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Thunderbird Club

#242,001
PillO said:
I have had nothing but the best service from Hipshot. There was a small delay on shipping a bridge (a couple or three weeks due to manufacturing). I called and asked f they could wait a week on shipping to make sure it didn't arrive while I was away and have it sitting on the doorstep for several days. Instead, they just shipped it by courier to arrive overnight.
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I've always said that a happy customer tells a few people...A pissed off customer tells everybody!

Great story.
 
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#242,002
JJR58 said:
Only counts if you're wearing black with white polka dot panties. :woot:
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Hey now! :laugh:
Cheese and Crackers!

cqoPIQT.jpg
 
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#242,005
GBassNorth said:
The last progress picture was taken late in the evening, after wrapping up an assembly, wiring and sound check, so not very good lighting to see what’s going on the NR VT Build. Here’s better lighting and a feel for all the bits and pieces…
View attachment 5017137
View attachment 5017136
I custom cut a pickguard template to account for the vintage pickup spacing and the rounded neck heel and forwarded it to @Engle to do his magic. The Body will go to either Pat Wilkins or Marty Bell in the next few weeks for the Metallic Shoreline Gold finish. I suspect the NR VT build will be complete sometime in May.

Already gearing up for the next build to round out the Tbird collection. Tentatively (funds permitting) it will be a fully authentic Fender parts build, right down to the Fender wide range humbucker pickups, bridge, tuners, neck, controls, knobs, Butterscotch Blonde finish and every detail - except it will be a Thunderbird NR body and the pickguard will be a take off on the Telecaster guard. If it comes out like I want, I’ll be able to retire the last of my Fender basses and stick solely to Tbird type instruments. Should be fun, unfortunately it’s not cheap to do it right.
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Can I beg there be no Butterscotch in the Blonde finish? Please. :D I love the see through Blonde, but the yellow-brown of Butterscotch leaves me thinking of all the kazillion other nice options. Oh, wait. It's not my bass! Carry on! What you do always looks great and I'm sure that will as well.





Maybe just a little less great.:roflmao:
 
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#242,006
dagrev said:
Can I beg there be no Butterscotch in the Blonde finish? Please. :D I love the see through Blonde, but the yellow-brown of Butterscotch leaves me thinking of all the kazillion other nice options. Oh, wait. It's not my bass! Carry on! What you do always looks great and I'm sure that will as well.





Maybe just a little less great.:roflmao:
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LOL - I hear ya!
There are three colors that scream FENDER to me - Butterscotch Blonde, Antigua and Mary Kaye White…
60CA572A-438D-4181-A85B-A4E193AA8B92.jpeg FDE5D2EF-3669-434A-900B-B0B59F9C5816.jpeg FA3FFD6E-DD9A-451E-B246-D90F21FFA95B.jpeg
Antigua is an acquired taste that I haven’t acquired yet and don’t really care to.
Mary Kaye is cool but usually pairs best with a white pickguard, I was leaning towards a black guard.
Butterscotch Blonde is a color I don’t have in the Tbird lineup yet, so was leaning towards that.

Both the Mary Kaye and Butterscotch finishes are translucent and allow the grain to peek through. I’ll be using a mahogany body (couldn’t find an alder, ash or pine body anywhere) which typically has a very distinct (non Fender) grain pattern, so I’m not sure just how that’ll look. I’ll probably do a test sample of each to see what looks best. If those don’t look good there’s always Shell Pink (but I already have a pink bird).
 
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#242,009
GBassNorth said:
LOL - I hear ya!
There are three colors that scream FENDER to me - Butterscotch Blonde, Antigua and Mary Kaye White…
View attachment 5017384 View attachment 5017386 View attachment 5017385
Antigua is an acquired taste that I haven’t acquired yet and don’t really care to.
Mary Kaye is cool but usually pairs best with a white pickguard, I was leaning towards a black guard.
Butterscotch Blonde is a color I don’t have in the Tbird lineup yet, so was leaning towards that.

Both the Mary Kaye and Butterscotch finishes are translucent and allow the grain to peek through. I’ll be using a mahogany body (couldn’t find an alder, ash or pine body anywhere) which typically has a very distinct (non Fender) grain pattern, so I’m not sure just how that’ll look. I’ll probably do a test sample of each to see what looks best. If those don’t look good there’s always Shell Pink (but I already have a pink bird).
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I'm a huge fan of Antigua. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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#242,011
MCF said:
So I missed Thunderbird Thursday. Here’s to a frosty Thunderbird Friday in the So Cal mountains. Had to shovel the driveway just to park the car last night. Stunningly beautiful day today. But Yet another storm with snow is coming. Tomorrow it’ll be April. This has not happened since the seventies.
View attachment 5017507
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awesome shot.
 
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#242,012
Hey Bob @bobyoung53! Look what I found! It’s with the 45’s I discovered a few weeks ago while cleaning the garage. I’m sure I bought it at Thrifty’s on a Saturday night when I was in sixth or seventh grade. We had a tradition of going to the movies and stopping for ice cream on the way home. I always bought records with my lawn mowing money. They were open until 11:00. It seems like it was only yesterday.
3C6A91FB-A802-4706-9367-4A379D07CA8A.jpeg
 
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#242,013
MCF said:
Hey Bob @bobyoung53! Look what I found! It’s with the 45’s I discovered a few weeks ago while cleaning the garage. I’m sure I bought it at Thrifty’s on a Saturday night when I was in sixth or seventh grade. We had a tradition of going to the movies and stopping for ice cream on the way home. I always bought records with my lawn mowing money. They were open until 11:00. It seems like it was only yesterday.
View attachment 5017516
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With the funny cylindrical scooper? $0.10 per scoop?
 
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#242,016
GBassNorth said:
LOL - I hear ya!
There are three colors that scream FENDER to me - Butterscotch Blonde, Antigua and Mary Kaye White…
View attachment 5017384 View attachment 5017386 View attachment 5017385
Antigua is an acquired taste that I haven’t acquired yet and don’t really care to.
Mary Kaye is cool but usually pairs best with a white pickguard, I was leaning towards a black guard.
Butterscotch Blonde is a color I don’t have in the Tbird lineup yet, so was leaning towards that.

Both the Mary Kaye and Butterscotch finishes are translucent and allow the grain to peek through. I’ll be using a mahogany body (couldn’t find an alder, ash or pine body anywhere) which typically has a very distinct (non Fender) grain pattern, so I’m not sure just how that’ll look. I’ll probably do a test sample of each to see what looks best. If those don’t look good there’s always Shell Pink (but I already have a pink bird).
Click to expand...
I like translucent finishes and have seen one that was more of a eggshell translucent from Fender that looked great. This doesn't show well but it was a quick find.
Fender P-Bass Deluxe 2016 Translucent White USA , WOW | Reverb

I don't like how my '55 Pbass has yellowed (darkly) from a nice white, but don't have the heart to buff the "yeller" of of it!
1.jpeg
 
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