Thunderbird Club

[Miles_ONeal]

F9Fs have got to be one of the coolest Grumman jet designs ever…..
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The first decade or so of jet fighters were glorious to see. I had models of many of them. The F86 Saber and F102 Delta Dagger were two I’ve always wanted to touch and see fly…

 

[bobyoung53]

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.
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I miss snow.

 

[bobyoung53]

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!
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I don't know if I posted it here or not but I have a vintage II 1954 Fender Precision on back order. It's been since Oct 22 so I have no idea when I'll get it.


Link Removed

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

new wfh gig……

 

[Stealth57]

new wfh gig……
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New company loading you up with Lenovo gear.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

New company loading you up with Lenovo gear.

and an iPhone 13…

 

[RedVee]

Folks, just wanted to let you know how disappointed I am with La Bella customer service. I definitely will never buy their strings again. I sent them a photo of the silks on their 750N tape wounds. Clearly there is a quality issue with the D string having about twice the silk length of any other string (see photo below). This makes using the Mod-Bar to move the silk off the saddles worthless.

Here was the response from La Bella:

"The tolerance is normal and the silk sitting on the barrels should not affect the tone in any way."

View attachment 5016935

Any suggestions on cutting the silk or just swap out the strings for another brand?

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!
View attachment 5017530

I like that translucent white.

I must admit that I like white to look white but I’d put up with the 55.

Same with food, I like stuff to taste like what it is. There was a foodie movement a few years ago where it was almost chemistry. “The carrots taste like sea anemone and the egg whites like caviar” that type of stuff. I’m a bit plain. If I’m eating a carrot I want it to taste like a carrot.

 

[GonePlaid]

I miss snow.

I don't.

 

[GonePlaid]

F9Fs have got to be one of the coolest Grumman jet designs ever…..
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What? No Cutlass?

 

[Instagator]

LOL - I hear ya!
There are three colors that scream FENDER to me - Butterscotch Blonde, Antigua and Mary Kaye White…
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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).

I have an acquired taste.

 

[GBassNorth]

I have an acquired taste.
View attachment 5017861

That one does look sweet! It’s when they age and turn Babypoop green around the edges that I don’t like….

 

[Instagator]

That one does look sweet! It’s when they age and turn Babypoop green around the edges that I don’t like….
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Yeah..that one is a little poopie even for me.

 

[MCF]

Folks, just wanted to let you know how disappointed I am with La Bella customer service. I definitely will never buy their strings again. I sent them a photo of the silks on their 750N tape wounds. Clearly there is a quality issue with the D string having about twice the silk length of any other string (see photo below). This makes using the Mod-Bar to move the silk off the saddles worthless.

Here was the response from La Bella:

"The tolerance is normal and the silk sitting on the barrels should not affect the tone in any way."

View attachment 5016935

Any suggestions on cutting the silk or just swap out the strings for another brand?

As far as I know, the only La Bella strings I tried were the gold flats some years ago. The D string broke after a few months. Never had that happen before or since.

 

[MCF]

News from electronics guitar tech, about Squier VM: antes = before x depois = after

They did a nice job.

 

[MCF]

Happy Friday T-Birdians.
Just a customer service shout out to the Hipshot company.
I called on the phone ( who does that anymore) to hipshot and explained my missing ferrule situation and tried to buy a set of four zinc replacements.
We talked for a little bit while as he was pulling up my account from previous business. He confirmed my address was still the same.
I asked how much they were going to cost with shipping. (had my credit card in hand) He said no charge, they are already on the way to your house.

Old school customer service.. gotta love those guys!

Cheers!

They’re like that. They sent me saddle screws and springs gratis. They understand that If they do things like that, you’ll stick around as a customer. And they’ve been pleasant to talk to.

 

[GonePlaid]

As far as I know, the only La Bella strings I tried were the gold flats some years ago. The D string broke after a few months. Never had that happen before or since.

I bought a set of La Bella DTF's for my Epi EB-0. The E was kinda dead, so I replaced it with an old EBCF E that I'd taken offa... something. Much better.
I've thought about trying the gold flats(since I use nothing but flats), but they have a few too many warnings in their directions for me to lay out the $ and have them break. FWIW, in all my years of playing, I've had one string break. It was a used(D)string that I had re-installed on the TBird and it snapped during tuning.

 

[MCF]

Then that means any Ken Smiths that go on anything from now on will be Rock Masters. I'm liking the sound of stainless windings more and more anyway.

I’ve pretty much switched to stainless on most of my basses.

 

[MCF]

Thanks. I am talking to Strings and Beyond and they seem more interested in helping. On another front, installed a Mod-Bar on my CP and that got the EBCF silks off the saddles.

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But doesn’t the look of the G saddle being back so far drive you nuts? Just kidding….

 

[MCF]

What i didn't mention is i much prefer the HawkBucker over Lollars.

Huh. Interesting.

 

[MCF]

F9Fs have got to be one of the coolest Grumman jet designs ever…..
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Very cool.