Epiphone Thunderbird Bass

[Hobbayne]

Being mainly a P Bass guy I am looking for a spare guitar, I quite like the look of these.
What are they like? I may put in an offer.
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Epiphone-Thunderbird-Classic-IV-PRO-/281480438615?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item41898aa357"]www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Epiphone-Thunderbird-Classic-IV-PRO-/281480438615?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item41898aa357[/url]

Edited October 31, 2014 by Hobbayne

[pst62]

Great basses mate, not sure about the string through body "modification" though,
it certainly don't look professional to me.
Check out the same mod on his White one.

[Hobbayne]

Thanks for pointing that out, I never noticed that mod. It does look a bit of a bodge job.

[Thunderbird]

Pretty sure these are just standard T-Birds and not Pro's

[gelfin]

If you like the T bird then check out the Tokai versions.

To me they feel more solid and with a heavier body don't suffer with neck dive.

[dannybuoy]

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1414788233' post='2593418']
Pretty sure these are just standard T-Birds and not Pro's
[/quote]

It's a Classic Pro rather than the Pro: http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Bass/Thunderbird-Classic-IV-PRO.aspx

The regular Epi T-Bird has a bolt-on neck.

[Billy Apple]

Poor chap, he's drawn a bit of a cock on those with his 'upgrade'. I'd steer clear and find an unmolested one.

[neepheid]

No ruler in the house? For shame.

[BigRedX]

The through-body stringing isn't unknown in the Thunderbird copy market. Some of the better Japanese copies feature it, although this modification doesn't appear to have been done very neatly.

[synthaside]

Honestly the "standard" bolt on Epi T birds are really great value for money , especially the older Korean made rather than the slightly newer Chinese ones . I remember buying mine new from Anderton's for my 18th birthday ... i went in dead set on an explorer bass and the guy talked me into the t-bird instead , once i played it i knew why ...

I've compared my old bird to the newer pro ones ( ignoring the fact that they are active) I actually prefer the bolt on rather than the neck through for adjustment sake and I've never had sustain issues with this old plank plus it allows you to do to do this tiny mod which really helps with the neck heaviness off the thing.



I'd strongly recommend picking one up if you can , they are a lot of bass for not a lot of money :-)

Edited November 4, 2014 by synthaside

[pst62]

I bought a Korean bolt on Epi back in '98, sold it around two years ago.
I've owned an Epi Classic Pro IV for around a year and a half, and I can honestly say there is no comparison.
The Classic Pro IV totally takes a poo poo all over the old bolt on, Eg. infinitely better pups, slimmer and faster neck with 0 dive,
more sustain than a sustaining thing in a big sustainer, (shed loads more if you stick a Hipshot Supertone Bridge on too)
plus it feels more like the Gibson than the bolt on ever did.

[Thunderbird]

Just had a proper look at these the string through bushings look like a very poor job was done on them

[UglyDog]

Oh dear oh dear. He's obviously never heard "measure twice, cut once". Or in his case, drill once.

[Dave_the_bass]

Hmm, I loved my thunderbird when I got it. I have the slightly older epiphone pro IV. Put the specs side by side with the Gibson of the time and they were identical except for the active pick ups. These had a solid rather than 3 point bridge.

Anyway, I digress, after two years of loving that bass I picked up my old tanglewood and realised that, as my as I love the look and feel of a T-Bird, I prefer the sound of a PJ bass. As a result my T-Bird has sat unused for a while.