Gibson Gene Simmons G2 Thunderbird Ebony Mirror

[Eldon Tyrell]

4 hours ago, Vin Venal said:

I feel like a ripper/grabber might be coming - several references in the ad to "what's coming next..."

We'll see. On bassmazine.com, it says that "The first-ever signature artist bass for Gene from Gibson, the Gene Simmons G² Thunderbird Bass introduces a revitalized Gibson Bass lineup with more signature and core guitars to come"

 

https://bassmagazine.com/gear/gibson-releases-the-gene-simmons-g-thunderbird-bass

 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

16 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

Well, it may be a decent instrument but I doubt it is so good that it can turn losers into rock stars. Well, maybe I should get one and if I do not turn into a rock star that gets respected by guys and adored by girls, then I should ask for my money back and threaten to sue Gibson for misleading advertising, which is against the law: https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertising-law/regulations-that-affect-advertising 

"The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations mean you cannot mislead or harass consumers by, for example: including false or deceptive messages

Penalties - if you break the regulations, you could be reported to a local Trading Standards office. You could be fined, prosecuted or imprisoned."

So, watch out Gibson 😉 

I’m not sure what I find more bizarre, that Gene Simmons advertising video or your post in response to it.

If anyone has been mislead by that video, they need their head checking.

[Eldon Tyrell]

5 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I’m not sure what I find more bizarre, that Gene Simmons advertising video or your post in response to it.

If anyone has been mislead by that video, they need their head checking.

My post was obviously a joke. Well, I thought it was obvious but I was obviously wrong 😉 

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

5 minutes ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

My post was obviously a joke. Well, I thought it was obvious but I was obviously wrong 😉 

Well, I did think it might be. The link made it a little confusing 😂

I’d like to try one of these, but I doubt I would buy one - certainly not at £2.5k.

[jd56hawk]

5 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

People have been swapping out the three-pointer for years.

 

What's odd is why they went with the Hipshot and not the Babicz bridge they went with a few years back.  As terrible as the three-pointer is (and what an improvement the Hipshot is over that), the Babicz replacement is a country mile better than the Hipshot (by comfort, design and functionality).

Especially since they used the Babicz on Thunderbirds before.

[Eldon Tyrell]

2 minutes ago, jd56hawk said:

Especially since they used the Babicz on Thunderbirds before.

Agree, I once had a Tbird with the Babicz bridge. Really liked it. Very easy to make adjustments. 

 

[NancyJohnson]

Scott Dasson (inventor of the Badbird bridge) posted this earlier.

 

 

[NancyJohnson]

Gene Simmons, live earlier this week, in Chile.  Signature model just out of shot.  Or not even in the country.

 

 

[T-Bay]

Do many people who can ply buy signature models? I always assume it’s more of a fan thing (but at £2.5k you need to be a big fan). I have never had the urge to buy a bass or guitar because of someone who plays one, or in this case doesn’t.

[skankdelvar]

4 hours ago, Eldon Tyrell said:

a revitalized Gibson Bass lineup with more signature and core guitars to come"

 

Well, I suppose it depends on how one parses that sentence. There are two possible meanings:

 

i) Gibson are planning an extended Gene Simmons tribute range. 

 

Or:

 

ii) Gibson intend to release more tribute basses including the Geddy Lee EB0 and the Paul McCartney Flying V.

[NancyJohnson]

15 minutes ago, T-Bay said:

Do many people who can ply buy signature models? I always assume it’s more of a fan thing (but at £2.5k you need to be a big fan). I have never had the urge to buy a bass or guitar because of someone who plays one, or in this case doesn’t.

 

I've owned several signature basses, but they weren't purchased because they had anyone's name on them.  The Geddy Jazz was OK, not really my thing, the Lakland DJ5 was just a lovely thing and I'd have been drawn to it irrespective of whether (or not) it had had Darryl Jones' name on it.  I've still got a Lull Jeff Ament model; again I was drawn to it visually not because it has his name on it; now that is a lovely bass.

[Eldon Tyrell]

2 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

  I've still got a Lull Jeff Ament model; again I was drawn to it visually not because it has his name on it; now that is a lovely bass.

Man, you should not have said that. Now I will have to put in some effort to find out where you live, visit you and "borrow" your JAXT4 😉 

[Vin Venal]

I would like them to release an epiphone ripper/grabber type bass, and an epiphone flying V, at a similar price point and quality to the good squier stuff in the classic vibe and vintage modified ranges.

[police squad]

I think the advert is funny, I love the bass. Terrible demo by whoever that was.

Love the binding and split inlays

Would I buy one? Probably, but when I last had a Tbird, (a lovely white one from Nancy Johnson) it was too unwieldy for the pub gigs I was doing, so in the end I let it go

I dont understand why Gibson don't offer white anymore, it's the best colour IMO

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

30 minutes ago, police squad said:

I think the advert is funny, I love the bass. Terrible demo by whoever that was.

