New embassy (and also thunderbird) bass, Classic style!

[NancyJohnson]

On 19/06/2018 at 22:37, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

 

 

Sigh.  This saddens me and it's just one step removed from people who put Fender decals on Limelights.  You all love and want the look of a Thunderbird, but you want to excise the actual manufacturer.  Man alive, just step up and buy a Gibson.

[4000]

2 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Sigh.  This saddens me and it's just one step removed from people who put Fender decals on Limelights.  You all love and want the look of a Thunderbird, but you want to excise the actual manufacturer.  Man alive, just step up and buy a Gibson.

In this case though, the Epiphone is a more accurate reproduction of a '60s TBird than any Gibson. So why spend more on a Gibson when it's not as good?  Besides, it's part of the same company.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Sigh.  This saddens me and it's just one step removed from people who put Fender decals on Limelights.  You all love and want the look of a Thunderbird, but you want to excise the actual manufacturer.  Man alive, just step up and buy a Gibson.

I don't want to excise Gibson. I just think Epiphone make a better Thunderbird. Or rather, they make one better suited to my tastes and ideas of what a Thunderbird ought to be.

[NancyJohnson]

9 minutes ago, 4000 said:

In this case though, the Epiphone is a more accurate reproduction of a '60s TBird than any Gibson. So why spend more on a Gibson when it's not as good?  Besides, it's part of the same company.

This doublespeak logic astounds me. 

So it's better than the real thing (conjecture; a two part bridge and some chrome hardware does not make it better, or worse, than the real thing), but irrespective, let's put a Gibson truss rod cover on it so it purports to be the real thing, even though it isn't.  If these Epiphones are so great, then surely your logic would be that all Gibson owners need to start putting Epiphone truss rod covers on their Thunderbirds, right?  Also, just because Epiphone company is part of the Gibson Group, this does not justify changing the truss-rod cover to a Gibson one either.

 

[NancyJohnson]

3 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I don't want to excise Gibson. I just think Epiphone make a better Thunderbird. Or rather, they make one better suited to my tastes and ideas of what a Thunderbird ought to be.

I'd be interested in whether these people who say things are better than the original have just read this somewhere or even been in the same room as one.

[FinnDave]

3 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I'd be interested in whether these people who say things are better than the original have just read this somewhere or even been in the same room as one.

I had a 2012 (I think) Gibson T bird last year, and a similar age Epiphone classic pro iv. Admittedly, the Epi had been upgraded with a Babicz bridge, but it was a better bass both to play and in terms of the sound.

[NancyJohnson]

Here's how faithful your reproduction is.  Cosmo's white Epiphone against a cardinal red 1960s Gibson.  I've lined this up against the neck dots. 

Yep, pretty faithful reproduction.

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

18 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Here's how faithful your reproduction is.  Cosmo's white Epiphone against a cardinal red 1960s Gibson.  I've lined this up against the neck dots. 

Yep, pretty faithful reproduction.

 

The upper fret access is much better isn't it? You've got me thinking about a pink Thunderbird now...

Seriously though @NancyJohnson, you seem to be getting a bit angry about all this. Only one person on here has replaced their truss rod cover. Nobody's trying to get one over on Gibson . There's just a lot of us happy that there's finally an affordable Thunderbird that does what we want. And does it extremely well to boot.

33 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I'd be interested in whether these people who say things are better than the original have just read this somewhere or even been in the same room as one.

I've played and owned several Thunderbirds, including Gibsons. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you don't appear to have tried these Epiphones either.

[Cat Burrito]

4 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Sigh.  This saddens me and it's just one step removed from people who put Fender decals on Limelights.  You all love and want the look of a Thunderbird, but you want to excise the actual manufacturer.  Man alive, just step up and buy a Gibson.

I picked up a second hand Epiphone T-bird a couple of years back, where the previous owner had re-badged it with a Gibson Trussrod cover. A great bass - I liked it so much I bought a proper Gibson Thunderbird within a month! So it's not all bad news

[2elliot]

That looks great in pink!

[NancyJohnson]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

The upper fret access is much better isn't it? You've got me thinking about a pink Thunderbird now...

Seriously though @NancyJohnson, you seem to be getting a bit angry about all this. Only one person on here has replaced their truss rod cover. Nobody's trying to get one over on Gibson . There's just a lot of us happy that there's finally an affordable Thunderbird that does what we want. And does it extremely well to boot.

I've played and owned several Thunderbirds, including Gibsons. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but you don't appear to have tried these Epiphones either.

Ack, nope, I haven't played one and to be honest, much like driving a Lada Riva, I have very little desire to do so. 

