Thunderbird Club

[Ringhammer]

Once upon a time someone on TB had a link to a site that had a huge list of wiring schematics showing original wiring, cap and pot values for all kinds of guitars/basses. It was in German but easy to decipher. Do this ring a bell with anyone?

 

[rocknrolo]

Ran across this Bird on Reverb. Bridge seems rather close to the pickup and the claw seems waaay to far south for my taste. It's medium scale so maybe he did that so he could use long scale strings?

Warmoth custom Thunderbird medium scale FingerBird 2022 Nitrocellulose | Reverb

That bridge she is wildly close to the bridge pickup. Wow

 

[GonePlaid]

 

[Engle]

Do you have someone to sing the high part in Oh what a night?

Yes, our keyboard player sings that part.
I’m trying to find a live version of the original. I’d like to see if the bass player could play the run and sing that part at the same time.

 

[Engle]

Not that it'll help Irv, but I have a stupidly high falsetto. Most of y'all have heard my natural, baritone-y voice on a coupla videos I've posted. I have no 'high mids'("Ah ain't no Country tenor"), but A above the treble clef staff is no problem and the C above that is possible with a little practice.

I’m going to have to go to the piano to check that out!
I have a pretty good vocal range, but not much control. Keep thinking I should take singing lessons

 

[Count Bassie]

That bridge she is wildly close to the bridge pickup. Wow

I like it. The whole thing. The p'up that close, eh. But it's still cool.

 

[Goatrope]

Once upon a time someone on TB had a link to a site that had a huge list of wiring schematics showing original wiring, cap and pot values for all kinds of guitars/basses. It was in German but easy to decipher. Do this ring a bell with anyone?

This one?

http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf

 

[JIO]

Sounds like a bass to me. Soulful playing showing his R&B roots.
I get people don't like his bridge pickup tone which (depends on a mix) could sound too nasal but for example Marcus Miller commented that he didn't like Jaco's sound at first because it was too dark. Compared to high flying players like Stanley Clarke, Squire, Entwistle etc. at the time (mid seventies) it was dark indeed.

My fav Jaco playing is on those Joni Mitchell albums, the Ian Hunter record, Pat Metheny's fabulous debut "Bright Size Life" and all the Weather Report albums he did. When he got into the fuzz territory using two amps and that MXR Digital Delay...man, there's some crazy and scary stuff there. The '80 "Night Passage" live recordings are my favourites. They really were a jazz band not playing safe and Jaco was the perfect bassist for them.

Couldn't agree more - I think if people could have seen/heard Jaco play live they would have a different opinion. I was lucky enough to attend a Weather Report show in '76 promoting their new LP "Heavy Weather" which was the 1st full LP & tour with Jaco on bass. Saw WR the year before with Alphonso Johnson - a totally bad-ass player also. Joe Zawinul was a bass player in his early days so he always got the cream-of-the-crop players on bass. Jaco used the legendary Acoustic 360 (two actually), and I feel because it was a very physical rig - it moved big air. He was a people-person and pushing those two 18" speakers would tump against your chest in the audience. Also, that setup is generally dark sounding due to the big speakers, so him using his bass settings & style on the treble end, he was able to bring definition to otherwise pillowy-tone bass. That definition was needed to express his otherworldly rhythmic drive and beautiful lyrical expression. His bass precursors weren't upright jazz players who were so dark sounding it was more a texture - listen to Scott LaFaro for a player who made his (upright) bass sing.

If you want to be blown away by a fresh-on-the-scene Jaco playing his fretless bass with pin-point accuracy and rock-solid in-the-pocket playing - check out this live vid from '76. When bass players (pro's) caught wind of playing like this - they all went back to the woodshed. It was similar to when Townsend set up a meeting with Clapton to discuss "this new guitarist on the scene who would change everything" - Jimi Hendrix.



