Fenderbird on Craigslist

[dadagoboi]

As far as I have been able to discover over the years, and being one of the very few to own such an instrument, hence the interest, the parts were acquired from dismantled and/or damaged Thunderbirds, from several JAE bought up at the time he started using them, and iirc he asked Peter Cook (who I believe was a WHO roadie, or at least "inner-circle") to build a Precision thickness body (mahogany, afaik) in the Thunderbird style - tail/bridge/pups were all Gibson, the neck was a "D" profile Precision... the bridge was positioned 1/4" forward of normal to those on Gibsons at the time...

My Peter Cook Thunderbird was almost certainly built at around the same time; and although she has a through neck (with a "D" profile) and has some original Gibson components (tail and bridge) does not follow either a Gibson Thunderbird or a Fenderbird in construction: just a Fender profile through neck with a Thunderbird shaped body...

Mr Cook is not available for discussion... 

That's basically the same info I have, after Moon broke the neck on one of JAE's Birds he freaked because they were discontinued had Manny's in NYC buy every one they could find for parts.

Bummer about Cook.  He and the guys who designed Vox's Phantom 4 are people I'd love to talk to.

[Highlander]

I have to presume that some of those parts are on mine, but no way of knowing and no way I'm selling...

[OldManC]

and no way I'm selling...

 

[Highlander]

There are some instruments, George... there are some instruments...

Bummer about Cook.  He and the guys who designed Vox's Phantom 4 are people I'd love to talk to.

I met him a couple of times in the eighties (lived near Ealing in those days) and he did some work on 2 of my instruments (defretted my RD and some setup work on the T'bird) but the most he said about the Thunderbird was "Oh, that one..." and that's her history... I live about 14 miles from his old shop... It's a bit like my Hiwatt amp; reputedly a one-off built for someone in Savoy Brown who went on to Foghat (again, no way of knowing and no way I'm selling), built by Dave Reeves, in his garage in 1970; although the garage is still there, about 3 miles from here... there are American's, most notably Mark Huss, who know more about the history than anyone I know here (in the UK)...
My Thunderbird, all cherry and gold, came in one of the most garish cases I've ever seen, but who she was built for, I have absolutely no idea...

On Peter Cook, there are several rumours, the most extreme being that he is no longer with us, the most positive I won't be discussing at this point in time... If you contact his old shop the most you will get is that they have no records of his instruments and that he left the industry and is not contactable...

[dadagoboi]

Thanks for all the info.  I've seen your threads on the Tbird and RD, great stuff.  I especially like the contouring mods on the RD body.  I couldn't help thinking if Gibson had done similar on the prototype JAE might have been interested in being the "artist" in RD instead of declining.