Thunderbird Search

[westoneraider]

Hey There
I am new to the forum. I just decided to join because I am searching for a Jackson or a charvel thunderbird bass and quite honestly it seems that they are nowhere to be found. i would appreciate any info about where to find one, without breaking the bank and any info yu may be able to provide about these beauties.
Does anyone know for how much they go when available?
Luis

[Firebird V]

Anywhere upwards of $1500 from what I have seen. Most are Custom Shops but in the 90's They did do a limited run of High Quality neck thru's. Good Luck.

[horns666]

I bought my cousin's about 15 years ago. It was a mint 1976 Gibson tobacco sunbust re-issue. It was built like a tank, extremely stable and played great for rock. At that time I was really into Jazz/ Funk and it didn't do that to well so I sold it back to him..I wish I still had it. One of the basses I wish I kept along with my G & L L2000 and Ken Smith Burner!!! I played a Jackson Thunderbird and found it much more responsive for slapping than the Gibson. It was a trans green..like that dude in Tesla played.

[Hellraiser6502]

Honestly?? Your chances of finding one are about the same as finding a shaved beav in Berkeley California....nil.

Very few T-Birds made.

I've seen exactly 4 in 25 years of buying/selling/collecting Jacksons.

[amimbari]

You only saw 4 T-birds in in 25 years Hellraiser? You wanna see #5

Honestly?? Your chances of finding one are about the same as finding a shaved beav in Berkeley California....nil.

Very few T-Birds made.

I've seen exactly 4 in 25 years of buying/selling/collecting Jacksons.

I Was referred to this board by a friend, who said if you guys can't find the answer, I'll go to my grave not knowing, so here's a shot at it:

I guess I was one of the lucky ones according to hellraiser, I picked up a TBX in 1994, had it since brand new, it is still mint, and was used all these years flawlessly playing every type of metal I could throw at it. Still use it daily in the studio, as it never really leaves the house after a few years ago I found out it was worth a lot more than I thought thru all those years of metal mayhem..



and, UNTIL I SAW THAT 1992 WHITE ONE in the gallery, and the pics in one of the other threads, I NEVER saw another except in old catalogs.

mine is serial# J-400689 from 1994 ..BLACK with the cream colored trim. MY question is did they start with serial# zero, and this is the 689th made for 1994 out of 1000 total? since the damn thing is so rare, theres NOTHING on the internet with REAL specs for production numbers.

if anyone has a production numbers answer, I would really appreciate it.


Until I get a picture in the Gallery, I have a youtube videoclip of it up close walking around it with the camcorder, the vid title is "my jackson Thunderbird" -- youtube.com/amimbari

[CharvelRocker]

I would say the Tbird basses may be the most rare of the J/C basses; I've never seen one. I've seen a Star bass in person for sale, and those are damn rare too. My advice is check local guitar shows often. Some cool kit can turn up at them, particularly Bee3 shows, but they also tend to be hit or miss.

[peabuddy]

try finding a explorer bass . seem to be very rare dont think ive ever seen a jackson, just charvels.

[Firebird V]

A Telecaster or LP bass would be even harder I would think. I have never seen one with a Jackson logo. I dont even know they made any custom shop basses in these shapes.

[Psh511]

just saw this on the bay...http://cgi.ebay.com/Jackson-Neck-Thr...QQcmdZViewItem

[amimbari]

just saw this on the bay...http://cgi.ebay.com/Jackson-Neck-Thr...QQcmdZViewItem

ya, thats been there for a couple days. I'm hoping for 2 things:

either no one will bid it up too high and I'll get it so I can add it to my collection,

or it will bring in 3,000 from someone who has a lot more "play" money than me, and I wont......

it is a fine piece of rare "ART" for a jackson collector who wants a rare one, cause IMHO, I wouldn't be using a sparkle green guitar on stage. I say 3,000, because I own a Black one, and maybe mine will be worth the same or more...lol

I emailed him and got a history, according to the serial, his is a late 93, destined for the 94 sales catalog. If you have the 94 catalog scan, look, that green color was used for the display picture inside above the futura.

http://audiozone.dk/cm/displayimage.php?album=61&pos=12

[maynard]

Question about the T-bird on e-bay...are all T-birds imports? Just trying to get a handle on value.

If an import can bring over 2 grrr, if there is a USA version do I even want to know what those are worth?

[maynard]

Sorry...just saw Firebirds earlier post.

Are the high quality NT's he is talking about the same type of bass as the one on e-bay right now?

[amimbari]

Question about the T-bird on e-bay...are all T-birds imports? Just trying to get a handle on value.

If an import can bring over 2 grrr, if there is a USA version do I even want to know what those are worth?

maynard, that thing got sold finally. I wonder if it was to someone who is part of this forum who just added to their collection????

and to #2 to your post, all of them were made in japan, and honestly, for 1500 bucks to a TBIRD collector, he got a good deal. cause with that green one, I dunno if I would use it for more than an addition to a art collection.

[Firebird V]

The run that this one and all the other Neckthru Jackson Professionals were all import but Jackson made a few custom shop USA t-bird basses. Tesla and Megadeth bassists had a few of the USA Custom shop T-birds built for them.

A 5 string on ebay sold a few months ago for $2500+ if my memory serves me correct. It had a BIN and was instantly bought. It was a sunburst... Does anyone remember it? For a bass $2,500 is pretty high considering Jackson USA basses usually only bring in a grand or so used if that on ebay from what I have seen...

The Thunderbird basses from that run bring in quite a bit more than the USA basses that are not of this shape (The thunderbird body shape).

It is the holy Grail of Jackson basses I guess.

When I was playing bass for a local band here in NJ over a decade ago I was trying to find one and they were very hard to get. I could not find one shop that had one or could get there hands on one. I almost went the Custom shop route but settled on a Gibson T-Bird and it satisfied my needs so I stopped looking.

I was going to have a bass made in 1995 and they wanted around 1,500 for a USA version of the import run with an ebony board and reverse HS. I have no idea what the import run sold for new but I think it was like 800 bucks or close to that...

[amimbari]

The run that this one and all the other Neckthru Jackson Professionals were all import but Jackson made a few custom shop USA t-bird basses. Tesla and Megadeth bassists had a few of the USA Custom shop T-birds built for them.

A 5 string on ebay sold a few months ago for $2500+ if my memory serves me correct. It had a BIN and was instantly bought. It was a sunburst... Does anyone remember it? For a bass $2,500 is pretty high considering Jackson USA basses usually only bring in a grand or so used if that on ebay from what I have seen...

The Thunderbird basses from that run bring in quite a bit more than the USA basses that are not of this shape (The thunderbird body shape).

It is the holy Grail of Jackson basses I guess.

When I was playing bass for a local band here in NJ over a decade ago I was trying to find one and they were very hard to get. I could not find one shop that had one or could get there hands on one. I almost went the Custom shop route but settled on a Gibson T-Bird and it satisfied my needs so I stopped looking.

I was going to have a bass made in 1995 and they wanted around 1,500 for a USA version of the import run with an ebony board and reverse HS. I have no idea what the import run sold for new but I think it was like 800 bucks or close to that...

the cost was 1,695.00 right out of the 94 catalog. ( not sold in the 95 catalog )...

my only fear back then was there was no such thing as a model to play in the store, since it was a dealer special order ONLY, and I took a chance, just on recommendations from others. ( 100% GLAD I DID ).

as far as how many TOTAL made for 94/95 who knows, since NOONE knows the answer ( MY first post in this forum ), as well as many other forums I joined looking for answers.