Last year, bass builder and Gibson enthusiast Rob van den Broek built a bass that combined elements of a Thunderbird and a Telecaster. Now, he’s revealed his latest creation called the Brooks Grabbird. Van den Broek, who wrote a fantastic book on Gibson basses, took aspects of the 1964 Gibson Thunderbird II and mixed them with the 1973 Gibson Grabber.
“[It has a] nine ply neck-through construction just like the Thunderbird, but with maple strips veneer in between the mahogany instead of walnut,” the builder explains. “The nickel covered humbucker resembles the pickup of the sixties Thunderbird, but the sliding mechanism in the raised middle section refers to the Grabber, of course.”
Hear the bass and check out the sliding pickup in his demo video:
The bassist also made a few adjustments to help its playability. “The shape of the headstock echoes the Grabber headstock, but the ebony veneer on top is a nod to the Thunderbird headstock,” van den Broek writes. “The shorter headstock and the Ultra-lite tuners make sure this fantastic bass doesn’t suffer any neck dive!”
