yeah,didn't know they actually decided to come up with a name for that thing.
Surprised no one has mentioned this yet
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yeah,didn't know they actually decided to come up with a name for that thing.

Surprised no one has mentioned this yet
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Here's Nikki playing a T Bird with one, as you can see he hooks his pinkie finger into it. I've alway thought it rather toungue -in- cheek fun as the name comes from the Steve Martin movie "The Jerk". Thunderbirds do sound good when played with a pick near the bridge, I find my picking hand in the same position.
I've owned both a Blackbird and the more recent RedBird, the latter being a nice variation on the Thunderbird because it uses different woods and has a noticably tighter, slightly darker tone than the standard model.
I don't mind saying I like a lot of what he's done musically and can always admire his sucess - tho definately not his lifestyle!
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I'm actually surprised Schecter got him on their artist roster. The bass probably sounds good with the emg p/j configuration. It will probably end up costing consumers about $300-$400 less than a Thunderbird and in a better price range of those Sixx fans out there. I will say I'm not a fan of that headstock with that body shape on a Schecter, but it's different. Out of all the companies he's worked with I really would have expected another Sixx/Spector era since the Forte-4x came out a while back. From my experience, Schecter builds quality instruments at acceptable prices and I only see them getting bigger and better from here on.
Removing all controls but a kill switch is probably what killed sales of the old signature models.
I have always wanted a Blackbird. They sold poorly and got discounted just to get them out of stores but now the used market is crazy. Saw one for sale in less than clean condition last year for £1500.
When I first saw the OptiGrab thing I thought you loop your cable through it. Turns out you break fingers with it. It looks like the totally wrong angle to jam a finger in there....but then again I cant use a pick

Really Nikki Bashing?
Never understood why other players feel the need to bash each other..
After all it's not like HE HASN'T SOLD OVER 80 Million records!..lol
While I'm not a huge fan...HE IS the principal songwriter for Motley Crue...was also for the Brides of Destruction and the principal song writer behind the SiXX A.M. project...
If you think he only plays root notes you obviously are not listening to the music...
That said the bass is kinda bland...
but this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone!
Nikki didn't like the neck dive from T-Birds...so he and tim luzzi came up with the "opti-grab" to counter balance the issue..
Nikki was a big fan of Pete Watts (Mott the Hoople for you youngins' Google it) who was a bit infamous for playing T-birds
Nikki had Hamer Make the Firebird...then the Spectorbird...then back to Gibson
He played Stingrays out on tour with the Brides...
In the early days of Motley he used B.C. Rich and Rickenbackers
which is all moot as he commonly uses a 1959 P Bass in the studio..lol
Boring and cheesy. Just awful.
I'm talking about his work with motley crue. his bass lines are bland and I don't like them. get over it. that being said, I think some of his songwriting is decent. it just doesn't make sense to me to put out a signature model for someone(actually about 5 models) when their basslines are totally forgettable. it makes sense for geddy lee and marcus miller to have signature basses,but not nikki.
How much cash could Nikki Six make from an endorsement deal with Schecter? The guy has performing and songwriting royalties from a band that sold 80 million records. Do you actually think that the pittance thrown at him by Schecter for this signature bass is going to amount to a hill of beans? He's doing this because it's an effortless ego trip.
This bass has an MSRP of $1,400, which will amount to a street price of $999. A grand for an import bass?? How many do you think will sell at this price point? This bass will be dropped from the Schecter line in under a year.
Agreed!looks very, very "First Act" to me.