#USED GIBSON THUNDERBIRD BASS FOR SALE FULL#
#USED GIBSON THUNDERBIRD BASS FOR SALE SERIES#

See the compiled Kalamazoo bass shipping figures here. Sales were initially good, and during 1966-67 this was by far the best selling bass made in Kalamazoo. Gibson had produced cheaper instruments with Kalamazoo brand on the headstock during the depression of the 1930s and post war 1940s, but it had not previously been used on a solid-body guitar. The deep mellow bass tone is perfect for this kind of early seventies funk - doesn't it sound great? Have a listen to Dianne getting down with her KB bass on the track Boilin' Water from the album The World's Rarest Funk 45s on Jazzman records. These were not the expensive nitrocellulose finishes applied to Gibsons, but again catalogue descriptions are not specific, presumably polyurethane.ĭianne Bowens, of Tony Bowens and the Soul-Choppers with a Kalamazoo KB bass. There were three colours: Flame Red, Glacier White, and Las Vegas Blue - the same three colours of the Fender Mustang of this period. The body material is not specified in Kalamazoo literature, but is supposedly a wood-laminate of one or more unspecified species, produced by a composite-wood manufacturer in Wisconsin.

The scratchplate was almost identical (except some minor screw hole differences) to the Melody Maker bass, but the fingerrest was not rosewood as on all Gibsons, but actually plastic. From this point, the KB bass was the only one using these bridges - likewise the only one using the old-style (and position) chrome handrest. The bar bridge had been in use on all EB bass models, but around 1966/67 this was replaced by the two-point intonatable bridge. Tuning keys are the Japanese-made closed keys that were also used on the Melody Maker bass and a few EB basses. This bass does sound quite a lot like an EB0 (check out the Kalamazoo KB soundclips here). This pickup in this position, has more affect on the sound than anything else.

#USED GIBSON THUNDERBIRD BASS FOR SALE SERIES#

This bass used some standard Gibson components a typical EB series humbucker right up at the neck, as used in the EB0, EB2, EB3, Melody Maker bass and Epiphone Newport. The necks were actually pretty well made, and are highly playable. The Kalamazoo logo is engraved on the headstock. The second style, appearing on the SG-shaped bases is more like that of a Fender, though a little more rounded. There were two subtly different headstock shapes, the first has a characteristic 'beak' shape, and is almost identical to that of the non-reverse Thunderbird (see images below). The Kalamazoo series had a bolt-on maple neck (something that Gibson, up until this point typically didn't do), a rosewood fingerboard, and were short scale. Two Kalamazoo bass headstocks: above, the more angular Thunderbird-style, below the smoother Fender-style For the basses, the reverse is true: the body style changed happened very quickly after the KB bass' launch, so Mustang-style examples are far less common than the SG style. There is no evidence (that we know of) of communication between Fender and Gibson on this matter, but if Fender objected to the Gibson Thunderbird as being too much like a Fender, they would certainly felt the same about the KB.Īs the KG guitars were available a year before the basses, the Mustang-style instruments were made in far greater numbers than the SG style ones. Although the Kalamazoo bass is modelled on the guitars, it may have even preceded the Fender bass! At least they were both contemporaneous, both hitting stores in 1966.įor reasons unknown (although it would not be surprising if it was a threat from Fender), the KB bass and KG guitars were redesigned in 1966 with a new SG body style (have a closer look at a 1967 KB bass). Fender's Mustang guitar launched in 1964, and the bass model only followed in mid 1966. So Gibson hardware and $80 cheaper than a Fender.Īs mentioned above, the first KB basses have a remarkable similarity to the Fender Mustang bass (see a 1966 KB bass). The audacity was compounded by offering the line in the same three bold finishes as the Mustang: red, white and blue. Though to be fair, they were fitted entirely with Gibson hardware. The original bass had the same styling as the guitars that is, they were really a copy of the Fender Mustang.

Good condition examples can change hands for reasonable sums amongst vintage guitar enthusiasts, and players alike. The vintage Kalamazoo-brand bass guitars are perhaps not that well known outside the United States, due to their short production time (just a few years in the mid 1960s) and the lack of endorsement by well known musicians however being made by Gibson, in the USA, out of genuine Gibson parts meant that they were better instruments than many in the same price range.

#USED GIBSON THUNDERBIRD BASS FOR SALE FULL#

With one pickup of extremely powerful design and full volume and tone control, the Kalamazoo Bass creates the full driving bass sound that sells a combo. Modern styling in solid-body 4-string bass that offers full, true bass tones in a sleek, rugged economically priced instrument.

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