Pino's Ox Bird Thunder Bass

[HeadlessBassist]

I just found a very interesting supposed Pino bass for sale and did a little research. Anyone got any more info on the "Ox Bird" Bass he used with T-Bird pickups?

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6 by HeadlessBassist

[Rick's Fine '52]

2 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

I just found a very interesting supposed Pino bass for sale and did a little research. Anyone got any more info on the "Ox Bird" Bass he used with T-Bird pickups?

 

 

 

 

Well it’s clearly a cheap style copy of the one Pino played. Can’t tell much else from the pic. 

[HeadlessBassist]

Yes, I was thinking it all looks like nice enough hardware, but not £800 worth.

[Beedster]

I love that sellers shop, he has some very cool and interesting instruments 👍

[BTops]

The black surround around the neck pickup looks cheap and tacky.

[crazycloud]

Aesthetically I prefer the one Pino is holding.

[HeadlessBassist]

Right. I think I've figured out what these are now. The base instruments were by BaCH in the Czech Republic. Ox Bird is a luthier from Poland who specialises in customising basses.

 

 

 

[bloke_zero]

There are some differences as well, like rosewood neck and the pickup placement looks like they are about 2cm closer to the neck on the original.

[Steve Browning]

I know he used it to record the last Who album. The strings were changed for the recordings (through a Fender Deluxe!!) and I got given them. Not my thing so I passed them on.

[Alanko]

I think Pino modified it latterly with an additional sidewinder/mudbucker neck pickup. 
 

 

Trying to get Gibson tones from a bass built around Fender lines has been an on-and-off interest of mine over the years.

[Bassassin]

That's a bit rubbish. Fair enough if it'd been £300 but nearly £900 for that's a joke. It looks like a generic budget P type (check out the glued-on maple board) with Tbird pickups bodged on - I guarantee the cheap-looking surrounds are to cover chopped-out routing for the bridge unit, & the original P cutout on the pickguard. The headstock sticker's the most custom thing on offer.

 

I think it'd be a fun & quite straightforward project to build a far more accurate replica of Pino's than this thing. I bet you could do it for a good bit less too - including getting the body properly routed & a pickguard made.

 

 

Edited May 8 by Bassassin

[Alanko]

I'm confused about the listing as the manufacturer of both neck and body is listed as 'BaCH'. They built some okay vintage Thunderbird copies back when Gibson and Epiphone weren't doing so. The Dude Pit commissioned NR Thunderbirds from BaCH and there was a bit of a Tulipmania around modifying and upgrading them to '60s Gibson specs. From memory they shipped with generic soapbar pickups, which people peeled the outer covers off to epoxy into chrome covers.
 

I don't recall seeing a P Bass copy from BaCH, with or without routes for Thunderbird pickups. They did do a '51 style bass and a sort-of Rickenbacker 4004 copy.  That isn't to say a retailer couldn't have commissioned ten of these P/T-bird hybrids to mod into these Pino basses. I think the 'Oxbird' brand is a misnomer. From Googling it, it appears that these basses have turned up in Reverb in various finishes over time. 
 

 

Probably okay, probably overpriced but guaranteed to lose heaps of money if you try and sell it.
 

 

[Bassassin]

?

Edited May 8 by Bassassin
Went to edit a typo in my post and for some reason the entire thing was quoted instead. WHAT'S GOING OOOONNN???