Thunderbird Club

[dagrev]

I play both with fingers and with a pick and find playing T Birds with a pick very comfortable and they're easy to palm mute, I have been gravitating to the pick more and more in my old age anyway, I like the sound, the angry piano sound is a part of it too.

I started out 90% fingers and now might be 70% pick. Just depends on the song, bass and my inklings.

 

[bobyoung53]

I started out 90% fingers and have now might be 70% pick now. Just depends on the song, bass and my inklings.

Yup, same here.

 

[JIO]

I call that “leather look”

It has a nice leathery feel also - clear satin nitro on top.

 

[JIO]

I started out 90% fingers and now might be 70% pick. Just depends on the song, bass and my inklings.

ditto, but I'm more 90% pick.., and proud of it!

 

[bobyoung53]

ditto, but I'm more 90% pick.., and proud of it!

I have a long way to go to get as good with a pick as I am my fingers.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

That looks like part of Massachusetts.

yeah, Marblehead or Gloucester…

 

[BklynKen]

yeah, Marblehead or Gloucester…

Except the palm trees.

 

[bobyoung53]

Except the palm trees.

We've got some strange looking palm trees here:

 

[BklynKen]

We've got some strange looking palm trees here:

View attachment 4645871

View attachment 4645872

I lived on the North Shore for five years and don't remember any of that. ;-)

 

[bobyoung53]

I lived on the North Shore for five years and don't remember any of that. ;-)

I'm on the West Coast.........of South America, I grew up in Millbury.

Lynn, 'the city of sin', used to play there.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

In case no one else linked it, a sweet 2013 PB NR with OSCH for sale: Thunderbird Bass Players Group

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Except the palm trees.

pretty sure they ain’t native..

 

[Miles_ONeal]

...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.

But... but... the Internet said!

 

[bobyoung53]

pretty sure they ain’t native..

The ones in your photo or mine? Lima is built on a desert, everything is irrigated here. If there is a tiny mist here which is very rare it's a major rainstorm, the climate is weird, we're surrounded by mountains on three sides and the Pacific Ocean, it's got its own microclimate.

 

[bobyoung53]

Actually the palm trees in the bottom picture I posted above are native to Peru, just not Lima. They're these:

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I think it's the old "you must be the worst guitar player because you got handed the bass guitar". For every "real bassists don't use a pick" wiseguys (they are usually guitarists for some reason...) I drop names like Anthony Jackson, Steve Swallow, Chris Squire, Andy West (Dixie Dregs), Helmut Hattler (Kraan) or indeed Carol Kaye and say "you'd better tell them too".

Andy West!

 

[bobyoung53]

Andy West!

Joe Osborn.

 

[JIO]

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…
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I don't like suede on the inside - I had a black one that stained a white T-shirt I was wearing. If a bass is designed correctly, a woven strap works just fine, but I have added leather to a woven strap for grip.

I 'backed' my 'Sean Connery' woven strap w/leather when I altered it - in this pic it's just on the bass I was playing at the time. It's on my TSC's Teiscobird at our rehearsal space.

And I used it last July for a Bond Girl show - no formal wear, but looking ...presentable.

 

[MCF]

Inj case no one else linked it, a sweet 2013 PB NR with OSCH for sale: Thunderbird Bass Players Group

Highly recommend someone here pick this up. @dagrev….. There are only 400 of these in Pelham Blue. The price is excellent. And the chrome hardware looks great. A great addition to anyone’s flock.

 

[dagrev]

I have a long way to go to get as good with a pick as I am my fingers.

I'm equally bad either way.