My GAS is in remission! NGD!

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
User avatar
MrFingers
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1560
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:50 am
Location: Puss Creek - Brussels - Belgium

Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by MrFingers » Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:09 am

To hitchhike on this, the Epiphone Thunderbird 60 Bass is also the most accurate T-bird currently in production. Neck-through 9-ply, big headstock, huge chrome buckers that are built (and sound) alike the originals of the 1960's, 2-point bridge,... The only thing missing are the chrome pickup & bridge covers.

Epiphone is basically humiliating Gibson, so get them while it lasts, I can see Gibson intervening sooner than later.

Image

User avatar
Lost In Autumn
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 886
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2020 3:01 am
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Lost In Autumn » Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:57 am

mbene085 wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:55 pm
Lost In Autumn wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 4:46 pm
None at all. The only odd thing to me about playing this, is where my picking hand falls. I ordinarily play between the neck and neck pickup; on this one , my hand falls near the bridge. This makes the tone noticeably brighter and oddly, I don’t hate it. Because it’s so long, it feels like playing my baritone.
Congrats, those new Epiphone firebirds look amazing. I just got a Firebird recently, myself, and discovered the exact same thing as you - my hand naturally falls much closer to the bridge because of the different ergonomics.

I actually love that about it. It feels different, or more specifically, I feel different playing it compared to my Fenders, which is basically the whole point of owning different guitars in my eyes. It makes me do a bunch of small things differently, which shakes things up and helps keep me feeling interested and creative.

Mine still needs some mods (it's a Gibson, so it has the overwound ceramic pickups and a severe lack of shielding), but I can see why Larry would say firebirds are the best. Proper firebird pickups are probably the most versatile of any vintage pickup design, being bright and dynamic enough to play anything you'd want to play on a single coil, but thick enough to play anything you'd want to play on a humbucker with the tone rolled back a bit, and noiseless. The guitar itself is unique among 60's designs in its ergonomics, construction method and looks. It's big but surprisingly light weight, funky looking but surprisingly balanced on a strap.

I admired them from afar for years but a trade offer finally brought one my way, and I was quite surprised at just how much I instantly bonded with the model.

Sounds like you're getting on nicely with yours. At that price, thats really a whole of of guitar you got, especially with the properly-specced pickups.
This is the main reason that I gave to my partner for why I needed so many guitars- scale length, ergonomics, tuning, pickup style all contribute to inspiration and creativity. at some point, I jumped the shark and went straight into obsessive hoarding, but there is some validity to the comment. I will likely put at least 3, if not 4 guitars up for sale as a result of this purchase.

I can't get over how great these pickups are, it's really astounding. I was actually expecting them to sound like the Artec pickups in my DiPinto Belvedere- which actually sound pretty decent, but also sound like pickups on an asian made, imported guitar. the Probucker FB720s seem really great- playing back to back with my guitars with Fralin hum cancelling P90's, both steel pole and AlNiCo pole versions, they're in that same league. I have a pair of Mr Fabulous Firebird pickups from Urbano Magnetics waiting to be installed in the DiPinto after I refinish the body and headstock, I'm curious to see how they compare.

User avatar
seenoevil II
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1307
Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2019 12:59 pm

Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by seenoevil II » Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:57 pm

I found this thread to try and hype myself up into pulling the trigger on one of these. I really wish you didn't tell me what you paid as that's just plain never gonna happen at this point in the game. But I honestly don't trust that epiphone will will restock these with as good of quality. The way covid has made everything go to shit, those factories must really be under the gun to catch up.

IDK. I'm feeling very impulsive right now. Are you cool with there being another FB slinger roaming Philly?
If it wasn't for disappointment, I wouldn't have any appointments.

User avatar
Lost In Autumn
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 886
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2020 3:01 am
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by Lost In Autumn » Sat Jan 01, 2022 8:08 pm

seenoevil II wrote:
Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:57 pm
I found this thread to try and hype myself up into pulling the trigger on one of these. I really wish you didn't tell me what you paid as that's just plain never gonna happen at this point in the game. But I honestly don't trust that epiphone will will restock these with as good of quality. The way covid has made everything go to shit, those factories must really be under the gun to catch up.

IDK. I'm feeling very impulsive right now. Are you cool with there being another FB slinger roaming Philly?
It’s still one of my top 2-3 favorite guitars that I own, perhaps 2nd to the Starmaster I built and ranking equal to, if not slightly above several other, more valuable and highly spec’s guitars. It feels so good in my hands and apart from the Les Trem, it remains stock. Get one, I don’t mind.

User avatar
cincinnatiharry
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 444
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:53 pm
Location: Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by cincinnatiharry » Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:01 pm

Maggieo wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:01 am
IIRC (and I may not be), the Epi 'Birds are set-neck.

Either way, that's a fantastic guitar!!! :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
As an owner of 2 Gibson Firebirds and 1 Thunderbird, let me tell you: set necks are better. Why?

You can’t reset a body thru neck, if there is anything wrong with it is wrong for life.

I much rather have a set neck non-reverse.

BEWARE RANT AHEAD!

Speaking of Firebirds… I just took the Bigsby, Vibramate, and roller bridge off mine tonight and put the stock hardware back on.

I tried EVERYTHING to get that sucker to return to pitch and it just wouldn’t do it. I lubricated the nut, had a new nut cut, lubricated the new nut, check the install of the Bigsby multiple times, swapped springs, put a penny in the spring holder, tried 11s, 10s, 9s (had the nut filed each time). I made sure to “under then over” wrap the strings at the tuner shaft. 2 different luthiers couldn’t make it consistently return to pitch.

I am beginning to think the only reliable trem system that always returns to pitch is a *gasp* Floyd Rose… and I am not putting one of those on my Firebirds.
"some misguided Marin county hot-tubber"

User avatar
cincinnatiharry
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 444
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:53 pm
Location: Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Re: My GAS is in remission! NGD!

Post by cincinnatiharry » Thu Jan 06, 2022 1:04 pm

MrFingers wrote:
Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:09 am
To hitchhike on this, the Epiphone Thunderbird 60 Bass is also the most accurate T-bird currently in production. Neck-through 9-ply, big headstock, huge chrome buckers that are built (and sound) alike the originals of the 1960's, 2-point bridge,... The only thing missing are the chrome pickup & bridge covers.

Epiphone is basically humiliating Gibson, so get them while it lasts, I can see Gibson intervening sooner than later.

Image
Good advice, I bought a black one: it’s en route.
"some misguided Marin county hot-tubber"

Post Reply