I hesitate to post this. $45 Thunderbird pickups.

[Pekka]

Grainy cellphone photo, sorry. There's still a big hole to cover but looks rather good even now.

[Highlander]

Fascinating...

[Basvarken]

They have these pickups with nickel casing too now...

[Pekka]

They have these pickups with nickel casing too now...

Thanks for the info! Is this a sign for me that now it's the time to change the pickups to my '76?

[veebass]

Installed a set of 9.2Ks in my 08 TBird today.
Sounds great- very happy!

[FrankieTbird]

Must be my lucky day, I should go buy a lottery ticket.  I ordered 8K chrome pickups on feeBay on Feb. 25 & they arrived here in TX today, Feb. 29.  The slow boat from China must have had a strong tailwind.

[mc2NY]

Yeah, I've ordered from these guys a few times and each time the PUPs arrive lightnng fast from China. Their contact guy writes very good English.

Maybe cheap ass Henry J. should start using them to supply Gibson, so they stop usng those
Fugly black plastic PUPs they put in their basses?

[neepheid]

This thread has piqued my interest.  Not so much from the chromey angle, but from a sound angle.  Can someone please compare/contrast the sound of these pickups versus the standard black TB+ pickups found in modern T-birds?

[Bionic-Joe]

Look at the earlier posts in this thread.

[neepheid]

Look at the earlier posts in this thread.

I have, and sorry if I missed it but I didn't see any before/after discussions which went into any depth.  I did listen to the video of the pickups themselves (which sounded great indeed).

[veebass]

I have, and sorry if I missed it but I didn't see any before/after discussions which went into any depth.  I did listen to the video of the pickups themselves (which sounded great indeed).

I'll give it a go. I am not great at describing sound.
I replaced the standard TB +s in my 08 Gibson TBird with a set of nominal 9.2s EY Pickups (that is how they are listed on the seller's website).
According to my multimeter the TB+s were both around 9.7K, the EYs measured around 9.5 and 9.6K, neck and bridge respectively. I put the slightly higher resistance one in the bridge position.
The EYs, to my ear, are considerably clearer, have more top end and more pleasing mids.
I found the EYs easier to balance across the strings and between pickups than the TB+s had proven, which I found to be very sensitive to adjustment.
The bridge pickup needs to be cranked up to maximun height on the screws provided (ie the bottom of the pickup level with the top of the body of the bass and the top of the pickup about 5mm from the strings) to get enough out of it.
I am mainly a neck pickup player and so the bridge pickup is giving me enough with the current set up- some may want more. I can lower the bridge itself a little still (there is still some downward adjustment available on the "front" post, but haven't bothered yet. as I have a chrome 3 pointer and tuners on the way and will fully set the bass up when I change the bridge and tuners over.
I have used the bass with the band now- it cuts through better with the EY pickups and sounds "more musical" for want of a better phrase. It also has better sustain. Still plenty of power. The bridge pickup is similar in fullness to my Greco Single pickup TBird- but probably not as angry sounding.
Told you I wasn't great at describing sound. Hope that helps a little.
Here's a pic of the bass partially blinged- they do look the part!

[Pekka]

That was a good description if you ask me! Thanks!

I'm planning to replace the original pickups in my '76 with these. Do I need rings or can I use the originals?

Also, as I have to change the wiring, what pots? 500 or 250 kOhms?

[TheBug]

I bought a BaCH Fenderbird from Rob with the Hongkongbuckers and I really like it! I have a gibson Thunderbird from 2009 with barfuss pickups and it sounds different but I would not call one better or worse sounding

[Basvarken]

Welcome Thomas!

[slinkp]

Barfuss?