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Thunderbird Club

#202,321
dagrev said:
Sounds like Tom Petty. I think he would have changed in the middle of songs if it wouldn't have looked odd. Hardly even could you tell there was a different tone. Possibly he heard something different that what listeners got. Bass player changes once, I think.
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He may have just wanted the feel of a specific guitar for each song. Or he’s picky and wanted the guitars retuned after each.
 
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#202,322
BklynKen said:
I don't need it, but I'm curious about how this feels. I think Dingwalls come like this.
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I started out this way on my BlingBird build (in my avatar) because I had every reason to believe it was going to be a serious neck diver (semi hollow ultra light body and heavy rock maple fender P bass neck). It feels very natural and also seems to reduce the forward flip quite a bit.

I got lucky on my build, in spite of the hollow body and heavy neck it turned out to be a very well balanced bass weighing under 9 pounds with no dive. This is possibly because I started out with a wide strap + neck heel pin location + raised bridge pin location + ultra light tuners + the weight of a third pickup.

Ultra lights and pin locations combined with a nice wide bass strap are the most effective dive solvers IMHO.
 
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#202,323
Stealth57 said:
Pick players :rollno:
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I think of them as an Ignition Switch, (it's not for everyone) with the right strings you're suddenly playing a gigantic angry piano.......
 
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#202,324
GBassNorth said:
I started out this way on my BlingBird build (in my avatar) because I had every reason to believe it was going to be a serious neck diver (semi hollow ultra light body and heavy rock maple fender P bass neck). It feels very natural and also seems to reduce the forward flip quite a bit.

I got lucky on my build, in spite of the hollow body and heavy neck it turned out to be a very well balanced bass weighing under 9 pounds with no dive. This is possibly because I started out with a wide strap + neck heel pin location + raised bridge pin location + ultra light tuners + the weight of a third pickup.

Ultra lights and pin locations combined with a nice wide bass strap are the most effective dive solvers IMHO.
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I replaced the tuners on my BC Rich very quickly since that one dives. The only direct drop-ins for that one are Schallers. Too bad, since I've had a terrible experience with Schaller and will never buy their products again.
 
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#202,325
Stealth57 said:
Isn’t it T-bird Shirt Sunday?

View attachment 4645229
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Speaking of straps... nice strap!

upload_2022-4-3_11-3-36.jpeg
 
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#202,326
TBird1958 said:
I think of them as an Ignition Switch, (it's not for everyone) with the right strings you're suddenly playing a gigantic angry piano.......
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There's a whole world of articulation incorporating a pick into ones playing technique, including a gigantic angry piano. :bassist:
 
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#202,327
lildrgn said:
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.
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Not all bass straps are created equal. I had a buddy always complaining about dive on his Jazz bass. As he was showing me the bass one day I noticed his strap was basically a woven nylon car seat belt style strap. There isn’t a strap out there that could be much more slippery that that. New leather strap, problem solved.

I’ve also tried grippy suede straps on some of my basses and hate the feel and the fact that it grips my shirt so well that it untucks my shirt tail and bunches up the shirt fabric on my shoulder - hate that, I no longer use them because of it.

I’ve also used the thin belt with a wide fleece lined shoulder pad style strap and found the shoulder pad stayed in place but the strap slid thru the pad and created neck dive.

My favorite is a Levy’s brand 3” wide padded leather strap with padded edges to keep the strap from digging into my neck…
A714DCF9-EFDA-4B91-86F9-451A187DACCC.jpeg
 
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#202,329
lildrgn said:
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.
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lildrgn said:
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.

View attachment 4645203
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:

View attachment 4645204



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.
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Ahhhh.........I really miss The Funhouse, what a great place to just turn your &*^% up!
We played there quite a few times, one Seattle's best places to play.



Bear in mind there is a world of difference between your Epiphone and the Gibson in the video. I'm not slagging Epi's but the Gibson with it's smaller headstock and neck thru construction is not prone to the whole neck dive thing.
 
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#202,334
JIO said:
There's a whole world of articulation incorporating a pick into ones playing technique, including a gigantic angry piano. :bassist:
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I've used a pick since I started playing in 1989 but usually used my fingers most of the time and used a pick whenever needed. For example when my first band did a couple of Motörhead numbers ("Limb From Limb" and "Over The Top") I switched to a pick and turned the pre-gain of my Peavey Basic 60 combo to 10 (post gain to 6, normal clean setting was both at 8...). I think I used a pick more when playing at home along with Yes or Gentle Giant albums or later Cheap Trick. I learned to palm mute playing along to The Police albums (thanks Sting!).

At the aforementioned theater musical that employs me at the moment I use pick about 90% of the time since the originals were played with the plectrum. When I started the pick playing was sometimes frowned upon as being "easy" and "cheating". Well, I've noticed that for example fast disco basslines with the octave jumping etc. is not easy at all, especially if you usually play that kind of stuff with fingers.
 
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#202,339
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#202,340
PhR75 said:
I've used a pick since I started playing in 1989 but usually used my fingers most of the time and used a pick whenever needed. For example when my first band did a couple of Motörhead numbers ("Limb From Limb" and "Over The Top") I switched to a pick and turned the pre-gain of my Peavey Basic 60 combo to 10 (post gain to 6, normal clean setting was both at 8...). I think I used a pick more when playing at home along with Yes or Gentle Giant albums or later Cheap Trick. I learned to palm mute playing along to The Police albums (thanks Sting!).

At the aforementioned theater musical that employs me at the moment I use pick about 90% of the time since the originals were played with the plectrum. When I started the pick playing was sometimes frowned upon as being "easy" and "cheating". Well, I've noticed that for example fast disco basslines with the octave jumping etc. is not easy at all, especially if you usually play that kind of stuff with fingers.
Click to expand...

For the life of me I can't understand the stigma of pick playing on a bass. I used to mostly play finger style until I joined Bond Girl where we played Bond songs that Carol Kaye recorded playing with a pick/palm-muting. Now I primarily play with a pick and use finger-style when appropriate for the song. At the end of the day, incorporating a pick has shaped my sound/style dynamically linked with the type of bass/pu's, the type of strings, and the kind of amp/speaker I use. I went from an ok pick player to being really good at it - and I don't play guitar. I never drop a pick (but I do have a back-up pick close at hand) and can cup the pick in my palm while switching to finger-style within a song. That small piece of plastic unlocks expression possibilities.

Note pick with imbedded rare earth magnet stuck to the metal control plate - always there when I need a back-up.
upload_2022-4-3_12-10-26.jpeg
 
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