Love the binding and split inlays

Would I buy one? Probably, but when I last had a Tbird, (a lovely white one from Nancy Johnson) it was too unwieldy for the pub gigs I was doing, so in the end I let it go

I dont understand why Gibson don't offer white anymore, it's the best colour IMO

Yes agreed - awful video and utterly pointless. If you're going to use an effect/grit, let us hear the dry sound first.

Love the description of the 5-ply binding "black/white/black/white/black/white" - that's 6-ply!

I also noticed that the finish looks a bit dodgy. Very difficult to capture in a still, but it doesn't look like smooth black (sorry, ebony 🙄) to me.

[Muzz]

I bow to no man in my appreciation of the Thunderbird; it's a gloriously impractical bass, designed by a 50s car designer, and I love them (3-point bridges aside, obv), but this isn't great. In addition to the fact that it's a slab of a thing (again, part of the Thunderbird charm for me is the thinner wings - the slabby ones remind me of cheap copies (tho even the Epi ones have the thinner wings)), it's wrong on all the levels already mentioned; the paucity of real GS provenance, etc, but the telling detail is that scratchplate logo: I note Gene doesn't have the confidence to put his mug/makeup on there as a logo, just some generic skull and crossed guitar/bass...pffft. Oh, and I'm not buying the 'more to come' line, either; if you're starting some kind of artist-based dynastic line of products, why start with such a poorly un-iconic one?

 

Bah, and definitely humbug; I'm pooh-poohing the whole enterprise...

 

Edit: Just watched that review video, and I agree about the wobbly finish; for £2.5k, you'd think they could've painted it better...oh, and I can make any bass, including my £30-delivered Harley Benton, sound like that. Double-pffffttt...

Edited April 21, 2022 by Muzz

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

23 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Edit: Just watched that review video, and I agree about the wobbly finish; for £2.5k, you'd think they could've painted it better...oh, and I can make any bass, including my £30-delivered Harley Benton, sound like that. Double-pffffttt...

Agreed. Given the poor finish, one can only wonder at what lurks beneath the paint!

[NancyJohnson]

1 hour ago, police squad said:

I think the advert is funny, I love the bass. Terrible demo by whoever that was.

Love the binding and split inlays

Would I buy one? Probably, but when I last had a Tbird, (a lovely white one from Nancy Johnson) it was too unwieldy for the pub gigs I was doing, so in the end I let it go

I dont understand why Gibson don't offer white anymore, it's the best colour IMO

 

That white one was lovely.  I only let it go to fund one of the Lulls.  I hope whoever has it is making good use of it.

[Muzz]

On the upside, I like the binding (tho how much cooler would that have been following the curve of the raised centrepiece/thinner wings?) and the bound fretboard and markers...they've missed a trick (given the whole mirror thing) not using chrome hardware (inc pickups covers and rings) for a proper black-and-silver look, tho.

 

Oh, and Gene's syrup gets more and more bum-clenching every time I see it; it's about as convincing as a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty claim...

[Cosmo Valdemar]

18 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Scott Dasson (inventor of the Badbird bridge) posted this earlier.

 

 

I have a great respect for Scott. He knows his Thunderbirds. But bloody hell, that sounds hideous. 

[police squad]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

That white one was lovely.  I only let it go to fund one of the Lulls.  I hope whoever has it is making good use of it.

I think it went to a long time lurker. Nice bloke too

[MacDaddy]

19 hours ago, T-Bay said:

Do many people who can ply buy signature models? I always assume it’s more of a fan thing (but at £2.5k you need to be a big fan). I have never had the urge to buy a bass or guitar because of someone who plays one, or in this case doesn’t.

 

Not a bass, but I bought an Epiphone Les Paul because it was the Jay Jay French (Twisted Sister) sig model.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

The ad is one big cringe. I love thunderbirds, but I would be embarrassed to be seen in public with this. This is a collector's bass not one for playing. If enough american lawyers and dentists buy one there'll probably be a never ending string of GS Gibson signatures for them to collect like the vast array of Slash signature guitars Gibson have released.

[police squad]

2 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

 

Not a bass, but I bought an Epiphone Les Paul because it was the Jay Jay French (Twisted Sister) sig model.

I remember seeing them on The Tube. They were fanstastic. Dee Snider, what a frontman

[Jonesy]

I love the binding, clover tuners and split block markers on this, everything else is a bit 'meh', the logo on the pick guard doesn't do it for me either........

 

However, are T'birds cool? Yes.

Is this cool? Yes.

 

Would I buy it? No, but it's not aimed at me, so who cares.

 

I can't seem to find what pups are in it apart from a bit of a generic description - the housing is the same as the Epi Classic Pro that had the Gibson TB Plus pups in them. It can't be those seeing as it's a sig model...can it?

 

6 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Yes agreed - awful video and utterly pointless. If you're going to use an effect/grit, let us hear the dry sound first.

 

 

The vid isn't up to much.......but T'birds aren't supposed to be played clean! 😁