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Thunderbird Club

#200,661
Miles_ONeal said:
Anyone here play "White Rabbit"? How close to the original do you play it? I've been working on it this week; the basic part is simple enough but there are some subtleties. At one point I thought Casady had made a mistake, but after many relistenings, I can't tell if it's a mistake or just a quick difference because it felt right at the moment. Whether I ever play it with a band as recorded or not, I want to be able to.
And the Thunderbird VP can nail the tone. So that's it's One Trick. It can nail the tone. 8^)
Click to expand...
Would you stop with mythbusting. You know people read this thread. Geeez.

For anyone overhearing this, for the record, Thunderbirds are awful and are a joke foisted upon bass players since the 60s. Don't waste your money or time on these neck diving one trick ponies.


Carry on.
 
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#200,662
Venom of God said:
Hey gang,

I'm finally ready to order the parts and do it - get my Tbird ready for the rest of my life. I bought her new in 2010 (2009 build, burst) with money from delivering pizzas. Now I'm in my mid-30's and have a baby on the way it's time to do it. My fantastic (but slightly boring) Pbass is gone, my expensive lesson in disappointment Ricky is gone and I've ditched all my pedals (I really am getting old). Tbird and Ampeg. That's it.

I want to build her out taking inspiration from the 70's bicentennial style spec. Duncan Thunderbird Bass seem like an easy choice since they don't require any routing. I'd like a slightly hot vintage style and I probably would like some pickup rings so I suppose I'll have to source those elsewhere. I've always been happy with the Grover tuners from the factory, so would have bought their clovers, but would rather nickel to chrome. Which are the correct HipShots for a Tbird? Not sure between the 3/8th and the half inch but assume Ultralight is the way to go? I'm stuck on the bridge. Babicz seems like the "best," though it's ugly as sin. Allparts make a nickel three-point which looks the best (imo), but I'm not sure I want an Allparts bridge on my beloved. The Hipshot SuperTone looks like the happy compromise. Thoughts there?

I'm super grateful for any input - I only want to do this once.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I’m no expert but there are a few choices for hot vintage style pickups. A lot of love in this forum for Thunderbuckers, Lulls and (I think Lollars). Depends on budget I expect.

I’m sure those that know will wander by soon and give you the good oil.
 
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#200,663
Blazer said:
I'm sure any of you guys know about Staff Benda Bilili, but they're a band from Central Africa who all suffered from Poilio.

Their instruments are locally made and not from a high standard, take for example the lead guitarist pulling his leads from a tin can, strung up with a wire and amplified using a transducer pickup.

It's all VERY ramschackle, none of it is perfectly in tune, (I doubt their guitars are capable of being properly intonated) But it has so much spirit.
Click to expand...

I’ll take spirit over perfect anytime.:D
 
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#200,664
Venom of God said:
Hey gang,

I'm finally ready to order the parts and do it - get my Tbird ready for the rest of my life. I bought her new in 2010 (2009 build, burst) with money from delivering pizzas. Now I'm in my mid-30's and have a baby on the way it's time to do it. My fantastic (but slightly boring) Pbass is gone, my expensive lesson in disappointment Ricky is gone and I've ditched all my pedals (I really am getting old). Tbird and Ampeg. That's it.

I want to build her out taking inspiration from the 70's bicentennial style spec. Duncan Thunderbird Bass seem like an easy choice since they don't require any routing. I'd like a slightly hot vintage style and I probably would like some pickup rings so I suppose I'll have to source those elsewhere. I've always been happy with the Grover tuners from the factory, so would have bought their clovers, but would rather nickel to chrome. Which are the correct HipShots for a Tbird? Not sure between the 3/8th and the half inch but assume Ultralight is the way to go? I'm stuck on the bridge. Babicz seems like the "best," though it's ugly as sin. Allparts make a nickel three-point which looks the best (imo), but I'm not sure I want an Allparts bridge on my beloved. The Hipshot SuperTone looks like the happy compromise. Thoughts there?

I'm super grateful for any input - I only want to do this once.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Ultralights will be 3/8. The Hipshot bridge is good.
Another option would be the Allparts bridge and a bridge cover.
 
