Chroming up black Thunderbird hardware.

Alanko · July 29, 2015, 03:26:38 PM

Hello all,

I'm getting bad GAS for a white/cream Tokai Thunderbird. I quite like the contrast of the black hardware, but I quite like the chromed out look of the originals. There is a seller on Ebay that has empty T-bird pickup shells and pickup rings for sale. How easy is it to bury the Tokai pickups in the shells and mount the rings etc?

Lightyear · July 29, 2015, 06:16:49 PM

Welcome young "chromling" we have much to share with you! Beware of dark forces that lurk hereabouts

Seriously, discussed all over the place here - it's been done and done well. Not sure on the Tokai pickups but I know that other plastic pickups have been converted. Folks will speak up presently - there are a few methods that have been done.

Just remember, rule one, CHROME SOUNDS BETTER!

Highlander · July 30, 2015, 12:41:35 AM

All this chrome nonsense is bad for the environment...

Alanko · July 30, 2015, 12:04:28 PM

The Tokai pickups seems to be quite deep, whereas the covers appear to be quite shallow. Is there a good workaround for this?

Basvarken · July 30, 2015, 02:05:33 PM

You don't need all that hight. Most of the pickup will sink into the body.

daan · July 30, 2015, 04:49:15 PM

Is preferring black to chrome a symptom of growing up in the 80s? As much as I like looking at chrome on old Gibsons, I dig black hardware on everything.

chromium · July 30, 2015, 07:46:42 PM

Quote from: Alanko on July 29, 2015, 03:26:38 PM
How easy is it to bury the Tokai pickups in the shells and mount the rings etc?

I'm not sure about the Tokai pickups specifically, but a couple folks here had done this with black Gibson TB+ pickups - literally prying the black plastic covers away from the epoxy potting, and stuffing the remaining pickup innards into chrome/nickel covers.

I had followed their lead on my BaCH Thunderbird back-dating project. If it helps, some photos can be found here: http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=2773.90

I'd recommend being emotionally prepared to completely destroy a pickup in the process

.. but that said, it was actually pretty easy and painless with the Gibby pickups.

Lightyear · July 30, 2015, 08:26:43 PM

Quote from: daan on July 30, 2015, 04:49:15 PM
Is preferring black to chrome a symptom of growing up in the 80s? As much as I like looking at chrome on old Gibsons, I dig black hardware on everything.

UWETIC!

Next you'll be saying that black plastic sounds better!

Dave W · July 30, 2015, 09:50:35 PM

IIRC Mark was one of the first, if not the very first, to peel off the plastic covers.

Basvarken · July 31, 2015, 12:19:37 AM

For the Artec humbuckers on a BaCH you only need to round off the (plastic) corners a bit. The chrome (or nickel) casing will be a perfectly tight fit. Even the mount holes are aligned.

Alanko · July 31, 2015, 05:49:57 AM

I don't yet own a Tokai Thunderbird so I don't have the pickups in front of me to study. I've pulled apart about a dozen cheap soapbars at this point in time, and often 'epoxy potting' is nothing of the sort! I suppose I could bury the coils of the Tokai pickups in something like Envirotex Lite, within the chrome covers sold on Ebay? That way madness lies. I would also have to check that there are other aftermarket pickups that fit the Tokai routes.

I purchased an Epi T-bird body off of Ebay last year which is slowly turning into a Thunderbird II Fenderbird with an original WRHB as the engine. The previous owner routed it (with a flathead screwdriver and dremel sanding wheels) for some aftermarket chrome T-bird pickups and it looked like the pickup routes needed a fair bit of widening to accommodate vintage repro pickups.

daan · July 31, 2015, 02:28:57 PM

Quote from: Lightyear on July 30, 2015, 08:26:43 PM
UWETIC! Next you'll be saying that black plastic sounds better!

Heh, I should have put a smilie on there or something... Since I've never gotten to play a "real" Gibson with either of the pups in question, it's purely a cosmetic thing here.

Lightyear · July 31, 2015, 07:55:05 PM

I think Herr Fraulien took a little modelers saw and circumcised a Gibson soap bar if memory serves me right

Highlander · August 01, 2015, 08:03:10 AM

I peeled a damaged RD Artist pup to put in a TB for the PC for aesthetic purposes, but that's coming out if I ever get round to fitting that gold Lollar I have...

Alanko · August 07, 2015, 03:55:16 AM

Well the Tokai is purchased, so watch this space. The first step will be to probably put a chrome bridge and tuners on it and see where I end up. The pickups appear to be narrower soapbar types, which raises a question for me.

When you have chrome '60s Thunderbird pickups, do they sit on the surface, given that they look about as thick as a modern cell phone, or do they sit in routes? Would I need to route out the pickup cavities wider, or just have the pickups sitting in their cavities with a wider pickup cover straddling the route, like a Mudbucker?