Enlighten me about that Gibson. Looks great!
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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Enlighten me about that Gibson. Looks great!
Speaking of all this Beatles stuff.
(Which I’ll always love them)
I read in some book waaaaay back that one recording technique used on Paul.
Was to place a speaker wired accordingly to act as a microphone.
How true this is?, I still haven’t been able to find where I read it.
If you have techs, you might as well change instruments every song - the tech can tune for you.
1974 NR?……
I didn’t catch the ‘74 thing.
You have faith that the Almighty will make sure everything works as it should. What happens to your faith if an amp dies or a string breaks?
We should talk about brain injuries...Hey, not all of us who use picks on occasion play like we forgot to take our meds or something.
View attachment 4645042
Metal Health: Head Banging Hurts (webmd.com)
A motor and a generator are pretty much the same thing. Apply electricity to a motor and it turns. Turn the motor and it generates electricity. A speaker is a motor and a microphone is a generator. So, it is possible. In fact, not only possible, but there are drum microphones that incorporate this:
Avantone Pro Bonzo Bundle Kick Drum Microphone Bundle | Sweetwater
If the Beatles did this of not, I have no idea. But technically feasible.
Opened for a touring band once at the Funhouse when they moved to Eastlake. Popped an A string on our first song. The second band's bassist was kind enough to loan me her Mustang for the rest of my set. I had never played a SS bass before so it was a little weird. Plus I didn't want to adjust her strap to fit me, that seemed wrong. Not like I'm a big dude, but I definitely was bigger than her. Since then, 2 basses to shows, no matter how much I hate rolling with them both.
Same, same. Right hand does not function properly if I forget to warm up.
Was literally another speaker cab, the same as he was playing through that they wired as such to record as a mic.
About 50 pages ago, I brought up why I wanted to get a Thunderbird (Butterfly Boucher in Elle Macho) and how she wears her strap *under* the lower bout (do I have the terminology right?). It seems weird as the bass would fall face first towards the ground if she wasn't holding it. I thought it looked cool but I wasn't sure as to the why behind it.
It looks like she's got a straplock on her strap, but I can't tell if it's a 2" or wider strap.
As I've now gotten a Tbird and been messing around with it all week, I have sadly discovered just how real neck dive is. I do have a standard 2" strap on and it justs slides all over the place. So this morning, doing a standard Sunday morning Youtube deep dive, I started looking up more Elle Macho videos (not many out there) and found this one. I've queued it up to where Butterfly is standing with her bass, no hands on it, and it is frozen in place:
I'm wondering if it's the leather jacket that helps to keep the bass in place? I know if I took my hands off the bass, that sucker is pointing to the floor. Not only that, it doesn't fall face first. I have also noticed that she tapes the strap to the back corner of the bass. What do you guys think?
Part of me is ready to bust out the drill and try it out. A tiny hole at the bottom of the bass is not gonna freak me out too much if it doesn't work. Talk me into it or talk me out of it. I don't have much going on this Sunday.
It looks like she's got a straplock on her strap, but I can't tell if it's a 2" or wider strap.
As I've now gotten a Tbird and been messing around with it all week, I have sadly discovered just how real neck dive is. I do have a standard 2" strap on and it justs slides all over the place. So this morning, doing a standard Sunday morning Youtube deep dive, I started looking up more Elle Macho videos (not many out there) and found this one. I've queued it up to where Butterfly is standing with her bass, no hands on it, and it is frozen in place:
I'm wondering if it's the leather jacket that helps to keep the bass in place? I know if I took my hands off the bass, that sucker is pointing to the floor. Not only that, it doesn't fall face first. I have also noticed that she tapes the strap to the back corner of the bass. What do you guys think?
Part of me is ready to bust out the drill and try it out. A tiny hole at the bottom of the bass is not gonna freak me out too much if it doesn't work. Talk me into it or talk me out of it. I don't have much going on this Sunday.
I appreciate, and to some extent agree with finding one good tone that works. But I personally won't do it, because I have always striven to respect and honor the original artist, both in notes played and tone.
I started by using versatile basses, finding Roscoes, Dingwalls and Laklands along the way, and would have stayed there, but along the way managed to put more years and wear on my soon to be 70 year old body. I soon found out that finding under 9 lb, but very versatile 5ers was becoming prohibitively expensive, especially for a 10 year retiree. And since the demise of my Classic Country band due to a death (no longer needing a 5er), and my return to a Hard Rock band, a drop D 4 string helped reduce weight, reach, and expense.
