Epiphone Japan Thunderbird

[Denis]

Don't see many of these and they are terrific basses. Mine's a burst but this looks great in black! The pic of the pickup bottoms is cool.
Heh, I like the seller's name.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EPIPHONE-by-GIBSON-JAPAN-THUNDERBIRD-BASS-Black-Terada-2000-MIJ-/350817998808?pt=Guitar&hash=item51ae61d7d8

[Nocturnal]

Looks really nice!! Reminds me of my 76 Bird did when I owned it.

[TBird1958]

Great looking bass, at first glance it looks alot like my Orville.

It's a killer bass.

[Denis]

There have been loads of discussions about T-bird pickups (Gibsons, Orvilles, Grecos, etc) but the Japan Epiphone pickups are seldom mentioned. Are they identical to any of the others? Obviously there are some similarities because of the two mounting screws but are what else?
Please discuss.

[planetgaffnet]

That's the same as I paid for my black TB.  I can't see why anyone would want to pay $800 for a Japanese copy when (if you're fortunate) you can get the real thing for the same amount of swag.
P

[TBird1958]

That's the same as I paid for my black TB.  I can't see why anyone would want to pay $800 for a Japanese copy when (if you're fortunate) you can get the real thing for the same amount of swag.
P

In some ways it's quite a bit better than a Gibson, as a stock bass my Orville is far better than any of the 4 *stock* post '88 Gibsons I've owned. That Epi is nice for the $$$




When we're talking about Gibson, country of origin is not always an indicator of quality

[Chris P.]

It looks very '76-ish indeed. nice!

[OldManC]

AFAIK, Epi Japan and Orville (not Orville by Gibson) are the same bass. At some point they just dropped the Orville name. I had a burst Epi Japan and it was a really nice bass. Output was on the lower end compared with various other birds I owned at the time, but that's what the volume knob is for. The tone was there. If I were buying I'd have hit the BIN already. Good price even with shipping.

[Aussie Mark]

AFAIK, Epi Japan and Orville (not Orville by Gibson) are the same bass. At some point they just dropped the Orville name.

Correct