Thunderbirds

[Matty]

Hi guys

Im on the look out fr a new bass, and a thunderbird has really taken my fancy.
Whilst i'd love the 1976 gibson on ebay now, i cant really stretch tha far.
One of my local places has an Epiphone version for £199, scond hand, which seems a bit expensive.
I have also found somewhere doing the Tokai version For £249 delivered.
Tht really seems like a great deal, but what are people's experiances with either th Tokai or Epiphone versions?

Are there any other copies i should look at?

Cheers
Matt

[xilddx]

They look great! But if you want a bass sound, I would look elsewhere

[spinynorman]

There's a steady stream of Epi TBirds on eBay, actually taking shipping into account £199 isn't a bad price if it's in good nick, especially if you could get a gig bag that fits thrown in. It won't sound exactly like a Gibson, due to the wood and bolt-on neck, but it looks the part and the finish will probably be better.

Never had a modern Tokai, but what I've heard suggests they're not what they were in the 80s. I'd go with the Epi.

There was an Alpine White Epi on eBay recently that I was lusting after, but it went for £335 and I wasn't lusting that much.

[Buzz]

Try before you buy!

I'm not sure about the Tokai ones, but the standard Epiphone is massively different in neck dimensions to the Gibson one.

It's quite odd, they're both thinish at the nut, but the Epiphone is very wide. It's something silly like 1.73" (standard Fender P-bass is 1.625").
The current Gibson one is around 1.5 (or at least, the Nikki Sixx version is) and the new Epiphone T-Bird Pro is also a 1.50" (which is Jazz Bass width).
And you won't be going high on the frets either, the heel and the small cutaway get in the way on the basic Epiphone model, after about the 16th fret it becomes quite awkward.
I don't find it too difficult to play, partly because it's thin it makes stretching easier, but you'd need to see whether you get on with it. I actually get along with it quite well although a tad slimmer widthwise would be nice.

If I was still in the Midlands, I could have dropped off my Epi T-Bird if you wanted to get a feel (I can't really sell it to a BC member, it's a Friday afternoon special and the bridge isn't in the correct place by about 2mm meaning the E string is very near enough the edge of the fretboard, so it'll probably require some magic on the neck pocket to move it to the side a bit).


Personally, I'm hankering after a T-Bird Pro. Neck through laminate neck and active 'leccies at <£400, and moved strap pins ? Yes please.


They do sound the dogs bollocks though, even tho the sound is very much a rockier sound, it works well in lots of contexts and fits in well.


EDIT: The 3 point bridge on the standard Epi and Gibson is crap as well, the Tokai and the new T-Bird Pro have much better bridges. I've actually got a Hipshot SuperTone replacement bridge in black sitting in my draw, bought to correct the problems with mine, sadly it wasn't enough to cure it, but if you or anyone else wants it, I'd be willing to part with it for £50, which is pretty much half of what I paid in Decemeber. Sadly lacking the large allen key as I was never given one, so that needs to be sourced as well.

Edited February 24, 2009 by Buzz

[Shaggy]

[quote name='Buzz' post='418062' date='Feb 24 2009, 01:03 AM']EDIT: The 3 point bridge on the standard Epi and Gibson is crap as well, the Tokai and the new T-Bird Pro have much better bridges. I've actually got a Hipshot SuperTone replacement bridge in black sitting in my draw, bought to correct the problems with mine, sadly it wasn't enough to cure it, but if you or anyone else wants it, I'd be willing to part with it for £50, which is pretty much half of what I paid in Decemeber. Sadly lacking the large allen key as I was never given one, so that needs to be sourced as well.[/quote]

Damn, if that'd been chrome I'd have had it for my RD!
Have to say when I recently tried out an Epi T'bird recently I was far more impressed with the sound than I thought I''d be - rather more Fender-ish than Gibson, but very rock

[Prosebass]

I always thought Thunderbird 4 was cool !

[hatori]

I have a Tokai one and had to have it set up and frets stoned (thats a new one). Its really nice to play but I now wish I had bought the Epi, purely because you have the potential for a 'Fenderbird' if the neck breaks.

[stubarura]

sounds to me like you were hoping the neck would break

[tarcher]

[quote name='hatori' post='418623' date='Feb 24 2009, 06:23 PM']I have a Tokai one and had to have it set up and frets stoned (thats a new one). Its really nice to play but I now wish I had bought the Epi, purely because you have the potential for a 'Fenderbird' if the neck breaks.[/quote]


I'm toying with the idea of a headless Fenderbird if I could get hold of a Steinberger bridge and a Mex Jazz neck.

[Matty]

Well, after seeing the Cure last night (incredible!) my Thunderbird gas has taken a massive jump forward, so im going to go for an Epiphone i think.

Cheers for your help guys!

M