Did Gibson ever make Alnico Thunderbird Pickups??

[Basslife]

And if so, what could I buy that are closest to the originals??

[capmaster]

And if so, what could I buy that are closest to the originals??

Searching for Thunderbird pickup replacements about one year ago I found them to be pretty rare. There are the EMG TB pickup series comprising of several active models with different magnet/coil configurations, and the passive EMG TB-HZ offered with AlNiCo-steel magnets only which I finally bought four of last year. They come four-conductor wired and are a direct Thunderbird drop-in. I use them in two EB 2013 basses since the TB pickup-sized stock AlNiCo rod humbuckers badly foul up tone and intonation due to string pull.

 

The EMG TB-HZ are great in my opinion. They nicely reproduce roundwound and flatwound string tone as well, and the string pull is much smaller. So I also get a nice sound when playing the E4th past the 7th fret and the A3rd past the 10th fret. Among all of my pickups, i. e. Gibsons, Fenders, DiMarzios, Seymour Duncans and just them four EMGs, the latter are those with the least noise by far. They obviously are perfectly shielded which may be one of the reasons for their considerable self-capacitance of about 350 pF. Since I modded the circuit using three DPDT push/pull pots, they allow for individual series and parallel options, and commonly switchable frequency-tuned coil split affecting the series positions. Those options allow for a more traditional bass tone using standard series wiring as well as a modern sound usually associated with active onboard circuits.

 

However, I guess I would have gone with ceramic magnets if there were offered some with these. But that's a thing of personal taste. Perhaps the smooth resonance of these pickups, typical for AlNiCo bar magnets, is what you are looking for.

 

Hope this helps.

[ramone57]

Thunderbucker Ranch offers tbird pickups with alnico magnets but they not are cheap. everything I've heard about them has been overwhelmingly positive.

 

http://www.thunderbuckerranch.com/index.html

 

Mike Lull has tbird pickups. you might have to call to find out the specifics, they aren't featured on his website but you can see them installed on some of the bbasses on his site.

 

http://www.mikelull.com/index.html

 

there's a few others making tbird pickups but I can't recall who at the moment. hope that helps.

[Cyberrock]

Lull and Thunderbuck are the two makers that I've heard lots of great comments about online.

 

Two other options are Lollar and Seymour Duncan Custom shop. All of them aim for vintage style and sound.

 

I'm considering this myself but I should probably mention that the Lull pickups are quite expensive and the Thunderbucks will not fit a modern T-bird without carving.

The Lull are close to measurement but MIGHT need some minor routing. The Lollar and Seymour Duncans should fit perfectly, but you might need spacers/shims since they're not as high as the standard Gibsons.

 

Since Gibson are making really great reproduction of old Humbuckers I really would love to see them start making these 60-style pickups again.

 

Would love to hear what you've chosen and how you liked whatever you went for.