IG. Still debating how I feel
View attachment 4548102

If the pickguard had been done well, it might be great. But, they completely blew the pickguard shape. I'm not completely sold on the upper horn, either.

 

[Gaolee]

The waiting is the hardest part (There's a song there somewhere), FedEx now says Friday which really honks me off, as it's coming to my work and I'm off that day. It's spent the last day outside of Portland, OR. - Now I have to come in to get it, not happy with FedEx.

I'll say it again. FedEx could screw up an iron ball with a rubber hammer these days.

 

[RedVee]

If the pickguard had been done well, it might be great. But, they completely blew the pickguard shape. I'm not completely sold on the upper horn, either.

Agree, I don’t like the logo either

 

[Stealth57]

Agree, I don’t like the logo either

Looks like something from the Flintstones.

 

[WillyW]

Saw this in the IG. Still debating how I feel
View attachment 4548102

Agree, I don’t like the logo either

Looks like something from the Flintstones.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I couldn't find the article I read recently about it, but here's some reference to it.

Tony Bacon suggests in Flying V, Explorer, Firebird: An Odd–Shaped History of Gibson’s Weird Electric Guitars that Fender may have threatened a suit, but Gibson likely just used those rumors an excuse to pull the original Firebird and update its poor design. He states that Fender was busy around that time to get patents on the Jazzmaster/Jaguar and that they didn't file a lawsuit at all. But they did print ads about the Jag/Jazzmaster with 'the most copied design around' or something with a similar meaning. He also states Gibson made the nonrev because it just was cheaper to make. A bit less radical and no neck through.

from the Gibson Firebird Wiki page:

Gibson's line of Thunderbird basses is rooted in the design of the Firebird, and uses even Roman numerals ("II" and "IV") to distinguish it. From 1965 to 1969, Gibson introduced "non-reverse" models after failing to achieve marketing success with the unusual reverse-body design. Gibson had also received complaints from Fender that the Firebird headstock mirrored the Stratocaster and that the body violated Fender's design patents, with Fender threatening* a lawsuit. The "non-reverse" body is a more standard double-cutaway design, with the bass horn being longer than the treble horn and the headstock having the tuners mounted on the bass side.

*not filing


It always seemed like a stretch to me - as in, do you believe a rumor or your own two eyes! If anything - the NR looked more like a Fender bass...

View attachment 4547952



View attachment 4547957

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Yeah, the Fender lawsuit rumor never made sense to me. It would have made at least some against the NR, but not against the original.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Saw this in the IG. Still debating how I feel
View attachment 4548102

I agree with @Gaolee - the pickguard is an ugly shape.
Also, their mascot/emblem/whatever reminds me of buzzards from the old Bugs Bunny & friends cartoons.

 

[GBassNorth]

hillbilly TP
View attachment 4547821

Not to be confused with California watermelon…

Saw this in the IG. Still debating how I feel
View attachment 4548102

If that’s a Gibby offering I feel kinda queasy…
That pickguard, that logo, that blocked but unbound neck, that upper horn!
Pardon me while I go throw up.

The waiting is the hardest part (There's a song there somewhere), FedEx now says Friday which really honks me off, as it's coming to my work and I'm off that day. It's spent the last day outside of Portland, OR. - Now I have to come in to get it, not happy with FedEx.

Just be glad your shipment wasn’t routed through LA on a freight train!

As a gin-you-wine Appalachian by ancestry, I have a genetic knowledge of what a real hillbilly is. Not a redneck, though. That's a different animal altogether, and I am always insulted any time anybody calls me a redneck.

LOL - as a native Cali Kid born in the Bay Area who spent the first half of his life living in CA (SF and LA areas) and the second half of his life living in Northern Kentucky, all I can say is yes KY does have a hillbilly or two. Most choose to live a relatively simple lifestyle and rarely ever look for handouts, the tendency is more towards self sufficiency but always willing to help a friend or neighbor. Rednecks are a totally different beast, and in my experience there are far more rednecks and bubbas in CA than I ever saw in KY. How they manage to coexist in this state packed to the gills with Karen’s and Virtue Signaling Limousine Liberals is a mystery to me. I just try to stick to my Thunderbirds and ignore the extremes on both ends.

 

[Stealth57]

Not to be confused with California watermelon…
View attachment 4548257


If that’s a Gibby offering I feel kinda queasy…
That pickguard, that logo, that blocked but unbound neck, that upper horn!
Pardon me while I go throw up.


Just be glad your shipment wasn’t routed through LA on a freight train!


LOL - as a native Cali Kid born in the Bay Area who spent the first half of his life living in CA (SF and LA areas) and the second half of his life living in Northern Kentucky, all I can say is yes KY does have a hillbilly or two. Most choose to live a relatively simple lifestyle and rarely ever look for handouts, the tendency is more towards self sufficiency but always willing to help a friend or neighbor. Rednecks are a totally different beast, and in my experience there are far more rednecks and bubbas in CA than I ever saw in KY. How they manage to coexist in this state packed to the gills with Karen’s and Virtue Signaling Limousine Liberals is a mystery to me. I just try to stick to my Thunderbirds and ignore the extremes on both ends.

Central Valley is a different state. Sheriffs approve CCWs and masks are optional.

 

[Bent77]

Not to be confused with California watermelon…
View attachment 4548257


If that’s a Gibby offering I feel kinda queasy…
That pickguard, that logo, that blocked but unbound neck, that upper horn!
Pardon me while I go throw up.


Just be glad your shipment wasn’t routed through LA on a freight train!


LOL - as a native Cali Kid born in the Bay Area who spent the first half of his life living in CA (SF and LA areas) and the second half of his life living in Northern Kentucky, all I can say is yes KY does have a hillbilly or two. Most choose to live a relatively simple lifestyle and rarely ever look for handouts, the tendency is more towards self sufficiency but always willing to help a friend or neighbor. Rednecks are a totally different beast, and in my experience there are far more rednecks and bubbas in CA than I ever saw in KY. How they manage to coexist in this state packed to the gills with Karen’s and Virtue Signaling Limousine Liberals is a mystery to me. I just try to stick to my Thunderbirds and ignore the extremes on both ends.

I actually like some of the Thunderbird redeux bodies, like the Jackson, Spector, and Dingwall. They’re enough of their own design, but in “honor” of the original so to speak

This almost subtle but in the wrong
places redeuce isn’t ok. I do kinda like the contour on the raised center though

 

[Nocturnal]

Compared to the real deal I don't care for the shape all that much - The pick guard really is not right, not sympathetic at all

What is that saying you have? Shot at and missed. Shat at and hit?? I think that applies here.

 

[WillyW]

What is that saying you have? Shot at and missed. Shat at and hit?? I think that applies here.

I was always partial to "some people could shag up a poopie sammich".

 

[JIO]

Central Valley is a different state. Sheriffs approve CCWs and masks are optional.

When I was racing road bicycles I visited the Central Valley most weekends as they had open roads that could be sanctioned for our ameteur USA Cycling races. It is another state -

 

[JIO]

FedEx has to be is the worst run company in the delivery business.

fixed for you

 

[WillyW]

I think I mentioned it, but will continue to...

Recent trade I sent USPS, arrived in 3 days.

mine was fedaxe and took 13 days...

UNLESS it comes from sweetwater, then it's 3-4 days.... sometimes....