That said, this has never been about whether they're good or bad basses, as I'm sure after a few personalised tweaks they'll play wonderfully, everyone will be very happy and within a few months this very site will be peppered with adverts from members wishing to sell them on.  Decals and truss-rod covers aside, the unqualified prosaic assertions of betterment and how close they are to the 60s models that have been made time and again (here and elsewhere) does itch like a rash.  You could see from the original prototypes that the body shape/geometry was well off and well off by some margin; I didn't need to do that in Photoshop.

Good luck with the pinky.

[4000]

Lada Riva? Ooh, salty. 😂

Well most of the Gibsons since the originals haven't exactly been accurate reproductions either, have they? And for what it's worth, I would personally think the more accurate-sounding pickups (as relating to the 60s models) are far more important than pretty much anything else, seeing as to me the most important thing about a T Bird is how it sounds. 

FWIW I've played plenty of TBirds over the last 38 years, including the originals and many of the various copies....as I'm sure have several others here. 

Edited September 19, 2018 by 4000

[pst62]

7 hours ago, FinnDave said:

I had a 2012 (I think) Gibson T bird last year, and a similar age Epiphone classic pro iv. Admittedly, the Epi had been upgraded with a Babicz bridge, but it was a better bass both to play and in terms of the sound.

I'll second every word of that! I bought my Epi Classic Pro from Hartnoll's in Taunton back in 2012 for £399. Having tried the Gibson they had in stock, it never felt or sounded that superior that it made me want to pay an extra £700 for it.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

11 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Sigh.  This saddens me and it's just one step removed from people who put Fender decals on Limelights.  You all love and want the look of a Thunderbird, but you want to excise the actual manufacturer.  Man alive, just step up and buy a Gibson. 

I'm sorry I made you sad by changing the truss rod cover on my bass :o(

[tommorichards]

what a beauty!

[grenadillabama]

I had a 1976 Gibson Thunderbird and sold it as the band did not like it. I wish now I had just quit the band. They were not worthy of my Thunderbird ! Now I have the active Epi and want a white Epi Classic because it has such a fierce midrange that seems to "spank" better than recent Gibsons. Or do I just imagine it ??   -the longer "point" on the Gibson does look better to me.

Edited September 28, 2018 by grenadillabama

[karlfer]

Zombie thread resurrection.

Over a year down the line & I've only seen a couple of these come up used.

Questions.

Have people who bought them, not moved them on cos they're fab?

Has virtually nobody bought one?

[W1_Pro]

I got one. Its a nice enough bass. The neck is the issue for me. I have an eighties US T Bird, and that has a lovely thin, shallow neck which is really fast. The Epiphones neck is much more chunky. Don't know why this is. As far as I can remember, the one 60's Tbird I played (in a shop), had a similar neck profile to my eighties one.

Maybe they are trying to stop the headstock falling off?

Anyhow, IMHO it turned a potentially fantastic bass into one that, for me at any rate, is a bit 'meh'.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by W1_Pro

[BreadBin]

I, on the other hand, love a chunky neck.

👍

[cetera]

Love my Epi Vintage Pro.... it's not going anywhere :)

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I've become adicted to the vintage pro thunderbird basses and currently have three, two sunburst and one white. All have *customised* truss rod covers and two have Gotoh GB640 res-o-lite tuners which are fantastic. I have found that EB colbalt flats 40 - 095 work really well on these basses. I don't find the necks at all chunky, they are pretty much the perfect shape for me - like a skinny jazz neck but needing fewer truss rod tweaks due to temperature and humidity changes.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, karlfer said:

Zombie thread resurrection.

Over a year down the line & I've only seen a couple of these come up used.

Questions.

Have people who bought them, not moved them on cos they're fab?

Has virtually nobody bought one?

I have one of the very early Vintage Pros with the dark fingerboard. I love it - it's everything I've ever wanted from a Thunderbird. And I love the narrow but deep neck.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

4 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I've become adicted to the vintage pro thunderbird basses and currently have three, two sunburst and one white. All have *customised* truss rod covers and two have Gotoh GB640 res-o-lite tuners which are fantastic. I have found that EB colbalt flats 40 - 095 work really well on these basses. I don't find the necks at all chunky, they are pretty much the perfect shape for me - like a skinny jazz neck but needing fewer truss rod tweaks due to temperature and humidity changes.

I pimped mine a bit too  - Gotoh res-o-lites were added mainly because they look better than the stock Wilkinson tuners, but they are a bit smoother as well. Neck dive was never an issue in the first place.

I've also added an ebony tug bar, purely for appearances!

 

edit: Just realised I've added pictures of these mods earlier in the thread.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Cosmo Valdemar

[karlfer]

Thanks chaps.

So on this quick straw poll not huge amounts sold but few have moved them on.

Says something 🙂

[pst62]

I still have my Ebony Vintage Pro, done no mods to it, as it doesn't need it IMHO.