Thunderbird Club

[GBassNorth]

Maybe this will help?

View attachment 4830013


....I looked up my order history, this one was made for me by axemasters, based on the nut for an Ibanez SR-series 4-string, I think, since the only Epi ones he had pre-made were for the wider bolt-on 'birds.
The SRs have mostly the same dimensions, just needed to be a bit taller.

View attachment 4830014


.....but, Epiphone uses 1/4" thickness, Gibsons afaik use 3/16" thickness. Should be the only difference though?

What a great club this is (and you’re one of the best by the way).
Very few places on Talkbass offer such timely and in-depth technical support for questions raised (pics, measurements, supplier leads… great post!) I’ve been in other clubs on TB where you ask a technical question and wait days for a legitimate helpful response (if you even get it).
Kudos to you Kara!

 

[GBassNorth]

For some reason, the seller does not ship to Canada. I’ve noticed that with some Japanese sellers. I’m going to ask why.

Ship to our Queen in Seattle and drive down to pick it up. Offer the seller a price about $100 less than asking to cover the cost of your petrol for the drive.
But first you might want to research any issues with bringing a bass back with you across the border. Might be a Rosewood import issue keeping Japan from shipping to Canada.

 

[PillO]

@Engle and others in the Gerat White North. As you all probably know, it is L&M's Rocktober. With sale prices on Yorkville distributed products. That means it is a good time to stock up on RS66 strings! Ernie Ball as well, if you are so inclined. And with Rocktober, there is 0% financing on all these products, so you could get those strings on 12 months financing!

 

[GBassNorth]

I noticed there’s a 35 year old Greco Thunderbird available in Edmonton for $600. It’s been there for a few weeks. Check Kijiji.
I’m interested in acquiring a Mike Lull T5 or NRT5 if anyone has a line on one.

Thanks, that’s the same Greco that’s listed on Reverb.
I’m likely going to be doing more work travel in the future, so that will allow me to check out basses in other cities.

If it’s this one…
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you’re correct, and it does NOT have Greco pickups. This one will be closer to a Epiphone CP in sound, not really close to the Greco sound at all.

 

[TBird1958]

My solder job putting in Thunderbuckers wasn't so hot and a joint broke a couple nights ago. It is now resoldered. The pickups are also lower. The Flamingo now looks even more like a '64 than it did. I haven't played it through a real amp yet, so i don't know what it did to the sound.

Thinking about it, Veronica's orange Lull might be my holy grail, not a '64. More blasphemy.

You didn't just say that....

I suspect Lulls may be the next best thing to the originals, and no doubt better in some ways.

Having played both her '64 and her Lull, I did. It is close.

So far Lulls would absolutely be my top choice in TBird pick ups.

Sonically the Lull is very close to the '64, but so is the Greco - so close that it's really splitting hairs. The advantage of the two over the original would be that I can take them out of the house and to shows with little to worry over in terms of breakage, they're sturdy. The neck on the '64 is pure bliss to me and of all my basses is my fave, the '89 being a close second.

I hadn't worn this dress since going to California.....

Doing the rock star thing.............Screaming girls too

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Many large commercial brewers use adjuncts in addition to barley malt. Technically, it shouldn’t change the flavor as it is just adding sugar.

Rice and corn are the most common.

 

[MCF]

@JIO. The boss announced his next album. He covers 60’s and 70’s soul tunes including The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.

 

[MCF]

View attachment 4830415

Don’t mean to offend anyone, but Ugh.

 

[JJR58]

Sonically the Lull is very close to the '64, but so is the Greco - so close that it's really splitting hairs. The advantage of the two over the original would be that I can take them out of the house and to shows with little to worry over in terms of breakage, they're sturdy. The neck on the '64 is pure bliss to me and of all my basses is my fave, the '89 being a close second.

I hadn't worn this dress since going to California.....

Doing the rock star thing.............Screaming girls too

Since i have a hard time keeping up on remembering between the two.
Which Bird has the Lulls and which the Sidewinders?

Cause those Sidewinders really do it for me after the Lulls.

 

[JIO]

@JIO. The boss announced his next album. He covers 60’s and 70’s soul tunes including The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.

cool - I love that song!

 

[Engle]

Ship to our Queen in Seattle and drive down to pick it up. Offer the seller a price about $100 less than asking to cover the cost of your petrol for the drive.
But first you might want to research any issues with bringing a bass back with you across the border. Might be a Rosewood import issue keeping Japan from shipping to Canada.

