Thunderbird Club

[Chucky Stiletti]

I agree - if looking only/specifically at someones design style/approach - yes, it's cool. It's just that car... I mean, it's so, er.., different - it's sorta cool, I guess... (and I like quirky) It would grab my attention if it drove by... I don't hate it...

all good….love it, hate it…points for originality imho….

 

[RedVee]

speaking of turds... unsee this -

View attachment 4696446

all good….love it, hate it…points for originality imho….

We got about 20 of the Matador X with the full rear side window and no vinyl roof. I remember reading a road test of it in a car magazine, along the lines of ‘better than it looks’. I’ve even seen 1, just one in all the years so nice. I guess 20 across the whole country is spreading it fairly thin….

BTW I like the looks better now than at the time. But it sure stood out…,

 

[PillO]

I like the Gremlin. So unique. The Pacer gets a "participation" trophy for showing up.

I kind of liked the Gremlin. With the six or eight is was quite quick as well.

 

[dagrev]

It's funny - Christopher Lee looks enough like Ricardo Montivan...

Did someone say my name? One must say Ricardo Montalban with the proper accent?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I kind of liked the Gremlin. With the six or eight is was quite quick as well.

Quirky & cute. I like it still. Even more so today with the boring cookie cutter cars everyehere.

 

[MCF]

Miss a couple days and there is a mountain to climb. Please point me to anything that's a must read, otherwise I'm not going to try to get caught up. It's been an exhausting two days. We were getting ready for church and my wife's sister called and said their mother was in cardiac arrest at home. I met them at the hospital, but there was nothing that could be done to save her after 20-30 minutes or so. It was unexpected and which adds to the shock. I feel so badly for Sandra and can't do a thing really. I told her I don't think I ever felt so helpless. All this as we were approaching the first anniversary of her dad's passing in June. I got along great with my MIL, so there's no regrets or bad blood there as is often the case. (Please no need to comment, we all know such things are a real challenge and feel for others who go through such a time. Pick up a Thunderbird and enjoy life while you can.)

I’m so sorry to hear that. Prayers for your wife and family.

My MIL passed away 10/2019. I think about her all the time. My FIL was coping, pandemic, isolation and al. Then he fell four weeks ago and fractured his hip. He had a heat attack while waiting for surgery and had to undergo the procedure to clear blocked arteries and have three stints installed. The hip replacement went fine after that. But his recovery was slowed. My son has been helping take care of him and Joe is doing well, all things considered. I don’t know how we could handle if we lost him too.

 

[MCF]

It's known in some circles that I should not be left unsupervised with sharp pointy objects and here is the proof. Even after the pickup change (Epiphone 760 Probucker)in my 2021 Nonreverse I have found the bass lacks the aggressive tone I was looking for, it seemed hollow for lack of a better description. The more I thought about it the more I am convinced that I is due to the neck pickup position being to far forward so I moved it back about 1/2" to its 60s location. So far at home the bass is noticeably more authoritative, the true test will be with the band. I hope it's not all for naught. I present Butcherbird II View attachment 4693040 View attachment 4693041 View attachment 4693042 View attachment 4693043

Thanks for sparing us the gory pics. Wait. You were able to do that without removing wood? Cool.

 

[godofthunder59]

Thanks for sparing us the gory pics. Wait. You were able to do that without removing wood? Cool.

I did have to remove a wee bit of wood and I'm glad I did

 

[MCF]

An Edsel is graceful compared to an Aztek. I just cannot fathom how that car was ever built, was the design committee massively high on cocaine when they said "yup! That's it, that's the car we're gonna build".

I’ll ask my car designer brother next time we’re together if he has the skinny on that monstrosity.

 

[MCF]

Serious question: Did Gibson say they were aiming to recreate the original?

I don’t think they ever specifically said that. I think they would have used a two point if they were going for an authentic RI. And they went with the same CNC pattern from the ‘13s. They’re great Thunderbirds in their own right though. I’m not the least bit disappointed with mine.

 

[MCF]

My NR had D'As SS of some kind and they disappeared in a live setting. Confirming why I have never liked anything from D'A. I couldn't wait to get home and get those strings off. Can you please stop talking up the SITs? It's hard enough to keep a few of their options in a Reverb cart without clicking "Buy"! I think I'm going to have to at some point to satisfy my curiosity with more SS or even some NPS .

Try the SITs or the Dunlop stainless steel Marcus Miller Superbrights. Both are inexpensive and sound great IMO. Play with pickup height and EQ settings and they just might surprise you.

 

[GonePlaid]

Try the SITs or the Dunlop stainless steel Marcus Miller Superbrights. Both are inexpensive and sound great IMO. Play with pickup height and EQ settings and they just might surprise you.

FWIW, I tried the SIT "flats". Far less smooth than EBCF's. Took 'em right back off.

 

[MCF]

Interesting. Your A string saddle looks like it is in fact sitting higher than it should.
Here’s a pic of my VP bridge for reference, all strings sound pretty well balanced in mine…
View attachment 4693709
yes, the A string saddle is a tad higher than the rest but just barely, not a lot. At the end of the day the bottoms of the D and A strings should sit about the same distance off the frets. If yours don’t, do as @JIO suggested and check your nut first. If it’s ok then carefully file the A string saddle a little bit at a time to get it where you want it. This will unfortunately take the chrome off at the groove and expose brass plating and whatever the base metal is. Alternatively, you might be able to get a replacement saddle from Epiphone.

I’ll try to post a picture of mine too for comparison when I go up to play this evening.

 

[MCF]

Something I've been waiting on pics to show. Not mine.
Link Removed

Curious.

 

[PillO]

Thanks for sparing us the gory pics. Wait. You were able to do that without removing wood? Cool.

I did have to remove a wee bit of wood and I'm glad I did

An Ahem duet...

 

[bobyoung53]

I kind of liked the Gremlin. With the six or eight is was quite quick as well.

I like just about anything with a V8.

 

[bobyoung53]

Did someone say my name? One must say Ricardo Montalban with the proper accent?

That menu or whatever it is looks like it's made from fine corinthian leather.

 

[MCF]

One thing that’s cool about these and other air cooled VWs is all the aftermarket parts that are still available.

Is J.C. Whitney still around?

 

[bobyoung53]

I did have to remove a wee bit of wood and I'm glad I did

I like the looks better too. I might get out the hammer and chisel today.

 

[PillO]

I don’t think they ever specifically said that. I think they would have used a two point if they were going for an authentic RI. And they went with the same CNC pattern from the ‘13s. They’re great Thunderbirds in their own right though. I’m not the least bit disappointed with mine.

I'm 13 months late to the party (I'll blame Canada Customs and Gibson exports for that) and now that I can finally enjoy mine, everyone is in the nitpicking stage of novelty. We'll be here for another year before we reach the acceptance phase and finally the classic stage. The vintage stage is probably still 20 years away.

Well, screw all you haters, I'm just going to enjoy my NR!

In case any of you miss the subtlety