[lxmetal]

I've just begun working on a Thunderbird... Fenderbird project. Using a mahogony Epiphone body, and a Warmoth P-bass neck made from maple with ebony board. I can't wait to post pics!
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has wired up any cool upgrade pickups to their 'Birds. Botique hand made or otherwise. Passive all the way. I dont want to route, but I can if I need to. I was thinking about 1 Mudbucker, but I think I want to keep the 2 pickup configuration (and believe me the novelty of 2 Mudbuckers is tempting!). I want to wire it like a Blackbird and use my pre / amp / effects to control tone and volume.
What is the difference between the standard epi pickups and the Deepsixx pu's ?
..
so if you have any suggestions, post up! Does anyone else have their own project T-bird?
And how about posting some pics of various Fenderbirds for some inspiration?

[/img]

[Redbird]

My project fbird

[donnervogel]

What is the difference between the standard epi pickups and the Deepsixx pu's ?


While the Epiphone TBird pups have gained in authority over the years, they are still quite a bit removed from Gibson TB Plus quality. The Deepsixx aren't there either, but compared to the regular Epi pups they have added midrange bark making them more assertive in a slightly grinding way. Not for everyone. Rather than Deepsixx they should have called them Midsixx. The fact that an Epi Blackbird offers a little more bass ooomph than a regular Epi is more down to the fact that the pups on the Blackbird are positioned more towards the neck rather than the bridge.

Uwe

[anyfour]

Also, according to the Epi catalogue, Deepsixx pickups have slightly more output than the TB in the regular epi T-bird

[lxmetal]

Well I have been busy prepping the Epi bird body for refinish and I have found that while the catalog specs the sunburst model as "mahogony", it is really just a thin veneer of mahogony over alder! Bummer! If I would have known that before I would have got the "goth" version... you wouldn't believe how long it takes to strip the 3mm polyurethane clearcoat off the wood! I have logged in at least 3-4 hours stripping, scraping and sanding. One bit of heavy hand with the D.A. and the mahogony just disappeared in a couple of spots. It's OK though I will be painting not staining... more to come soon!

[anyfour]

Well, dont feel too bad about the veneer, according to the 2007 Epi catalogue, the GOth Bird is Basswood. Musicians friend and the epi website list it as Mohogany. So I dont know which it is. I havent disected it to find out.

[jules]

Originally Posted by anyfour

the 2007 Epi catalogue, the GOth Bird is Basswood. the epi website list it as Mohogany.

Thats quite a discrepancy. I don't suppose it changed from one to the other at some point?

[anyfour]

I really dont know if it changed or not. The 2007 Cat obviously was done in 2006, so maybe after it was printed, they decided to go with a more vintage sounding wood. But even if it is basswood, mine has a nice little growl to it and sounds pretty mean for an epi. I`ll have to see if I can get through the paint in the body cavity and see what I can tell from that.

[lxmetal]

Yeah, for an epiphone it does have a good tone, I played the bass a bit to compare it to a Gibson, and while there are differences, it is great tone for dollar ratio!
I am going to sell the Epiphone T-bird neck on ebay this week, if anyone is interested in it, send me a p.m....
Package will include neck, tuners, neck plate, truss rod cover.

Proceeds will go to the Warmoth P-bass style neck... which I am considering going reverse headstock (lefty with a "righty" nut). Do you think I will encounter trouble with string lengths on an arrangement like that? Seems like low E will have to travel further...

[anyfour]

It will be close, but I would think you should be ok with the length, as long as you arent running strings through the body. Those 3 points dont take up much string at all when you run the ball end under the claw.