Jazzbird?

[Freuds_Cat]

I noticed this on the 4henry.gibson forum.
I may have missed the explanation if it was posted previously. If so I apologise.

So, what's the deal with the the bound jazz bass looking fingerboard? Was this a custom shop jobby or a mod or factory?

[TBird1958]

It belongs to Uwe.
He can tell the whole story behind it, one very cool 'Bird.

[Freuds_Cat]

Sorry Mark, I should have mentioned it was one of Uwe's. Thanks.

[TBird1958]

I think it's way sexy! Love the binding and blocks, *sighs* the things Gibson could do in the hands of good ownership.

[uwe]

Let's see, from memory:

It began life as a custom order for erstwhile Scorpions bassist Francis Buchholz in the early eighties. At a visit of his and Rudolf Schenker to Naziville   Nashville ze Germans did not like the original fin of the Bird (incidentally: full Korina, whether that was at Francis' request or whether they just had some korina lying around I don't know, he had been dabbling off and on with both Rev and Non-Rev TBirds in his career though he was mainly a P-Bass and later on a Warwick player). I assume that it was sunburst at the time, but did not feature the J-style yet and had different pups, possibly even pre-TB-Plus ones. This bass, with its large headstock, was probably built in advance of the Nikki Sixx-led resurgence of the TB in 87.

So the Krauts don't like it ("Vee haff ze vvvays to make you refin zis, Amerikaner!") and leave it at the factory standing in the rack and gathering dust, eventually even forget about it (because they lose another war or something or other). A young new luthier at Gibson called Phil Jones (not the amp maker) has some compassion and starts fiddling with the thing. He strips it (which was a lot of work he told me, the original fin had gone deep into the pores of the korina and korina is a pain to strip), rebuilds original 60ies TB pups from scratch and "jazzes" the neck up. (Phil Jones is today a boutique luthier und builds - you guessed it - luxury J basses, it was obviously in him already some decades back ...)

Come end of his tenure with Gibson, Jones (who designed the nineties LP bass line, the Blackbird, EB-650 and EB-750 and many others) was a master luthier there and had this Bird as his own private pet project. It was dear to him and he took it with him when he left Gibson come turn of the millenium. While he still smarts from his time with Gibson (and doesn't build boutique Gibsons today) that bass was only sold due to financial dire straits which is why it found its way to Gruhn, was discovered by Shawn/the Alembickerer who subsequently divulged his find to me ...

Der Rest ist Geschichte, thanks for listening!  

PS: Funny, I never saw it as a "Jazzbird", but that is what it is! And of course the original TB IV was Gibson's early answer to the Jazz Bass (the later one was the Ripper) in more ways than one. I always found it a little surprising that Jazz Bass players don't take more kindly to the TBird and vice versa. I can't really think of any popular bass player playing both though. My like for both models is certainly related. A single coil TBird could be something too, hmmmh ...

[Highlander]

Nice story...

You should write a book about those beasties you've got... even if only for private circulation... high end photos... 

[Denis]

That is one gorgeous T-bird, and an interesting story, Uwe!

[dadagoboi]

Beautiful 'bird and great story, Uwe, thanks!  IMO the Jazz necks were a nod by Fender to what had been a Gibson guitar feature for a very long time, bound and blocked necks.  It's something they knew how to do well and should have been a no brainer on a Tbird.

[uwe]

Since no one asked   in this fickle and superficial forum obsessed with (and easily diverted by) mere visuals, I won't tell you that the sound is not that hugely different to a standard maho Bird, a touch more middish, clearer and scooped, korina sounds a bit like a cross between maho and alder.

As you would expect from a bass owned by a luthier for many years it does have the neatest fretjob of all my TBirds though.

[fealach]

That's a beautiful bass.  It is now my favorite TBird ever.  It always annoys me when I see a gorgeous Firebird with block inlays that they don't do this on the bass.  Funny that Gibson puts blocks on their guitars but not basses, while Fender likes to put blocks on basses but not guitars.

[uwe]

I never realized that, but you're right. Curious.

[Droombolus]

I always found it a little surprising that Jazz Bass players don't take more kindly to the TBird and vice versa

Puzzling indeed ! It's always the P players who'll start to dabble in T-Birds ( and some of them are lost forever   ) If only my arms were a little longer .........  

[Chris P.]

Nice bass!

And I guess the '76 T-bird is almost a singlecoil Bird? The two coils with blade in the middle are more stacked singlecoil than humbucker, I gues..

[uwe]

They have a singlecoilish nature in sound, but not the forceful purity of what's on a Jazz.

[dadagoboi]

Nice bass!

And I guess the '76 T-bird is almost a singlecoil Bird? The two coils with blade in the middle are more stacked singlecoil than humbucker, I gues..

Depends on your definition of Humbucker...from word IQ.com
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Humbucker

Humbuckers get their common name because they amplify less of this hum (they "buck the hum"), since they consist of two standard single-coil magnetic pickups, usually side by side, with opposing electric and magnetic polarity. (This wiring is sometimes mistakenly called being wired "out of phase".) Common-mode signals, that is, signals that radiate into both coils with equal amplitude, tend to cancel each other out when they travel through both coils.