Please Help!! Building My Own Gibson Thunderbird Bass Pickups

[xsogol]

Hi All,

I'm new to ampage and have been a long-time member of TalkBass.com. I posted a thread there a couple of months ago that has some background info in it (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...rbird+building).

I will soon be embarking on a project bass and I would like to craft my own pickups for it. Here's the config, a Peavey Fury neck (jazz-like) on a walnut P-bass body with a Music Man style pickup (or a regular P-pickup...haven't decided yet) in the traditional P neck position and a Thunderbird humbucker near the bridge (roughly in the Fender 70s Jazz bridge position).

Here's my dilemma...I've found plenty of info on Music Man pickups, however, I've searched all over for info on the 60s T-Bird pickups and have come up with very little except general knowledge of Gibson bass pickups and this picture:



Someone else in the TalkBass thread above also showed a Gibson T-Bird humbucker that looked like this (which is a completely different coil configuration all together):






Does anyone have any light to shed on this topic? Does anyone actually know what the guts of a 60s T-Bird bass humbucker look like and possible measurements? Thanks!

[xsogol]

Here's a little more of the background info I found (from TB member 69'Vette):

Thunderbird pickup info from Bill Lawrence:

1. The original Thunderbird pickup is a conventional upright-coil humbucker with two alnico bar magnets as "polepieces". They are contained in bobbins, with the coil wire wound around the bobbin (not directly around the magnets like Fender). He said that the design was like a dual coil humbucking version of a Melody Maker pickup. Neither he nor Seth Lover designed it, but it was based on a pickup he designed in 1948.

2. He did not design the 1976 sidewinder (pickups in all 76-79 'birds) but it was based on his patented design. The 1976 T-bird pickups were stacked humbuckers with only two wires, and a DC resistance of 6.5k. The modern ones may follow the same basic design, but I don't know whether their resistance has changed over the years.

-------------------------------
Re 70's Thunderbirds:

The neck pickup specs out at 6.5k or so, but the bridge pickup reads a lot more. You have to wire them properly to even out the signal, otherwise they won't work. It's a weird design. Some guys don't like how they sound as much as the newer or older models. I disagree. I've played some that don't sound great, but I've played others (and own one now) that rivals any 60's 'bird including my 65 II and my 66 Embassy.

The newer ones ('87 and up) are 2 wire blade humbuckers. They've changed a bit over the years but the ones I've had measured (from the late 90's) measured 9-10k. Seymour Duncan can wind a 60's 'bird pickup from scratch but you need the covers. From what I've heard, they're the best repro Thunderbird pickups you'll ever find. If anyone is looking for chrome covers, there's a guy on the Dudepit who is now making and selling covers or you can buy them with pickups already installed (search the Gear For Sale section for Thunderbird Pickups).

[David King]

xsogol, check out this thread for some more possible info. Keep us informed as to what you find out.
http://music-electronics-forum.com/s...ead.php?t=1662

Lastly, as you might know, Chandler used to make a TBird pickup in the early 1990s, they might have some info in an old notebook.

[Tommorichards]

They look like the bobbins used for the G3 pickups.

[marku52]

here is some more info on Tbirds, pictures of one disassembled. it is a double HB with twin bar magnets...

Thunderbird Pickup Explodes!