Along with Ripper and Grabber, Thunderbird is one of the few established bass names Gibson has (that said, if guitarists call my TBirds "Firebird basses", I'm not insulted, it's close enough). And, inevitably, those letter and number combination names for basses have no recognition value whatsoever outside of the small Gibson bass enthusiast communities. For the simple reason that there are more guitarists out there than bassists, there are more people who know what an ES-something is rather than an EB-something.
Besides, I always wanted an ES-335 bass, it makes me (a bit) more like him who may not be named in every thread, oh beloved Richard Harold, I am not worthy, but I will dutifully practice that hip swing ...
What's wrong about the three point bridge on this bass I cry (other than our usual schism in good humor)? If there is one bass where its structural peculiarities really make sense than it is a hollowbody with an arched top where all flat base bridges fail or require an inordinate amount of routing.