Gibson Thunderbird IV Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (1963)
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Gibson Thunderbird IV Model Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (1963), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 151192, sunburst top, dark mahogany back and sides finish, laminated mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
This seriously imposing bass is the earliest example of a "Reverse" Thunderbird IV we have ever seen, a fantastic instrument and a fascinating piece of Gibson Bass history. As one of the very first "reverse" Thunderbird IVs built, it has several unusual features marking it as a pre-or very early production model. The serial number in the 151XXX series pre-dates the first well known Thunderbird production batch (in the 159-160XXX series) and is considered by all reference sources a late 1963 number; the Firebird line was launched at that time, but the bass models were not shipped in quantity until early '64.
The first thing an experienced "Bird-watcher" will note about this bass is there is no Thunderbird emblem on the pickguard; the early Firebird guitars also lacked this decoration, but every T-Bird we have seen or referenced has one. The W/B/W pickguard is definitely original and also has no wooden finger rest, nor was there ever one mounted; there are no screw holes in the wood for it beneath the guard. The one-sheet Gibson sent out introducing the model showed the fingerrest in place but no bird. Additionally in the area around the fingerboard the body is slightly different from other examples in that the center section and body "wings" were sanded level, usually a slight ridge remains in this area. The neck is also slightly slimmer back-to-front at the nut than most, and they are pretty thin in general! The pots are dated to late 1963, in common with other early 'birds the tone pot is a different make from the volumes but all are original.
While we would not describe this as a prototype, it is certainly either a pre-production model or one of the very first off the line at the end of 1963. The Thunderbird was Gibson's first long-scale bass, their greatest 4-string classic, specifically designed to woo customers accustomed to the Fender Bass. Earlier Gibson basses were short scale affairs noted for their dark sound; Thunderbirds have a much more wide-range tone and put a unique Gibson twist on the 34" scale Fender bass concept. The IV was the upscale model adding a second pickup to the mix making it a direct competitor to Fender's Jazz Bass.
These models were available for only a short time into in summer 1965 when they were re-engineered into the simplified, less expensive "Non reverse" line that year. All Thunderbird basses are fairly rare and many have been damaged over the years making an early unbroken example like this all the more delightful.
Like most subsequent Thunderbird IVs this one is finished in the standard 2-tone sunburst, if only on the top. Even in this fairly conservative livery it is a supremely striking bass with generous proportions all around, especially the slim long-scale neck that seems to go on forever. The huge ax-like headstock mounts four long-stem Kluson bass machines, the first time Gibson had used them. The large, thin-rimmed angular contoured body is made of two mahogany "wings" glued to a full-length 9-piece laminated mahogany neck/body center section, an audacious design for 1963 making building it a rather complex operation.
The neck is very similar in feel to a Jazz Bass, narrow at the nut but with a noticeable taper nearer the body. The rosewood fingerboard is unbound and dot inlaid. The Tune-O-Matic style adjustable bass bridge with a separate tailpiece was a new feature exclusive to Thunderbirds. Two humbucking bass pickup are mounted in the same body position as the Fender Jazz Bass, none down by the fingerboard as Gibson had previously preferred. The IV has Volume-Volume-Tone wiring also directly emulating the Jazz Bass; the large hand rests over pickup and bridge were also Fender inspired features. Like all early Thunderbirds this bass has all nickel-plated hardware. The copper mute mounting plate has been trimmed off at the bridge, otherwise the bass is all original.
The original Thunderbird IVs is one of the rarest Gibson basses; only 235 were registered as shipped 1964 (none in 1963) and 87 followed in 1965, some of which were the new non-reverse models. The total run of "reverse" Thunderbird IVs is at the maximum around 300 instruments. The Thunderbird IV was listed in Gibson's 1964 price list at $370 plus $56.50 for the case which was hardly competitive with the $279.50 Fender Jazz Bass; sales remained a tiny fraction of Fender's.
In retrospect is it not hard to see why; Gibson hardly gave them a chance! Regardless this is a truly great playing and sounding bass, offering a powerful midrange punch with a Jazz-like tonal scoop when both pickups are engaged and a sound that slides into overdriven growl when played hard or cranked. Gibson poetically called it a "throaty bass tone". Slim-bodied, fast-playing and incredibly stylish, this Thunderbird IV is a superb example not for the player who wants to stand discreetly in the background but a bass that demands its own spotlight! John Entwistle, Glenn Cornick, "Overend" Watts, Martin Turner, Arthur Kane and many others have been noted as users of this unique bass, which began receiving the re-issue treatment from Gibson in 1976 and has stuck around as a niche instrument since. This is the earliest original Thunderbird IV we have ever had and a superb player as well.
