John Birch Thunderbird Bass on Gumtree

[W1_Pro]

Apologies if this has been done before, but I just came accross this on Gumtree. https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/1970s-john-birch-fretless-thunderbird-bass-handmade-in-the-uk/1504913094

Its apparently a John Birch build from the 70's but the only thing that I can see on the bass that looks remotely genuine is the bridge. That looks like Birch in house hardware. The pickups the seller says are non orignal, in fact they seem to be guitar pickups, so thats a bust, and the machine heads could be anything. There is also no Birch branding at all on the thing, which is unusual in my experience, John normally got his name on every single piece of hardware on an instrument and the headstock too. Anyone have any thoughts as to what this might be?

[BigRedX]

It was discussed in this thread back in August.

 

The general consensus then was that the bridge is by John Birch, and the rest could be anything. If it was a genuine JB it would have had John Birch pickups on it when it was originally made, and I can't think of any sensible reason to replace them.

[Steve Browning]

A shop in Chichester currently has one of his Rik-a-like basses. Looks normal but for 6 controls instead of 4.

[W1_Pro]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

It was discussed in this thread back in August.

 

The general consensus then was that the bridge is by John Birch, and the rest could be anything. If it was a genuine JB it would have had John Birch pickups on it when it was originally made, and I can't think of any sensible reason to replace them.

Thanks Red, I had an idea this had been covered before but I could not remember where..

[W1_Pro]

3 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

A shop in Chichester currently has one of his Rik-a-like basses. Looks normal but for 6 controls instead of 4.

Which one Steve? A proper Birchenbacker is a rare and wonderful thing....