Homepage Forums Guitar Discussion Bass Guitar Epiphone Thunderbird

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  • #23929
    mackflynn
    Participant

    Found the most beautiful T-bird i’ve ever seen on ebay, for only 300 Bucks US. Perfect condition, some custom work, etc… solid white everything, black pickups and knobs.

    In love with this one’s distinct look. Always been interested in the bass, but the white has just done it for me.

    Tell me whatever you know about these brutes, I’d love to hear it.
    Fast action? Heavy lugs (doesn’t bother me really), good sound? etc.

    thanks. Sorry, i know i keep posting a million topics on bases. I’m just still searching for a new bass, and you guys seem to be the best board i’ve found.

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    • #67120
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”1bassleft”]Hi Mack,

      For me, I like all these million Qs; always happy to talk bass and thanks for your positive comments on the site. I’ve only got indirect experience of this bass. One was bought by a kid I knew and he didn’t play it much in front of me (I think he didn’t want to “show himself up” – as if) and I don’t tend to grab righty basses unless I really have to. He was also using one of those really terrible starter combos with an 8″ speaker. Still, it’s definitely got a low end and different to those “sounds like chicken” Precision copies.

      There are a few quirks to the T-bird, so I’d better get them out of the way. It is neck heavy, and it can come off its strap. Both unwelcomes can be attributed to the upper horn strap button forced by the design. It’s nowhere near the 12th fret and that big lump of headstock doesn’t help. An easy fix (and well worth making a small hole) is to fix a (preferably Straplok) button at the edge of the neck pocket, adjacent to the neckplate. Solves the head-dive.

      Quirk #2 is that the saddles are held in place by the strings. Someone posted here that they took all the strings off and tilted the body. Suddenly, they had a pile of parts on the floor. Make a mental note to change one string at a time (I do this anyway) and keep the body flat.

      Quirk #3 comes from that headstock. T-birds won’t fit in standard cases or even stock gigbags. The headstock pokes out.

      All that said, the pups are apparently very good and it’s a contender for rock bass without paying out too much. Despite the way it looks, the Epiphone is a bolt-on (maple neck, alder body) rather than the mahogany/walnut neck-thru, mahogany body of the Gibson. It still seems to cut it, though. As you’ve probably seen, the big-store standard new price of the Epi is $399, so $300 used wouldn’t ordinarily be a great used buy. HST, the descn sounds like last year’s Arctic White Ltd Ed which is no longer offered so, if you’re sold on that colour, you might consider it worth having. I don’t think you’d lose much if you decided to sell it later anyway.

      Lee_UK, whom I’ve mentioned before re: Ashdown amps and cabs, bought a Gibson Thunderbird when he took up bass. I really must tell him to haul his buttocks into the Bass cat and post some replies to your points. Incidentally, I think a T-bird through a valve amp would be a top rocking combination. Ampeg SVTs cost an arm and a leg and, in good old Blighty, a 100W EL34 amp would be fairly easy to get without paying too much but they are rarer and more expensive your side of the pond. Even so, it’d be tempting to get hold of something to suit.

      Let us know if you go for the T-Bird, and whether you like it.[/quote]

      All true Bass, the neck is top heavy, and it does come with a Gibson hardcase that only seems to fit a T-Bird so you dont often see them for sale without it. It does have a great neck, im a guitar player and found this bass so easy to play and it does rock.
      BTW ive sold my Ashdown gear, i still have a 15″ blueline speaker for sale, no cab just the speaker, i now have a SS Ampeg combo.

    • #67128
      1bassleft
      Participant

      Hi Mack,

      For me, I like all these million Qs; always happy to talk bass and thanks for your positive comments on the site. I’ve only got indirect experience of this bass. One was bought by a kid I knew and he didn’t play it much in front of me (I think he didn’t want to “show himself up” – as if) and I don’t tend to grab righty basses unless I really have to. He was also using one of those really terrible starter combos with an 8″ speaker. Still, it’s definitely got a low end and different to those “sounds like chicken” Precision copies.

      There are a few quirks to the T-bird, so I’d better get them out of the way. It is neck heavy, and it can come off its strap. Both unwelcomes can be attributed to the upper horn strap button forced by the design. It’s nowhere near the 12th fret and that big lump of headstock doesn’t help. An easy fix (and well worth making a small hole) is to fix a (preferably Straplok) button at the edge of the neck pocket, adjacent to the neckplate. Solves the head-dive.

      Quirk #2 is that the saddles are held in place by the strings. Someone posted here that they took all the strings off and tilted the body. Suddenly, they had a pile of parts on the floor. Make a mental note to change one string at a time (I do this anyway) and keep the body flat.

      Quirk #3 comes from that headstock. T-birds won’t fit in standard cases or even stock gigbags. The headstock pokes out.

      All that said, the pups are apparently very good and it’s a contender for rock bass without paying out too much. Despite the way it looks, the Epiphone is a bolt-on (maple neck, alder body) rather than the mahogany/walnut neck-thru, mahogany body of the Gibson. It still seems to cut it, though. As you’ve probably seen, the big-store standard new price of the Epi is $399, so $300 used wouldn’t ordinarily be a great used buy. HST, the descn sounds like last year’s Arctic White Ltd Ed which is no longer offered so, if you’re sold on that colour, you might consider it worth having. I don’t think you’d lose much if you decided to sell it later anyway.

      Lee_UK, whom I’ve mentioned before re: Ashdown amps and cabs, bought a Gibson Thunderbird when he took up bass. I really must tell him to haul his buttocks into the Bass cat and post some replies to your points. Incidentally, I think a T-bird through a valve amp would be a top rocking combination. Ampeg SVTs cost an arm and a leg and, in good old Blighty, a 100W EL34 amp would be fairly easy to get without paying too much but they are rarer and more expensive your side of the pond. Even so, it’d be tempting to get hold of something to suit.

      Let us know if you go for the T-Bird, and whether you like it.

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