The new Gene Bird is out!

[TBird1958]

The Gene Bird is out!

https://www.americanmusical.com/gibson-gene-simmons-g2-thunderbird-bass/p/GIB-BAT4GSM00-EBB 

[uwe]

My, he's really rethought the TBird from scratch and the end result is competitively priced for aspiring beginners and rank-and-file Kiss fans. What's not to like?

Same-same pups as before, specifications don't say if it's neck-thru or not and he's finally gotten rid of the maho/walnut nine-ply-neck, that was always a real downer for me. Straight-thru maho is value-enhancing.

Diamond inlays and mirror plex pick guard (real thumb prints thumbs up for that!) do of course influence sound. A "master tone control", turn once, affect the sound of two (2!) pups all in one go, how nifty, why has no one before come up with this?! It's small things like that which show the thoughtful input of a seasoned player with decades of experience. Thanks for sharing with us, Gene.

Now for the (mild) criticism: Will it be available with chrome hardware too? And a 60ies bridge? Can you play Lick It Up with it (once you've worked out the bass part)?

[Ken]

My, he's really rethought the TBird from scratch and the end result is competitively priced for aspiring beginners and rank-and-file Kiss fans. What's not to like?

Same-same pups as before, specifications don't say if it's neck-thru or not and he's finally gotten rid of the maho/walnut nine-ply-neck, that was always a real downer for me. Straight-thru maho is value-enhancing.

Diamond inlays and mirror plex do of course influence sound. A "master tone control", turn once, affect the sound of two (2!) pups all in one go, how nifty, why has no one before ever thought of this?! It's small things like that which show the thoughtful input of a seasoned player with decades of experience. Thanks for sharing with us, Gene.

Now for the criticism: Will it be available with chrome hardware too? And a 60ies bridge?

Don't worry.  It probably comes with a Kiss lunchbox.

[uwe]

The somber looks belie how much work Gene put into this.

[uwe]

I sound tough on this, I know. I'm generally not a Gene Simmons basher, quite on the contrary, the man is a fine bass player, I prefer his voice to Paul Stanley's affected falsetto and Gene would make a great dinner guest to top it off. I also own a Punisher and it's a fine bass, I can understand where he was coming from with it. I even bought the outrageously priced 45th Anniversary Destroyer boxed set, adding it to the umpteen versions of Destroyer that I already own, I mean every household needs a Bluray Dolby Atmos remix of God of Thunder and the acoustic version of Beth!



But what ole Chaim has done here (has he done anything other than given his name and played a prototype on stage?), confounds me.

- It's way too expensive to be an entry level bass for a kid that wants to have something Gene Simmons has.

- Gene has been playing an active bass on stage for the last 30 years at least (the Punisher and all his modern type Axes too), who is going to believe that he will now switch to a passive one in the middle of a set? If this TB had EMGs or whatever stuck into it, some people would cry heresy, but it would at least make sense from his preferences/point of view. A Bat(tery)Bird would at least be something new from Gibson.

- Gene always mouths off how a bass needs to be stable if he raises both arms in the air, I'd like to see him do that with this apparently unchanged-in-shape-and-center-of-gravity TBird.

- Same thing with high register access, Gene always says how that is important to him for his slides, the Punisher is 24 fret and has probably the best high register access I've seen on any double octave bass, but the Genebird is as high register play-thwarting as any Rev Bird (unless our favorite Rochester woodsman has gotten out the chainsaw again, but let's not dwell on that here ...).



So what the hotter-than-hell was his input? Even the Hipshot bridge has been featured on TBirds before, albeit for only a year. In comparison, the two different Nikki Sixxnature Birds where creative individual takes.

Hopefully, the also announced Flying V will be something more to write home about. This is for shoutin'-out-loud a disappointment, ain't worth a deuce.

[Ken]

Wait, are you saying this is a money grab? 

What other Thunderbird has had a Hipshot bridge?  I've only seen Babicz.

UWE's CONFESSION EDIT: Darn, you're right, I got them mixed up. So at least that is new. I've mounted a Hipshot on my Blackbird just to see what it is like and have kept it on there. It kinda fitted with the look.

[Dave W]

I'll rush out to buy one, just as soon as hell freezes over.

[uwe]

I'll rush out to buy one, just as soon as hell freezes over.

Voilà! 

[4stringer77]

A reissue wine red Grabber would have been much cooler and probably more desirable to most.

[Basvarken]

I like it.
Except the pickguard and price tag.

[gearHed289]

I prefer his voice to Paul Stanley's affected falsetto

I heard World Without Heroes the other night, and that is possibly his best vocal ever.

I even bought the outrageously priced 45th Anniversary Destroyer boxed set, adding it to the umpteen versions of Destroyer that I already own, I mean every household needs a Bluray Dolby Atmos remix of God of Thunder and the acoustic version of Beth!

Destroyer Resurrected is the only one you need!

- It's way too expensive to be an entry level bass for a kid that wants to have something Gene Simmons has.

The only "kids" that want what Gene has are at least 45 years old. 

- Gene has been playing an active bass on stage for the last 30 years at least (the Punisher and all his modern type Axes too), who is going to believe that he will now switch to a passive one in the middle of a set? If this TB had EMGs or whatever stuck into it, some people would cry heresy, but it would at least make sense from his preferences/point of view. A Bat(tery)Bird would at least be something new from Gibson.

Very good point.

- Gene always mouths off how a bass needs to be stable if he raises both arms in the air, I'd like to see him do that with this apparently unchanged-in-shape-and-center-of-gravity TBird.

Yeah, I was wondering about that from the beginning. 

Hopefully, the also announced Flying V will be something more to write home about.

I wouldn't hold my breath...

[TBird1958]

Voilà! 

Bad Beatles movies outtakes and equally appalling dentistry = typical U.K. band     


Here it's proper with Frankie Poulain  and a Thunderbird.

[doombass]

I like it except that it is a Gene Simmons model he'll never play like stated above. Considering the wide design fantasies Gibson have had in different versions of their guitars it is sad that they need Gene Simmons to be able to get a version of the T'bird with bound body on the market. They've had versions of just about every other guitar model out with that feature. I'd expect Gibson to wait for the sales figures on that T'bird before they even think about releasing the V-bass.

[uwe]

   


Bad Beatles movies outtakes and equally appalling dentistry = typical U.K. band     


Here it's proper with Frankie Poulain  and a Thunderbird.

You're absolutely right, Mark, Frankie Poullain is unequalled (the other guy was actually his P-Bass wielding bass-tech who stepped in for him when he left after the first album only to return with their reunion a few years later). Live The Darkness are - and especially him and double-especially how he introduces that song lengthily on stage with just himself and the cowbell - an epochal riot.  I saw them pre-pandemic and it had been ages since I had enjoyed as good a time at a hard rock concert.

[Granny Gremlin]

Ah Uwe, the fangirl we all wish we had.

I swear it's not the Gene/KISS association, but that new Sig Bird does nothing for me.  A non-neck-thru reverse is just wrong (unless it says 'studio' on it and is half that price).  Add to that the pickguard logo, black hardware, and pickups that aren't interesting to me and it's a solid "m'eh."  The binding is cool I guess, but I'd rather have the body wood there vs plastic.  To me, binding should mostly be left to guitars with a top/side or top/body seam that needs to be hidden - LPs and hollowbodies.  And plain cream binding is the worst (I hate trad LPs with cream hardware - looks cheap, but costs 6k) - at least patterned binding (pinstripe/double pinstripe like my D'Angelico or checkerboard like a Ric - not as if that actually costs more to make).