The Last Bass Outpost

I may have to go back and buy this thing, why I don't know. But with the Thunderbird connection and besides it is just so beautiful.

I agree. I have this just because (I think) it's so beautiful:

I've also heard this for a long time - at least 20-25 years - first time may have been from Paul Chandler when I worked at Gary Brawer Stringed Instrument Repair in San Francisco (not certain on that but heard the same quite a few other times). Mike Lull and Jeff Ament spoke about this recently with Bass Player mag (I had mentioned that to Jeff years ago as well)

ML I was a Thunderbird fanatic back in the ’70s, and I’ve owned a bunch of them. But I found them to always be a little unwieldy—they played kinda funny and sounded tremendous. And what says “rock” more than a Thunderbird bass? I hated the ergonomics, but loved the sound. So I put my mind to making a bass that balanced well, and sounded like the originals. It was more of a task than I thought. We designed a new bridge and tailpiece. I took a set of original ’64 Thunderbird pickups apart and found out exactly why they sounded the way they did. I started making pickup covers out of a nickel-silver alloy, magnets out of alnico 4. A typical humbucker has two coils and a magnet down below. This one has two coils with the magnet standing vertically between them. The result is a thin, very high-output humbucker. The neck pickup measures 8k [resonant frequency], and the neck pickup is 9k. The steel base plate becomes part of the magnet structure. I had to have all these pieces made from scratch. In the process of researching this project, I found the company that made pickup covers for Gibson back in the ’60s.
    JA Those original pickups were for lap steel guitar, right?
    ML Gibson had discontinued an 8-string lap steel in 1962, and they had a ton of these pickup coils laying around. They took two of those coils, stuck them to a steel base plate, and put a nickel-silver alloy cover on it, and suddenly they had a new bass pickup. So I made them just like that. The T-Bass pickup sounds exactly like the original ‘60s Thunderbird pickup, but they’re more consistent.

Mother Jones was being more than a little hyperbolic; they're the left's equivalent to the Wall Street Journal and Faux News.

My point was not the article itself, it was the DOJ/DOI letter that it linked to.
Interesting to me was that letter specifically denies use of SWAT or similar tactical teams re: Gibson - while this has been the characterization (often with the obligatory Nazi references) and de facto perception by many (an at least equally reactionary version here: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/278379/gibson-raid-much-fret-about-pat-nolan?page=1 ) but also in less obviously political coverage. This made me think that I had, in fact, seen no evidence of SWAT personnel, gear, helmets, flak jackets or weapons beyond standard side arms (all the photos showing the investigation team seem to support DOJ/DOI's assertion), and realize that the only evidence I am aware of are Henry J's assertions (hardly a disinterested source - and, yes, one could say the same for DOJ/DOI) and that of those repeating him. I could be wrong - and am not really arguing that there were no SWAT teams - only that there seems to be a conspicuous lack of evidence beyond hearsay for something that many are throwing around as absolute fact - especially in an age when everyone has instant photo/video capacity - and it is certainly possible I've missed something that would back up Henry's version.

I do think the virtue of the Media Matters piece is that it is non-hyperbolic, well researched and substantiated.

this is as inane as having shipped basses without trussrods.  

I'm rubbing my eyes. How is this company being run? If this was a Clifford Chance client, the involved team would have a lot to answer to. A frigging disaster, no less.

A bit off topic but I have to ask, is this really true? (shipped basses without trussrods)

The Embassy basses are great but I'll put a vote in for the 60s reverse birds. I had both at the same time and just preferred the neck carve, general feel and tone on the t-bird - oddly, the reverse birds are really comfortable for me - I had more dive/balance issues with the Embassy - though I think that issue is exaggerated all the way around. Upper register access (at least above the 17th fret) is a legit gripe on the reverse birds though not much of an issue for me personally - though I will say the upper register sounds better on that bass than any other I've had 

Sorry to resurrect a near dead thread (though always nice to look at Phelham Blue examples IMO...),

The question about how "the raised center section taper off and blend into the body sides by the fret board" got me thinking, I've seen '60s reverse birds both ways (with taper and without) that looked legit in all other regards (including finish).
Anyone know what the straight story is on that? One way on the early ones and the other on the later ones?

Carlo is that Tom Petty? Sure looks like it to me!

I thought the same thing...