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Thunderbird Options

BirdThunder

BirdThunder

Guest
Dec 9, 2013
123
7
New York
#1
Hi guys, I'm new to the forums and I wanna ask your opinions.
I've been playing bass for atleast a year now (actually 3, but I stopped and now I'm back).

I have been using a stock Epiphone les paul special bass, that I got off cheap from craigslist, and I'm planning to get an Epiphone thunderbird. So here's the dilemma. I don't know what to choose between the gothbird and the standardbird, I love mahogany, but alder sounds damn good. But they're bolt-on, my LPbass is set neck and I love the sustain on it, The classic-IV pro scares the hell out of me because of the neck through design, I don't like carrying hard-cases, I prefer bags slung across my back. Pro-IV is out for now.

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Here's my Epiphone Les Paul Special Bass.
 
#6
I got my goth bird Christmas of '06. My bass is beat, its gone through hell, the neck and fretboard looks to be splitting at the first fret, a few of the tuners are movable and sometimes I have to move them back into position, my name is carved into the neck at the 7th fret. I have scotch tape on the third fret and every dotted fret after up until the 15th fret (low light and being on stage with adrenaline pumping, it can be hard to find the fret markers, hence the tape.) I got this bass when I was a kid, and I even have dropped it from 5 feet on the ground, no case or anything. hit the floor flat. But even with all of that, my bass still plays like a dream and is still as straight as a ruler. Plays better than almost every other bass I have picked up and the pickups with the fender flats just sound superb. If you can try them both out and see which one you like better but you will be happy with whichever one you choose!
 
#8
I'd probably go back at the shop on wednesday. For now i'm leaning towards the gothbird, i wish they come as set neck too, has anyone here played an Epiphone les paul special bass? How would you compare them to the thunderbirds (aside from the weight), or how can you compare tbirds to pbass?
 
#12
the idea that some how a solid piece of wood turned on its side ( like a 2x4) would some how be weaker than 2 boards joined together with 4 screws is kinda silly. The neck on the pro is probably 10x stronger than the joint on the bolt on. Just use common sense n think about that for a min. Any damage to the headstock etc on the NT can be pretty easily repaired. Anything that's going to break the headstock on one will hurt the other one as well. That's just silly.
 
#15
BirdThunder said:
I'd probably go back at the shop on wednesday. For now i'm leaning towards the gothbird, i wish they come as set neck too, has anyone here played an Epiphone les paul special bass? How would you compare them to the thunderbirds (aside from the weight), or how can you compare tbirds to pbass?
Click to expand...

Tbird to les paul bass: it's about the same. The tbird has more punch IMO. The les paul jsut sounds tame and dull. Compared to a precision, that's a whole different ball park. A tbird has it's own growl, same goes to teh precision. Different beasts, but good all round. I'd play a precision over a tbird anyday. But my tbird is good for my band's music (grunge/glam rock)
 
#16
Kinda torn between getting a tbird or a pbass too. Since it's like upgrading to a better guitar, I thought that maybe I should get a better one and most guys in GC said Tbirds are in the same level with the LPbass. I love how tbirds sound, I play rock/altrock/grunge (audioslave, soundgarden, pearljam etc), but the pbass was like comfy as hell.
 
#18
The "Classic" is Light Years better than the standard Epi in every aspect - Carry the thing in a case, it's a very small price to pay for a superior instrument.
 
#19
ATLAST Tbird1958! I've been reading the thunderbird forums for the past few days, and I saw that you're the tbird expert here, Yeah now that I have been researching I found out that the classic is better and nt are not fragile, I saw this in sweetwater, the alpine white model is NT but the VSunburst is bolt-on? Encoding mistake or true? Last but not the least, no offense on the case, I hate carrying hardcase, I don't drive I commute (NJ-NY) and it's hell, but I know that tbird gigbags are rare and the headstock is like a paddle.
 
#20
BirdThunder said:
ATLAST Tbird1958! I've been reading the thunderbird forums for the past few days, and I saw that you're the tbird expert here, Yeah now that I have been researching I found out that the classic is better and nt are not fragile, I saw this in sweetwater, the alpine white model is NT but the VSunburst is bolt-on? Encoding mistake or true? Last but not the least, no offense on the case, I hate carrying hardcase, I don't drive I commute (NJ-NY) and it's hell, but I know that tbird gigbags are rare and the headstock is like a paddle.
Click to expand...

I looked on Sweetwater and found this one: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EBTCVSBH/

Which is the new "Classic" in VS, not the bolt-on. The bolt-on is really a budget model bass, not a bad thing, but other than is shape it has nothing in common with a Gibson or the Epi Classic. Awhile back I reviewed the Classic, it's a great bass at a modest price, way better neck, pickups construction than the bolt on. The headstock is quite small and the bass definitely does not dive - anyone that say that clearly has not actually played one! Do what you need to for a case/bag, headstocks can be repaired, two of my '70s Gibsons have busted headstocks, they play and sound great - worst case scenario, you're following Entwistle's lead and making a Fenderbird :D
 

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