BobB Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Hey everybody! Have heard about the new Thunderbird short scale bass? It looks extremely cool. http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Thunderbird-Short-Scale-Bass/Specs.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowb5str Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Hey everybody! Have heard about the new Thunderbird short scale bass? It looks extremely cool. http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Thunderbird-Short-Scale-Bass/Specs.aspx The string specs on the web page don't look quite right: .010" - .045" ??? And then they edited the typo to show .10 - .045", which I can certainly believe. Thanks for the "spot", gsgbass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Close enough. My guess would be, .45, .65, .85, .105 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu4UinCinci Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Hey everybody! Have heard about the new Thunderbird short scale bass? It looks extremely cool. http://www2.gibson.c...Bass/Specs.aspx Guitar Center leads off their description of the Thunderbird Shortscale Bass by calling it a "Limited Run". I worried I might miss out if this was true by waiting, So I gave Gibson's sales department a call regarding whether there was a limited run of the gibson thunderbird shortscale bass guitar. The Gibson person I spoke to told me Gibson has never made a lot of basses, and that they may have already manufactured all that will be made of the new gibson thunderbird shortscale. I called Guitar Center Online last week and they told me they only had 12 left. So I ordered one, and received it today. Out of the box I have one concern about this bass, the action. The action of my six string guitars is uniform throughout the fret board. But on the neck of my brand new out of the box Thunderbird Shortscale Bass, the strings of the last (bottom) fret are much higher than the strings at the first fret (top of neck). This inplies to me that the neck is bowed and is not something that can be corrected by merely adjusting the truss rod. Am I correct? There may be time to have it replaced if they have not sold the remaining guitars left in stock. Stu4UinCinci Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 If they still have any left in stock, return it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu4UinCinci Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 If they still have any left in stock, return it. * Thanks for your comment. I called the Guitar Center's distribution center, they now have 5 Thunderbird Shortscales left. I explained my problem and Guitar Center told me that to expidite the return process, I should take the guitar to my local Guitar Center store and the distribution center would then ship me one of the 5 they have left. So I took it back tonight. The salesman at the store stated that "Gibson does not ship their guitars already set up". He felt my problem might be resolved by "having their store tech adjust the saddle". I did not want to take a chance getting stuck with a lemon, so I still elected to have another guitar shipped to me. Its hard for me to believe that Gibson would ship new guitars that were not in a ready to play condition right out of the box. If only to avoid repeated and unnecessary problems like this. But only Gibson can answer this question. I hope somebody from Gibson reads this post and replies as to what in fact their policy is when they ship their products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaolee Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I'm not sure any of them ship guitars set up from the factory. This is why: during shipping, a guitar is going to encounter all kinds of different temperatures, amounts of humidity, and who knows what all other environmental conditions. If it comes from a factory in one place, and goes to a buyer somewhere else, the chances the setup would last is about zero. So, even if the guitar were set up from the factory, it wouldn't be when it gets where it's going. I'm not saying your bass doesn't have problems beyond setup - I don't know one way or another. I'm just saying it is fairly reasonable for the factory to expect somebody on the receiving end to set up the guitar, since the truss rod is going to expand and contract a bit, the wood will move, and so on. Here's an illustration which shows how much metal parts, like a truss rod, can move due to temperature variation. I was involved in constructing a building with concrete block walls and a steel roof structure. The engineer forgot to account for the thermal expansion of steel. We built the block wall, and then installed the steel superstructure as drawn. It was fully welded and anchored at all points on the block wall. This happened during the winter. In the spring, the sun started to peek out, and the owner noticed some cracks in the block wall. By mid-summer, the block wall had a displaced top course. The steel had expanded by about three inches and shoved the block wall apart. We got paid to fix it. The principle applies to truss rods as well, but with less catastrophic and expensive consequences. Add in the inherent movement wood has from humidity and you get a real challenge if you are not setting it up for use in your climate right away. Here's another illustration. Wood settles down with time. My EB-2 doesn't move much at all. I have a two year old Ibanez guitar with similar construction and a one piece mahogany neck. It's not a Gibson, but the construction is similar enough to be relevant. For the first eighteen months I owned it, it seemed