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Thunderbird Club

#229,521
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#229,522
GBassNorth said:
Interesting little find for those of you with 2015 birds or other basses with similar pups or basses with Babicz bridges.

I know I tried them before, but on a lark I decided to restring my 2015 with EBCF strings since I had taken the SITs off if to donate to the 22NR. Before I put the strings on the 2015 I hammered the pups as low as they’d go. Installed the EBCFs, tuned it up, and set the action super low, adjusted the intonation, set the witness points at the nut and bridge (don’t think I did that on the 2015 before) and made a couple of minor fine tuning tweaks to the truss and bridge. At first blush she sounds wonderful, much much better than she ever has. We’ll see if it holds over time.

I don’t really know for sure what’s different, because I’m pretty sure I dropped the pup height with every string I’ve tried on this bass (except the SITs). I do know setting witness points at each string end is important for optimal performance, and I admit to not doing that for whatever reason on this bass in the past. All I can figure is the combination of a very low break angle at the bridge and lack of witness points on the strings was possibly contributing to a minor shifting of intonation with string ocilitation resulting in a slight chorus or out of tune effect.

So all this time I’ve been focusing on the pickups (and their monstrous magnetic pull) to correct the chorus effect but in theory it may have been the minimal bridge saddle break angle and lack of witness points allowing the string to move just enough to throw a ghost tone in the mix.

For those of you with Babicz bridges (especially if they have very minimal break angle on the strings) do yourself a favor and tune everything to where you want it, then intonate AND set witness points at the nut and bridge. Always a good practice but for some reason I repeatedly forgot that last step on this bass.
Click to expand...
I gave the EBCFs about two years. I’m much happier with stainless, either the SIT Power Steels (Thanks Ken) or Dunlop Marcus Miller Superbrights.

You aren’t using the shim under the bridge if I recall correctly, so that should increase the break angle compared to when the shim is installed because the saddles rotate higher. Hard to explain for those that don’t use the Babicz. It came stock with the shim installed. I always set witness points.
 
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#229,524
GBassNorth said:
Interesting little find for those of you with 2015 birds or other basses with similar pups or basses with Babicz bridges.

I know I tried them before, but on a lark I decided to restring my 2015 with EBCF strings since I had taken the SITs off if to donate to the 22NR. Before I put the strings on the 2015 I hammered the pups as low as they’d go. Installed the EBCFs, tuned it up, and set the action super low, adjusted the intonation, set the witness points at the nut and bridge (don’t think I did that on the 2015 before) and made a couple of minor fine tuning tweaks to the truss and bridge. At first blush she sounds wonderful, much much better than she ever has. We’ll see if it holds over time.

I don’t really know for sure what’s different, because I’m pretty sure I dropped the pup height with every string I’ve tried on this bass (except the SITs). I do know setting witness points at each string end is important for optimal performance, and I admit to not doing that for whatever reason on this bass in the past. All I can figure is the combination of a very low break angle at the bridge and lack of witness points on the strings was possibly contributing to a minor shifting of intonation with string ocilitation resulting in a slight chorus or out of tune effect.

So all this time I’ve been focusing on the pickups (and their monstrous magnetic pull) to correct the chorus effect but in theory it may have been the minimal bridge saddle break angle and lack of witness points allowing the string to move just enough to throw a ghost tone in the mix.

For those of you with Babicz bridges (especially if they have very minimal break angle on the strings) do yourself a favor and tune everything to where you want it, then intonate AND set witness points at the nut and bridge. Always a good practice but for some reason I repeatedly forgot that last step on this bass.
Click to expand...

And for reference.
Witness Points: The Pictorial
 
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#229,525
dagrev said:
Interesting site. First I've seen it.
Bass Player Archive | Know Your Bass Player
Mel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad) | Know Your Bass Player
Tim Bogert (Vanilla Fudge, BBA, Cactus) | Know Your Bass Player
Not sure how accurate these articles are. Something I've never heard before about Leon's death, which doesn't fit. I think another one of the internet "accounts" of his passing.
Click to expand...


I think he's a member here, could be wrong though. I'm not sure it's active any more, I remember online stories about bassists. I tried to subscribe to the newsletter but never got anything.
 
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#229,526
bobyoung53 said:
I remember when people had to smuggle Coors beer to the East Coast, no catheters though.
Click to expand...


MCF said:
Never understood why though.
Click to expand...


Never understood the smuggling?
Or the lack of catheters?


The smuggling was largely/allegedly because Coors:
a) didn't want to try and transport it that far (unpasteurized at the time), so they
b) didn't market it east of TX, and because of that,
c) hadn't gotten license(s) to sell it in those areas.


So, anybody that wanted it, had to get it from an area where it could be sold legally, and transport it quickly because:
1) being unpasteurized it expired quickly without refrigeration, and
2) like anything else where the local/state gov't don't get their cut (e.g., sales taxes and regulatory fees), law enforcement types could become a problem.