Overall length is 50 1/2 in. (128.3 cm.), 14 in. (35.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 34 in. (864 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/2 in. (38 mm.).
This bass shows some noticeable play wear but remains all original and most importantly, unbroken! The all-original finish has some checking with dings, scratches and dents overall including some dings to the top, heavier play wear to the upper body ridge on the face and belt buckle wear to the wood on the back. The headstock edges are dinged up with one large chip to the lower edge on the face and general wear to the perimeter. It looks like this extended peghead banged into a few walls or other obstacles along the way, but fortunately not hard enough to crack it!
As noted there is NO serious structural damage or repair; a large proportion of surviving Thunderbirds have suffered badly broken headstocks and/or body cracks in the thin control area; this bass has not. There was a slight separation between the fingerboard and neck wood just below the nut, fully sealed up but not finished over. This seam opening up is not uncommon on these very thin Thunderbird necks if the truss rod was over-adjusted, but the wood itself was not cracked and the rod itself works perfectly.
The original "Unbirded" laminated pickguard has shrunken somewhat (which is common on these) with a crack at the forward screw hole and the lower rear corner piece re-attached. Some of the mounting screws have pulled slightly inward. At one point (in the '70s?) someone mounted a flashy mirrored pickguard backed in blue paint, a bit of which transferred to the body beneath. The original was later re-installed but a bit of paint transfer remains on the body beneath. And yes, this is definitely the original pickguard, no bird, no "tug bar" holes and all!
All hardware is original and complete, including the bridge, tailpiece, bridge and pickup covers, tuners and the pickups and wiring. There is some wear to the nickel plating but nothing too serious. The long thin neck is perfectly straight, the original frets have recently been polished out showing no subsequent wear and the bone nut is original. If you have been looking for one of these imposing 'birds, this is a historic and also ready-to-gig example comfortably residing in the original; early model Gibson Thunderbird case, which is solid with some external wear. We love these big 'birds and this one is a really special example. Overall Very Good + Condition.
This seriously imposing bass is the earliest example of a "Reverse" Thunderbird IV we have ever seen, a fantastic instrument and a fascinating piece of Gibson Bass history. As one of the very first "reverse" Thunderbird IVs built, it has several unusual features marking it as a pre-or very early production model. The serial number in the 151XXX series pre-dates the first well known Thunderbird production batch (in the 159-160XXX series) and is considered by all reference sources a late 1963 number; the Firebird line was launched at that time, but the bass models were not shipped in quantity until early '64.
The first thing an experienced "Bird-watcher" will note about this bass is there is no Thunderbird emblem on the pickguard; the early Firebird guitars also lacked this decoration, but every T-Bird we have seen or referenced has one. The W/B/W pickguard is definitely original and also has no wooden finger rest, nor was there ever one mounted; there are no screw holes in the wood for it beneath the guard. The one-sheet Gibson sent out introducing the model showed the fingerrest in place but no bird. Additionally in the area around the fingerboard the body is slightly different from other examples in that the center section and body "wings" were sanded level, usually a slight ridge remains in this area. The neck is also slightly slimmer back-to-front at the nut than most, and they are pretty thin in general! The pots are dated to late 1963, in common with other early 'birds the tone pot is a different make from the volumes but all are original.
While we would not describe this as a prototype, it is certainly either a pre-production model or one of the very first off the line at the end of 1963. The Thunderbird was Gibson's first long-scale bass, their greatest 4-string classic, specifically designed to woo customers accustomed to the Fender Bass. Earlier Gibson basses were short scale affairs noted for their dark sound; Thunderbirds have a much more wide-range tone and put a unique Gibson twist on the 34" scale Fender bass concept. The IV was the upscale model adding a second pickup to the mix making it a direct competitor to Fender's Jazz Bass.
These models were available for only a short time into in summer 1965 when they were re-engineered into the simplified, less expensive "Non reverse" line that year. All Thunderbird basses are fairly rare and many have been damaged over the years making an early unbroken example like this all the more delightful.
