Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Jeff's is an Epiphone 5-string that came with a bad neck, so he did what he had to do...inspiration comes from the strangest places...

yep mine came from guitar center as a used epiphone 5 string thunderbird bass that was stamped factory 2nd ... the nut was broken and the neck was S curved ... I frankensteined it with a different neck, bridge, pickups, and electronics ... it truly is a frankenstein bass because it was not not done real pretty but it is a player and looks pretty good but is not cosmeticaly perfect ... I set the neck deeper into the body and moved the bridge back as well ...

The neck is a mighty mite p-bass ... it is very straight and holds 5 strings well ... the bridge is schaller ... the p-bass pickup id SD 1/4 pound and the other one is my own hot rodded fat jazz pickup ... it has 2 reverse wound jazz pickups with a toggle switch for series, parallel, and single coil setup ... it has 2 250k ohm volume pots and a 500k ohm tone pot ... the epiphone body is a blue boy like color that has yellowed into a slightly sea green looking hue ... the body is mahogony and it has a few dings and cracks, but it resonates well ...

Nice! Something looked distinctly "Fender" about those two. ;^)

actually it is an interpretation of the non-reverse Gibson thunderbird basses of the 60s and 70s ...

I was referring more to the bridges and pickup arrangements, sorry. I've seen the "non-reverse" models.

Just returned from 11 days in Hawaii kids...and yes, I love my T-bird too:

Chris, how was Hawaii?
That 'Bird pic is too cool! Keep rockin!!

Hawaii is truly paradise man.
Unfreaking believable....words can't express.

I'll get there one of these days...

Sold mine to Sam Ash (Mitch) in Hollywood, Sunset store..if any locals are looking. All I see around are Epi clones. It is there for a great deal..90..no issues, ohsc..
It was a top heavy bugger but it rocked.

I love T-birds. I have two of them, a 76 and a 90. Neck thru body. They both sound and play great.

This is my 89 Greco TB-1100, a 64 TB-IV clone. And a great bass.

I don't know about the newer Tbirds but I own four old Tbirds, a '76, '68 IV & two from 1964 one a single pickup II & the other a two pickup IV & I love all of them , the necks are great like a Jazz Bass but all mine are a bit different , the '64 II feels the thinnest & the '64 IV feels just a bit wider between the nut & 5th fret, the '68 IV starts to feel a bit chunky from the 9th-10th fret to the body & the '76 is a nice mix being kind of in-between & even , as for the tone the two from '64 are monsters!, I don't know the pickup readings off hand but after playing my Fenders, Lakland , 4005 , or the '76 Tbird when I plug in ether one of the '64 Birds I have to drop the Vol. on my Ashdown by a quarter . the '68 is pretty powerful as well but it's not a neck-thru like the 64's & has a set-neck so the tone is a little different, the neck diving never bothered me all that much & can be helped by using a wide strap & adding a strap button on the back of the body , three of mine came that way & I have to say they hang better, but be it a reverse or non-reverse body style Thunderbird I'm sold on them, they all rock,

Happy Holidays,

i'm really starting to ge itchy fingered about these. i've seen the 76 and i like it A LOT!

How come Gibson[or Epi, for that matter] didn't put a RI version of the Original all chromed T-Bird PU on these basses?I've always thought that the T Bird PUs were far and away the best sounding of all the pre 80s Gibsons.