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#200,665
Miles_ONeal said:
Anyone here play "White Rabbit"? How close to the original do you play it? I've been working on it this week; the basic part is simple enough but there are some subtleties. At one point I thought Casady had made a mistake, but after many relistenings, I can't tell if it's a mistake or just a quick difference because it felt right at the moment. Whether I ever play it with a band as recorded or not, I want to be able to.
And the Thunderbird VP can nail the tone. So that's it's One Trick. It can nail the tone. 8^)
Click to expand...
It’s been decades since I’ve played that song! I’ll have a listen.
 
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Reactions: MCF, Miles_ONeal, GBassNorth and 2 others
#200,666
Venom of God said:
Hey gang,

I'm finally ready to order the parts and do it - get my Tbird ready for the rest of my life. I bought her new in 2010 (2009 build, burst) with money from delivering pizzas. Now I'm in my mid-30's and have a baby on the way it's time to do it. My fantastic (but slightly boring) Pbass is gone, my expensive lesson in disappointment Ricky is gone and I've ditched all my pedals (I really am getting old). Tbird and Ampeg. That's it.

I want to build her out taking inspiration from the 70's bicentennial style spec. Duncan Thunderbird Bass seem like an easy choice since they don't require any routing. I'd like a slightly hot vintage style and I probably would like some pickup rings so I suppose I'll have to source those elsewhere. I've always been happy with the Grover tuners from the factory, so would have bought their clovers, but would rather nickel to chrome. Which are the correct HipShots for a Tbird? Not sure between the 3/8th and the half inch but assume Ultralight is the way to go? I'm stuck on the bridge. Babicz seems like the "best," though it's ugly as sin. Allparts make a nickel three-point which looks the best (imo), but I'm not sure I want an Allparts bridge on my beloved. The Hipshot SuperTone looks like the happy compromise. Thoughts there?

I'm super grateful for any input - I only want to do this once.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Yes! You need another Thunderbird!
 
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#200,667
Happy Tubesday!

upload_2022-3-17_22-6-29.png
 
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#200,668
dagrev said:
Would you stop with mythbusting. You know people read this thread. Geeez.

For anyone overhearing this, for the record, Thunderbirds are awful and are a joke foisted upon bass players since the 60s. Don't waste your money or time on these neck diving one trick ponies.


Carry on.
Click to expand...
Thunderbirds are OK for metal if you can't get a P Bass...
 
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#200,673
Miles_ONeal said:
Anyone here play "White Rabbit"? How close to the original do you play it? I've been working on it this week; the basic part is simple enough but there are some subtleties. At one point I thought Casady had made a mistake, but after many relistenings, I can't tell if it's a mistake or just a quick difference because it felt right at the moment. Whether I ever play it with a band as recorded or not, I want to be able to.
And the Thunderbird VP can nail the tone. So that's it's One Trick. It can nail the tone. 8^)
Click to expand...
I found this video to be pretty accurate…
 
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#200,674
Blazer said:
I'm sure any of you guys know about Staff Benda Bilili, but they're a band from Central Africa who all suffered from Poilio.

Their instruments are locally made and not from a high standard, take for example the lead guitarist pulling his leads from a tin can, strung up with a wire and amplified using a transducer pickup.

It's all VERY ramschackle, none of it is perfectly in tune, (I doubt their guitars are capable of being properly intonated) But it has so much spirit.
Click to expand...

That bass sounds really nice.
 
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Reactions: dagrev, PillO, GBassNorth and 1 other person
#200,679
JIO said:
That's pretty cool. I could see a T-bird all in dark trans tobacco with that neck detail - :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Yes, that would look very cool!
Credit goes to our buddy Pat Wilkins for really making the BlingBird neck figuring pop. Of course it helped that the Fender P bass neck just happened to be very highly figured, fairly rare for a run of the mill Fender neck. Unfortunately, typical Tbird necks are mostly mahogany and I can’t say I’ve ever seen mahogany figuring any where this pronounced, so unless Gibby/Eppi switches over to a maple neck option I don’t think we’ll see anything like this from the factory.
 
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