Epiphone Rex Brown Thunderbird

[Ken]

I think TB+ would've made more sense for it than 760s.

[uwe]

I find it hard to believe there may be people out there who don't love the metal song "Why Are You Closed?" 

That is EXACTLY how that stuff sounds to my ears!!! Disconnected riffing by down-tuned guitars with industrial tonality, drum rolls exploding everywhere, no discernible meter and some guy yelling over it.

I'm an old man.

[westen44]

I don't like it, either.  I just think it's funny.  If that guy knew a video had been made of his rant, he would be even angrier. 

[Ken]

Interesting that this bass has a brass nut.  Has any other Thunderbird had that from the factory?

[Dave W]

   I've been tracking China vs Indonesia Epiphone build quality for a while now through the inventory coming into the store. I have to say that I am very impressed with what is coming out of Epiphone's China plant, as I understand it Epiphone owns the China plant while in Indonesia the work is contracted. The new MIC Jack Casadys are great. I'll be honest though a lot of customers see the made in China stinker and won't touch 'em.

It's my understanding that Gibson owns two factories in Qingdao, China where Epis are made. Indonesian Epis are contracted, made in Samick's Indonesia factory.

[godofthunder]

so they're definitely not bicentennial sidewinders at all

    No they are not, Sorry about that bit of misinformation. Definitely Probucker 760s.

[godofthunder]

  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!”"

[Basvarken]

Yeah another example of a bass player who does not know the difference. Like I mentioned in a post above, there really are a lot of them.

[patman]

My Epi t bird pro has a brass nut

[patman]

Just played a job last night on my Les Paul tribute, and I wished for the T bird pro. The les Paul is too dark for my taste. Was a tiny stage and I didn’t want to deal with either of my birds size given the tiny stage.

[uwe]

Alas!, historical perception can be deceptive … Tom Hamilton played his Bicentennial like for an estimated three seconds (and didn’t like it for his more percussive style) and Pete Way played mostly Fenders in the studio (inter alia producer Leo Lyons’ Jazz Bass) "because the Gibson didn’t record that well". But he liked the look of the TBird, which is why it became his mainstay bass live.

[Dave W]

  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!”"

Richard Akers is Epiphone's longtime R & D manager. I doubt he was in the workshop actually making pickups.

OTOH there could have been a prototype made with '76-style pickups. We have no way of knowing.

[n!k]

I think I'm going insane. The more I look at this, the more I think they didn't do the silver and gold mix enough! They should have used nickel bass saddles in the gold bridge, nickel tuning machines with the gold keys

[Basvarken]

Like this sketch that I drew a while ago.
Brooks SG (Silver & Gold)



It started with the idea to use gold coloured frets (a special sort of brass actually) for the 3rd, 5th, 7th etc positions instead of the traditional markers.
But then I figured what if I took that idea a bit further with all metal parts of the bass.

[Grog]

Like this sketch that I drew a while ago.
Brooks SG (Silver & Gold)



It started with the idea to use gold coloured frets (a special sort of brass actually) for the 3rd, 5th, 7th etc positions instead of the traditional markers.
But then I figured what if I took that idea a bit further with all metal parts of the bass.

Nice! I like the plating combo! The lack of fret markers reminds me of a conversation I had with a coworker who played classical guitar. He would always say “Scales, scales, scale's”. He would go home at night & play scales for hours. He mentioned that the lack of fret markers was because a good classical guitarist felt they were so skilled, they didn’t need them. Neck memory? This could be the bass equivalent…….