Just won a Thunder 2A in Pearl White!

[munkieNL]

Maybe i'm posting this too soon, haven't got it in yet but i'm so exited i had to post. Just won this pearl white beauty in a bankruptcy auction. I got carried away a bit maybe, lots of extra costs involved like VAT and shipping but hey this is a rare beast right? I'll keep you posted!

[Barry]

She's really pretty munkie! Looking forward to the pictures.

[munkieNL]

Just got my Thunder IIA in! Wrapped in sticky plastic, not even bubble plastic, yikes! The horror!



Damage is not too bad though. A few dings like you can expect with an almost 30 year old guitar. Non original and wobbly 3 way mini switch.



There are 2 white stripes on the headstock, 1 vertical 1 horizontal, removed stickers?



Serial nr. 2101850. (1982)



Back of the body.



Meet the family: Thunder I, IIA and Jet.

I changed the batteries. The active electronics work. I seem to have volume, active tone with a notch in the middle and active boost volume. In passive mode the tone pot doesn't work. Worse: in passive mode the guitar sounds very DULL. Yikes i hope the electronics are OK, i opened the back cover, intimidating complexity


On the good side. The neck is OK, no cracks no splits, it's straight, fretboard and fretwork are OK if not excellent for the age. Some dings on the body and a few cracks in the finish. Original hardware and pickups are there and look good.

Any tips on the electronics?

[Warrn]

The electronics are like my 1980 Electra Phoenix X640's, the tone pot with center detent only works while active, and is actually a 2-way EQ. The other two pots should be volume and your regular tone knob.

[Barry]

Same deal with my Thunder 1A.

[Guest]

The controls are actually master volume, tone (Both active and passive) and active gain. In active mode the tone pot controls bass or treble boost, in passive mode it should be a normal passive tone control, but only in the bottom half of the pots travel - turning it up from the mid point has no effect, turning it down from the mid point reduces treble.

[munkieNL]

You could be right although in passive mode the sound is so dull i can hardly hear a difference in various settings of the tone pot.

[munkieNL]

More pics! Starting with the awe, and fear, inspiring electronics.



These are the first 3 frets after polishing. Remember this is a 1982 guitar!



Strange looking black painting on the back of the neck near the headstock. A "tribal"? Or a milk cow?



No more laughter when i had stripped the paint off. Its job was mainly to hide a double neck crack. Well, it -could- be superficial, just a crack in the finish. If the neck holds up i still have a good guitar to play of course. But the resale value is gone

[bobroberts]

Hi,
just stumbled upon this thread. How was the neck, in the end? Was the crackage superficial, or worse? Looks a really nice guitar, otherwise. Like the colour!!

[munkieNL]

It -could- be superficial, alas i don't have a dentist in my circle of friends so no X-ray photos... OTOH it looks as if the crack is getting bigger, ouch, we'll have to wait and see. Bummer because otherwise it's in good condition, good fretwork etc. It has a few dead spots on the neck where the sustain is shorter. The preamp circuit works and a little extra midhighs every now and then is a welcome extra on a two humbucker guitar.