pst62 Posted May 28, 2018 Share Posted May 28, 2018 26 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said: Don't worry, I'll get round to it! 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommorichards Posted June 3, 2018 Author Share Posted June 3, 2018 I played one of these at the Dawson in Liverpool yesterday. It played very well and sounded amazing. Just how you'd imagine a vintage one to sound. It's got me looking for one now. If anyone wants to sell theirs, give me a shout. I'd prefer the sunburst, but ebony would do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted June 3, 2018 Share Posted June 3, 2018 2 hours ago, tommorichards said: I played one of these at the Dawson in Liverpool yesterday. It played very well and sounded amazing. Just how you'd imagine a vintage one to sound. It's got me looking for one now. If anyone wants to sell theirs, give me a shout. I'd prefer the sunburst, but ebony would do. I've been playing mine today. It's a dirty sod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst62 Posted June 3, 2018 Share Posted June 3, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, tommorichards said: I played one of these at the Dawson in Liverpool yesterday. It played very well and sounded amazing. Just how you'd imagine a vintage one to sound. It's got me looking for one now. If anyone wants to sell theirs, give me a shout. I'd prefer the sunburst, but ebony would do. "If you've got the money to buy one off of someone why not just go to dv 247? Their prices are good. £508 for vintage Sunburst, £517.00 for Arctic White & £531.00 for Ebony. I wish I'd known about this store before I went to Andertons. Edited June 3, 2018 by pst62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveornorm Posted June 3, 2018 Share Posted June 3, 2018 GAK have them for 508 too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommorichards Posted June 3, 2018 Author Share Posted June 3, 2018 I've also seen a couple on ebay for £502. I'd just prefer to help someone out who wanted to sell theirs second hand, as I try never to buy new unless I have to. Though it seems like these are holding their value well atm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grenadilla Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 Does the Embassy sound like a Thunderbird ? They are much cheaper with the glue-in neck. The extra mids of the Thunderbird might not be there on an Embassy . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrunoBass Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 I had a little noodle on one of these in GuitarGuitar Birmingham yesterday. Sounded great, looked very cool, and I liked the very sensible pickup pan pot (the way I have my Jazzes wired). The neck wasn’t for me, but still I really liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 I bought a set of Gotoh GB640 res-o-lite twiddlers for my thunderbird and got around to fitting them today. In my haste I think I could have fitted them a little straighter so I'll probably refit them at some point but I'm very happy with the classic vintage-cool 'long stem' look. The stock Wilkinsons were OK but in addition of look much better these are lighter and smoother. This GB640 set tunes the standard way, but there's also a GBR640 set which have reverse gearing like vintage Klusons and other modern versions that look like Klusons. Another difference common to the GB640 & GBR640 is that the baseplate fits flat without needing to drill dimples like you would for original vintage & vintage replica versions. They are made from something called duralumin alloy and weigh just 67g each. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 2 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: I bought a set of Gotoh GB640 res-o-lite twiddlers for my thunderbird and got around to fitting them today. In my haste I think I could have fitted them a little straighter so I'll probably refit them at some point but I'm very happy with the classic vintage-cool 'long stem' look. The stock Wilkinsons were OK but in addition of look much better these are lighter and smoother. This GB640 set tunes the standard way, but there's also a GBR640 set which have reverse gearing like vintage Klusons and other modern versions that look like Klusons. Another difference common to the GB640 & GBR640 is that the baseplate fits flat without needing to drill dimples like you would for original vintage & vintage replica versions. They are made from something called duralumin alloy and weigh just 67g each. Awesome. They look so much better than the stock ones. I'll get round to fitting mine at some point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 17, 2018 Share Posted June 17, 2018 47 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said: Awesome. They look so much better than the stock ones. I agree, they look great on the bass. I was pleased about how much smoother they are than the stock Wilkinsons. A nice touch is that there's an allen screw at the bottom end of each tuner's shaft to adjust the tension. 