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Thunderbird Club

#225,641
who says CA can’t be like WA?…:D
upload_2022-10-21_8-38-43.jpeg

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#225,648
PillO said:
My dad was in computers in the 60s 70s and 80s and told us that learning to type was a waste of time. He had an argument with one of the teachers in high school about it too. Said that even through "computers are the future" there was no point learning to type as it was unlikely that everyone would have a terminal on their desk, only the secretaries would.
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Little did he know that 40 years later we’d actually be typing on our phones and watches.

dagrev said:
No. Shop. And more shop. I knew I wasn't going to be a secretary. Now someone went and invented the PC and now even every blasted phone needs to be typed on as well. Voice to text often gets a little sketchy to say the least. Even after college and graduate school I still type weird. (I rarely use the index finger on my left hand for some reason and it kind of just sticks up in the air most of the time.) But if you think my typing is bad you ought to see my handwriting. My wife and secretary can interpret but that's often about it. Maybe I was destined to be a doctor and missed that calling. I am left-handed but I can write almost as well or badly with my right hand.
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I took one year of wood shop in the 7th grade (1972). The first semester was mostly drafting so we could learn how to read drawings in order to make things. It was fun but I really liked the drafting semester best.

So in the 8th through the 12th grades I took drafting, mechanical design and graphic arts classes. When it came time to go to college I focused my degree in mechanical design and drafting. Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems had just come out but were very few and far between because of the cost (main frame based) so the university didn’t have any. I Landed a job in 1978 at GE in San Jose in the drafting department where 90% of the drawings were still being done by hand. CAD stations were run 24/7 with 5 shifts of designers because they were too expensive to let sit idle after an 8 hour workday and on weekends.

Fast forward five years and nearly everything was done on CAD because the software and hardware improvements allowed the work to be done on Personal Computers. By that time I was already in design team management and not drawing much anymore. I was pretty much the last slug of true hands on designers that actually knew how to layout a drawing in ink with pristine line work and printing and could actually complete a typical drawing faster than my cohorts on CAD stations.

dagrev said:
You're talking a different kind of speedball, right? :smug:
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Speedballs to fly, Goofballs to die! Don’t ask me how I know, it’s a very distant and foggy memory.
 
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#225,651
PaleAngel_90 said:
What are the differences between the IV and the Classic Pro, besides different finish and different model name?
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IV = bolt on neck and not even sure what the pickups are.

CP = through neck and Thunderbird Plus (TB+) pickups. Think of this as a modern Gibson but made in Indonesia and a lot less expensive. No longer made.
 
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#225,653
PaleAngel_90 said:
What are the differences between the IV and the Classic Pro, besides different finish and different model name?
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I don't want to bias you negatively, but I really prefer a set neck/neck thru to a bolt on whenever possible....

There are a lot of wonderful bolt ons, It's just one of my prejudices....
 
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#225,657
Ringhammer said:
Yep, wood shop, metal shop, auto shop, drafting, were all classes I took in my high school years 80-84. I still live near the HS I graduated from. I’m sure those classes no longer exist. Might be interesting to go by some day and see. The auto shop was well equipped with even a gas station style hydraulic rack/lift that you drove over and was concealed in the ground. Not like the 2 and four post styles that are common now. Metal shop taught oxy/acetylene, arc(stick), and was starting with MIG welding. All that made HS tolerable for sure. All kinds of stuff I learned in those classes are things I still use today. I only wish I kept my welding skills going from back then.
I also took typing. Got an A but actually never could type without looking. Now I’m ok at a keyboard but just hate sitting down to type long emails or documents.
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I forgot drafting. Some schools had vocational tech and offered things like auto, moderate welding, carpentry, etc. I still remember metal shop teaching saying something like, "Look guys, you don't have to go to college to have good job with good pay." (Poor area where he knew college was not going to happen or be a waste for most.) He was right and you didn't start adult life in debt!
 
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#225,658
stlrocker said:
I posted a little about that one last week.

It's an Epi IV body with a 32" medium scale neck from an Ibanez.

I built the headstock onto the Ibanez neck with maple, narrowed and reshaped the neck to my liking.

Body was sunburst originally. I sprayed it with pearl white lacquer. The pickups are chinabucker.

Relocated bridge for med scale. made it string through because that lets me use long scale strings on it. Lots more to choose from that way.
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Medium scale would be great for a Tbird (or Explorer)
 
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#225,659
PillO said:
My dad, the great futurist:
In the 60s foresaw that computers would be important; learned programming and began working in the field. Worked on the first computer bought by the City of London (England).
In the 70s saw the importance of computers in accounting, but science and engineering? Nobody is going to want to wait for their program to be batched overnight. Slide rules and paper plans will be there forever.
In the 80s called personal computers toys because you can't do real computing on them (batching accounting overnight).
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I remember having a computer class in the 8th grade at a school that was almost next to Univ. of Louisville, and they were able to tie into their computer. We did basic "programing" which consisted in asking the computer questions which had to be asked very, very basically or it wouldn't understand. It would spit out a basic answer. Then I would have completely agreed with your Dad. By the time you went through all that you could have found or worked the answer yourself. I know it was geared for eighth grade, but even then I thought this has to be the dumbest thing I've ever done. Who would waste time fooling with this?

It was well over decade before I touched a PC and that was completely different thing compared to what we were doing.

Thunderbird...
1.jpeg
 
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#225,660
dagrev said:
I forgot drafting. Some schools had vocational tech and offered things like auto, moderate welding, carpentry, etc. I still remember metal shop teaching saying something like, "Look guys, you don't have to go to college to have good job with good pay." (Poor area where he knew college was not going to happen or be a waste for most.) He was right and you didn't start adult life in debt!
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so true...so many jobs that are thought to require a degree that actually don't...my 18 year old is in his second year of engineering at SJSU and the dean of engineering (colleague of my wife) told him that he would end up using about 6 to 9% of what he'll learn....
 
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