The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs => Topic started by: Alanko on July 29, 2015, 02:26:38 PM
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Hello all,
I'm getting bad GAS for a white/cream Tokai Thunderbird. I quite like the contrast of the black hardware, but I quite like the chromed out look of the originals. There is a seller on Ebay that has empty T-bird pickup shells and pickup rings for sale. How easy is it to bury the Tokai pickups in the shells and mount the rings etc?
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Welcome young "chromling" we have much to share with you! Beware of dark forces that lurk hereabouts :vader:
Seriously, discussed all over the place here - it's been done and done well. Not sure on the Tokai pickups but I know that other plastic pickups have been converted. Folks will speak up presently - there are a few methods that have been done.
Just remember, rule one, CHROME SOUNDS BETTER! ;)
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All this chrome nonsense is bad for the environment... :vader:
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The Tokai pickups seems to be quite deep, whereas the covers appear to be quite shallow. Is there a good workaround for this?
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You don't need all that hight. Most of the pickup will sink into the body.
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Is preferring black to chrome a symptom of growing up in the 80s? As much as I like looking at chrome on old Gibsons, I dig black hardware on everything.
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How easy is it to bury the Tokai pickups in the shells and mount the rings etc?
I'm not sure about the Tokai pickups specifically, but a couple folks here had done this with black Gibson TB+ pickups - literally prying the black plastic covers away from the epoxy potting, and stuffing the remaining pickup innards into chrome/nickel covers.
I had followed their lead on my BaCH Thunderbird back-dating project. If it helps, some photos can be found here: http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=2773.90
I'd recommend being emotionally prepared to completely destroy a pickup in the process ;D.. but that said, it was actually pretty easy and painless with the Gibby pickups.
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Is preferring black to chrome a symptom of growing up in the 80s? As much as I like looking at chrome on old Gibsons, I dig black hardware on everything.
:vader: UWETIC! :vader: Next you'll be saying that black plastic sounds better! >:(
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IIRC Mark was one of the first, if not the very first, to peel off the plastic covers.
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For the Artec humbuckers on a BaCH you only need to round off the (plastic) corners a bit. The chrome (or nickel) casing will be a perfectly tight fit. Even the mount holes are aligned.
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I don't yet own a Tokai Thunderbird so I don't have the pickups in front of me to study. I've pulled apart about a dozen cheap soapbars at this point in time, and often 'epoxy potting' is nothing of the sort! I suppose I could bury the coils of the Tokai pickups in something like Envirotex Lite, within the chrome covers sold on Ebay? That way madness lies. I would also have to check that there are other aftermarket pickups that fit the Tokai routes.
I purchased an Epi T-bird body off of Ebay last year which is slowly turning into a Thunderbird II Fenderbird with an original WRHB as the engine. The previous owner routed it (with a flathead screwdriver and dremel sanding wheels) for some aftermarket chrome T-bird pickups and it looked like the pickup routes needed a fair bit of widening to accommodate vintage repro pickups.
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:vader: UWETIC! :vader: Next you'll be saying that black plastic sounds better! >:(
Heh, I should have put a smilie on there or something... Since I've never gotten to play a "real" Gibson with either of the pups in question, it's purely a cosmetic thing here.
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I think Herr Fraulien took a little modelers saw and circumcised a Gibson soap bar if memory serves me right ???
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I peeled a damaged RD Artist pup to put in a TB for the PC for aesthetic purposes, but that's coming out if I ever get round to fitting that gold Lollar I have...
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Well the Tokai is purchased, so watch this space. The first step will be to probably put a chrome bridge and tuners on it and see where I end up. The pickups appear to be narrower soapbar types, which raises a question for me.
When you have chrome '60s Thunderbird pickups, do they sit on the surface, given that they look about as thick as a modern cell phone, or do they sit in routes? Would I need to route out the pickup cavities wider, or just have the pickups sitting in their cavities with a wider pickup cover straddling the route, like a Mudbucker?
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Play the beastie first and decide carefully on where you go... there are some good pups in some of these clones...
You will almost certainly need to rout...
My PC has a MB (ta OMC) in the neck slot and the bridge used to have a PC humbucker (rip) that had an EMG for a couple of decades, then my damage RD Artist pup, then I routed out to take a '76 TB casing (ta Lady V) with the skinned RD inside... I've had a gold Lollar TB to fit for a couple of years now, but I'm not the quickest of workers...
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/Peter%20Cook%20Custom/20100420008-1.jpg)
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I would rather not route. :-\
My latest wheeze is to put PJ pickups in my Jazz bass. I had a custom pickguard made up, but routing into Fender wood gave me the absolute fear.
The Jazz bass is probably worthy of this forum as I've stuck a lefty neck on it, ala Glenn Cornick.
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I've only played Tokai Fender clones, but they were all fine basses, just stock from the factory . No need to do anything.
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I have bought a number of those pickup covers and mounted Dimarzio Model Gs in them with great results. Chrome you say? I make both the bridge and Pickup covers (ashtrays) for Thunderbirds I'll post pics later today.
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It is now yesterday's tomorrow, God of Thunder! :mrgreen:
I've got the bass in front of me now, and I've replaced the pickguard screws and machine heads with chrome variants. It already looks happier. These basses come with highmass Badass-style bridges, again in black. I've had a 3-pointer on an Epi EB-0 bass, and if I had to pick a favorite from either the 3-pointer or the BBOT, I think I would get kicked off this forum, have to think about it for a while...
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