In the hardware department, this bass boasts an Epiphone Vintage Bass Tune-O-Matic bridge, Epiphone Vintage Bass Claw tailpiece, and open-gear bass tuners with historic clover buttons and a 19:1 gear ratio.įinished in striking Ember Red, this Thunderbird ’64 comes with a premium gig bag for added protection and convenience. Sonically, this bird sings using a pair of ProBucker 760 Bass humbucker pickups, capturing the essence of vintage Thunderbird tone, that are controlled by 2 Volume knobs and a Master Tone, all featuring 500K CTS Pots. A '60s Rounded-shaped neck is topped with Indian Laurel fingerboard with pearloid dot inlays, surrounded by 20 frets and a GraphTech nut. The T-bird features a 9-ply Mahogany/Walnut neck-through design with mahogany wings, topped with a white pickguard that's stamped with an iconic grey logo. It may in reality be not so good depending on what the OP actually wants from the bass.Part of Epiphone's 'Inspired by Gibson' collection, this Epiphone Thunderbird ’64 Bass Guitar in Ember Red pays homage to its iconic design while offering modern features for today's players. Because the Tokai Thunderbird has so little in common with the Gibson models (either the classic 60s and 70s or the more modern version) there is no guarantee that for the OP the Gibson will be an improvement. So to get back to the original point of this thread. Normally I wouldn't really worry about this, but because Tokai have built their reputation on replicating classic American guitars and basses, it does bother me that people automatically assume that all instruments bearing the Tokai name are going to be of this original high standard, whereas for many of the models being imported into the UK (and especially the basses) this is clearly not the case. The EB3-style bass does look is though it's closer to the Gibson, but still the electronics are significantly different. They all seem to be at best MIK, and the two Gibson-based models differ in several important aspects from the instruments they are based on. The problem as I see it is that at the moment none of the non-original basses fall into this category.

These cheaper models are still fine instruments in their own right and as you say terrific value for money, but they are not really in the same league as the original 80s instruments and the current MIJ models.įor me the whole point of owning a non-original Tokai, is that you are going to get as close to the classic instrument that it is modelled on as possible in all aspects of wood choices, construction, hardware and electronics, and in many cases it will be a superior instrument. The narrow nut width and rounded neck profile neck feels both fast and intuitive. The traditional 9-ply mahogany/walnut neck through body construction provides a thundering low end response and a piano like sustain. However these days a large proportion of the Tokai instruments being imported by the official UK distributor, aren't the desirable MIJ models but cheaper MIK (and maybe even MIC). The Gibson Thunderbird has the classic reverse body and headstock design as originally introduced in 1963 as Gibson's first neck-through-body bass design. I do like the MIJ Tokais - I own a Talbo Bass and a Talbo Jr guitar, and I have a friend who has a couple of very tasty 80s strat replicas. He said the £200 copy out-played both of them, which cost over 10x the price each. It was a great copy to be fair (even down to not having routing on the back, which that specific Gibbo model doesn't) and the guy who bought it owns two 'real' Black Beautys. It's still fully stock too (apart from minus pickguard now) and the RRP is a good £500 less than the cheapest Gibson LPs.īy comparison, we saw a chinese £200 LP 50th copy ann guitar (complete with fully marked up Gibson case, even a spare 'Gibson' set of strings in the case) go through a while ago. Bass 2021 Gibson Thunderbird Candy Apple Red w Original Case and papers 2006 Fender Jazz Bass Black w/ Original hardshell case 2005 Fender Jazz Bass Sunburst. My MIJ is a stunning instrument with a briliant finish and it plays amazingly, one of the best LP style guitars I've played. Admittedly that's the guitars (the shop's in the process of moving at the moment, they'll be getting some basses in when they're settled) but there's definitely no arguing with their QC.

They've been incredibly consistent in quality and feel. Gibson Thunderbird Rex Brown Bass Gibson Thunderbird Rex Brown Bass Basse électrique Corps et manche en acajou (Swietenia Macrophylla) Profil du manch. I can't really agree with that, the shop I sometimes teach at stocks Tokais and we've never had an instrument from them that's been less than stunning for the money.

Red gibson thunderbird