to need to be set up again every few weeks. I called it a dancing neck, and the shop said it was a good description. It isn't a quality problem, it's just what wood does, especially unseasoned wood. Some kinds of wood move more than others, too. So, if it seems like I'm defending factories for not setting things up, you are correct. If they don't get it somewhat close, it's a problem, though, and Gibson seems to have that problem sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvinator Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Yep - All of my Gibson basses require at least seasonal adjustments due to changes in humidity and temperature. The oldest Gibby I have is a 2001, and still needs attention several times a year. I live in NW PA about 2 miles from Lake Erie where the weather is constantly changing....... and so are the my bass necks. As a reference: I have a 1992 Yamaha TRB-4P 5 piece neck-through that's only been adjusted about 6 times in almost 20 years! My 2 Fenders (maple necks) also seem to need little attention. I just leave the truss rod covers off the Gibsons in the summertime, and always take a wrench with me; a small price to pay for that sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu4UinCinci Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Yep - All of my Gibson basses require at least seasonal adjustments due to changes in humidity and temperature. The oldest Gibby I have is a 2001, and still needs attention several times a year. I live in NW PA about 2 miles from Lake Erie where the weather is constantly changing....... and so are the my bass necks. As a reference: I have a 1992 Yamaha TRB-4P 5 piece neck-through that's only been adjusted about 6 times in almost 20 years! My 2 Fenders (maple necks) also seem to need little attention. I just leave the truss rod covers off the Gibsons in the summertime, and always take a wrench with me; a small price to pay for that sound. * If the guitar had been stored in a non-climate controlled warehouse for a significant length of time, I would agree with you. There would be change in some parameter(s) of the set up. But this is a new limited run model which had delays in distribution. The first guitar did not even ship until March or May of this year (I forget which). I used the Gibson “TALK TO US” contact link to have Gibson clarify what in fact is their policy to prepare a guitar for shipping. Gibson’s “TALK TO US” page limits you to 450 characters to ask a question (which is woefully inadequate to explain a technical problem). But I somehow managed to whittle down the text and submitted the question. Much to my surprise, I received a quick reply. Several times before I had asked them questions on other topics, and this was the first time I received a reply. I was relieved to read in their reply that Gibson does indeed set up their guitars prior to shipment in playable condition, and the set up is to very specific and precise measurements which they were kind enough to list for me fret by fret. I would copy and paste the data, but that is prohibited by a confidentiality clause at the bottom of their email reply to me. However I will paraphrase Gibson’s paragraph response to what the Salesman at Guitar Center told me regarding shipping condition of Gibson guitars: “This is not true. Every Gibson guitar goes through several quality inspections and are also setup to the factory specifications (listed below) for intonation and playability before leaving the factory, but at times, due to climate changes and the nature of wood, needs minor adjustments after leaving the factory. Thanks again, and I hope this helps.” Stu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu4UinCinci Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 PS: I received the replacement Thunderbird today. Everything was fine other than loose screws on one of the pickup covers. And the guitar came out of the box set up perfectly. Go figure :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Glad you've got one that you can play and hang on to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu4UinCinci Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Glad you've got one that you can play and hang on to. I still have the Gibson G3 Bass (all natural maple) that I bought new 36 years ago. I bought it because it was the hottest looking bass in the store. :-P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 I had a couple of the recent SG Std. Basses, and both were set out of the box direct from Gibson. Intonation was really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaolee Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Age of the wood plays into all this, too. My EB-2 is a 1968, and it rarely needs attention. I have a much newer Ibanez hollowbody guitar which needed constant adjustment for the first 18 months or so, but seems to have settled down quite a bit. Wood just does what wood does. It just does less of it once it has aged for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvinator Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Age of the wood plays into all this, too. My EB-2 is a 1968, and it rarely needs attention. I have a much newer Ibanez hollowbody guitar which needed constant adjustment for the first 18 months or so, but seems to have settled down quite a bit. Wood just does what wood does. It just does less of it once it has aged for a while. Well put and very true. I just hope I live long enough for my 10 year old LP Standard to get old enough to do less of what it does! :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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