Object for chroming desires?

[uwe]

And I'll repeat: I've personally played a couple of seventies TBirds that had bad neck dive. That's why I didn't buy either of them. Doesn't mean it's common, but it does exist.

Dave's opinion doesn't count. He owns Fenders. And Musicmans. 

Seriously, the seventies and sixties Birds have a larger headstock and larger tuners and are therefore more volatile to - IMHO: mild - neck dive. The post 87 ones have a smaller headstock and initially had small closed Gibson tuners that around the time of the intoduction of the Blackbird were replaced by even smaller Grovers. So the newer Birds balance (even) better. The (already deleted) Studio TBs had an even smaller headstock and a thicker body - they balanced as well as any P Bass does. The Shavo Bird with its larger headstock and open elephant ear tuners is insofar a step backwards, but I guess the ash wings will be heavy enough to balance it still.

I find long scale seventies EB-0s, -3s and -4s with their heavy maple necks a lot more unbalanced than any Bird I've played.

Uwe