Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

You could have had Sean Connery as a doorman had he not passed away.

 

[Engle]

I've got two, ATM, that are 100% non-modified; a convincing argument could be made for two, maybe three others...... hmmm, so I guess that would be about half? of the total, surprisingly

Actually, I have a few others: Squire Jag SS, Peavey Axcelerator 5 and Michael Kelly Dragonfly ABG. But I just haven't gotten to those yet

 

[Thumper]

Pretty sure I have, at least once, but I can't seem to find the info.....if I get home from work at a reasonable time in the morning, I'll pull one off & weigh it for you.....

No need, I've got one I can pull and weigh. Just thought someone had the info handy..

 

[JIO]

The other day my wife asked me if I had an unmodified bass? .....um...only one I can think of is my Aria Pro II SB600.

I have a few - my '66 P-bass, '68 Custom Kraft 'Bone-buzzer', and '65 Teisco Del Rey ss.



I also have a couple 'resurrected' basses (not technically 'modified') - abused basses renovated back into 'original state' - '67 WEM/Watkins Rapier and '63 Burns of London Vista Sonic.



I have owned & sold a couple basses un-altered; '93 Fender Jazz Plus, and a Parker Hornet 5-string. Some basses are perfect as-is and there's no need to alter them.

 

[bobyoung53]

Living in the center of the US (Omaha, Nebr) in the late '60s, the Doors for me were "urban LA" - their music was its sound. I'm sure that depending on where you lived you could have a different impression, but that's what I felt. I had all their LP's and we play "The Spy - In the House of Love" in both of my bands today. They were unique blues-based stylists who are woven into the fabric of that dynamic time/era.

I was a big Doors fan, still am actually. One of my buddies was kind of overboard about them, maybe due to psychedelics, and a few days after Jim died he left Mass to hitchhike to LA to join The Doors as a singer. He was only gone for a few weeks and never said much about it when he got back, probably something to do with most of our opinions about his proposed trip which we freely gave him before he left.

 

[bobyoung53]

Long story, hopefully some of that will be corrected this summer.

OK, here's the long story very condensed: I had a lot of my stuff stored at my father's house who was in poor health. I took care of him while he was in hospice at his house (emphysema, not an enjoyable experience at all). After he died near the end of 2019 my family decided to sell the house which couldn't be sold for one year I think because of probate court or something like that. I left for Peru in December right after he passed away and planned on coming back in April of 2020 to get the house ready to be sold, to sell at least some of my stuff and button it up. Covid had other ideas, they closed this country right up also in April 2020 including the airports until the end of the year. So I got stuck here, my brother took over and threw all my stuff in storage which highly irritated me but there was nothing I could do, they were in a big hurry to sell it. I was not able to leave here until after it was sold so I'm still not sure what to do, I do know that I'm very tired of paying the storage fee every month though. I like it out here but would move back in a NY minute. I still get offered some pretty good gigs back there but we're taking care of her 94 year old mother and are kind of stuck. That's another long story which I won't go into.
So anyway, I'm going back for a few months soon and may work as I kept up my RN license just in case and hopefully figure out a solution.

I still haven't decided whether to check these on the plane or carry them on

 

[GBassNorth]

The other day my wife asked me if I had an unmodified bass? .....um...only one I can think of is my Aria Pro II SB600.

What may surprise many here is that out of the over 50 basses and guitars I own, I only have four that have been modified. Two of those were just simple tone cap changes on Goths, one was a major mod for the FrankenGoth and one was a bridge and passive control mod on a Squier Jazz 5. All the others are bone stock. I have a tendency to tinker on basses I build vs basses I buy.

 

[GBassNorth]

I bought this laat week, but I'm an Ibanez guy. I guess that doesn't count.

Rehearsing tomorrow so we'll see if my axe and amp even fit!

View attachment 5009479

I never understood why those weren't more popular. By and large, they still FLY (wokka wokka) under the radar.

I always thought the reissued Ford Thunderbirds were tastefully done but lacked a good high performance option. If they had dropped the Mustang engine in it I suspect it might have sold better. Regardless, I still think they are retro cool and wouldn’t mind owning one.

 

[icefly]

Nice. Furthest north I got was Brasilia.

Cool.
I've been to Brasilia a few times (2 and half hours flight), always for work, never for fun; so I don't know anything about the city in terms of tourism, entertainment, restaurants, except for being received by my ex father-in-law who welcomed me very well then.
There, all my experience is dealing with government bureaucracy, etc.

 

[bobyoung53]

View attachment 5009667

He was a handsome devil .

 

[bobyoung53]

What may surprise many here is that out of the over 50 basses and guitars I own, I only have four that have been modified. Two of those were just simple tone cap changes on Goths, one was a major mod for the FrankenGoth and one was a bridge and passive control mod on a Squier Jazz 5. All the others are bone stock. I have a tendency to tinker on basses I build vs basses I buy.

