The Last Bass Outpost

Can anyone tell me the thickness of the thinest point of the belly contour on an original NR Bird? In inches, please? I have a Red TH-1 with no body contour and I am seriously thinking about attempting to carve one out but I was wondering how deep to carve out. Even better, if someone has specs of the body contour in general that would be great. If that makes sense. Basically, when looking at the back of the bass, how far in do I go from the right of the bass? And how far down from the neck pocket, etc? Does any of this make sense?

So, I have some questions about changing the pots on a Bachbird TH-1. I know the stock pots are pretty crappy but I was wondering what I would gain from upgrading to better pots and a new jack? Obviously I'm assuming it will improve the sound but what would be the difference? Would it be give the bass more bottom end, etc.? I was wondering if changing the pots would affect the output of the pickups? Right now it still has the one pickup but I bought a second artec pickup that I will be installing soon. The output seems pretty low and the pickup sounds kind of muddy too. Will changing the pots help this stuff? 

I finally got my replacement TH-1 today and it's AWESOME!!! At least it looks awesome, I haven't plugged it in yet but I will tonight at band practice. I can't wait. For those of you that did or did not see any of my previous threads about this, I am the one that ordered a TH-1 Bachbird and it showed up with a cracked headstock. Well it took a little while but I finally got the replacement and I want to give a big thanks to Rob for helping me get a replacement. It was frustrating having to wait for a new one and worrying about the insurance, etc. but it was also a pain in ass for Rob so I'm thankful that he made sure I was happy in the end.

So, regarding the cracked bass. More details on that soon.

Chromium,
Hey, not sure if you remember but a while ago I asked you where you got your pickguard made and you told me that you got it at Terrapin. Well, I just got an email from Terrapin saying that he no longer will make that pickguard. Damn. My question for you is, did you use Rob's template to get that made or a different one? I have Rob's template and I have a friend of a friend that has a cnc machine and claims can make me one for cheap. I would ask Godofthunder (Scott, I think) but I want one that is Black/white/Black. Thanks.

So I know Rob and maybe some others have taken the Bachbird Artec pickup and filed the corners and covered it with the greatdealz covers but I was wondering if anyone has successfully removed the actual Artec chrome/plastic cover? I think that would be better probably for the sound and so that way you might be able to actually use the mounting screw holes on the greatdealz cover to install the pickup. For all you guys that have swapped out the Artec pickups for better pickups and have the Artec pickup laying around and not being used, is this something you would be interested in experimenting with?

What do you guys think of Epiphone thunderbird pickups?

Does Lindy Fralin make some Thunderbird pickups? I could have sworn that I had seen them before somewhere on the net but now I can't seem to find any info about them anywhere. Am I just imagining this or did they make them at some time because they don't have anything on their site about them now? If they do or did make them in the past, does anyone here have them and what are your thoughts about them? Are they replacements for vintage Thunderbirds or are they the size of the newer Thunderbirds?