Thunderbird Club

[wolfkeller]

All this string talk reminded me I have a question for you good people. I know there are Roto users here.
A while back I thought I would have a go at a different brand of nickel rounds. I have used Fender 7150 M - pure Nickels for years and years and love them. I won't even use Fender 7250s, which they call Nickel plated- I can tell the difference.
I bought a couple of sets of Roto RS 66LDN at a good price- they are absolutely what I was looking for on my LP Double cut- the ball ends were all brass coloured with pale blue silk wrapped at both ends- they came in a cardboard box.
More recently I bought another two sets from the same supplier and these have the same designation but came in a plastic wrapping. They have coloured ball ends- two are red and one each of blue and white. They have pale blue silk wrapping at the tuner end, but are unwrapped at the ball end. They are a slightly brighter metallic colour than the first set.
I am far less happy with the second ones- they are clankier to my ear and don't feel as nice, to me anyway.
Anyone know what the go is?

They changed something for sure. I use stainless, same issue and changes. Still better than the rest to me

 

[GBassNorth]

I'm continuing my tradition of always using RS66 stainless steels.

While the Italia might benefit from warmer/less bright strings, the Roto nickels don't come in the right length (extra long). I had SG bass GAS so bad the other day I nearly put the Italia up for sale, but 1. it probably wouldn't sell, and 2. it's fun to play, so 3. I'd regret it.

Kat - get the SG, it's the perfect compliment to the TBird. As the night wears on and your left arm is starting to feel the pain of a long reach its nice to switch hit with the shorter scale SG and they sound killer to boot. The analogy would be that an SG is to a TBird what a P bass is to a Jazz bass.

If I'm not sure what kind of music I'll be jamming on I just take my Bird and SG, that pair can cover about 99% of the music needs out there. If I'm walking into a Fender fest situation with a bunch of close minded wankers I take my 2013 Gibby EB5 (complete with tort pickguard) to give the appearance of fitting in then I set up my backup bass and flip 'em all the Bird.

 

[GBassNorth]

On the 9th day of Christmas I was visited by a Spector of things to come...

 

[Korladis]

I've been using the D'Addario nickel XLs for many years now. I occasionally experiment with something else, but keep going back to the XLs.

One thing I like about them, besides the bright but warm sound, is that they don't have silk wrapping. I hate that stuff.

 

[GBassNorth]

It's about time to change the strings on my Bird. Like a few of you have mentioned, I'm not a Stainless guy either. I've always gravitated to nickel rounds as my default with the exception of my Stingray basses, which always get DR Black Beauties to tame the top end. I'm kinda thinking of going that route on my Gibson bird as well, not so much to tame the top end but more to compensate for my poor left hand technique. Anyone else try DRs on their Bird?

 

[wolfkeller]

It's about time to change the strings on my Bird. Like a few of you have mentioned, I'm not a Stainless guy either. I've always gravitated to nickel rounds as my default with the exception of my Stingray basses, which always get DR Black Beauties to tame the top end. I'm kinda thinking of going that route on my Gibson bird as well, not so much to tame the top end but more to compensate for my poor left hand technique. Anyone else try DRs on their Bird?

Love the Black beauty strings, they do have a mellower tone and WAY less tension even using 50-110

 

[rumblejunkie]

The Rotosound Nexus are pretty good sounding strings but my favourites (so far) are the D'Addario black tapes or Chromes .

 

[rumblejunkie]

Whatever day of XXX mas it isView attachment 1014079

Is the switch a kill switch or coil tap ? Cool bass by the way . I was never a T bird fan until recently . Now I really love mine .

 

[kat888]

Kat - get the SG, it's the perfect compliment to the TBird. As the night wears on and your left arm is starting to feel the pain of a long reach its nice to switch hit with the shorter scale SG and they sound killer to boot. The analogy would be that an SG is to a TBird what a P bass is to a Jazz bass.

The SG is long scale (at least the ones I have played are), but it *feels* shorter than the Bird.

I promised him indoors that I would have no more than three basses. He's right, there's not a lot of space to put them.

So if I have the Epi and an NRBird there's only room for one more ... which is the Italia or an Epi SG. The Italia is a pain in the arse in some ways - ie needs XL strings

 

[wolfkeller]

Is the switch a kill switch or coil tap ? Cool bass by the way . I was never a T bird fan until recently . Now I really love mine .

