Thunderbird bass
A Thunderbird in 'Vintage Sunburst'.
Manufacturer	Gibson
Period	1963–1969, 1976–1979, 1987–present
Construction
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Neck-through
Scale	34 in
Woods
Body	Mahogany and walnut
Neck	Mahogany and walnut
Fretboard	Rosewood or ebony
Hardware
Bridge	Fixed
Pickup(s)	Bass humbuckers
Colors available
Vintage sunburst or alpine white, ebony and metallic red, Pelham blue in limited edition models

The Gibson Thunderbird is an electric bass guitar made by Gibson and Epiphone.

Background and introduction

The Gibson Thunderbird^[1] was introduced in 1963.^[2] At the time, Fender had been the leader in the electric bass market since their introduction of the Precision Bass twelve years earlier.

The Thunderbird was designed by U.S. auto designer Raymond H. Dietrich (Chrysler, Lincoln, Checker)^[2] along with the Firebird guitar, which it resembles in design, construction, and name.^[3]

Design and construction

Josh Reedy of DecembeRadio playing a custom Gibson Thunderbird onstage

The Thunderbird bass, like the Rickenbacker 4000 series and the Firebird guitar designed concurrently, has neck-through construction: the neck wood runs the entire length of the body, with the rest of the body glued into place.^[3] Some cheaper Epiphone models feature a more conventional bolt-on neck construction.

The Thunderbird was Gibson's first model built in the 34-inch scale, which had been made popular by Fender. Previous models use the short scale of 30½ inches.

There were originally two Thunderbird models: the Thunderbird II, with only one pickup, and the Thunderbird IV, with two pickups. The Thunderbird usually features bass humbuckers, colloquially referred to as "soapbars" due to their appearance.

1976–1979 reissue

The Thunderbird IV was reissued in 1976 as a bicentennial edition. This reissue featured the original body shape and neck-through construction but unlike the previous issues, the bicentennial edition included the new "three-point" bridge and a red, white, and blue Thunderbird logo. The bass was offered in tobacco burst, ebony, white, or natural finish. After the bicentennial, the Thunderbird was continued as a regular production model until 1979, when it was discontinued once again.

Current and recent models

The Thunderbird IV was re-introduced to the Gibson line in 1987 and was in regular production until 2015.

The most recent official Thunderbirds produced by Gibson Guitar Corporation:

• Gibson USA Thunderbird IV
• Gibson USA Nikki Sixx Thunderbird Bass
• Epiphone Thunderbird IV
• Epiphone Nikki Sixx Blackbird
• Epiphone Goth Thunderbird IV
• Epiphone Special Run Thunderbird IV limited edition silverburst
• Epiphone Thunderbird Pro IV
• Epiphone Thunderbird Pro V
• Epiphone Thunderbird Classic-IV Pro
• Gibson Thunderbird non-reverse bass
• Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage Pro

Fenderbird

The Who's John Entwistle used Thunderbird IVs from 1971 to 1974, but was dissatisfied with the necks. He bought several Thunderbird basses after the model was discontinued and gutted them. He then had several bodies cut to the original shape, attached Fender Precision Bass necks to them, and installed the salvaged hardware.^[13]