:)




The catheters.......well, imo, that seems an in-advisable way to transport illegal booze? :bag:
 
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#229,527
rocknrolo said:
Hoping the join the club soon. It's hard to find a Thunderbird here in these parts...
Click to expand...

We're only too happy to (enable) help a purchase, please feel free to ask questions and hang out here!
 
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#229,531
GBassNorth said:
Interesting little find for those of you with 2015 birds or other basses with similar pups or basses with Babicz bridges.

I know I tried them before, but on a lark I decided to restring my 2015 with EBCF strings since I had taken the SITs off if to donate to the 22NR. Before I put the strings on the 2015 I hammered the pups as low as they’d go. Installed the EBCFs, tuned it up, and set the action super low, adjusted the intonation, set the witness points at the nut and bridge (don’t think I did that on the 2015 before) and made a couple of minor fine tuning tweaks to the truss and bridge. At first blush she sounds wonderful, much much better than she ever has. We’ll see if it holds over time.

I don’t really know for sure what’s different, because I’m pretty sure I dropped the pup height with every string I’ve tried on this bass (except the SITs). I do know setting witness points at each string end is important for optimal performance, and I admit to not doing that for whatever reason on this bass in the past. All I can figure is the combination of a very low break angle at the bridge and lack of witness points on the strings was possibly contributing to a minor shifting of intonation with string ocilitation resulting in a slight chorus or out of tune effect.

So all this time I’ve been focusing on the pickups (and their monstrous magnetic pull) to correct the chorus effect but in theory it may have been the minimal bridge saddle break angle and lack of witness points allowing the string to move just enough to throw a ghost tone in the mix.

For those of you with Babicz bridges (especially if they have very minimal break angle on the strings) do yourself a favor and tune everything to where you want it, then intonate AND set witness points at the nut and bridge. Always a good practice but for some reason I repeatedly forgot that last step on this bass.
Click to expand...
When I first strung up my 4003 copy I was concerned about the lack of break angle at the bridge and headstock. It is minimal! But somehow it works anyway. (With D’Addario nickel and SS Rotosounds at least)
I didn’t know about setting witness points until I joined TB. Sometimes I forget to do it. I think the strings work their way into place anyway when you play, but it makes sense to do it.
 
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#229,534
MCF said:
I gave the EBCFs about two years. I’m much happier with stainless, either the SIT Power Steels (Thanks Ken) or Dunlop Marcus Miller Superbrights.

You aren’t using the shim under the bridge if I recall correctly, so that should increase the break angle compared to when the shim is installed because the saddles rotate higher. Hard to explain for those that don’t use the Babicz. It came stock with the shim installed. I always set witness points.
Click to expand...
Correct Marshall. That’s how I have mine set up, no shim under the bridge so the saddles can rotate higher. With the shim I had nearly zero break angle.

What got me thinking about the witness points is another club member flipped out his Babicz for a Hipshot because of chorus issues and it solved his problem. I suspect he also had very little if any break angle.
 
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#229,535
LET'S DO THIS!

07B1BFBE-9143-432E-BB8E-88320554E8A4.jpeg
 
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#229,536
Miles_ONeal said:
I saw Steve & Andy in a small bar in N Augusta when they were home for a college break. Just the two of them. Great stuff, and fun to interact with.
Click to expand...
I got the see the Dregs in the very early 80s. They opened up for someone. May have been the other time I saw Rossington Collins Band. Just a guess, but someone from the Southeast.
 
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#229,538
Engle said:
When I first strung up my 4003 copy I was concerned about the lack of break angle at the bridge and headstock. It is minimal! But somehow it works anyway. (With D’Addario nickel and SS Rotosounds at least)
I didn’t know about setting witness points until I joined TB. Sometimes I forget to do it. I think the strings work their way into place anyway when you play, but it makes sense to do it.
Click to expand...
I never heard of it till TB as well. Apparently there has been spirited discussion about it being true or musical BS. In theory it makes sense and I try to remember to do it. I never noticed it correcting a problem I was having, but certainly seems as though it should do something.
 
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#229,539
GBassNorth said:
Correct Marshall. That’s how I have mine set up, no shim under the bridge so the saddles can rotate higher. With the shim I had nearly zero break angle.

What gif me thinking about the witness points is another club member flipped out his Babicz for a Hipshot because of chorus issues and it solved his problem. I suspect he also had very little if any break angle.
Click to expand...
Having tried the Hipshot on two Thunderbirds, I’ve given up on it. I could never get the action low enough to my liking. And even having Hipshot send me different length screws, I could never get the thing to intonate. I’m very picky. My Babicz on the 15 is fine; no chorus problem once I got it dialed in. And the Babicz is great on the 13’ NR allowing for lower action than the stock three point.
 
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