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Thunderbird Club

#200,081
MCF said:
Huh. Martin needs to chime in with the whole truth. I wonder if he ever checks this thread.
Click to expand...

Of course I'm not saying "Argus" couldn't be the Ric. And it (the 21 fret 4001) was "nicked" too

I think he mentioned in an interview* that his first Thunderbird was stolen and he had to loan one from Overend Watts. Maybe it was the II? Then again the inside sleeve of "Argus" has the IV.

Edit: the interview was in 1978 and he said:
The very first T’bird I had was picked-up somewhere in America and I hadn’t really had the chance to get into it before it was stolen, which cut me up a bit. Then we were on tour with Mott in America and Pete Watts was using one. I asked him if he’d sell me one but he really didn’t want to. He did offer to lend me one which was really great of him — he’s a great guy in fact, I really like all of that Mott crowd. Possibly because it was just a borrowed guitar I really started getting into it and in the end I forced him into selling it to me — I just had to have it!

https://www.wishboneash.co.uk/archivearticle1978-11beatinstr
 
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#200,082
PhR75 said:
Of course I'm not saying "Argus" couldn't be the Ric. And it (the 21 fret 4001) was "nicked" too

I think he mentioned in an interview that his first Thunderbird was stolen and he had to loan one from Overend Watts. Maybe it was the II? Then again the inside sleeve of "Argus" has the IV.
Click to expand...
Bottom line is that Argus is a fantastic album and Martin’s playing and voice are exquisite. It’s sad that he and Powell couldn’t get along. They made some great music together.
 
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#200,085
MCF said:
You win. That is the coolest Thunderbird in the club. The pg looks great. Heck, you probably have at least five of the top ten coolest Tbirds in the club.
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Thanks! Kind of you but there a lot of cool birds here, a Thunderbird by definition is cool. ;) When Cataldo built this I lusted after it and now it's found its way home :) playing along to Cheap Trick as we speak. ;)
 
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#200,087
godofthunder59 said:
Thanks! Kind of you but there a lot of cool birds here, a Thunderbird by definition is cool. ;) When Cataldo built this I lusted after it and now it's found its way home :) playing along to Cheap Trick as we speak. ;)
Click to expand...
Funny you mention that. Tom Petersson should really have something like this. He's mentioned how when playing 4-string, he prefers Thunderbirds, but he usually uses a 12-string.
 
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#200,089
BklynKen said:
Funny you mention that. Tom Petersson should really have something like this. He's mentioned how when playing 4-string, he prefers Thunderbirds, but he usually uses a 12-string.
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I sent Tom a picture, waiting for a reply
 
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#200,091
Tomorrow…

BD58D46F-2A9F-406D-BB0C-C60F06FCF846.jpeg
 
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#200,092
PhR75 said:
Of course I'm not saying "Argus" couldn't be the Ric. And it (the 21 fret 4001) was "nicked" too

I think he mentioned in an interview* that his first Thunderbird was stolen and he had to loan one from Overend Watts. Maybe it was the II? Then again the inside sleeve of "Argus" has the IV.

Edit: the interview was in 1978 and he said:
The very first T’bird I had was picked-up somewhere in America and I hadn’t really had the chance to get into it before it was stolen, which cut me up a bit. Then we were on tour with Mott in America and Pete Watts was using one. I asked him if he’d sell me one but he really didn’t want to. He did offer to lend me one which was really great of him — he’s a great guy in fact, I really like all of that Mott crowd. Possibly because it was just a borrowed guitar I really started getting into it and in the end I forced him into selling it to me — I just had to have it!

https://www.wishboneash.co.uk/archivearticle1978-11beatinstr
Click to expand...
great interview….I believe he mentions deadening RS66 with ketchup on that one….my HS music teacher at the time swore by BBQ sauce…
 
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#200,094
WillyW said:
Tomorrow…

View attachment 4615930
Click to expand...

WillyW said:
I use baby wipes, they have kind of lotion in them that kills the poopie out of strings.
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Crap! I forgot to order a set of Pyramids!

AND I always forget to wipe down the strings before I install them, Pyramids have some kind of toxic black coating on them and I get so excited to install them I end up with black stains on my booger hooks...


What's the consensus on the probucker 760 pickups? that's what the embassy comes with...
 
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#200,096
godofthunder59 said:
Thunderbird Thursday! Newest addition to the herd! Man this thing is a brute. Absolutely amazing tone. This makes my 3rd Cataldo. The three concentric pots make for simple effective tone blending though I may switch them out for just three volume controls. Big surprise I settled on the middle pickup with the tone full up. It's a keeper, I'm really glad I grabbed it. More pictures and video to come. View attachment 4615690
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That’s just beautiful! Can’t wait to hear the sound clips. The three stacked pots give these things an unreal amount of tone shaping, to the point that unlike all my other birds I rarely run just the neck pup.

IIRC Cataldo used full size CTS concentric pots. If you get around to opening the control cavity up I’d be very interested to know what pot and cap values he used. I started at 1meg pots with .047 caps in my 3 pup BlingBird but I might drop down to 500k pots with .022 caps in the future. Keep me posted if you open her up and peek inside.
 
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#200,097
WillyW said:
Crap! I forgot to order a set of Pyramids!

AND I always forget to wipe down the strings before I install them, Pyramids have some kind of toxic black coating on them and I get so excited to install them I end up with black stains on my booger hooks...


What's the consensus on the probucker 760 pickups? that's what the embassy comes with...
Click to expand...
The probuckers are fantastic pups, plenty of grit and grind, a tad brighter than modern Gibson Tbirds but still plenty of bottom end.
 
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#200,099
GBassNorth said:
That’s just beautiful! Can’t wait to hear the sound clips. The three stacked pots give these things an unreal amount of tone shaping, to the point that unlike all my other birds I rarely run just the neck pup.

IIRC Cataldo used full size CTS concentric pots. If you get around to opening the control cavity up I’d be very interested to know what pot and cap values he used. I started at 1meg pots with .022 caps in my 3 pup BlingBird but I might drop down to 500k pots with .047 caps in the future. Keep me posted if you open her up and peek inside.
Click to expand...
approx same cutoff freq…..what’s the advantage?..
 
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