Bill Evans trio w/Scott LaFaro on bass -

 

[JIO]

Apparently he goes around digging through walls of businesses during the daytime. Bad dude!

It's a very clever way to break into a business.

Another day at the office...

...a "before" pic of the same neglected-for-decades Winters' facade. CJ & I resurrected the WINTERS' lettering which was buried under thick elastomeric paint for decades.

This was a Halloween show by friends The Sunnyside 5 posing as Rocky Horror characters. Our Bond Girl Cherie (as Frank N Furter) on keys.

 

[JIO]

Once upon a time someone on TB had a link to a site that had a huge list of wiring schematics showing original wiring, cap and pot values for all kinds of guitars/basses. It was in German but easy to decipher. Do this ring a bell with anyone?

No, but if found that would be something to post. Possibly someone at the Luthiers Corner knows.

 

[TBird1958]

Once upon a time someone on TB had a link to a site that had a huge list of wiring schematics showing original wiring, cap and pot values for all kinds of guitars/basses. It was in German but easy to decipher. Do this ring a bell with anyone?

Gibson Bass Guitar wiring diagrams (flyguitars.com)

 

[JIO]

Funny! Good thing you warned me or I’m sure I’d be confused.

I may even use my Thunderbird for the Bad Lemon set.

 

[JIO]

That bridge she is wildly close to the bridge pickup. Wow

It's because it's a medium scale on a full size body.

 

[Goatrope]

Cadfael's Collection of bass wiring diagrams

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Gibson Bass Guitar wiring diagrams (flyguitars.com)

The Thunderbird link is broken.

 

[GBassNorth]

Can any of you Alembic aficionados tell me what model this is ? I think it's gorgeous. The player is Charnett Moffett Sorry for the crappy imageView attachment 4921467

That would be a Signature Deluxe with the Balance K body…
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Phenomenal looking and playing basses. They come in a few different body styles, my favorite being the triple omega.

 

[bobyoung53]

Christmas lights!

Yes, expensive ones.

 

[Stealth57]

First pass on the guts of the Ashdown doesn’t show anything obvious to me. Some funky paste on some areas that looks like it is meant to prevent things from moving around. Anyone with better knowledge see anything strange?

 

[Ringhammer]

This one?

http://www.ak-line.com/medium/Bassschaltungen.pdf

This was the one! Thanks!

 

[GBassNorth]

Pickups question time:

Some of you guys may remember Fixer- aka Mike... He left the club a few years ago, not sure why. Anyway, he'd sent me an old pair of BaCH p'ups. I'm looking to do something with them, and I've got a black-&-maple Peavey Foundtion, 90s era, here that's a good player. It had an alignment problem between the nut and the bridge- the string travel was closer to one side of the neck than the other and it bugged me- so I put a Hipshot bridge on it and moved it over an eighth of an inch or so to fix that. It's my spare, really, one I'd bring to an open jam or a keg party, etc. I do like playing it since I decided it wasn't worth it to sell it... the Peavy-ness is now compromised, and it's just not so sellable anymore.

Anyway, the p'ups in it aren't bad really, but maybe I'd swap in these BaCHs if they had something to offer in heft, or were a little more aggressive.

So who's got some experience with these? I'm all ears, THaNKs!

By “BaCH pickup”, do you mean the Artec that came standard in the BaCH Tbird, which looks like this…

If that’s the one you’re talking about my very limited experience with it (only one pup on one bird) is…

Kinda cheap looking (plastic chrome, squared edges, screw cutouts). Dirt cheap to buy (even less than Chinabuckers IIRC, but the Artec sounds a bit fuller). Actually very comfortable to play, the screw cutout ends up being the perfect thumb rest for me. Sound wise, not bad at all. I’d rank it as more aggressive than the modern Gibson Tbird pickups, a wee bit less aggressive than the VP pickups, more low mid focused that typical Eppi pickups. Overall, a bargain at the sale price and as good or better than any Chinabuckers I’ve tried.