I don't do much to my basses but almost always change one little thing. I changed the pickups on my '18 T-bird to Lulls for example. Haven't touched the NR yet but am thinking of moving the neck pickup if I get ambitious. I had another volume control put in my TF fretless. Took off a high mass bridge on a Fender P/J and put a vintage bent plate on it., stuff like that, nothing big. Bypassed the cap in my 4001, new neck for a '96 Jazz. Maybe I do do more than one little thing.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Me = São Luis, MA, Brazil
Bass = Buriti, same state and country, some 200 miles, 320km, 6 driving hours from me




Yeah, I live on an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, practically under the Equator line; heat, humidity and saltpeter are my companions and bass guitars too.

I'm sorry to hear you and your bass are separated. I hope you can reconcile soon!

My wife has been to Rio de Janeiro several times, and Macaé once or twice, all on medical missions. I'm hoping we can both go just to visit some day.

 

[Bassmike62]

Thunderbird Thursday contribution: 2001 Gibson Bird

WHOA !!!!

 

[Thumper]

No need, I've got one I can pull and weigh. Just thought someone had the info handy..

By my somewhat accurate scale:

Babicz = 7 oz, 8 with shim
Stock Eppie = 8 oz with bolts but not studs
Supertone 3 pt = 8 or 8.4 oz depending on web site

If you have something else, let us know.

 

[Engle]

So buy something else. I bought a Japanese Ric clone. Irv is a professional level enabler, one of the best we have around here. That's all I can say for now. The bass is still in Canada for the time being.

Seeing double in my music room:

 

[JIO]

I don't do much to my basses but almost always change one little thing. I changed the pickups on my '18 T-bird to Lulls for example. Haven't touched the NR yet but am thinking of moving the neck pickup if I get ambitious. I had another volume control put in my TF fretless. Took off a high mass bridge on a Fender P/J and put a vintage bent plate on it., stuff like that, nothing big. Bypassed the cap in my 4001, new neck for a '96 Jazz. Maybe I do do more than one little thing.

Modified is a subjective term. I hardly consider different control knobs as "modified". Or at least there are many shades of a bass being considered modified. A different bridge is technically modified, but if it uses te same screw-holes or posts... it can be reversed. A different colour pg is in the same camp. Even replacing pu's with ones that fit exactly into the original pu cavities is in that camp - reversible. True "modified" is a mod that can't be reversed, like routing for a second or third pu. Or removing frets to create a fretless neck. Prime examples were players adding a J bridge pu to their P-bass, and pulling frets out in the late '60s. It was done so much (DIY or by a tech) that the market place responded by producing/selling P/J & fretless basses.

In the case of a vintage bass today, "100% original" is wanted as it increases its monetary value and iconic authenticity - collector/investors world. (and some players) At one time the 'vintage value/worth' just wasn't a huge thing. Players bought basses and played them, and if they chose to - they modified them to make them more useful to them. Bottom line - a bass is a personal tool of expression, and a player has the right and freedom to do anything they choose to it to make it theirs. Needless to say to some...

 

[GBassNorth]

By my somewhat accurate scale:

Babicz = 7 oz, 8 with shim
Stock Eppie = 8 oz with bolts but not studs
Supertone 3 pt = 8 or 8.4 oz depending on web site

If you have something else, let us know.

7.3 ounces for Epiphone VP bridge (applies to Embassy and Newport as well) not including inserts pressed into the body…

 

[bobyoung53]

Modified is a subjective term. I hardly consider different control knobs as "modified". Or at least there are many shades of a bass being considered modified. A different bridge is technically modified, but if it uses te same screw-holes or posts... it can be reversed. A different colour pg is in the same camp. Even replacing pu's with ones that fit exactly into the original pu cavities is in that camp - reversible. True "modified" is a mod that can't be reversed, like routing for a second or third pu. Or removing frets to create a fretless neck. Prime examples were players adding a J bridge pu to their P-bass, and pulling frets out in the late '60s. It was done so much (DIY or by a tech) that the market place responded by producing/selling P/J & fretless basses.

In the case of a vintage bass today, "100% original" is wanted as it increases its monetary value and iconic authenticity - collector/investors world. (and some players) At one time the 'vintage value/worth' just wasn't a huge thing. Players bought basses and played them, and if they chose to - they modified them to make them more useful to them. Bottom line - a bass is a personal tool of expression, and a player has the right and freedom to do anything they choose to it to make it theirs. Needless to say to some...

I never change them to where they can't be returned to stock, I save anything I take off just in case.

 

[MCF]

Deep in the disco doldrums of 1977, he had only died 5 years before, they've had resurgences here and there.

I was shocked the company dumped all those albums. Same thing with Traffic. All their albums were cutouts around the same time. I completed my vinyl Traffic collection then. Which of course was refreshed with cd’s ten years later.

So they sold millions of Saturday Night Fever albums and thought that was the future? Ugh.

 

[bobyoung53]

I was shocked the company dumped all those albums. Same thing with Traffic. All their albums were cutouts around the same time. I completed my vinyl Traffic collection then. Which of course was refreshed with cd’s ten years later.

So they sold millions of Saturday Night Fever albums and thought that was the future? Ugh.

That's the main reason I can think of.