Jean-Luc Pickguard

These strings sound phenomenal on the epiphone thunderbird vintage pro I (accidentally) bought on ebay a few weeks ago. I asked the seller what the strings were but he says he never changed them so thinks they were the original ones - I'm sure they're not the original factory set as those wouldn't have had silks and would have a nickel sheen to them that these don't. These have red silks at the head end, but no silks at the bridge end. The ball ends are E-red A-blue D-white and G- red(again) I've not used roundwounds for almost 20 years but these are perfect for this bass, so it would be worth getting a spare set if I can identify them. The colour of the ball ends suggests they are rotosounds, and the red silks suggests swing bass, however I'm not 100% sure as I thought rotosounds would have red silks at the bridge end as well. Any ideas?

I voted No as I have been listening to a lot of vulfpeck today

The electronics & hardware should be straighforward to repair, however the twisty neck could be more challenging. Its a bolt-on so it would probably be more cost effective to swap out the neck if the existing one can't be sorted out and a replacement is available. Brandoni guitars in Wembley bought up a load of stock including necks when the Eko factory which made Vox guitars in Italy closed down. It would probably be worth getting in touch with them (if they're still around) to ask whether they have anything suitable.

For a flightcase to be covered against damage by the insurance offered by most couriers it would probably need to be inside its own flightcase.

i've never tried groundwound strings, but I like the idea of a set that feels like flats but sound a little more like rounds. Who's tried them - or swears by them? Which ones are good, or not so good, and why?

[pedantic]there's no chrome on it - the hardware is all nickel plated[/pedantic] 😜 I agree that it looks great in any of the three colours. Both of mine are sunburst but I'd quite like a white one.

nice! I have two of these in sunburst.

Yep - my JMJ is sublime, but then I'd been wanting a daphne blue mustang with lollipop tuners for ages so its pretty much perfect to me.

They should have all been plugged into amps turned up to eleven so the horrific death noises of all those geetars could have been recorded. Without a quirky angle to dictate the narrative its just wanton destruction.

sit on it?

That delay in being able to buy one is crazy, but not too dissimilar to the lengthy wait I had for the JMJ mustang and epiphone vintage pro thunderbird after they were originally announced. I suppose the initial stocks go to US customers first.

Definitely a cheapo copy. No way a USA Fender. Probably worth around £50-100 on a good day if the scribbles are removed.

I wonder whether hofner would still be selling their viola basses today if Paul McCartney had got his hands on a left handed Fender in Hamburg in 1961?

How about some pics? I used to have one a pink vista musicmaster. It was a cool little bass.

That's one more than I need

Have Fender found a secret stash of badass IIs or are they being made again?

It isn't a musical instrument - its a collector's piece. Any sold will probably never be played but will live in a glass cabinet.

My three favourite sets of flats are Fender 9050L stainless. Although a long scale set, I've only used these on my mustangs so far. They came as stock onthe JMJ mustang and I liked them so much I got a set for the CIJ mustang. They sound very punchy but they have more upper mids than I'd normally expect from flats. Thomastic JF-344 Jazz flats - I have these on my Precisions, Jazz and a few others. They start off a but zingy, but they mellow out and last forever. They are very low tension which I like and their flexibility makes them very comfy to play. LaBella 750T white nylon tapewounds - I have these on a Epi Vintage pro thunderbird and the equivalent short scale set on my Squier SS Jag. These feel like flats but live somewhere between rounds and flats tonewise and there's a greater range of control over the tone using the bass's tone controls. These are even more comfy to play than the TIs

Dopey git started with the neck blank upside down so the headstock came out the wrong way round. 😁

I'm pretty sure the hardware on the vintage pro is nickel plated rather than chrome.

I was looking to buy a really good compressor last year when I came across this thread and also read about similar experiences with the MXR pedal elsewhere. I would probably have bought one, but the prospect of it potentially failing & needing an expensive repair due to costs being cut in manufacturing put me off & I went for a TC spectracomp instead.

The vintage pro t-bird is a great bass - I currently have two of 'em, both sunburst although I think I'd quite like one of the white ones. I love the slim neck & the mighty tone they puts out. I also have a natural wax-finish pro-v five string epi t-bird, but although the neck is quite shallow front to back it is massively wide, and although it has active eq, the vintage pro beats it hands down on sound. The pickups in your pro-iv look rather rather unusual - what are they?

That looks great fun, especially to give as a present to someone eles's kids. I wonder whether they are still available.

The Tech 21 VT Bass does it for me

I’ve just though of another one - considering how fantastic the epiphone vintage pro thunderbird has turned out, a reissue of their own 60s rivoli bass is probably long overdue.