I’ve brought a few basses from the States into Canada: a Jag SS which I had shipped to my friend’s place in Point Roberts and my VP which I bought from GC Syracuse NY and had shipped to GC in Bellingham Wash. Both times I was waved through, but I was lucky with the VP as Canada Border Services could have collected sales taxes.
If it were to go from Japan to Merica first I would likely end paying Washington sales tax AND Canadian sales tax. No thanks!

Other Japanese sellers done exclude shipping to Canada. Like this one:Greco TB-750 Mint Collection Sunburst TB Type Electric Bass with Soft case EMS | eBay

 

[JIO]

 

[JIO]

I’ve brought a few basses from the States into Canada: a Jag SS which I had shipped to my friend’s place in Point Roberts and my VP which I bought from GC Syracuse NY and had shipped to GC in Bellingham Wash. Both times I was waved through, but I was lucky with the VP as Canada Border Services could have collected sales taxes.
If it were to go from Japan to Merica first I would likely end paying Washington sales tax AND Canadian sales tax. No thanks!

Other Japanese sellers done exclude shipping to Canada. Like this one:Greco TB-750 Mint Collection Sunburst TB Type Electric Bass with Soft case EMS | eBay

That sucks - I bought my Grass Roots/ESP Bass IV from Japan and no extra duty-cost was added.

 

[TBird1958]

Since i have a hard time keeping up on remembering between the two.
Which Bird has the Lulls and which the Sidewinders?

Cause those Sidewinders really do it for me after the Lulls.

Here you're playing my '89 - with Lulls.

You played this one as well.....Best possible conditions, through a large, loud amp, Chucky's SVT, a '76 with Sidewinders sounds really good!

 

[JJR58]

Here you're playing my '89 - with Lulls.

You played this one as well.....Best possible conditions, through a large, loud amp, Chucky's SVT, a '76 with Sidewinders sounds really good!

That's them alright.

 

[Engle]

That sucks - I bought my Grass Roots/ESP Bass IV from Japan and no extra duty-cost was added.

View attachment 4830585

A few years ago, everything I bought on EBay started getting Washington sales tax added.
I have only been dinged at the border a few times, but most stuff I buy is <$300.
On a positive note they removed the Covid restrictions today. Last Sunday I got randomly selected for a PCR test after being in the States for 10 minutes for gas.

 

[RedVee]

Budweiser uses rice as a source of carbohydrate just as Coors uses corn syrup for the same purpose. It is used to add enough carbohydrate to reach the desired alcohol content. Other drinks (called beer) use malt (or malted grain) for that purpose, but malt is more expensive than rice or corn syrup.

Never heard of either being used to brew beer. Our locals must be boring, generally only see malt/barley, hops, water, yeast. Not that I’ve studied the ingredients on beer cans.

EG. One of my favourites Coopers Pale Ale - but I started on it due to “no additives no preservatives”.

The choice of brewing raw materials includes malted barley, hops, water and yeast. The premium grade malted barley is grown and malted in South Australia in accordance with Coopers' stringent specification. Australian grown Pride of Ringwood hops are used to provide the hop bitterness.

 

[Nocturnal]

I’ve brought a few basses from the States into Canada: a Jag SS which I had shipped to my friend’s place in Point Roberts and my VP which I bought from GC Syracuse NY and had shipped to GC in Bellingham Wash. Both times I was waved through, but I was lucky with the VP as Canada Border Services could have collected sales taxes.
If it were to go from Japan to Merica first I would likely end paying Washington sales tax AND Canadian sales tax. No thanks!

Other Japanese sellers done exclude shipping to Canada. Like this one:Greco TB-750 Mint Collection Sunburst TB Type Electric Bass with Soft case EMS | eBay

That sucks - I bought my Grass Roots/ESP Bass IV from Japan and no extra duty-cost was added.

View attachment 4830585

My friend has made several guitar/bass purchases from Japan over the years and he said that in his experience he does not get charged extra duty/fees when shipped FedEx. UPS on the other hand has required additional fees. Not sure how that works any more but when I bought my Greco from Japan, it came FedEx (in 3 days) with no additional fees/duty.

 

[MCF]

cool - I love that song!

Me too.

 

[JIO]

My friend has made several guitar/bass purchases from Japan over the years and he said that in his experience he does not get charged extra duty/fees when shipped FedEx. UPS on the other hand has required additional fees. Not sure how that works any more but when I bought my Greco from Japan, it came FedEx (in 3 days) with no additional fees/duty.

Interesting - I'll keep that in mind if buying something from Japan again. It was shipped FedEx now that I think of it - and it arrived pretty fast.