New Epiphone Thunderbird video

[Basvarken]

Years ago, when I was working on the Non Reverse Thunderbird with BaCH we were looking for some kind of low budget humbucker to put in the bass. All participants were going to replace them anyway, so there was no need to use anything special. So we used an Artec. One of many manufacturers in that region.
Roman (BaCH) told me one of the manufacturers was supplier for Epiphone. Epiphone does not make parts like these themselves. They like to keep it a secret. But just like all other parts (potentiometers, tuners, strings, knobs et cetera) they just buy their pickups off specialized manufacturers.
Same goes for Squier.

Makes perfect sense to me.
But hey. I've never been to China nor South Korea to take a look 

[exiledarchangel]

I'm reasonably sure they do. Reading their press releases for their guitar pickups, I've certainly gotten that impression.

I think they just make the pickups for the expensive/new models, and just buy the pickups for the cheaper models from Artec/whatever.

Gibson makes almost all the pickups in their guitars in house.

Well that explains why almost all new les paul guitars are loaded with overwound one trick ponies, that most people want to get rid of!

[Dave W]

Years ago, when I was working on the Non Reverse Thunderbird with BaCH we were looking for some kind of low budget humbucker to put in the bass. All participants were going to replace them anyway, so there was no need to use anything special. So we used an Artec. One of many manufacturers in that region.
Roman (BaCH) told me one of the manufacturers was supplier for Epiphone. Epiphone does not make parts like these themselves. They like to keep it a secret. But just like all other parts (potentiometers, tuners, strings, knobs et cetera) they just buy their pickups off specialized manufacturers.
Same goes for Squier.

Makes perfect sense to me.
But hey. I've never been to China nor South Korea to take a look 

That was years ago. Back then, Gibson had bought its first Chinese factory (called Gibson Qingdao) but hadn't finished building the much larger second factory (called Epiphone Qingdao). I'm not sure they make pickups there, but Epi has too many specialized guitar pickups that are carefully designed  after their US equivalents for me to believe that they just buy them from someone else.

From the 2013 introduction to the ProBucker guitar pickups:

For Richard Akers, Epiphone's Director of Research and Development, securing Epiphone a place in the crowded race to produce a great Patent Applied For-style humbucker was the ultimate design challenge.

"The new ProBucker™ pickups are not just slight improvements over previously produced pickups. They were completely designed here in Nashville and tooled from the ground-up at a new factory dedicated to high end pickup production," said Akers. "These pickups use only the highest quality components and are based on the most sought after humbuckers of Gibson's history. I spent many, many hours making sure these came out great and I am really happy with the results. They sound fantastic."

Not proof, but close enough for me to believe that they're making their own now.

[Basvarken]

The ProBucker is more of an exception I think.
The rest of your argument looks more like roaring marketing talk to me. 

Anput the sixties repro humbuckers. It would be very unlogical if a Chinese made sixties repro pickup pops up on the market out of the blue, and a couple of months later Epiphone announces a new bass with pickups that seem to be exactly the same. And not have them manufactured in the same place.

But hey, as long as we don't hear from the horses mouth we may all be wrong!

[Dave W]

Press releases are marketing talk, no question about that. Still, I find it easy to believe they have an R&D manager and hard to believe that they would lie about that new factory. Of course it's possible that the factory belongs to someone else, but if so, they're making these pickups to Epi's specifications. And it's not just the ProBucker. The Pro P90 and the Ceramic Plus were also introduced at the same time as part of the same line, and there are variations of the ProBucker. AFAIK you can't buy them elsewhere.

We'll just have to see about these when they get here. I can't make conclusions based on looks.

[Highlander]

It does not take a lot of space to make these things... could be some Chinese shed or garage in downtown Beijing...

[Dave W]

It does not take a lot of space to make these things... could be some Chinese shed or garage in downtown Beijing...

No way. Pickup factories aren't big but no way an international corporation with two modern Chinese factories would be buying pickups out of a shed or garage. It's 2017, not 1977.

2016 tour of Epiphone Qingdao factory. In Japanese since it was made for a Japanese distributor, with some remarks in English. Thunderbirds are made in this plant.

[Highlander]

I'll vote for Dave as Henry's replacement...

[Dave W]

I'll vote for Dave as Henry's replacement...

LOL! Just pointing out that times have changed in China. Now if Epi would only get out of the sub-$200 crap and use bridge studs that won't pull out...

If I ran Gibson, there would be more basses, a hell of a lot fewer variations of Les Paul models, and everything would be made to the same standard of materials and workmanship.

[clankenstein]

Go Dave! If there are any Gibson folk lurking here you probably gave them palpitations! They sure seem to be allergic to sense lately.

[slinkp]

Fascinating video, thanks for posting that Dave.

[lowend1]

Kind of odd that the video covers pretty much all of the guitar construction phases - in two different factories - with the exception of the pickups. Unless I missed something, the only place you see them addressed is on that big board - which I assume is a legend or key for the parts bins.

[Dave W]

Kind of odd that the video covers pretty much all of the guitar construction phases - in two different factories - with the exception of the pickups. Unless I missed something, the only place you see them addressed is on that big board - which I assume is a legend or key for the parts bins.

If their pickups are being produced at a new factory dedicated to pickup production (per the press release above) then they aren't being made at this factory.

[RedVee]

Ah, I thought you guys were talking about the new Epiphone Thunderbird; the Vintage Pro. (after all that is what this topic is about isn't it?)
The Vintage Pro has Epiphone ProBucker™ Bass #760 Humbuckers. Which look (and probably are) exactly the same as the Hong Kong buckers from EYguitarmusic.

The Classic Pro indeed has Gibson TB Plus™ humbuckers

I'm hoping one if you early adopters will compare the pickups so I know which way to jump.
Vintage or Classic or 2nd hand Orville/Elitist/Greco.

[exiledarchangel]

I'll vote for Dave as Henry's replacement...

Me too, if he promises he will be gentle to the dark side of hardware...