Thunderbird Club

[Syd Rayne]

You should put it on YouTube and send him the link.

During COVID my wife made a few work videos of her speaking to the camera, in lieu of organized gatherings, and like anyone else, made mistakes. She gave me all the outtakes to sort through and I made a blooper reel - adding sound effects and fancy editing. I was instructed never to post it on YouTube or social media. However, she had me burn a DVD to give to her boss to watch.

That baffled me. She was more concerned with what strangers might think than her boss, seeing her flub lines. Sometimes in succession. He must be a pretty understanding guy. I put a week's worth of time into the project, only to have two people look at it. That's like making a song demo for only one or two people to listen to. Ugghhhh. I asked her a few days later what he thought of it, and she told me "I don't know. He never said anything". I've a good mind to put it on YouTube now.

 

[JIO]

I was never a big MAD reader. I used to love National Lampoon though, maybe sophomoric humor was the wrong term.

I read both - MAD was more 'high-illustration/cold-war/beatnik' comparatively. NL was 'college' sophomoric humor, or at least that's more how I 'read' it. Although, The National Lampoon's "Animal House" was pretty... sophomoric.

 

[Syd Rayne]

I read both - MAD was more 'high-illustration/beatnik' comparatively. NL was 'college' sophomoric humor, or at least that's more how I 'read' it. Although, The National Lampoon's "Animal House" was pretty... sophomoric.

Frat boy humor, you mean.

 

[GonePlaid]

my pick/fingers playing levels are fairly even…..although I can play most stuff using either technique, I prefer pick for some stuff, fingers for others…..Anthony Jackson is one of my fave pick players….JPJ (unsung hero) was phenomenal at both, just listen to Dazed and Confused (fingers) and Whole Lotta Love (pick) on the live (The Song Remains the Same) album…..some of the BEST bass playing in rock history imho…

Listening to tapes of the band I was in 73-83, I realize I used a pick a lot more than I remembered. Nowadays, only occasionally for a song or two.

 

[JIO]

Frat boy humor, you mean.

Yes, at least the movie was - pretty much the ultimate frat-boy movie. TNL magazine was more sophisticated humor from what I remember.

 

[bobyoung53]

Frat boy humor, you mean.

Yes, I like sophisticated humor.

 

[GBassNorth]

I cannot believe this, I started about 16 pages back an hour ago and there are now 9 more pages after one of my posts and I don't even think it's my first post from an hour ago.

Is this a math problem? I'm still looking for "What time will Train A meet up with Train B?"

So students, here’s the math problem for the day…
If Bobby started reading one hour ago at 16 pages back, during which time he posted at least one message before 9 more pages appeared, how many more pages will Bobby need to read to catch up to the latest post and how many hours will it take him to do that?

 

[dagrev]

When our little brother was a kid, my sister and I would pay him to chug fizzy tonic water. More potent than soda pop for gaseous belching. He could say a sentence in one continuous burp. But you could see he hated the nasty stuff.

In retrospect - it may have been the dry heaves and not simply belching.

Somewhere there exists a cassette tape we recorded him on. He's worried I will play it for his wife.

You're not a good brother if you don't.

 

[dagrev]

It was defamatory enough what we older siblings put him through back then, without resorting to public humiliation today!

See above post.

 

[dagrev]

For some reason I have never lost my taste for sophomoric humor. I still miss National Lampoon.

And your life is better for it!

 

[dagrev]

So students, here’s the math problem for the day…
If Bobby started reading one hour ago at 16 pages back, during which time he posted at least one message before 9 more pages appeared, how many more pages will Bobby need to read to catch up to the latest post and how many hours will it take him to do that?

Like I would tell my teachers, "I don't care how many apples dumb Earl dropped or how long it took him to drop them. Earl shouldn't be so stupid is the real lesson here." I always hated those word problems. Half way through the problem I didn't care who did what or how long it took. No doubt some kind of disability on on my part. One that wouldn't argue against it lingering to this day. I did fine in Algebra but hated it because I didn't care what "x" was. No one had ever asked me or anyone I knew, so I didn't think I'd ever need to know. In college I had a math class with a guy who had a PhD in it and had been a Load Master in the Air Force. He gave us practical problems that we worked through and said, this is algebra in real life. That was cool because in HS there was no endgame. No reason we were told how this applied to anything, at least for some people anyway. He was a great prof. Somehow made math interesting. Which to my poor mind is on the level of a real miracle!

 

[BklynKen]

I found this very interesting about neck relief.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Yep - like Silvertone for Sears, Lafayette was sold through Radio Shack. Invalid Link Removed

These are Lafayette basses - made by Teisco.

View attachment 5034875 View attachment 5034878
Both had the same whacky hs shape - different fret markers.
View attachment 5034879

Lafayette was a competitor to Radio Shack. Most of their gear was better quality than Radio Shack. The instruments I wanted tended to be three color bursts or, e.g., bright green sparkle, with 3-4 pickups. Bling bling bling!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Like I would tell my teachers, "I don't care how many apples dumb Earl dropped or how long it took him to drop them. Earl shouldn't be so stupid is the real lesson here." I always hated those word problems. Half way through the problem I didn't care who did what or how long it took. No doubt some kind of disability on on my part. One that wouldn't argue against it lingering to this day. I did fine in Algebra but hated it because I didn't care what "x" was. No one had ever asked me or anyone I knew, so I didn't think I'd ever need to know. In college I had a math class with a guy who had a PhD in it and had been a Load Master in the Air Force. He gave us practical problems that we worked through and said, this is algebra in real life. That was cool because in HS there was no endgame. No reason we were told how this applied to anything, at least for some people anyway. He was a great prof. Somehow made math interesting. Which to my poor mind is on the level of a real miracle!