59 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said: I'll get round to fitting mine at some point! I'm sure you'll do a better job of lining them up than I did with mine - I carefully aligned the top row of screws which resulted in the lower row being slightly stepped. I guess the trick is to make a pen mark on masking tape between each pair of holes on the left & right sides of each tuner & keep those marks in a straight line. I'll fill & redrill to fix this sometime, but I'm not in a hurry as its not too bad. I'd never heard of Duralumin Alloy before, but I have found out one of its uses was for the frame of Zeppelins including the LZ 129 Hindenberg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 8 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: I'm sure you'll do a better job of lining them up than I did with mine I'm sure I won't, which is why I'll get my tech to do it 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst62 Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 (edited) 13 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: I bought a set of Gotoh GB640 res-o-lite twiddlers for my thunderbird and got around to fitting them today. In my haste I think I could have fitted them a little straighter so I'll probably refit them at some point but I'm very happy with the classic vintage-cool 'long stem' look. The stock Wilkinsons were OK but in addition of look much better these are lighter and smoother. This GB640 set tunes the standard way, but there's also a GBR640 set which have reverse gearing like vintage Klusons and other modern versions that look like Klusons. Another difference common to the GB640 & GBR640 is that the baseplate fits flat without needing to drill dimples like you would for original vintage & vintage replica versions. They are made from something called duralumin alloy and weigh just 67g each. Looks like there's not much room to play with there tbh, any straighter and the small apex's on the plates are gonna stick up over the edge of the headstock. Looking at yours I'm thinking that I think I may have a one off, as the serial number on mine is stamped into the headstock like on the Gibson's. Edited June 18, 2018 by pst62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetera Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 NBD! Love this...... looks, feels, plays and sounds superb. Epiphone have surpassed themselves with the Vintage Pro Thunderbird! I'd never waste my money on a new Gibson when this is so good..... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 OK, I've refitted my Gotoh res-o-lites, and I think this is an improvement. I also made another small change to the bass. 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetera Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Where did you get the Gibson truss cover mate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 The TRC was from aliexpress - £5.23 delivered. I agree with you about how it feels, plays and sounds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst62 Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 9 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: The TRC was from aliexpress - £5.23 delivered. I agree with you about how it feels, plays and sounds. Did it fit without having to make new holes? and how long did it take to arrive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 The hole at the pointy end is a bit off so it needed one new hole, but that hole will be hidden if I do want to put the original TRC back on at some point. I intitally wasn't keen to drill that hole but as I'd already drilled a bunch of holes for the Gotoh tuners on the back I decided to just go for it. It didn't take long to arrive, I think it was about a week, which was surprising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst62 Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 I found one on aliexpress for $5.99, filled details in to order one, but stopped in my tracks when it insisted on having my mobile number. (WTF?) Did you encounter the same thing? and if not do you recall which vendor you got yours from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 I think there was only one vendor selling these - I expect the mobile number is requested in case of courier problems and is more relevant for bulkier items. I don’t tend to give out mine without a struggle so if that was a required field i probably filled it with a bunch of zeros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst62 Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 Any of you other chaps with the new Vintage Pro Thunderbird find that their bridge saddles are aligned like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 yep - mine looks just like that. When I put on some low tension strings (La Bella white nylon flats) I was getting a bit of buzz at most the frets on the D string, and would have liked to be able to raise just the D, but after tweaking the relief and the height of both sides of the bridge a little I seem to have managed to get the optimum setup with no buzz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pst62 Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) Every other Thunderbird I've owned (with 3 point bridge) have had their saddles stepped. As in E being the highest and G being the lowest. Edited June 30, 2018 by pst62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 On 27/06/2018 at 17:23, pst62 said: Any of you other chaps with the new Vintage Pro Thunderbird find that their bridge saddles are aligned like this? That's normal, it's supposed to match the radius of the fingerboard. Although in my experience the A and D are too high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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