Thank you! Oddly enough, I am also a lefty but learned to play backwards =) I didn’t realize there was a difference when I was a kid and first learning to play, and was simply mimicking how I observed others holding the instruments. Now I couldn’t play left-handed to save my life!

When I first got the BaCH, I had installed the Kluson-style tuners and stuffed the Artec humbucker inside one of those NOS 70s pickup covers. As I recall, I did all of that using a Dremel tool with a tiny sanding drum bit. I had to grind the edges of the Artec down, enlarge the route in the body just a tad, and reshape the pickup cutout in the pickguard to fit the rounded edges of the chrome cover. The bass briefly looked like this:

The sound was actually very good, and unmistakably “T-Bird”! The Artec sounded a bit more overwound and middly, maybe approaching more of the Epiphone Thunderbird tone – but I did like it.

If you go the route of using TB+ pickups, then you could simply “skin” them by carefully breaking and peeling away the outer plastic covers as I describe in the blog. This will reveal the potted epoxy coils, and those will drop right into the chrome 70s covers. I used a small bead of JB Quik Weld around the edge of the covers to secure them and make them removable if the need ever arises.

Its worth noting also that the chome/gold guitar-humbucker-sized TB+ pickups will drop into those 70s covers without modification. I tested this on an Epiphone Elitist Thunderbird that I used to own (those were equipped with the small chrome TB+ pickups).

When I rebuilt the bass to more exacting 60s spec as you see above, I did route the neck pickup cavity larger in order to get the placement more in-line with that of a 60s Gibson. That shouldn’t be necessary, however, to do what you wish to accomplish.

Hope the info helps, and good luck!

Cheers,
Joe

I’m the lucky owner of a NR BachBird in transparent red (mine is a leftie).

I’m looking for a pick up swap, and i’d like to install original Gibson Thunderbid pups because all the tb owners told me that they are the only pick ups retaining the original tb tone.

The problem is, pick up routes on mine are for the standard Artec stock pickup (just like your before the mods i guess). As far as i know Gibson Thunderbird pups have different sizes … did you re-routed the cavities to install your th+ pups inside the NOS covers ?

Thanks

Thanks for the visit and comment. I only do these type of projects occasionally as a creative outlet, and right now I’m buried in other work. Not looking to sell the bass, but I highly recommend working with Rob at http://www.numberoneguitars.com if you are seeking one of these BaCH Thunderbirds. He might even be able to help with some of these types of back-dating modifications (pickguard, tuner swaps, pickup changes) as well.

There is also a modified one for sale on the Talkbass forum that might still be available: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f126/fs-bach-cherry-non-reverse-thunderbird-789642/

Cheers,
Joe

When you say the motor doesn’t engage, do you mean that the capstan isn’t spinning? or that the pinch roller isn’t engaging against the capstan when the unit is powered on? The latter could just be a problem with the solenoid that is used to pull the pinch roller up against the capstan… If the motor doesn’t appear to be spinning at all (and doesn’t appear to be seized), then I think you are on the right track. I’d grab the schematic, check that the power supply is putting the appropriate voltages, and then start tracing your way through the motor control board circuit. It could just be a fuse, component failure, etc…