Epiphone Elitist Thunderbird

made in 2004 in Japan, mahogany { see Epiphone for Details }

sounds great, dark ,warm ,real sweet and real easy to play . best for rock and blues.

bass was set up ok . pickups were great , nice finish, and great hard ware

Now we come to the problem , the headstock { very very very weak } after just 4 month of playing and babying this bass and using low tension strings {TI flats} the head stock cracks.

Really good, they offered to replace it with another t-bird, but they don't make the elitist t-bird any more . So they gave me my money back, and I bought a Gibson t-bird

I would not buy another Epiphone, they just don't hold up.

2004 Elitist Tbird. Made in Japan. Mahogany neck and body with rosewood fretboard. As mentioned elsewhere, the website describes it as a through neck whereas it may well be a very cleanly set neck, it's difficult to tell. 2 Gibson USA pickups. Vintage sunburst finish. First designed in 1963 and nothing before or since looks as good.Floating Gibson style bridge (firmly screwed down - not like standard Epi's). Big open Gotoh tuners. Narrow, slim neck. Came with fitted case included in price (thankfully). There are few 'features' on this bass but those it has work well. I believe in design icons, not body kits and spoilers. Sure the neck is heavy but you adapt to it. My only real gripe is with the bridge design. The saddles are of different heights and are cut specifically for each string. This puts the E string considerably lower than the A string which feels slightly weird and makes it noticably louder. I have seen a few with the sadles switched around so that E and A are both high while D and G are lower. I will play around with it for a while longer and hopefully come up with a happy solution ( Does anyone else find this a problem?). The other bridge issue is that there is very little space between the end of the string and the saddle itself so depending on the winding of the strings, some types do not sit well in the saddles. Strings with a longish folded back core tend to have this part sitting on the saddle. Not a problem I have encountered on any other basses. I would normally give a 9 - 10 but the bridge design loses a point in my opinion

I started playing bass in 1982 and stopped around '89. I always intended playing again but wouldn't have believed that it would take me 15 years to get going again!. I played almost everything you could think of from Ska to Punk(1970's variety)to Jazz to Rock to Reggae ( not sure where Gershwin fits into that lot but oh well..)My bass heroes were mostly John Entwhistle, JJ Burnel and Paul Simenon. I've wanted a thunderbird basically for as long as I can remember. The sound is what I hoped it would be, ranging from punchy and tight to full and round. At first play, there seems to be a fairly limited range of tones but you quickly realise that all of the available tones are superbly usable with nothing gimmicky. I used to play with a Westone Thunder active bass which was fabulous in its day and had a huge variety of sounds, but to be honest, most of them stayed on the top shelf. So far, I can get the Tbird to sound pretty much like everything I want ( even a reasonable attempt at the sadly deceased Mr. Entwhistle - it's interesting that his right hand percussive style is so much easier to do naturally on a thunderbird...)As I am desparately trying to relearn my instrument and have a small house and small child, I really only play through headphones. Thankfully, the electronics are very quiet as the headphones are pretty unforgiving. I play through a V-Amp Bass - God I wish I had one of these 20 years ago!- and the sound is fabulous. The sustain is cathedral like and unamplified, it is exceptionally loud. More so than anything else I have played.

