Thunderbird Club

[GonePlaid]

this bugger kicked my azz long enough….finally got LIFTOFF…..when there’s a will….
View attachment 4944579

I hope I'm mentioned in it!

 

[GonePlaid]

I found a distribution service that enables me to put my music to Spotify etc. I uploaded one song as a try out and then realized that a single needs a B-side! Couldn't edit that so I uploaded another single track and added two bonus tracks as B-sides. I still call the extra tracks that won't be found on an album proper as "b-sides".
It's also a good excuse to put out experimental stuff to unsuspecting punters...

Anyway, here's the other track. It's a sort of an ambient tribute to the late John Wetton. Don't tell anyone but it's not a P-Bass but a VP...

 

[GonePlaid]

Not that I'm a Niners fan..........cuz you beat the Seahawks 3 times this year, but dammit a win over Dallas would be nice today.

Along that line:

 

[JJR58]

The original pickups are really good (I think anyway) The J pickup is a DiMarzio humbucker and matches well with the split.

I know, I had one.
And agree.

But if there’s any major mod i do to a bass, is swapping pick ups.

I’m not well versed on the whole capacitor thing.
I tend to stick close to stock.

I like keeping to an inherent traditional tone, with tweaking my rig to taste.
Another reason why, for me anyway.
An HPF/LPF is very beneficial.

ymmv.

 

[dagrev]

I loved the Lincolns Perry drove too.

I know. He had a great looking Caddy early on. Paul always had Thunderbirds or Corvettes.

 

[dagrev]

All this guitar electronics talk probably warrants a soldering 101 discussion for those that don’t solder often but want to do their own basic work. I’m no soldering savant but I do get around ok with an iron. Others can chime in with additional helpful info but there are at least three key facets to successful soldering of guitar components…

The right tools (can’t be overstated enough)
The right solder (makes a hard job much easier)
Practice (just a few minutes with a test piece can make a huge difference)

Tools
This isn’t 1965 anymore. If you have one of those black and decker soldering guns with the wire tip, just put it in the trash. You need a soldering station that has an iron with an assortment of tip sizes and shapes. The station should have a variable temperature setting that goes high enough to rapidly melt the solder and warm up the components but not so hot that it fries everything it touches. A nice one with all the assorted tips and extras will run between $50 and $100. A pro level for people that solder for a living can easily run well north of that. Weller is pretty much the industry standard for soldering stations. Ideally the soldering kit will have a wet sponge for tip cleaning, a brass steel wool pad for cleaning, at least 4 different tips (large chisel, medium chisel, small chisel and point end) and a desoldering tool to suck up wet solder. Radio Shack had a nice one (if they’re still around) or you can get one on Amazon. Buy a 12 pack of small copper alligator clamps to use as heat sinks. Buy a set of helping hands - a weighted clamping stand with flex arms and at least two alligator clamps to hold parts in place so you can easily use one hand for solder and the other for the iron.

Solder
You’re soldering fine gauge wire onto thin metal tabs and sensitive pot housings vs assembling copper pipe fittings, so use a solder designed for the job, not that roll of lead crap from Home Depot. I get mine from GFS or EBay. It’s a fine silver/lead solder with a rosin core so usually no flux is needed and it melts clean and quick.

Practice
Practice makes perfect and doesn’t really take that long. Go to GC and buy a spare pot or two. Practice stripping, twisting and tinning the wire. Practice tinning the lugs and the pot housing. Practice touching the tinned lug with the iron and inserting the tinned wire. Practice prepping the pot housing with a scraper or exacta knife. Practice pooling solder on the pot housing. Practice tinning a piece of wire mesh and then soldering it to the pot housing. Practice using the copper alligator clips as heat sinks to protect small parts from getting overheated. Just doing each of these thing a few times can greatly improve our chance of success.

Really good info. All of it applies to me. I need to throw my junk iron in the trash. In describing my problems Chuck mentioned long ago part of the problem was it wasn't getting hot enough. The other part is me, but he was kind, as always and didn't go there. But it's true.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Hmm. None of the above(I only use flats).

Me, too. I did my time with roundwounds, paid my debt to bass string society, and learned my lesson.

 

[dagrev]

I found a distribution service that enables me to put my music to Spotify etc. I uploaded one song as a try out and then realized that a single needs a B-side! Couldn't edit that so I uploaded another single track and added two bonus tracks as B-sides. I still call the extra tracks that won't be found on an album proper as "b-sides".
It's also a good excuse to put out experimental stuff to unsuspecting punters...

Anyway, here's the other track. It's a sort of an ambient tribute to the late John Wetton. Don't tell anyone but it's not a P-Bass but a VP...

Good stuff, as always!

 

[dagrev]

ok, let’s do this!….
View attachment 4944743

That sounds killer even in the pic!

 

[dagrev]

Restrung the NR with GHS boomers. They're quite a bit stiffer than the stock strings, so I imagine I'll have to adjust the setup slightly.

Live is the real test. I found a number of strings that sounded good at home, but kind of disappeared live. Boomers held their presence and didn't vanish or sound hollow live.

 

[Engle]

And yet, I find a way to still suck

When you get the VP fixed, you’re going to be an expert!
Seriously there’s no better way to learn than when something doesn’t work.

 

[Engle]

Live is the real test. I found a number of strings that sounded good at home, but kind of disappeared live. Boomers held their presence and didn't vanish or sound hollow live.

That’s the challenge with playing bass. Sound on stage is a whole lot different than sound at home.

 

[GonePlaid]

That’s the challenge with playing bass. Sound on stage is a whole lot different than sound at home.

I really wish we could set up and do a sound check on our gigs, but they don't pay enuff to make 2 trips and the crowd is already there when we're setting up. Also, we are our own 'sound man', so there's no going out front to hear what the crowd hears.

 

[Stealth57]

When you get the VP fixed, you’re going to be an expert!
Seriously there’s no better way to learn than when something doesn’t work.

Painful lessons. I don’t mind whipping out the multimeter, but when the result don’t match reality….

 

[GonePlaid]

Along that line:
View attachment 4945025

I didn't have a horse in the hunt or a dog in the race(all 3 FL teams eliminated), but, IMO, Jerry should fire their GM and hire a new one.

 

[bobyoung53]

Painful lessons. I don’t mind whipping out the multimeter, but when the result don’t match reality….

Painful lesson: I went to school for Telecommunications years ago, tubes were 'going out' at that time. The one day of the semester we put together a little tube amp with a signal generator for a tone I couldn't get it to work, this went on for hours, of course I had hurried and didn't think about what I was doing. My instructor would come over every once in a while and ask me if I had figured it out and walk away which highly irritated me. Finally right at the end of the class he pointed to the load resistor I had left in. Instead of sound going to the speaker it was dissipated as heat in the load resistor. I never forgot it.

 

[dagrev]

That’s the challenge with playing bass. Sound on stage is a whole lot different than sound at home.

Indeed. And so frustrating at times. You think you have a bass or amp set well and take it out and it can literally sound near awful.

 

[Ringhammer]

Indeed. And so frustrating at times. You think you have a bass or amp set well and take it out and it can literally sound near awful.

I have always thought a good exercise would be to set all the knobs on your amp to zero at the end of each rehearsal. That way, every time you return to your practice space, you have to find your tone. Even better if you bring a noticeably different sounding bass each time.

 

[GonePlaid]

Indeed. And so frustrating at times. You think you have a bass or amp set well and take it out and it can literally sound near awful.

True, but no one's really paying any attention to us unless we f---* up.

*oul

 

[MCF]

It’s almost deja vu all over again.