Yeah, most math curricula are horrid. While I got on great with math, algebra, and geometry (where I usually saw the value of at least half the problems), I really struggled with calculus in college because there were zero real world that I cared about examples. I didn't care about how the shape of the lens in the lighthouse affected the area of light on a conical hillside. Give me some relevant engineering problems, for hope that it mattered. It didn't even have to be EE. ME, AE, etc. would have been fine. But no, we got lighthouse light patterns and such.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

In my parents house, they did an extension/renovation when I was about 8 or 10 yo, and the electric stove and oven were all branded St. George. Which is a Parish area within Sydney.

It suited us because

View attachment 5034887

That's awesome!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Translucent? Transparent? Trans-*something* Black was one of the three available finishes for the Pro 4 & 5 Thunderbirds, along with standard-ish burst, and natural.

Translucent.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I recall the Lafayette store in Santa Maria having a couple guitars when I was around ten. But I think they stopped carrying them in that store shortly after that. I bought their Criterion speakers for my first “real” stereo. I still use them in the home office. I loved that store. It was sad when it closed; late seventies IIRC.

Yeah, they went under in 1981, IIRC. I was very bummed.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

They're back....Lookin' for love....
View attachment 5035015

Give them some!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! THUNDERBIRD-ADJACENT CONTENT! (arms flail about wildly, nearly decapitating a visitor.)

After all the hype, I'm appalled at ChatGPT. I tested it WRT software I use at work, and it just flat told me tales. It doesn't know what it doesn't know, but seems to think it does (or pretends so), so it happily gave me some wrong answers. Of course, it then went on to hedge its bets by suggesting the docs or customer support (apparently a favorite ChatGPT go to) would provide more info if I needed it.

It also does the latter in these cases with its answers to questions about tone caps in two very different sounding mighty Thunderbirds. The verbiage is identical apart from the model names, and per ChatGPT, each of these diverse birds has multiple (two, presumably) tone control knobs and caps, in each case providing a "darker, more mellow tone". While the phrasing is technically correct, referring to a "darker, more mellow tone" on a Vintage Pro is pretty silly. Had they said the tone controls (sic) drape blankets around the angry piano, I'd be on board.

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What size tone capacitor comes in an Epiphone Thunderbird Classic Pro?
The Epiphone Thunderbird Classic-IV Pro bass guitar is typically equipped with a pair of 0.047uF (microfarad) tone capacitors, one for each pickup. These capacitors are used in conjunction with the tone control knobs to filter the high frequencies from the bass signal, creating a darker, more mellow tone.

It's worth noting that some models of the Thunderbird Classic-IV Pro may use different capacitor values, depending on the specific year of production or any modifications that may have been made to the guitar. If you're unsure about the specific capacitor values in your Thunderbird Classic-IV Pro, you may be able to find more information by consulting the owner's manual or by contacting Epiphone customer support.
...
What size tone capacitor comes in an Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage Pro?
The Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage Pro bass guitar is typically equipped with a pair of 0.047uF (microfarad) tone capacitors, one for each pickup. These capacitors are used in conjunction with the tone control knobs to filter the high frequencies from the bass signal, creating a darker, more mellow tone.

It's worth noting that some models of the Thunderbird Vintage Pro may use different capacitor values, depending on the specific year of production or any modifications that may have been made to the guitar. If you're unsure about the specific capacitor values in your Thunderbird Vintage Pro, you may be able to find more information by consulting the owner's manual or by contacting Epiphone customer support.

 

[Giffro]

Matons, yes. But not the vintage ones, few and far between. The “Jumbuck” JB IV are around both 70s and reissue. That would likely have been my target but then I was introduced to Thunderbirds.
The JB IV is a PJ style with:

The original DiMarzio passive pickups (P-bass neck pickup and J-bass bridge pickup) are wonderfully powerful yet warm, and allow a very useful blending of Precision and Jazz bass tones. Factory-fitted brass nut and Badass bridge on a Rock Maple/Black African Ebony neck-through construction with an Australian Sassafrass body give great sustain and tone.
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BTW I don’t think it is neck through but set neck. Some of the originals had a mic style output on them. For studio work I assume.

I’d still have one if I tripped over one at the right price.

The 2010 reissue has some changes.

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Bought mine in the late 70's from Regent Music in Adelaide..my son has it at the moment. A JBIV Fretless Pro with the front cannon plug for direct desk studio recording. Yes its a set neck..beautifully sculptured..ebony fingerboard, Dimarzio PJ pups, Badass II bridge, sassafrass body etc (as RedVee described). Probably the best made bass guitar I have ever owned. Sounds very "upright bass" when played. Its a work of art.