Thunderbird Club

[bobyoung53]

Wait a gosh darn minute, it’s not Wednesday, it’s Monday! Mono Monday, so show your one pup basses - especially if they’re Tbirds!
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Am I late for Mono Monday?

 

[dagrev]

goes for amps too…….you can mod and improve as well…
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Yeah, I really thought the amp repair was fun....

 

[dagrev]

I stumbled across these Thunderbird pickups on Reverb. Anyone heard of these? I don't remember us ever discussing them. I couldn't find any sound clips of them.

Alternate Dimension Thunderbird Bass Humbucker set | Reverb

I'd like to buy a set just to hear how they sound. Sounds interesting anyway.

 

[dagrev]

I think individual shoulder anatomy plays a part in it. We’re all a bit different.

I think the "thicker" (front to back) a person's shoulder is, the less this might be a problem as the strap would tend to have a little more surface friction going on.

 

[dagrev]

Tort pups?

He didn't get the memo....

 

[bobyoung53]

My fav Pbass back in the day had an A neck. It was stollen during a church break-in. Man I loved that bass. I put some dimarzio pickups in it and it was a beast.

I have an American Vintage Hot Rod P/J with a graduated neck on it, 7.25 to 12" radius and 1 5/8 at the nut, it's a really nice neck but I played a '68 P bass with a 66 J neck on it for close to 20 years and got very used to 1 1/2 nuts, I have a Jazz now and my reverse 'Bird has a 1 1/2 nut also. I've owned P's with P necks but always missed the A necks so I just bought a nice American J neck from the Stratosphere with a black headstock to match the bass. The TF fretless neck I have feels very close to a J neck for some reason even though it's 1 5/8th at the nut.

Obligatory lousy, out of focus, dark Bob Young cell phone pictures:

 

[bobyoung53]

2018 LE Thunderbird with Mike Lull pickups and stock Babicz bridge:

Another obligatory, dark, probably out of focus Bob Young Cell phone picture:

 

[bobyoung53]

I do like the sound and tried them several times because I wanted them to work. Just couldn't do it. Roto 66s I have zero problems with and don't get all the hand wringing over how hard they are on the fingers. A little more grabby but they don't make my fingers sore.

I love Rotos, love the sound and the feel, I like how your fingertips never slip off them, I don't get the 'hard on your finger's' rap either, you play them for a week and don't even notice them as your calluses adjust. If I want a bluesy or punchy staccato tone I use my PAF flannel mutes . If you were talking about flats, I used them also for a long time. When I started playing it was all flats. When I use flats I use La bella DTB. I still have them on an EB-2.

 

[bobyoung53]

Ed Gagliardi!

I love the sound he got on his Ric 4001 in Foreigner. He had a nice melodic style. In fact it made me nostalgic for the classic tone so I took out the cap bypass in mine.

Not a rocker but he got a real nice classic 4001 tone in these:

 

[bobyoung53]

One questionable occurrence I see often on eBay is the same bass being sold by more than one Japan seller. Same pics, different asking prices. I never understood what that was about. Recently, I saw a bass I wanted and chose the cheaper one of two using the same pics being sold by two different biz's. I sent a PM to make sure the bass in the pics was the exact same bass and I was assured it was. There was a shot of the back of the maple hs showing a specific grain pattern so that was going to be how I could confirm it was the same once it arrived. I'd never bought a bass from Japan fearing high import fees and long delivery times. They always offer many basses that you don't see in the US and prices vary but some are reasonable. The one I bought was a Japanese market only - so it was never in stores here in the US.

Anyway, no additional import fees and the bass arrived in nine days (very fast despite the current supply-chain issues) and it was the exact bass in the pics. (sigh of relief) I later learned they (multiple sellers of the same bass) are not really businesses. It’s just a guy that reposts something a store lists online and when the listing sells, they scurry over to the shop to try and get it before it sells. The higher price covers their jr railpass and bubble wrap expenses. They are just trying to make some money by acting as a broker and shipping service because some of those shops are not multilingual and do not want to ship international and do not have websites set up for that purpose.

So not a scam, but initially questionable.

I've seen the same bass in 4 or 5 ads on ebay before with slightly differing amounts and usually from Japan.

 

[bobyoung53]

Holy chit, I was 25 pages behind!

 

[Stealth57]

Holy chit, I was 25 pages behind!

Like a day and a half?

 

[dagrev]

I love Rotos, love the sound and the feel, I like how your fingertips never slip off them, I don't get the 'hard on your finger's' rap either, you play them for a week and don't even notice them as your calluses adjust. If I want a bluesy or punchy staccato tone I use my PAF flannel mutes . If you were talking about flats, I used them also for a long time. When I started playing it was all flats. When I use flats I use La bella DTB. I still have them on an EB-2.

I like Roto flats as well. Don't have them on anything at present.

 

[dagrev]

I love the sound he got on his Ric 4001 in Foreigner. He had a nice melodic style. In fact it made me nostalgic for the classic tone so I took out the cap bypass in mine.

Not a rocker but he got a real nice classic 4001 tone in these:

I mentioned months ago that I re-listened to their first album again after many years and was shocked and reminded how great every song was. They were good live when that came out as well. In 70s many bands just sucked live, for various reasons.

 

[dagrev]

Like a day and a half?

45 minutes.

 

[bobyoung53]

Part of my stage look. I also have less hair in real life. (The curse of having long hair years ago no doubt.)

Long hair is too heavy, bad for the follicles.

 

[bobyoung53]

When I think of the bass line in Taxman, it sounds like a short scale bass with flatwounds played in the upper register.
I can’t remember if you have a short scale, but that and lighter strings may be the way to go.
I’m really enjoying this one:
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Taxman is most likely The Hofner, it doesn't sound like a Ric at all, it has that hollow sound and I think he starts in the fifth position, probably no open notes at all.

 

[bobyoung53]

Happy Thunderbird Thursday!
…at the end of the row. Cheers!

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I like that photo except you need another SVT cab.

 

[bobyoung53]

did you sniff it all?

dollar store has 3 little tubes for..... $1...

Testors was the best.

 

[bobyoung53]

They were from my area, don't remember if I ever saw them play but were on WBCN a lot. I think I jammed with the drummer once and failed the audition This tune was big in Mass. I haven't heard it since.