NBD. Alpine white Epiphone Thunderbird pro classic IV

[kodiakblair]

I'm with miles'tone on this.

White on white looks great,far better than my sunburst T-bird.

[police squad]

yep, I'm not changing anything other than, maybe, a Gibson TRC and a new set of strings

[HengistPod]

Agreed. Leave the white guard. I have white guards on all my Epi Tbirds - white Classic Pro, Blackbird, Pro-IV trans black - and my white Tokai. My Gibson currently has a gold mirror one, which is what it came with.

If you do decide to change, make sure you get one the right shape. think the cheapo Epis, Blackbirds and and Pro-IVs have a different shape to Gibson/Classic Pro. Would have to check, though.

I'm currently varying between the Classic Pro and the Blackbird. It has to be said the latter is a LOT lighter, though, whilst still barking acceptably.

As for neck dive - it's undeniable. Even with the strap button behind the heel it's still there. A lot, however, depends on what strap you use. You need one that's going to give a bit of friction on your shoulder. Slidy strap = neck dive.

I have a nice wide leather strap (like 4" or so) with some kind of dense foam padding that has seen severe sweat-soaking over the years. It sticks to my shoulder like glue now - so no neck dive!

[dougieb]

I have one of these and they are superb basses, lots of low end growl. I use a 3" strap and it balances fine, positioning the strap button at the back of the neck has helped . I use it as a back up bass as its sound does not suit the Band I play in, I usually play Fender Jazz Basses. Here is a picture of mine resplendent with hand tooled leather TRC and scratcher!