I bought the Epiphone Thunderbird from Merchant City Music online, having never played it, for aroung £230, purely because it looked great. A fairly conceted reason for buying a guitar I know but I have to say I am very happy with it. I did some research before buying it and was aware of the "neck dive" problem before purchasing it. On receiving the bass (the very next day from placing order) I quickly rectified the problem by fixing a strap button to the back of the bass, why epiphone don't fit these as standard is beyond me, problem solved! I also removed the cheap looking plastic volume pots and replaced with die-cast black metal ones. The bass itself, despite it's looks, doesn't lend itself to pick players becasue of the positioning of the pick-ups. I usually play with a pick and had to adopt a slightly different playing position to counter-act this. Not a huge problem in itself. The bass is as solid as it looks and has a great sound. When it was delivered in the usual cardboard box the intonation was perfect and it was in tune! I gig with this and love it and even after transporting it in a soft padded gig bag it's usually in tune every time i take it out. I could never afford the true gibson version of this guitar so if like me you like to change your bass every couple of years then you won't go far wrong with this model. It came set-up with a nice low action but again due to pick-up position not to great for "slap 'n' pop". String broke during a gig and in the ensuing scramble in the dark the string anchor at the ball end fell out - it's just the tension of the string that keeps these in place - worth keeping that in mind when giging also the jack nut came loose which broke the solder on the earth wire, again not a huge problem in itself, easily repaired, just not what you want to happen in the middle of a gig, I partly blame myself for not checking this before playing. That said I have played extensively with this bass for over 2 years now and those are the only problems I have had with it. To sum up, if looks are (and let's be honest they are when it comes to entertaining your rock star fantasies) important to you then the EpiphoneThunderbird delivers a good all-round guitar that looks great. If you specialise in a specific style of bass playing then there are other guitars out there that would suit you better, though maybe not in this price range.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
The Epiphone Thunderbird IV bass with its distinctive reverse body style is a favorite ... more
for rock and heavy metal. Producing serious low end from its dual humbucking pickups, the Thunderbird blazes new tone trails on stages every day. Epiphone Thunde...
Postage & Packaging: £6.00 Availability: Usually ships in 3-10 working days...
Dec 5th, 2007
(Jun 4th, 2008)
very helpful by (40%):
helpful by (60%):
