Gibson Thunderbirds

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 1:18 pm

Kinda off topic here but, anyone own one? Good bass? Good investment for the money? Resale??

Might have a lead on a new white one for decent $$.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 2:39 pm

Steve Cooped has a white Epiphone Tbird that he loves ... I have a FenderBird that is pretty cool ... http://www.3dentourage.com/425/fender-bird.htm

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 11:57 pm

Every one of the Tbirds I've ever played has not balanced very well (the headstock is more heavy than the body so you have to be careful) but they always sound and play really nice.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 1:14 am

Scott, they totally ROCK. Great tone with lots of balls, nice neck, and Jeff is right, I do love mine.
AND, it looks awesome on stage! I had a guy tonight ask me if I would please autograph it and give it to him so he can hang it on his wall as the coolest and best sounding bass he had ever seen. I take that with a grain of alcohol, but it did kick butt tonight!

phlemmy · Post by **phlemmy** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:19 am

i love em and am hoping to find a nikki sixx or an orville model one of these days.

lshaia · Post by **lshaia** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 6:49 am

I love mine; it has the best neck I've ever played, a great range of tones from kinda Ric-like to Jah Wobble dub, and the design is killer! On the down side, the shape makes it difficult to set down anywhere, and it is one big bass with an even bigger case; it wouldn't fit in the backseat of my Pathfinder, had to go in back with the seat down.

Unfortunately the bridge ferrules started to pull out, so it's back at Gibson being "evaluated".

IMO they're pretty pricy at $1700, but if you find a deal (which I did) they're well worth it. Something that looks that cool, particularly in white, and sounds so good, how can you lose?

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:55 am

And Scott, you won't lose money on a 'Bird, they are going up in price much like the Ricks.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:40 am

tbirds do have neck dive ... on my fenderbird I set the neck back into the bass about 1" plus the headstock on a p-bass neck is lighter than a the tbird headstock ... so my fenderbird has no neck dive ... but if you really want neck dive get a 12 string bass with a 35" scale!!!

And Steve sorry about the typo and misspelling your name ...

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:43 am

I really hate the 3 point gibson bridge ...

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:02 am

I'm with you Jeff. Bass making has come so far since the early days, why would you put something like that on your premium bass ???

phlemmy · Post by **phlemmy** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 11:14 am

i also like this thunderbird shape...

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sun Dec 18, 2005 3:24 pm

I saw Squire open a show in the '70's with a light blue non-reverse T-bird. It was the "Drama" tour, and the opening song was "Does It Really Happen".

Sounded killer. I was in the 2nd row.

Ahhhh, the good old days.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 4:21 am

scott_s · Post by **scott_s** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:56 pm

Sean and Jeff, are those Jazz basses??

phlemmy · Post by **phlemmy** » Mon Dec 19, 2005 3:05 pm

the one i posted is a gibson/epihone, jeff's is a gibson/warmouth i believe.