Notable Thunderbird players

• Justin Chancellor of Tool plays a Thunderbird, which he used during the early years of the band.
• Zeta Bosio of Soda Stereo used various Gibson Thunderbird basses.
• Les Claypool
• Calum Hood of 5 Seconds of Summer uses a Thunderbird, primarily on the Meet You There tour in 2018.
• Overend Watts of Mott The Hoople
• Glenn Cornick of Jethro Tull played several Gibson Thunderbird and non-reverse Thunderbird basses. His non-reverse Thunderbird bass was stolen while on tour in 1970.
• Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth used a sunburst 1976 Gibson Thunderbird Bass which she bought in 1988 and was also used frequently by her former husband and bandmate Thurston Moore. She stopped using it live in favour of her BC Rich during the Goo era, though it did show up at a few shows. It was used for the recording of "Dirty", however, and many 'Dirty' tour shows in '92. She also used it for the recording of "Sonic Nurse". Jim used it for the Nurse tour, and Kim revisited it for the entirety of the "Daydream Nation" shows they did, except for 'Eliminator' which she played on her EB bass. Still used on the Eternal tour.
• Krist Novoselic of Nirvana uses a Gibson Ripper bass and a Gibson Thunderbird bass.
• Duff McKagan of Guns N' Roses
• Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe
• Peter Hook of New Order
• Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead and Hawkwind used a Thunderbird fairly much, but stopped using it in favor of his signature model Rickenbacker basses.
• Steve Harbin of Frech & Co uses a Thunderbird regularly.
• George "Pops" Chambers of The Chambers Brothers
• Michael Bradford
• Kim Deal of Pixies
• Adam Clayton of U2
• Nikki Monninger of Silversun Pickups, exclusively plays Gibson Thunderbirds except when she needs an acoustic bass.^[14]
• Héctor Mejía of Mr. Hectárea and Rigtus
• Jared Followill of Kings Of Leon
• Oscar Keating of Man-Eater Soup
• Tyson Ritter of The All American Rejects plays a Gibson Thunderbird bass. Ritter has stated that it is one of his favorite basses to play.
• Walter Becker of Steely Dan played a Gibson Thunderbird bass on the albums Can't Buy a Thrill and Countdown to Ecstasy.
• Jimmy Bain of Rainbow played a Gibson Thunderbird bass on the albums Rainbow Rising and Long Live Rock 'n' Roll.
• Pete Way used a Gibson Thunderbird bass during his tenures in Fastway and UFO.
• John Entwistle of The Who used various Gibson Thunderbird basses from 1971 to about 1976. His first bass was a non-reverse orange Thunderbird, and he also played at least 2 1964 Thunderbird basses, one of which was accidentally destroyed by Keith Moon at a concert in New York in 1971, and John subsequently damaged it. Bought at Sotheby's May 2003 auction for 28,800 GBP by David Swartz. It was display in October 2019 at the "Play It Loud" Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Entwistle was once quoted as saying: "Once you turn up the treble on a Precision, the bottom drops out." "In big arenas, I wasn't getting enough bottom end from the P-Basses when I had the treble all the way up."

Entwistle also played an instrument called a "Fenderbird", which used the maple neck of a CBS Fender Precision bass bolted onto a custom mahogany Thunderbird IV-clone body (slightly thicker than a standard Thunderbird IV body to accept the Fender bolt-on neck – possibly the same thickness as a Fender Precision; which improved the tone, according to Entwistle). It also used a Gibson Thunderbird bridge and electronics. The height-adjustment screws of the pickups were set slightly sunk into the pickup-covers by Peter Cook so that Entwistle would not tear his fingernails on them. Paxman designed cases specifically for the Fenderbirds.

• Leon Wilkeson, bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, played several Thunderbirds and a Fenderbird during his musical career, as well as various Fender basses.^[15]
• Allen Woody, bassist for The Allman Brothers Band, was an avid collector of Gibson Thunderbird and Epiphone Thunderbird basses. In 2011, Epiphone created a limited edition signature model Epiphone Allen Woody Thunderbird bass.
• Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith was known to use a white Gibson Thunderbird bass from 1973 to early 1977, rotating between the Thunderbird, a Fender Jazz Bass and a Fender Precision Bass, before switching to the recently introduced Music Man StingRay by the time Draw the Line was released in 1977.
• Roger Glover of Deep Purple and Rainbow used a Gibson Thunderbird bass, which was used on the album Come Taste the Band in 1975 as well as the Rainbow album Down to Earth. The Thunderbird can also be seen in the video for the Rainbow single "Since You Been Gone".
• Stefan Olsdal of Placebo
• Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash played a reverse Thunderbird IV.
• Margrét Rósa of Kælan Mikla has played several Thunderbird basses, including an Epiphone Goth and Vintage Pro.
• Dolf de Borst of The Datsuns.
• Elvis Jácome of Los Bongs

References

External links

• Gibson Blackbird– Information, and pictures of the Gibson Blackbird.