How About this TBird Pickguard?

[uwe]

Overengineered? Vot a vfvile and unfwfwfarranted statement!!! Nichts could be fürzzer from ze truth.

[gearHed289]

You guys are cracking me up as usual! The pickguard is OK. I too am impressed that he did his homework. And I like the Italian chair. 

[dadagoboi]

Overengineered? Vot a vfvile and unfwfwfarranted statement!!! Nichts could be fürzzer from ze truth.

I prefer this one by Enzo Mari.

[OldManC]

A thread not having veered off in at least one other direction is not a successful Outpost thread; at least not in the Gibson forum. I for one have enjoyed seeing another fine topic added as fodder for our occasional forays into other areas of discussion. And my Italian blood swells with pride at the beauty and simplicity in those beautiful chairs.

[godofthunder]

"Swells with pride" Uh oh here we go. Anyone got a picture of a Chrome Thunderbird pup ?

[Freuds_Cat]

My Family made its money from the Chair industry. I worked in the family business for 3 or 4 years in the repair side of things so I got to see which chairs broke in what places and why. Then work out ways of making sure they dont break. To use a generalisation when talking about chairs, the Italians are just like the the Poms when it comes to such things. They come up with brilliant ideas and concepts but suffer from poor quality production. Thus a good idea becomes a bad product until the Germans, Japanese, Americans, Australians, Kiwi's etc start manufacturing it.

The Germans make the best Gas lift units in the world by a country mile. We experimented with a Hong Kong brand but the fail rate was way too high by comparison.

The Canadians make the best Seat Control units etc......
Asian brands always used steel that was to low grade (soft).

These 2 areas are where the engineering really counts.

The Scandanavians make some of the most interesting (and sometimes complicated) designs in the world. My Dad always refered to Swedish and Norweigan chairs as being equal to a twin OHC 6 cylinder Jag motor. So many moving parts that something eventually must go wrong.

He was originally an electrical mechanic by trade.

[Lightyear]

A thread not having veered off in at least one other direction is not a successful Outpost thread; at least not in the Gibson forum. I for one have enjoyed seeing another fine topic added as fodder for our occasional forays into other areas of discussion. And my Italian blood swells with pride at the beauty and simplicity in those beautiful chairs.

Well, we've achieved nirvana once the thread has incorporated WW2 aircraft, panzer grease, barnyard animals or any reference to the word "anal". 

[dadagoboi]

Interesting take on the furniture business, Bret.  I have to agree with a lot of it.  My Taiwanese partner is Freedom Furniture's #1 supplier of office chairs. I've spent a lot of time in metal chair factories and lived in one for 6 months that mainly manufactured gas lifts, the Chinese have come a long way in the last few years in that area.  The usual solution to counter the weaker steel is to increase the thickness of Asian metal.  We had a Brit expat engineer who handled the reengineering of Euro product.  Selling inexpensive Asian office chairs has allowed my buddy the luxury of owning a $2K German one, as well as 3 Mercedes.

Re the Italians, the higher end stuff is generally of top quality.  You don't have a chair in production for over 50 years selling for $1600 without that.  Their main chair producing region is around Udine and varying quality and knockoffs came from there before the low end stuff moved to Asia.

[Freuds_Cat]

Yeah I would agree with you there Carlo. As I said, I'm generalising. My family has done very well mostly through my Dad sourcing quality components and having the business replace the cheaper/weaker parts in customers broken chairs and also by selling chairs assembled from these quality components at either the same or only a bit above the price of the cheap imported chairs. The rest has been simply hard work at building a reputation of giving customers strong reliable chairs. He retired 12 months ago and the business was sold.

[OldManC]

"Swells with pride" Uh oh here we go. Anyone got a picture of a Chrome Thunderbird pup ?

I love this place!

[dadagoboi]

Yeah I would agree with you there Carlo. As I said, I'm generalising. My family has done very well mostly through my Dad sourcing quality components and having the business replace the cheaper/weaker parts in customers broken chairs and also by selling chairs assembled from these quality components at either the same or only a bit above the price of the cheap imported chairs. The rest has been simply hard work at building a reputation of giving customers strong reliable chairs. He retired 12 months ago and the business was sold.

That's an excellent business model in a very competitive market.  Good to hear hard work, ingenuity, value and customer service paid off.

[Highlander]

I have a "creepie" that is a family made item that goes back to the "black-house" days - uncertain of age but over 100 years old...

[lowend1]

But it's kinda cool.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CUSTOM-metal-BASS-Pickguard-fits-Gibson-Thunderbird-new-/260726753154?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item3cb4868782#ht_2502wt_1141

[Basvarken]

et voila!
back on topic   

[TBird1958]

Yes but........

Mine has been chrome plated..........not mere stainless