The Last Bass Outpost

But those lacked a true neck pup in my book too, I thought the pups too far back!  They changed that on the later worn satin, BFG and oversize LP models btw which I preferred for that reason.

Spare me with 'Jaco'esque' bridge pups, I hate that bony-skeletal sound. The worst thing about Jaco was his sound.

  Bridge pups? We don't need no stink'n bridge pups.

    As a teen I ran into a used 4005 at the long shuttered Benson's Music in Rochester NY.  Hanging high on the wall it was one of the most beautiful basses I had ever seen.  Expressing intrest Mike the proprietor said " naw you don't want that " he went on to explain how poor they sounded and to prove his point he plugged it in and played it. Transparent is the word I used to describe it's sound then and I still do, I remembered thinking even my Hofner sounds better.
   The 4005 is a beautiful bass, I still want one even though I know it won't produce a sound I'll find usable.
   Kudos to Rickenbacker for bringing it back!

So it went from Vintage Pro to '60s Thunderbird to '64 Thunderbird ?

Correct.

This just arrived last night,  it doesn't disappoint.

   I'm really looking forward to seeing the end result! Amazing!

  Absolutely blown away by this bass. I'm a bit long winded, playing starts at 4.20.

  This is where I got the '76 pickup info. Read the last sentence. Rex discussing his new bass. He seems a bit confused.
 

"“Sometimes, it’s not about the price, but the quality, and Epiphone has some of the coolest bass designs ever made, IMO,” says Rex Brown. “I’ve had Thunderbird’s as long as I can remember! There is nothing cooler looking than a TBird… All my favorite bass players growing up have played them!! From Tom Hamilton to Pete Way, these fckr’s Rule, you fool…” Rex adds, “I worked really hard with the Epiphone guys, to design something that has never been done before! The pick-ups were made by Richard Aker, who has been with Gibson for 40+ years. We put the same thumpers that were in the ‘76 Anniversary T-Birds, passive & deadly!”"