Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

This?
View attachment 4562632

 

[Bent77]

When aging a pickguard, do you suppose giving it a fine and light scratch up with some 0000 steel wool, aging, then clear over would work?

 

[Gaolee]

But is the case made in Canada where real cases are made? It has to be stated twice or it's not official or apparently not clear.

View attachment 4562442

They are making sure us dim southerners understand. Which is fair enough.

 

[WillyW]

But is the case made in Canada where real cases are made? It has to be stated twice or it's not official or apparently not clear.

View attachment 4562442

They are making sure us dim southerners understand. Which is fair enough.

maybe if they made headstocks in Canadia they wouldn’t fall off so much

 

[Bent77]

They are making sure us dim southerners understand. Which is fair enough.

But more south means more sun

 

[JIO]

Sweet! I like the original finish, but I can see the bass needed too much work to save it.

Yes, because of the body being broken in two and sloppily mended, the original finish was beyond saving. (and I like "distressed"/relic'd finishes) The guy I bought it from (in Marin) said it was sitting for years in Micky Hart's (drummer-Grateful Dead) studio in a corner. He said it was brought over from the UK many years ago when they were on tour there.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

There is a lot of variation in “parchment” pickguard material. Some has more grey, some leans toward beige.
If you’re going for a faux aged look, it’s better than bright white.
View attachment 4562559

something about white on white FSOs….works for Birds too..

 

[PhR75]

Cool! Thanks for posting! Because of the glare on the hs face, it's hard to tell the branding. Sometime in '67 they switched the brand name from Watkins to Wilson, otherwise mostly the same bass. My guess it's a Wilson Sapphire (they changed the model name also) because of the 'blocked' fb that a Watkins Rapier (like mine) didn't have, and the tuners were different at that transition. It has the finger-rest bar too, which I fabricated based on pics. He removed the thin chromed metal plate that had the toaster-style pu's attached to and it looks to be a white plastic plate with J-style pu's angled tp line-up with the narrow swing spacing. It has the original bridge with the 'horseshoe' mute that looks like an early Ric pu-cover.

Different name, different tuners and blocked fb. A '67-'68 (?) Wilson Sapphire.
View attachment 4562647

Here's another pic (from the vinyl reissue of his first solo album "Pihkasilmä kaarnakorva") which shows the bass before the mods:

I'll look for more pics. I'm not certain when he had the mods done so this track could be either pre- or post but anyway here's a great slice of slightly Zappa-esque jazzy prog rock from Finland 1972.

 

[JIO]

When aging a pickguard, do you suppose giving it a fine and light scratch up with some 0000 steel wool, aging, then clear over would work?

Yes, pg plastic has a shiny surface so de-glossing it would help 'aging' it. A light (lacquer) satin clear works best, as once you do a few light coats you can wet-sand it to remove all imperfections. If you have professional spraying equipment/booth/buffing wheel, clear gloss can work also. Satin still has a nice sheen and looks more 'aged' than gloss.

I sprayed satin clear lacquer over this (ex-gloss) pg to soften the shine so it wouldn't compete with the shiny body finish.

I'm a big fan of satin finishes. THUNDERBIRD!

 

[Bent77]

Yes, pg plastic has a shiny surface so de-glossing it would help 'aging' it. A light (lacquer) satin clear works best, as once you do a few light coats you can wet-sand it to remove all imperfections. If you have professional spraying equipment/booth/buffing wheel, clear gloss can work also. Satin still has a nice sheen and looks more 'aged' than gloss.

I sprayed satin clear lacquer over this (ex-gloss) pg to soften the shine so it wouldn't compete with the shiny body finish.
View attachment 4562693
I'm a big fan of satin finishes. THUNDERBIRD!
View attachment 4562694

Would George’s coffee grounds have worked differently doing the steel wool, then gloss or satin over?

 

[JIO]

Here's another pic (from the vinyl reissue of his first solo album "Pihkasilmä kaarnakorva") which shows the bass before the mods:
View attachment 4562684

I'll look for more pics. I'm not certain when he had the mods done so this track could be either pre- or post but anyway here's a great slice of slightly Zappa-esque jazzy prog rock from Finland 1972.

And... you can see the Sapphire hs decal, confirming my suspicions. They had a few different pu styles - ones like Ric toasters and some with individual poles like his originally had.
The YouTube vid is "unavailable" but I'll look him up.

 

[Engle]

Thanks! I've done a couple as "lost cause" including that one. Regardless of condition, I try to find ones that have as many original parts as possible. Some parts are nearly impossible to find.

...like a missing roller-saddle from 1963 Britain. Fabricated one out of brass. Four holes are for a string-mute bar - missing and still searching for one.
View attachment 4562619

@godofthunder59 has done some extreme rescues.

 

[JIO]

Would George’s coffee grounds have worked differently doing the steel wool, then gloss or satin over?

A less shiny/more porous surface would help. How ingrained/imbedded it gets depends on the viscosity of whatever is used. (the more viscous, the better)

 

[JIO]

@godofthunder59 has done some extreme rescues.

yep - I find it very challenging & fun

 

[FlyingPigSound]

Used Epi Thunderbird VP Tobacco Sunburst w/ gig bag for sale...
https://reverb.com/item/50097932-epiphone-thunderbird-vintage-pro-tobacco-sunburst-w-gig-bag
https://reverb.com/item/50097932-epiphone-thunderbird-vintage-pro-tobacco-sunburst-w-gig-bag

 

[Nocturnal]

Yes, pg plastic has a shiny surface so de-glossing it would help 'aging' it. A light (lacquer) satin clear works best, as once you do a few light coats you can wet-sand it to remove all imperfections. If you have professional spraying equipment/booth/buffing wheel, clear gloss can work also. Satin still has a nice sheen and looks more 'aged' than gloss.

I sprayed satin clear lacquer over this (ex-gloss) pg to soften the shine so it wouldn't compete with the shiny body finish.
View attachment 4562693
I'm a big fan of satin finishes. THUNDERBIRD!
View attachment 4562694

Those are both killer looking basses!!

 

[PhR75]

And... you can see the Sapphire hs decal, confirming my suspicions. They had a few different pu styles - ones like Ric toasters and some with individual poles like his originally had.
The YouTube vid is "unavailable" but I'll look him up.

I believe you. The bass has always been referred only as WEM when he mentioned it in interviews etc so it stuck.

Hope this video is available:

 

[JIO]

I believe you. The bass has always been referred only as WEM when he mentioned it in interviews etc so it stuck.

Hope this video is available:

works - listening now! WEM is Watkins Electronic Music.

 

[dagrev]

There's always this:
View attachment 4562476

That's way more common than we likely know. There was a guy that worked at the huge music store here and also did sound. I don't remember the band (well known late 70s-80s), but he was telling me once that they had all these Marshall's lined up on the stage but they were actually playing through Fender combos that sat back behind everything. There was nothing in the Marshall cabs.

 

[dagrev]

Used Epi Thunderbird VP Tobacco Sunburst w/ gig bag for sale...
https://reverb.com/item/50097932-epiphone-thunderbird-vintage-pro-tobacco-sunburst-w-gig-bag

View attachment 4562723

Somebody's going to get a great bass!