I’ve always love TBirds, I had a 64 TBird II in the early 80’s followed by a 76 Bird, and several others over the years. I’ve owned a few Epiphones too, but the Vintage Pro model that they put out a couple of years ago, really blew my mind. They got so close to the real thing with this one, the two piece bridge/tailpiece, big headstock, and those pickups!
I ended finding a black one, the neck had cracks on both sides of the nut; this made it even more realistic. Lol. I got it for less than half of a new model, the cracks (as they are with most Gibson styled angled necks/headstocks) stay closed with string tension. To be honest, I haven’t repaired it yet, I’ve been playing it as is, with no issues. Most likely, I will be refinishing it. I will repair the neck at that time. I am a big fan of metalflake finishes, I’ve sprayed a bunch of them and that what I was planning for the VP Bird.
Then Epiphone introduced then 64 TBird, It looks pretty close to the VP, but the new model is available in purple and blue metalflake! I’m a big fan or purple, so I pulled the trigger.
Here is a stock pic of the Bird.
The bass arrived in the biggest box that I have ever received, I immediately noticed that the side of the box is slightly crushed. Upon opening the box, I found the Epiphone box loosely sitting inside, with only two pieces of folded cardboard doing a poor job of filling the space inside.
I inspected the bass. Right off, I noticed how high the bridge sat,
The bridge pickup was off too, but that can corrected. I later learned that the 64 model has an inceased neck angle and this is the result. I was used to the bridge height on the Vintage Pro, so this ended up not being a problem.
Next, I found cracks on both sides of the nut.
This was enough for me to contact the company, after viewing the pics, they sent me a RA (return) shipping lable and I packed it up and returned it today.
The company was Zzounds, I have used them in the past and their customer service is top notch. I highly recommend them.
Now… While I’m excited to (hopefully) get a TBird with no damage, seeing the 64 in person was a little disappointing. As you can see in the pictures of the neck, the metalflake was little more than a dusting over an opaque lavender finish. I am personally more of a bass boat glitter kind of guy, so I found this a little underwhelming.
I offered to keep the bass depending upon what credit they would offer me, but they would only take $120. (US) off of the $849. price. I decided to go with a new replacement.
Most likely I will keep this bass as is, and refinish the Vinatge Pro as originally planned.