Like most subsequent Thunderbird IVs this one is finished in the standard 2-tone sunburst, if only on the top. Even in this fairly conservative livery it is a supremely striking bass with generous proportions all around, especially the slim long-scale neck that seems to go on forever. The huge ax-like headstock mounts four long-stem Kluson bass machines, the first time Gibson had used them. The large, thin-rimmed angular contoured body is made of two mahogany "wings" glued to a full-length 9-piece laminated mahogany neck/body center section, an audacious design for 1963 making building it a rather complex operation.
The neck is very similar in feel to a Jazz Bass, narrow at the nut but with a noticeable taper nearer the body. The rosewood fingerboard is unbound and dot inlaid. The Tune-O-Matic style adjustable bass bridge with a separate tailpiece was a new feature exclusive to Thunderbirds. Two humbucking bass pickup are mounted in the same body position as the Fender Jazz Bass, none down by the fingerboard as Gibson had previously preferred. The IV has Volume-Volume-Tone wiring also directly emulating the Jazz Bass; the large hand rests over pickup and bridge were also Fender inspired features. Like all early Thunderbirds this bass has all nickel-plated hardware. The copper mute mounting plate has been trimmed off at the bridge, otherwise the bass is all original.
The original Thunderbird IVs is one of the rarest Gibson basses; only 235 were registered as shipped 1964 (none in 1963) and 87 followed in 1965, some of which were the new non-reverse models. The total run of "reverse" Thunderbird IVs is at the maximum around 300 instruments. The Thunderbird IV was listed in Gibson's 1964 price list at $370 plus $56.50 for the case which was hardly competitive with the $279.50 Fender Jazz Bass; sales remained a tiny fraction of Fender's.
In retrospect is it not hard to see why; Gibson hardly gave them a chance! Regardless this is a truly great playing and sounding bass, offering a powerful midrange punch with a Jazz-like tonal scoop when both pickups are engaged and a sound that slides into overdriven growl when played hard or cranked. Gibson poetically called it a "throaty bass tone". Slim-bodied, fast-playing and incredibly stylish, this Thunderbird IV is a superb example not for the player who wants to stand discreetly in the background but a bass that demands its own spotlight! John Entwistle, Glenn Cornick, "Overend" Watts, Martin Turner, Arthur Kane and many others have been noted as users of this unique bass, which began receiving the re-issue treatment from Gibson in 1976 and has stuck around as a niche instrument since. This is the earliest original Thunderbird IV we have ever had and a superb player as well.
Overall length is 50 1/2 in. (128.3 cm.), 14 in. (35.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 34 in. (864 mm.). Width of nut is 1 1/2 in. (38 mm.).
This bass shows some noticeable play wear but remains all original and most importantly, unbroken! The all-original finish has some checking with dings, scratches and dents overall including some dings to the top, heavier play wear to the upper body ridge on the face and belt buckle wear to the wood on the back. The headstock edges are dinged up with one large chip to the lower edge on the face and general wear to the perimeter. It looks like this extended peghead banged into a few walls or other obstacles along the way, but fortunately not hard enough to crack it!
As noted there is NO serious structural damage or repair; a large proportion of surviving Thunderbirds have suffered badly broken headstocks and/or body cracks in the thin control area; this bass has not. There was a slight separation between the fingerboard and neck wood just below the nut, fully sealed up but not finished over. This seam opening up is not uncommon on these very thin Thunderbird necks if the truss rod was over-adjusted, but the wood itself was not cracked and the rod itself works perfectly.
The original "Unbirded" laminated pickguard has shrunken somewhat (which is common on these) with a crack at the forward screw hole and the lower rear corner piece re-attached. Some of the mounting screws have pulled slightly inward. At one point (in the '70s?) someone mounted a flashy mirrored pickguard backed in blue paint, a bit of which transferred to the body beneath. The original was later re-installed but a bit of paint transfer remains on the body beneath. And yes, this is definitely the original pickguard, no bird, no "tug bar" holes and all!
All hardware is original and complete, including the bridge, tailpiece, bridge and pickup covers, tuners and the pickups and wiring. There is some wear to the nickel plating but nothing too serious. The long thin neck is perfectly straight, the original frets have recently been polished out showing no subsequent wear and the bone nut is original. If you have been looking for one of these imposing 'birds, this is a historic and also ready-to-gig example comfortably residing in the original; early model Gibson Thunderbird case, which is solid with some external wear. We love these big 'birds and this one is a really special example. Overall Very Good + Condition.