NAMM 2011: Return of the TB front jack? (And other things, but no chrome!!!)

[uwe]

Not wishing to retread overfamiliar ground here, far from it, Scott, (insert angelic smiley here), but you are aware that these instruments have very good upper fretboard access as is, just in case you never saw one ...

[godofthunder]

 I did actually play one (black) at the HOG, $750 out the door but I really like the trans cherry, I was hoping they would get one in. I tried to order through MF a couple of times and all they had was black so I kept waiting and then they were gone.

[lowend1]

They should just build a big-headstocked, big-tunered, chrome-festooned PROPER Thunderbird already. I'm sure that if they really tried (meaning pulling some R&D staff off their jobs inspecting somebody's old LP for fly crap from the 60s) they could find a way to build a faithful reissue that wouldn't lose its head (literally). With all the reinforcing techniques and materials they have nowadays...

[dadagoboi]

They should just build a big-headstocked, big-tunered, chrome-festooned PROPER Thunderbird already. I'm sure that if they really tried (meaning pulling some R&D staff off their jobs inspecting somebody's old LP for fly crap from the 60s) they could find a way to build a faithful reissue that wouldn't lose its head (literally). With all the reinforcing techniques and materials they have nowadays...

Carbon fiber reinforcement in the heel area with or without a volute would do it.  The original 1 less fret clear of the body design and Resolites would be a big help with neck dive.  And NICKEL hardware like the originals.

IMO there just isn't enough of a market to justify it.  Most (younger) bass players are very happy with the modern 'bird and variations.  They even put up with the less than ideal bridge (just set a few up and compare them to ANYTHING else available for accuracy and ease compared to that 3 teat wonder).

[uwe]

One day I will give an online course  on "setting up the three point - easily and perfectly!". There seems to be much demand for it. 

There is nothing you cannot do with that bridge - at worst you need to swap saddles, at the very worst you need to file the notches a bit deeper.

[dadagoboi]

One day I will give an online course  on "setting up the three point - easily and perfectly!". There seems to be much demand for it. 

There is nothing you cannot do with that bridge - at worst you need to swap saddles, at the very worst you need to file the notches a bit deeper.

You just confirmed my post "at worst you need to swap saddles, at the very worst you need to file the notches a bit deeper."  Saddles are meant to provide proper string fall off for best tone, when you file them you compromise their efficiency.  It's a solution that's not acceptable in a well designed instrument. 

[Dave W]

I did actually play one (black) at the HOG, $750 out the door but I really like the trans cherry, I was hoping they would get one in. I tried to order through MF a couple of times and all they had was black so I kept waiting and then they were gone.

At least HOG had one in stock. I never saw one at a store, and I suspect very few stores ever took a chance on stocking them. When you come out with something new, you have to get it in stores so people can try it. It's hard to generate a mass market for something like this off online sales alone.

[godofthunder]

" Three teat wonder " LMAO I have to agree with Carlo the 3 point is a piece of P.O.S. The more you file the less tension on the string, it is at it's worst on the E string. I have always called it the "turdomatic"

[Dave W]

One day I will give an online course  on "setting up the three point - easily and perfectly!". There seems to be much demand for it. 

There is nothing you cannot do with that bridge - at worst you need to swap saddles, at the very worst you need to file the notches a bit deeper.

Other bridges can do just as much and people don't need online courses to figure them out.

[TBird1958]

One day I will give an online course  on "setting up the three point - easily and perfectly!". There seems to be much demand for it.  

There is nothing you cannot do with that bridge - at worst you need to swap saddles, at the very worst you need to file the notches a bit deeper.

 I think most just don't get them.......Mine all work great with low action the way I like and sustain forever if I want, all I had to do was give them to Lull for a set up, so I don't get the comments.

 Some end shots.

[uwe]

I probably own more three-point bridges on basses than most people here do. I had a handful of cases where I had to file the slots deeper (never on new saddles, too high saddles were mostly an issue of the seventies), I'd say one out of 10 at the most, my singlecut prototype Ripper from the early seventies and my LP Signature come to mind. Both are basses where the neck is set too low and the bridges feature ultra-high seventies saddles hence the issue with the filing (which you wouldn't be able to do on most other bridges, so you'd be stuck).

Your issues are beyond me. I'm a no-buzz, perfect intonation, low action (but totally buzz free) OBSESSIVE, yet setting up a three point never fills me with dread, I have yet to encounter one I could not get to work, that did not have sufficient intonation range, did not accomodate my desired action etc ... The only three point I ever replaced was the one on the Blackbird and I did that just to give the Hipshot replacement a try (which is in no respect significantly better, who needs a TBird with a little more sustain when the bass is already very "sustainy" as is), the original bridge was fine. I've never had an issue with saddle pressure (even in the few cases where I had to file).

What I do like about the three-point ist that all you need is a regular size screwdriver for intonation and a man-size one



for the studs and you're all set. Everything is freely accessible and you have all the torque in the world adjusting, no fidgety easily lost hex keys in weird sizes that get gorged.

The three-point, comrades, is the Stormovik, T-34 or Kalaschnikow of bridges!!! Fool-proof even in winter offensives.

[godofthunder]

Uwe, While you may own more Gibsons than most of us I have been playing Gibsons with all the associated bridges for over 30 years and in the course of those 30 plus years have owned  possibly as many Gibsons as you have at the moment . We have a difference of opinion, You like 'em, I don't. The only reason I don't remove them  on sight these days is I don't want to devalue a vintage bass. 2000 up is fair game.

[dadagoboi]

I think that most of us who work on our Tbirds probably feel that there are better solutions when it comes to bridges.  I agree with Scott, if it came on the bass I deal with it, but designing on a blank piece of paper there are much better solutions.  There were no problems with the original bridge except its location and possibly being 1/8" (3mm) too little adjustment fore and aft.  Instead of fixing that with the first RI they chose to plop on the 3 point.

Dave said it all too well, you shouldn't need a tutorial to adjust a bridge.

[uwe]

The tutorial offer was irony, I should have used italics! 

I like them mostly for the fact that they are comfortable handrests, look like no other bridge (so does the Ric bridge, but that is a beast to adjust and doesn't offer the same range) and look right on a Gibson just like a Fender bridge does on a P or J. I have yet to see a bridge that looks better on a TBird. Sturdy, but at the same time light in design, you can even dust the bass' surface underneath!   And the simpicity, yet workability of the design appeals to me. No, you can't adjust string spacing, but who needs that with the magnetic field of Gibson pups, especially the TB Plus ones?

Of course it's not a state of the art bridge, it's an almost forty year old concept. But neither is the TBird as such with its lousy upper register access which wouldn't be acceptable these days or the oversize headstock.

I'm always intrigued by new bridge concepts and if Gibson brought out a TBird with monorails as a bridge I'd buy it just for that.

I have no issues with the old sixties bridges except that I like that the three-point doesn't cover up as much of the bass and has the string-thru-body option (which Gibson never applied with the TBirds for whatever reason!).

[lowend1]

 Some end shots.

Whew. I was almost afraid to scroll down...