Thunderbird Club

[BklynKen]

Kind of leaves us SIT lovers out with no tone. Unless it can be found in the pick guard screws as previously suggested. This needs to get settled. I need t know because "tone covers a multitude of (my) bass playing sins."

If you can't play good--you can at last sound good. That's my plan.

I'm starting a conspiracy theory that the tone is really in the ball ends. So TBD.

"Tone Is in the Balls - a report"

 

[Engle]

Mine was missing the original bridge and a Schaller 3D sorted it. Really? Single coils? Seems like an odd structural configuration/design for a single. Yah, the electronics are unique - but fun to play with and mine sounds pretty darn good. I'm tending to like straight-forward simplicity these days - especially live.

I’ll do some recordings with before I take the Chromes off and put on RS66s.

 

[JJR58]

I'm starting a conspiracy theory that the tone is really in the ball ends. So TBD.

"Tone Is in the Balls - a report"

And what could possibly go wrong?................

 

[GBassNorth]

It’s alive!
View attachment 4922125

So the tone is in the thumb rest. Fascinating.

Absolutely!
A thumb rest properly placed on the bass side of the strings will give you a brighter tone than a tug bar properly placed on the treble side of the strings, which sounds more mellow. Of course that might also have something to do with playing with fingers vs the thumb, but that’s irrelevant since it’s not actually part of the bass and therefore can’t truly impact the tone.

Yes! Forget the pickup locations or even different pickups. Reverse or non-reverse.Then again there's also the possible difference of original wooden thumbrest/tug bar and the reproduction model...uh-oh...

I’d expect the wooden one to sound more natural, whereas the plastic one would sound more sterile.

Kind of leaves us SIT lovers out with no tone. Unless it can be found in the pick guard screws as previously suggested. This needs to get settled. I need t know because "tone covers a multitude of (my) bass playing sins."
If you can't play good--you can at last sound good. That's my plan.

Don’t lose faith, the silks still matter a bunch. Purple silk especially, because it rests on top of the saddles it drives the overtones. The screws, which are embedded in the woods, really only effect the undertones.

I'm starting a conspiracy theory that the tone is really in the ball ends. So TBD.
"Tone Is in the Balls - a report"

I’ve heard bass players describe their bass as “having balls”, or in other words a bolder beefier stronger sound. I have no doubt that if I looked at the balls on my Greco I’d find them to be larger than the ones on my Jazz bass.

 

[Stealth57]

Kind of leaves us SIT lovers out with no tone. Unless it can be found in the pick guard screws as previously suggested. This needs to get settled. I need t know because "tone covers a multitude of (my) bass playing sins."

If you can't play good--you can at last sound good. That's my plan.

Yep, you can be at least one fret off if you are playing sub 20Hz

 

[PaleAngel_90]

And what could possibly go wrong?................

Famous last words, don't tempt the law of Murphy, lol.

 

[JIO]

Macabre.

must be a British thing...

 

[dagrev]

I'm starting a conspiracy theory that the tone is really in the ball ends. So TBD.

"Tone Is in the Balls - a report"

The resulting T-shirts and other swag should prove altogether interesting.

 

[dagrev]

And what could possibly go wrong?................

Nothing. Not a thing. But Ken must post it in the GP for "peer review" purposes. Then we can all be confident in the findings.

 

[Bassmike62]

I'm starting a conspiracy theory that the tone is really in the ball ends. So TBD.

"Tone Is in the Balls - a report"

I'll subsribe to that.
IMO, fingers, picks, pedals, cables and amps are just mediums for what comes from our inner self.

 

[Gaolee]

I can't see them well in the pic, but it looks like one or bothe of these caps may be out of shape/swelled?

View attachment 4921876

All of the green ones look a bit misshapen.

 

[dagrev]

...Don’t lose faith, the silks still matter a bunch. Purple silk especially, because it rests on top of the saddles it drives the overtones. The screws, which are embedded in the woods, really only effect the undertones.

Do we need to confirm twist and root size of screw for additional nuances? I think Twist matters....

 

[Gaolee]

In Bond Girl (Cherie's band) she plays an Epi, but this one - Kirstin is in my band The Sean Conneries and Paul plays guitar in both bands.

View attachment 4921985

She's an absolute knock out. So is that guitar.

 

[Gaolee]

So the tone is in the thumb rest. Fascinating.

And here I thought it was in the purple silks. Funny how we learn new things like that.

 

[Gaolee]

Nothing. Not a thing. But Ken must post it in the GP for "peer review" purposes. Then we can all be confident in the findings.

Absolutely. If Ken doesn't do it, then one of the rest of us really should.

 

[icefly]

Soon will be 1 year

 

[BklynKen]

Absolutely. If Ken doesn't do it, then one of the rest of us really should.

There are much better writers in this group than I. But some key points I think would be how ball ends are metal, the modern bridges are metal, and the ball ends are so tightly bound to the bridge due to tension so the transfer of tone is undeniable.

 

[Bassmike62]

Soon will be 1 year

I'M assuming that's some kind of lighting effect that gives it zebra-looking stripes. If not, that's quite the finish and it looks great

 

[icefly]

'M assuming that's some kind of lighting effect

Yes, sunlight and shadow effct.

 

[D.M.N.]

I used to own the Phase 90 but let it go since even after the so-called script mod it was too deep and distorted when the speed was increased. Would love to try the original.
My friend has an old MXR flanger which sounds great.

I have the Whirlwind Orange Box phaser, which sounds very good on bass. Seems to be as close to the original MXR as you can get.

I have a Dunlop '74 Script Phase 90 (custom shop or something), and it sounds great. I did some mods to it to increase the bass response and output level, and might have done one or two others too, can't recall off the top of my head. It was very subtle on bass and had a volume drop when activated, and I thought about going to a block or Whirlwind, but the increased bass thru-put definitely helped out, and now it has a boost when engaged instead of dipping low in the mix. Great pedal.