1981 Thunder II BASS

Not my thing but THIS is a sweet looking bass, and it has it's original case. Sadly the knobs have vanished (again! ).

DAN.

Yup, they usually do!

I recently bought a Thunder II (1982 with P/J pickups) which has had a Fishman active circuit fitted. The seller was like "oh, I'll include the original knobs and pots in case you want to return it to normal", and I was very happy about that. Well, the knobs were in the case compartment... are they original? Are the f*ck! They are some crappy plastic Gibson speed knobs. Hideous!

Ooh I like that, bit pricey tho.

It's all relative, I think. You can't buy anything brand new for £300 which is as well-built as a Thunder II. These instruments will last a lifetime if looked after.

I know Aria but it wont stay at that price, will go potty later on. Hmm

Possibly, yeah. Bearing in mind that it's almost mint it should fetch a good price. I'll be watching with interest because I think I paid slightly too much for mine.

I paid £50 for my mint Spectrum GT here in NZ and felt hard done by....

Corsair youre just a chisel.

Anyway this didnt sell either, was so tempted to bid but really dont need another bass at the mo. As I said am after summat different and it wont be uncle Mat.

One thing that put me off a little is that the neck has 24 frets, never played a bass with a neck that long and havent got the forearms of popeye or fingers the length of Hendrix.
Dee am I misguided? Noted that the later versions had a slightly shorter neck. My T1 has 20 and thats enough for me.

You're not misguided, the early version did indeed have 24 frets.
Actually, I really miss those extra two frets (my Thunder II has 22). I
think I was spoiled by the Aria I had before which had 24 frets. That
neck seemed like an aeroplane runway, it was so long! Personally, I
like 24 frets, but I can understand why other people wouldn't, the
lowest frets can be very hard to reach and playing is uncomfortable.
Obviously, the scale length between the 24 and 22 fret Thunder basses
is identical (34"), but the positioning of the bridge makes the 24 seem
significantly longer.

You guys actually notice some sort of difference just because of a couple of extra frets? Really? I've never had this problem, and I have basses with 20, 21, 22, and 24 frets, not to mention three different scale lengths (32¼", 34", 35"). How does that work?

I can definitely notice a difference. Do a side to side comparison of the 22 and 24 fret Thunder basses. Look at the overall length of the instrument, bridge position, etc. Maybe you have long arms?

Me just being a wimp maybe, my T1 bass is about 34". Havent worked out how it works out.
Youre going to tell me I should have bought it now, oh well.

PS its 4 extra frets over what I play at the mo.

Uhh, I don't have a Thunder with which to compare these... and I'm only 5'8", I definitely do not have long arms. I don't know what it is about my posture that makes it so unnoticeable to me. I can certainly feel the neck differences, but length never seems to bother me.

Its been relisted.

Sold.

I feel sorry for that fretless. The thing is mint, someone should buy it. I wish I could, then I'd have a matching pair of fretted/fretless.