I started with Lollar PUPs, with custom wiring harness using top shelf components, series/parallel switch, and J, P, or JP switching equipped bass:
Then I found my personal tonal favorite is Thunderbird PUPs, so added them to series/parallel switch equipped FSOs.
I must have done something right, because my current and past Guitarist, who only played and used 1 Les Paul for 22 years, recently bought and also uses a Custom Stratocaster to better serve some music. We have 3 Les Paul Sets and 1 1/2 Fender sets, for which he uses the appropriate guitar (in 21 years, I
never dreamed this would happen). Turns out he appreciated the different tones I got and used (old dog new tricks).
I take a Markbass Combo unit with an extension cab, take along an extra Markbass LittleMark Head, and a Sansamp pedal, 2 basses, and spare everything in dedicated bags. I've broken 1 string (didn't have a spare bass), and had 1 amp failure (turned out to be a cord), but had a spare rig on stage.
Sorry for the length of this diatribe, took a LONG time, but I'm 69, happy with my gear, and still gigging.
I love my Dingwall and Roscoe brethren, but this is home to me.
I started by using versatile basses, finding Roscoes, Dingwalls and Laklands along the way, and would have stayed there, but along the way managed to put more years and wear on my soon to be 70 year old body. I soon found out that finding under 9 lb, but very versatile 5ers was becoming prohibitively expensive, especially for a 10 year retiree. And since the demise of my Classic Country band due to a death (no longer needing a 5er), and my return to a Hard Rock band, a drop D 4 string helped reduce weight, reach, and expense.
I started with Lollar PUPs, with custom wiring harness using top shelf components, series/parallel switch, and J, P, or JP switching equipped bass:
Then I found my personal tonal favorite is Thunderbird PUPs, so added them to series/parallel switch equipped FSOs.
I must have done something right, because my current and past Guitarist, who only played and used 1 Les Paul for 22 years, recently bought and also uses a Custom Stratocaster to better serve some music. We have 3 Les Paul Sets and 1 1/2 Fender sets, for which he uses the appropriate guitar (in 21 years, I
never dreamed this would happen). Turns out he appreciated the different tones I got and used (old dog new tricks).
I take a Markbass Combo unit with an extension cab, take along an extra Markbass LittleMark Head, and a Sansamp pedal, 2 basses, and spare everything in dedicated bags. I've broken 1 string (didn't have a spare bass), and had 1 amp failure (turned out to be a cord), but had a spare rig on stage.
Sorry for the length of this diatribe, took a LONG time, but I'm 69, happy with my gear, and still gigging.
I love my Dingwall and Roscoe brethren, but this is home to me.
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I had a Crate I bought in the '80s and it worked great. GT-60. It was their G60 amp with a Celestion speaker. Sounded great. Lasted a long time.
I can’t imagine relocating the strap to the lower bout would make any difference in neck dive, but I can imagine it increasing the potential for the bass face to flop forward. The forward flop could probably be offset by running the bridge end of the strap across the front of the bass, something many of us already do.
If you really wish to test her method, why not just use enough painters masking tape to hold the neck end of the strap in place on the lower bout and some more tape on the bridge end of the strap across the bass face to keep it from flopping forward. That way no holes are drilled until you confirm it works. Obviously if you go the tape test route keep your hands near the bass to catch it in case the tape doesn’t hold.
All that said, some thunderbirds do dive and some don’t. It seems to be more a function of the individual woods used on given bass. The thunderbird body and neck as designed will always have that neck dive potential but it’s not a given that every Tbird dives. I have ten thunderbird basses and only one of them has any hint of neck dive.
Here’s the order most people follow to solve Tbird neck dive. Note the first 5 steps are additive, so as you complete one step you keep it in place while you try the next step. The last three steps are desperation and very rarely needed unless nothing else has worked.
1) wide bass strap (2 or 3 inches wide)
2) wide bass strap with grippy backing like suede
3) relocate the neck strap pin to the neck heel
4) relocate the bridge strap pin to about 2” above the centerline of the body
5) install ultralight tuners
6) use creative strap routing methods (under belt comes to mind)
7) use creative strap pin and routing methods (loop strap over left shoulder with both ends connected to neck pin)
8) install weights in control cavity
- Jun 30, 2010
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Can't see how the connection under the bass is a good idea. A simple solution is to overlap the lower strap -
I don't need it, but I'm curious about how this feels. I think Dingwalls come like this.
Won’t play on my phone. Will try later on computer.
I've tried that, doesn't keep it in place for me
. Though I do not have a wider than 2" strap, so there's that. The strap that came with it was an Amazon cheapie that was falling apart, but it did seem to keep the bass in place. I think it was > 2" as well.
