Heartland

....not where are they now, but where is IT now? On a post about Craig Adams I picked up that you might now have the Thunderbird Bass he had. What I'm wondering is; is it the one I sold in about '91 to 'the Bass Player from the Sisters of Mercy'? At least that's who he said he was. I don't remember his name, and don't recognise Craig...the bloke I dealt with had hair.

Anyway, the instrument was a 1976 re-issue Gibson Thunderbird, in natural finish that I'd had for about 12 years from new. The most obvious pointer is that I'd fitted it with small chrome 2-way toggle switch set just above the vol/tone pots. The original rear pickup had failed, and the new humbucker (fitted in the original cover) had the option of series or parallel configuration, so I modded it with the switch so I could have either.

It's not that I particularly want it back - though if you didn't want it, we could discuss the option, I'm just wanting to know if it's my old bass.

Oh yeah, I was living in Hanworth, Middx, at the time, and sold it for £570.00 (Cheap )

Cheers,

Steve

According to the technical boys section of THE homepage the Thunderbird bass the Sissies used was former gear of Smokey.
The same section says that the bass man of the early nineties, Tony James, played a Wal Midi Bass, if I'm not mistaken

i've passed on your query to choque

i think he got it from mick brown, who got it from craig himself, so i'm not sure if its the one you're talking about

On the other hand, the Thunderbird pictured on the official site does seem to have an extra mini-switch between two of the knobs which doesn't appear to be featured on the original. (As far as I can tell Thunderbirds don't have a pickup selector switch, but rely on the 2 volumes to blend the 2 pickups.)

Maybe bought it from you, masqerading as 'the bass player from the Sisters of Mercy'; were you going by the name of 'Smokey' at the time?

Hm.
The title of the black Thunderbirdbass on THE homepage is "aptbirdbass", sugesting that this one belomged to Adam Pearson at the time that picture was put into the galery..
If that's the case, and in case it's *that bass* wanted in this thread it probably is where the live DVD went..

The toggle switch isn't standard, you're right. '76 T birds were wired like Post '62 Fender jazz basses, with individual pickup volumes and a single overall tone. I'm trying to remember if I put the toggle switch between the knobs as shown on the black one on the official site, or slightly above - trawling through my photos to see if I've got a picture that shows it.

I found a picture, and it shows the toggle switch to be below the volume pots, so it doesn't match the Black Thunderbird on the Official site. Ah well.

I was waching the Tops of the Pops version of Temple of Love last night and noticed that Tony James was playing a TBird, check it out on http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LPfce9FvjgA
This was in 1992 so the chronology is right. I don't know if it your old bass, but I would say there is a fair chance of it being so.
I couldn't see from you tube if it had any extra switches, but does the man holding it look like the man you sold it to?

forgot to post this follow-up:

Choque wrote:The one I've got is a lot older and very battered.

ozjohn1 wrote:I was waching the Tops of the Pops version of Temple of Love last night and noticed that Tony James was playing a TBird, check it out on http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LPfce9FvjgA
This was in 1992 so the chronology is right. I don't know if it your old bass, but I would say there is a fair chance of it being so.
I couldn't see from you tube if it had any extra switches, but does the man holding it look like the man you sold it to?

To me it looks like the black ex-Smokie one.

eotunun wrote:

ozjohn1 wrote:I was waching the Tops of the Pops version of Temple of Love last night and noticed that Tony James was playing a TBird, check it out on http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LPfce9FvjgA
This was in 1992 so the chronology is right. I don't know if it your old bass, but I would say there is a fair chance of it being so.
I couldn't see from you tube if it had any extra switches, but does the man holding it look like the man you sold it to?

To me it looks like the black ex-Smokie one.

Thanks for the info. I couldn't tell from the video, not close enough, and not enough detail. It looked black but then that's neither here nor there - it could have been refinished. Mine was originally in natural finish mahogany - ie, sort of orangey brown.