It's just a kill, both pick ups on full all the time, 0 or 10 nothing else

 

[Bent77]

Im gonna try some SIT power wounds on the bird next. Had superior results on everything else Ive use them on

 

[Bent77]

It's just a kill, both pick ups on full all the time, 0 or 11 nothing else

Fixed that for ya

 

[hillerup]

It's about time to change the strings on my Bird. Like a few of you have mentioned, I'm not a Stainless guy either. I've always gravitated to nickel rounds as my default with the exception of my Stingray basses, which always get DR Black Beauties to tame the top end. I'm kinda thinking of going that route on my Gibson bird as well, not so much to tame the top end but more to compensate for my poor left hand technique. Anyone else try DRs on their Bird?

I have DR Black Beauties on three of my Epliphones (Goth, Limited Edition Alpine White & Classic Pro IV), and they sound really great with a nice warm "broken in" sound with lots of growl, without too much string noise.

They do tend to flake off the coating with time where I hit them with my plectrum, but last an extremely long time.

If they weren't that darn expensive, I would have them on all my basses.

 

[GBassNorth]

The SG is long scale (at least the ones I have played are), but it *feels* shorter than the Bird.

I promised him indoors that I would have no more than three basses. He's right, there's not a lot of space to put them.

So if I have the Epi and an NRBird there's only room for one more ... which is the Italia or an Epi SG. The Italia is a pain in the arse in some ways - needs XL strings, has to be run with onboard-pre bass dimed and treble rolled all the way off to sound anything like a proper bass, the rosewood piezo bridge can't be intonated properly., etc.

First of all, it's important to keep "he who roams the interior" in good standing and deliver your word, but it's ok to parse words slightly this time of year. So in essence you've promised not to "keep" more than three basses. That leaves you wide open to obtaining a fourth bass and once you have it you can decide if you want to keep it or off one of the others instead.

Second of all, steer clear of the full scale SG (I think that would be the Eppi EB) it is neck heavy and IMHO not the stellar performer that the Gibson is. The Gibby SG has about a 30" scale IIRC and sounds deeper, richer and fuller than the Eppi to my ears. Pick one up used and if you don't like it you can resell for no loss.

 

[Korladis]

The SG is long scale (at least the ones I have played are), but it *feels* shorter than the Bird.

I promised him indoors that I would have no more than three basses. He's right, there's not a lot of space to put them.

So if I have the Epi and an NRBird there's only room for one more ... which is the Italia or an Epi SG. The Italia is a pain in the arse in some ways - needs XL strings, has to be run with onboard-pre bass dimed and treble rolled all the way off to sound anything like a proper bass, the rosewood piezo bridge can't be intonated properly., etc.

Even though they're the same scale length, I would bet that in overall length the T-bird is longer. It looks like there's a bit more length between the bridge and the end of the body on the T-bird, and obviously, being a 4 in line headstock, that's longer, too.

 

[Mike A]

D'Addario XL balanced strings are my regular go-to, but any keeper gets a set of TI Powerbass eventually. They've been my favorite string for a long, long time.

 

[Mike A]

Day 8. A particularly good rehearsal night a couple of weeks ago. I love this bass.

 

[Korladis]

D'Addario XL balanced strings are my regular go-to, but any keeper gets a set of TI Powerbass eventually. They've been my favorite string for a long, long time.

Never heard of the TI Powerbass

 

[kat888]

First of all, it's important to keep "he who roams the interior" in good standing and deliver your word, but it's ok to parse words slightly this time of year. So in essence you've promised not to "keep" more than three basses. That leaves you wide open to obtaining a fourth bass and once you have it you can decide if you want to keep it or off one of the others instead.

Second of all, steer clear of the full scale SG (I think that would be the Eppi EB) it is neck heavy and IMHO not the stellar performer that the Gibson is. The Gibby SG has about a 30" scale IIRC and sounds deeper, richer and fuller than the Eppi to my ears. Pick one up used and if you don't like it you can resell for no loss.

I would have called it an EB3L ... but according to the local shop seems to be the "SG EB3".

 

[Korladis]

I would have called it an EB3L ... but according to the local shop seems to be the "SG EB3".

It's frustrating to me when companies change their naming systems all the time.