Gibson Nonreverese reissuie a reality

[Hörnisse]

Around 1982 or 83 I stopped by Mark Erlewine's old shop on Guadalupe and noticed he had some Thunderbird bass neck thru neck blanks.  Not sure if they were old stock or not but they had the larger head.  I asked him how much it would cost to build the never produced Thunderbird VI bass (bound ebony board with pearl blocks and 3 pickups)  He said around 2k.  Considering Michael Stevens had a used 1964 Thunderbird IV for $600 I passed.   

[Bionic-Joe]

DAMN!!! How can you contact him???

[Dave W]

DAMN!!! How can you contact him???

Mark Erlewine is still in business as Erlewine Guitars. Are you hoping he still has blanks that he had 30 years ago at his old location? That's optimism!

Rob Hacker at the Custom Shop in Austin built several Thunderbirds from genuine Gibson blanks, I saw one of them when he took it back in on a trade. He never said where he got the blanks, wonder if he got them from Erlewine.

[Denis]

Must be getting closer:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Thunderbird-Studio-Non-Reverse-Bass.aspx

Wow, Gibson's already taken that link down and the NR is no longer listed on their page.

I was mistaken...the NR is relegated to the last page, even after the Epis.

[planetgaffnet]

Link is here now: 
http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Thunderbird-Non-Reverse-Bass.aspx

I just got an e-mail.  No release date or anything, just a linked thingie.
P

[the mojo hobo]

Wow, Gibson's already taken that link down and the NR is no longer listed on their page.

I was mistaken...the NR is relegated to the last page, even after the Epis.

It is listed last because the default sort order is by popularity. If you change it to 'newest' the NR is first, followed by the EB and the Midtown

And all three of them are giving me GAS.

[planetgaffnet]

Well, my order is in for a vintage sunburst, through Key Music, Belgium.   

Free shipping as well!  Woop.  Let's hope TNT don't deliver it in two parts.

P

[Highlander]

Could be by installments...?

[westen44]

The Pelham Blue looks appealing. 

[stiles72]

Sweetwaters site has  some detailed pics of a Pelham Blue NR. From the photos, it looks like the grain is really pronounced on the body. For anyone who has one, are those just visible through the clear, or can you feel the texture?  On my IV, the body and back of neck are smooth, but the trim around the headstock is textured.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BANTPBCH/

[ramone57]

seems like that's what Gibson is going for with the Pelham Blue finishes.  the EB-11 was like that, too, and I remember somebody making the same observation on another recent model finished in PB.  when I played an EB-11 at  Chuck Levin's, it was definitely noticeable but I couldn't feel the grain. 

[uwe]

  What's an EB-11? Your term for the new design EB?

[ramone57]

no, the new LP Jr shaped model.  I got the models confused!   

[uwe]

The naming of the EB line was always unfortunate and logic-defying.

[Basvarken]

Sweetwaters site has  some detailed pics of a Pelham Blue NR. From the photos, it looks like the grain is really pronounced on the body. For anyone who has one, are those just visible through the clear, or can you feel the texture?  On my IV, the body and back of neck are smooth, but the trim around the headstock is textured.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BANTPBCH/

Looks like Gibson is going for the pragmatic approach again. It will save them a lot of labour costs. No endless pore filling, sanding etc

 
BTW I've got a Pelham Blue BaCHbird in the works too...