Gibson Corporation is one of the leaders in guitar production. Over the years, it has managed to set new trends in guitars, and produced the firsts of their kinds. One of its major successes, is the Gibson Thunderbird electric bass guitar.
The Gibson Thunderbird was first introduced in 1963, together with the Firebird guitar which basically resembles the Gibson Thunderbird in design and construction. The main difference is that the Thunderbird is an electric guitar. Although the Gibson Thunderbird fell behind twelve years from the Precision Bass which was produced by Fender, the Gibson Thunderbird definitely did not fall short of any expectations.
The basic design of the Thunderbird is that of a neck wood that went through the entire body of the guitar, which is being glued in place. The production of the Gibson Thunderbird with a scale of 34 inches, is an improvement over the previous Gibson bass guitars which have only a scale of 30 ½ inches. There were originally two models of the Gibson Thunderbird, these being the Thunderbird II, with one pick-up; and Thunderbird IV, with two pick-ups.
The design and construction of the Gibson Thunderbird underwent a revolution, as its design was changed in 1966 due to a lawsuit that was filed by Fender because of its resemblance to one of its products, the Fender Jazzmaster. This has caused the design of the body of the Thunderbird to be changed to ‘non-reverse’, as opposed to its original reverse body design. However, the production of the revised Gibson Thunderbird guitars was discontinued in 1969. In 1976, the Thunderbird, in its original reverse form, was reissued as a bicentennial edition, and continued production until 1979. It was again discontinued since then. However, in 1987, the Gibson Thunderbird models were introduced again, with the Thunderbird IV, and the Nikki Six Signature Thunderbird IV in its line. Both of these models have two pick-ups and have retained the reverse bodies.
Perhaps, the most attractive feature that the Gibson Thunderbird models have is the high pick-up that they possess, enabling these guitars to produce a stronger signal than the other active basses. Moreover, the Thunderbird pick-ups are said to be indestructible, thus no replacement pick-ups are released in the market by Gibson Corporation. Today, the current Gibson Thunderbird, represented by Thunderbird IV is made from either mahogany or walnut. To form its body, wings made from mahogany are attached to it.
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Their most popular electric is the Les Paul which was made popular by Charlie Christian during the earlier years of the 1950s. While producing a popular line, they were not able to stay afloat and by the end of the 1960s Gibson had been consumed by the Norlin Corporation. It was not until 1986 that the name would become well-known once again after the original owners rescued the company and its guitars from certain doom. As a side not, while being named after Les Paul, the guitarist had very little input into its development but rather he was paid to endorse it.
There are many authorized and unauthorized copies of the Gibson guitars available throughout the world. Many guitarists choose to collect the older Gibsons due to their rarity. As with any older guitar, the values of a well-used Gibson electric guitar is greater then that of a new one. Some fanatics will go all the way to completely restore an old Gibson if they happen to come across one somewhere. The company holds a number of firsts in the industry which has allowed them to continue to be a very popular choice for many musicians today.
