unexpected: new Epi Thunderbird for Christmas

ack1961 · December 27, 2009, 09:32:27 AM

Here's a nice Christmas story (It's long, but it helped me get over a few things by writing it all down):

My family had a nice relaxing Christmas - we just stayed in NC and avoided the chaos that comes with the Holiday season.
Since my time at Nortel is all but over (they're in Ch. 11), my wife and I decided to not go overboard this year on presents. Since both of our boys (16 and 11) play instruments (my oldest plays guitar & bass, and the young one plays drums), I'm usually buying something instrument-related. Usually, there's a guitar or bass under the tree and new tympani's or cymbals, etc., but not this year. I restricted myself to buying other music-related items that didn't have too much financial impact.

Anyway, my youngest brother's wife had to go away for the Holidays, so we invited him down for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas, as he lives only 45 minutes from us. He's a great brother and a wonderful uncle. He bought a couple of pedals that my son had been wanting, and some xBox stuff for the the little guy. Most of the night, we were all upstairs jamming and banging on stuff. I showed him my "new" 1985 T-40 monster. As he was leaving later that night, he tells me he's got something of mine in his truck. Now, he and I do a lot of other stuff together - like ride dirtbikes and street bikes, etc., so I just thought that I had left a tie-down strap or something in his truck after our last trip. I didn't have a clue that he was going to hand me an Epiphone box.

I was blown away as he pulled out of the driveway and I'm holding this box. I open it up and there's that unmistakable, beautiful T-Bird shape staring at me. Now, we never really exchange Christmas gifts between us, so this was kind of awkward for me to receive this. What's even more awkward is for me to walk back into the house holding this new bass. My oldest boy is a guitar-nut, and he immediately knows how cool this thing is. He and I go Pawn-Shopping (that's a new verb) and are constantly looking for guitar/bass/drum bargains. He and I almost bought one of these T-birds last year while we were at a music store in FL.

So, upstairs we go to put the spurs to her. What a cool bass. Yeah, it's neck-divey, but it's really, really mean. A lot of people complain about the weight, but compared to my 2 favorite basses: my G&L L2k and the Peavey T-40, the T-Bird is as light as a feather. One really interesting note about this bass: The neck pickup seems more growly than the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup is really full and meaty, almost opposite of what you expect out of a twin humbucker configuration. I find my favorite setup is to have the Neck pup at 70% and the Bridge pup at 100%, tone rolled down to 40% or so. Very cool bass.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share a great little story. I'm getting over the awkwardness a little more every time I take it off the wall to play it.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday season.

Steve

OldManC · December 27, 2009, 10:14:57 AM

Wow Steve, that's a great Christmas story. Sounds like your brother really loves you and picked a perfect way to show it. Congrats on the new bird!

godofthunder · December 27, 2009, 10:36:39 AM

That' what brothers are for ! Nice you two are so close. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays !

Pilgrim · December 27, 2009, 12:24:35 PM

Nice story, and a brudda who loves ya!

ack1961 · December 27, 2009, 01:20:12 PM

Yeah, he's great.
I'm also juiced about the fact that he's finally going to take guitar lessons.
This will certainly liven up the jam sessions in the den.

chromium · December 27, 2009, 01:55:20 PM

Those Epi birds are great. Nokturnal got one not long ago that plays and sounds fantastic! Beefy neck compared to the Gibby, but in good way... and the sound is ballsy as all get-out. I like rolling off the tone a bit too, run the neck pickup full and bridge about 3/4. It delivers a nice grunt for fingerstyle playing.

Great story! Hope my boys remain close like that when they grow up.

Dave W · December 27, 2009, 02:02:04 PM

Great story. I'm sure you'll get extra enjoyment out of it because of the way you got it.

Basvarken · December 27, 2009, 02:18:49 PM

Wow, what a brother!

Nocturnal · December 27, 2009, 03:15:09 PM

That's a great story. I'll bet he loved being able to surprise you that way.

Lightyear · December 27, 2009, 07:52:58 PM

Too cool, great story and I was sitting here thinking that the true spirit of Christmas had been lost. Like the others have said he sounds like a great brother and most likely, if you think about it, you've been a great brother to him as well.

I got to say that your story really cheered me up.

uwe · December 28, 2009, 04:42:34 AM

The Epi TB has almost P-bassish grunt and growl if you dial the bridge pup more to the fore. A bit like a Grabber. It is probably one of the reasons why this particular model has become Epi's mainstay bass and consistent seller over the last decade. People like the outlandish look and feel immediately familiar with the P sound it offers. And when you dial down the bridge up and play mostly the neck one, you can fake a TBird sound pretty swell too.

That said, why isn't this thread (and the fine taste of a good brother!)relegated here to "other brands" rather than rightfully enshrined in the Gibson forum?

ack1961 · December 28, 2009, 07:15:55 AM

Thanks for all the replies.
Yeah, our Mom did something right; I have 3 brothers and we all get along great to this day (I'm the 2nd youngest and going on 49). I'm lucky because my younger brother moved to NC 2 years ago, and the oldest lives in VA Beach, so it's close enough to see every once in a while. We're trying to get my other bro to leave NJ and try the mid-South for a while.

The T-bird does offer quite a range of sounds/tones, and they all seem to be mean & nasty. I'm having lots of fun with it.
It's funny because being a relative novice on bass, I really get a chance to see and feel the differences in basses from a completely rudimentary standpoint. I don't have many bass biases yet, and I don't prejudge anything I get a chance to play.

There's some really cool basses out there, and some really cool people on this forum.

BTW, I started this thread in the "Other" category because it's an Epi, not a Gibson. If it should be moved, it's all good.

Enjoy the Holidays!

Dave W · December 28, 2009, 09:28:19 AM

Quote from: uwe on December 28, 2009, 04:42:34 AM
That said, why isn't this thread (and the fine taste of a good brother!)relegated here to "other brands" rather than rightfully enshrined in the Gibson forum?

Why didn't you move it?

Denis · December 28, 2009, 11:35:52 AM

Great story and nice gift!

Stjofön Big · December 28, 2009, 02:24:17 PM

Really good story! Such brothers aren't given all of us. And not such basses!!!