Epiphone Thunderbird IV Electric Bass

...into playing bass to find Epiphone did a version for around £300 so naturally I had to get one! The problem was that in that time my attitude had changed from just wanting to have a cool looking guitar to wanting one that was practical and comfortable for playing gigs, because of this the Thunderbird experience was a bit of a disappointment.

It still looked as good, the dark stained wooden body, black neck and headstock and the Thunderbird ...
...as they'd looked. It sounded good with nice solid, chunky tones ideal for heavy rock or metal but unfortunately it 's a bit of an awkward b'stard to play!

Basically the Thunderbird isn't a very well balanced guitar at all and extremely headstock heavy so as soon as you let go of the neck down it comes. Not just a gradual descent either but a guillotine like action that once nearly chopped my mate's keyboard in half at one practice! ... more

When I first played bass guitar (late 80s-90s) this was the one I absolutely wanted to own. They had a great rock sound, looked amazing and all the cool bands were using them... the trouble was at the time you could only buy the original Gibson version for nearly a grand (or get a sponsorship deal) and so the dream never came true.

Skip ahead 10 years to when I got back into playing bass to find Epiphone did a version for around £300 so naturally I had to get one! The problem was that in that time my attitude had changed from just wanting to have a cool looking guitar to wanting one that was practical and comfortable for playing gigs, because of this the Thunderbird experience was a bit of a disappointment.

It still looked as good, the dark stained wooden body, black neck and headstock and the Thunderbird logo on the scratch-plate were just as sexy close up as they'd looked. It sounded good with nice solid, chunky tones ideal for heavy rock or metal but unfortunately it 's a bit of an awkward b'stard to play!

Basically the Thunderbird isn't a very well balanced guitar at all and extremely headstock heavy so as soon as you let go of the neck down it comes. Not just a gradual descent either but a guillotine like action that once nearly chopped my mate's keyboard in half at one practice! If you're playing one of these at a gig and want to pick up your pint, scratch your nose or whatever (a) make sure you use one hand and (b) it's not the one holding the neck or (c) that you aren't standing next to anything breakable! Luckily it's quite solidly built, so it should be able to take those knocks from the head crashing into things, but then most basses are. Unlike most others though it won't stay in one place if you take your hands off it.

The body is surprisingly slim and easy to get around but the neck is quite wide with a fairly wide circumference at the back to get your hand around. It does taper slightly but still feels a bit like trying to strangle a mantlepiece compared to the slimmer Fender P and Jazz bass necks. The strings also seem slightly further apart than most other basses at the bridge end and it's quite a high action although as I play with fingers this might be more suitable for pick/plectrum users.

Overall I'd say if you REALLY want one go and try it out and see how it feels on first. Okay, this is normal but make sure you try it standing up and playing as well as sitting down with it. Consider how easy it will be to handle in a live environment... and if you'll ever be able to get a stand that it doesn't topple out of all the time... or a bag/case that fits properly! This is beauty and the beast rolled into one so don't just buy it for the looks if you want an instrument that's also easy to work with.

Having looked around they have come down a bit in price since I bought (and sold!) mine and you can currently pick one up for around £240 which is pretty cheap for a well known name to be fair. An official hardcase that fits will cost you over £75 though.

Technical details...

Pickups: Two humbuckers
Scale: 34"
Neck: Bolt on
Hardware: Black
Body: Alder
Controls: 2 volume and 1 tone
Colours: Vintage Sunburst or less commonly black or blue
Speical Editions: Gothic, Nikki Sixx limited edition 

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