This is the interesting bit.
I originally went out expecting to buy the 'real' Gibson version. My partner had decreed that if I was to get a new bass, I should get the one I always wanted (but could never afford). After reading as many revues as possible, I was a little wary of the apparently erratic quality control at the Gibson factory. The Gibson model I tried was black with a white scrachplate and superficially looked beautiful, however the detail finish was awful.There were ragged and uneven fret edges, the topcoat was very badly finished at the fingerboard, the frets and fingerboard had what looked like polish residue smeared on them although it certainly didn't look like it had ever been polished, the neck to wing joints were uneven and had bubbles in the topcoat, the nut had ragged edges,two of the pots were loose, the action was highish but a couple of frets buzzed anyway, the neck was very noticably bowed and the strings were completely dead. In it's defence, it played fairly well given the high action and sounded as good as you could expect given the dead strings. All in all a very disheartening experience!. Some of these things are fixable, but on what is one of the most expensive basses you can buy in Australia it seemed criminal. I looked at various Fenders ( from Mexico to US) stingrays etc and everything in the shop was better finished (and cheaper) than the Gibson.The guys in the shop were honest enough to agree with my assesment. They have an expensive piece of kit which is almost impossible to sell!
Seriously depressed, I went to a different dealer who had the Epiphone Elitist Tbird. After the Gibson experience, this was a revelation. The detail and finishing were immaculate, it looked stunning no matter what the distance, it played beautifully and sounded fabulous. All the things I thought the Gibson would be!. For a list price which was AUD$1200 more than the Elitist, the Gibson looked like a cheap copy(albeit with a thru neck). I know that buying a guitar is as much about emotion as rationality.(God knows, rationality has never been a Tbird virtue)but when you start spending this amount of money on a bass,you simply cannot hide from basic manufacturing flaws, no matter whose name is on the headstock.
I know that John Entwhistle played a Gibson and not an Epiphone, but presented with both instuments as I was, I'm sure he would have left the Gibson on the shelf. If I had bought the Gibson, every time I played it, part of me would have felt like a fool ( of the sort well described in the emperors new clothes), whereas having bought the Elitist, my heart beats a little faster every time I open the case. It's just a pity that Gibson ultimately get the money anyway

I have only had this bass for a few weeks so it's a little early to tell. It certainly feels solid and well made. I would have no doubts about using it in anger. It would be the perfect weapon of choice to attack the Gibson PR people who speak reverentially on the website about craftsmanship and the value of good quality control!. I bought the mandatory straplocks at the same time as the guitar.

No idea

I work in a very design orientated profession and have a passion for design icons and beautiful objects in particular. There are few designed objects I can think of which look as good as this. Thankfully it sounds and feels as good as it looks.After the Gibson experience, I thought I might have to get something other than a Tbird, but while the P and J basses, stingrays etc are great pieces of kit, they just don't do anything for me. I'm very glad the Epiphone Elitist Tbird was available. Would I buy another? God, I hope I never have to.

This is an Elitist Thunderbird a 2003 model they advertise it on the website as a neck through instrument but it is actually a set neck (very misleading)it has 2 American Gibson humbuckers with 2 volume and one tone control. The body is made from select mahogany the finish is urethane vintage sunburst. The tuners are Gotoh open tuners. All the hardware is chrome plated the website says nickle plated but I can't trust that after the set-through neck lie

I use this bass for playing country music or southern rock it has a very ballsy tone nice and full I play it through a Peavey 115 combo amp and can't really complain about the tone at all

The bass is really well put together but it is not a neck through as the website implies so if you want the real thing you have to buy a Gibson. The setup from the factory was better than average but still needed some tweeking. The finish is a little flawed the back has a tiny spot where the finish was rubbed through and a little orange peel texture on the back but overall not bad. These are made in Japan so I expected perfection but it falls a little short

This bass will be fine playing live I've had it for a month and had no trouble I did put strap locks on thats mandatory for any Thunderbird as they don't balance well. I always bring 2 basses but this one is made well it's not gonna break.

I called Gibson about the Neck Through lie they claimed to not be aware of it and asked for digital photos of the neck joint. I took the pics and sent them but after 2 weeks they did not change the website so it's a blatant lie. They have been made aware but won't fix the website. A lot of people are going to get ripped off like I did. Further proof they know what they are doing is the back of the bass is stained so dark you can only see the set neck line in very bright light. In my opinion Gibson does not care what they sell who gets burned or what lie they tell to sell it. They did respond to my calls and Emails but I feel I should be able to trade the bass back to them for a neck through that I thought I was paying for

I have been playing for about 30 years I have owned countless basses and amps including a 95 gibson Thunderbird. I wish I knew it wasn't really a neck through before I bought it (one problem buying online). I love the look and sound of Thunderbirds but you always have the drawback of being very neckheavy and this one is no exception. I hope other users will read this and be aware that Gibson and Epiphone are guilty of false advertising and I plan to pursue legal action against them.