Thunderbuckers for '76 'bird

[Pekka]

Hi and sorry if this topic is already discussed in lenght. Feel free to direct me to it and I'll delete this.

Anyway, I'm planning to get a pair of Thunderbucker '66s and install them into my '76 T-Bird. I believe it can be done without modifications and the bass can be "reversed" into original if necessary?

I like the sound of my '76 and I know it is a unique sounding bass among T-Birds but I like the sound of my custom made non-reverse even more and it has also custom made pickups that are more in line with '60s style humbuckers than the sidewinders found in '76.

Has anyone installed Thunderbuckers or others in their '76 (or '77 or '79) 'birds? Did it make it sound more like a 60's T-Bird?

[dadagoboi]

'66 ThunderBuckers will definitely make a Bicentennial sound like a 60s.  They're exact clones of my '66 Embassy pickups, which are the same as NRs.  63s are clones of my '64 Reverse's pickups.  You can install a 12mm piece of wood in the pup cavities ( 40x 40 mm will do),  60s cavities are only 6.25 mm deep because the pickups are only 12.5 mm high.  Change your pots to 500k for V and 250k for T with .047 cap.  Typical Jazz bass wiring circuitry will do.  pickups should be about 3 mm MAXIMUM from the bottom of the strings.

I also own a '77, so I'm well aware of the sound difference between the various pups.  Steve has a 30 day money back guarantee if you don't like the ThunderBuckers.

[Pekka]

Thanks for the reply and all the info. I was secretly hoping someone would say "don't bother it won't change a thing" but I knew I was wrong. Now I have to just keep my fingers crossed that the Thunderbuckers (when I'll make the order etc.) won't make me wanna change the non-reverse's pickups too.

[chromium]

Hey Pekka,

The Bicentennials were (I think) all wired with the pickups in series, rather than the parallel config of the 60s and modern TBIVs.  I haven't had the luxury to play a stock one, but folks seem to say the mids are accentuated (e.g. bit of midrange "honk") and the lows roll off a bit -if my memory serves correct.

If yours is still wired stock, you might consider building up a new TBIV style harness using the existing sidewinder pickups and see if you like the sound better.

The 76 I bought from George here years ago sounds incredible- smooth sizzling highs, bell like mids that aren't overbearing, and a solid fundamental.  One of my best sounding live basses along with the Triumph and Hamers.
It has the stock pickups rewired in parallel like I described above.

Whichever approach you take, good luck with the mods!

Cheers

[Pekka]

Yes, it has the stock series wiring and the sound is indeed quite middy. Not too overbearing (at least to me, I like mids).

I recall that the pickups were very different with the bridge PU having much bigger readings (14 kOhms or something) compared to the neck PU, this because of the unusual wiring (series with two individual volume pots). How would this affect when wired in parallel? Are the pickups in balance when both full on?

[chromium]

I usually run the neck pickup wide open, and the bridge about 3/4.  Despite the disparity in impedance that you mention, the pickups seem to balance just like my other Gibsons with passive/parallel setups.

I only have two not-so-great recorings of it, but these short samples might offer some idea of the sound.  One is clean, other is thru an overdrive that I built...



Overdriven:

[Dave W]

IIRC we've covered this before, and I'm not familiar with Bicentennial wiring, but it can't possibly have straight series wiring. If it did, there would be no point in having two volume controls, every point in the circuit would be the same.  Maybe it's a combination of series and parallel.

[chromium]

I'm just going off that old 'schematic collage' that's floating around the web.  It probably has been brought up before, and no telling if it's accurate...




I assumed (but don't know for certain) that the 76-79s are wired stock like that diag in the upper right labeled "Thunderbird 76".

My '76 is wired like the diag in the top/middle labeled "Thunderbird IV".  It didn't look to be factory wiring...

[dadagoboi]

Stock Bicentennial wiring :

[chromium]

Thanks, Carlo.  That wiring diag looks to be the same implementation as the "Thunderbird 76" schematic above.

Since they denoted "1979" under that same schematic, I never knew whether 76-78s were also wired that way.

[FrankieTbird]

Odd circuit.  it would probably benefit from some higher value pots also, to bring out more of the top end.

[Pekka]

Thanks for all the replys. I still think I'm gonna go with the Thunderbuckers. The '76 in parallel sounded good but still different than the sound I'm after.