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Thunderbird Club

#243,842
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#243,843
BklynKen said:
Congratulations! That's really cool. I agree with Will. I'd leave it as-is.

How do you like playing the fanned frets?
Click to expand...
I gotta admit I was very concerned about how difficult it would be to adjust to fanned frets, especially considering that I’d be going back and forth between fanned and regular fret basses. So a few months back I traded a Jazz bass I never use anymore for a boutique fanned fret five string and found zero issues getting used to it.

Since then I’ve been looking for one of the original outlaw Dingwall D-Bird basses in 4 string. This one came up (in my favorite Dingwall color) so I bit. Obviously still in the honeymoon phase but I love how it looks and feels and plays. The baked in Dingwall sound is a bit of a departure from my creamy rich tone but I knew that going in and it really fits a lot of songs quite nicely.

If you’re fanned fret curious but are concerned with the learning curve, don’t be, it’s a total non issue. I’m not as fond of the D-Rock shape that replaced this body style but some people like it more. I don’t know how many of these original Tbird shaped basses they made but I’d guess not a lot, they’re getting pretty hard to find.
 
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#243,845
JIO said:
Yes, a bypass to passive on all active basses should be a given. G&L (another Leo bass) offers that and has since the L-2000 was introduced in the '80s. In fact, the passive on that bass mode sounds just as good as the active settings and switching back & forth doesn't adversely boost the output like on a Kubicki Ex-Factor. It's my only criticism of Phil's design - there's a dramatic boost of output if in passive mode switching to active mode.
Click to expand...
but there lies the dilemma, some basses were born active (have you ever heard a passive Stingray?) it’s part of their tonal character, but imo, if the bass was originally passive one should have the option….they fixed that on the Elite series, my J has the switch…
 
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#243,846
GBassNorth said:
I gotta admit I was very concerned about how difficult it would be to adjust to fanned frets, especially considering that I’d be going back and forth between fanned and regular fret basses. So a few months back I traded a Jazz bass I never use anymore for a boutique fanned fret five string and found zero issues getting used to it.

Since then I’ve been looking for one of the original outlaw Dingwall D-Bird basses in 4 string. This one came up (in my favorite Dingwall color) so I bit. Obviously still in the honeymoon phase but I love how it looks and feels and plays. The baked in Dingwall sound is a bit of a departure from my creamy rich tone but I knew that going in and it really fits a lot of songs quite nicely.

If you’re fanned fret curious but are concerned with the learning curve, don’t be, it’s a total non issue. I’m not as fond of the D-Rock shape that replaced this body style but some people like it more. I don’t know how many of these original Tbird shaped basses they made but I’d guess not a lot, they’re getting pretty hard to find.
Click to expand...
Cool. Does it have that Darkglass tone capsule in it?
 
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#243,848
BklynKen said:
Cool. Does it have that Darkglass tone capsule in it?
Click to expand...
I don’t think so. As far as I know, all the D-Birds were passive. The only bit of unique circuitry it has is a 4 position pickup selector switch to select interesting combinations of the three pickups.
1 - bridge (kinda jazz bridge burpy)
2 - bridge and middle (kinda stingray sounding)
3 - middle (kinda P bass sound)
4 - bridge, middle and neck (my favorite so far)
The magnets under the pup covers kinda act like split P rails. So each pup is dead silent even if soloed.
 
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#243,849
GBassNorth said:
I don’t think so. As far as I know, all the D-Birds were passive. The only bit of unique circuitry it has is a 4 position pickup selector switch to select interesting combinations of the three pickups.
1 - bridge (kinda jazz bridge burpy)
2 - bridge and middle (kinda stingray sounding)
3 - middle (kinda P bass sound)
4 - bridge, middle and neck (my favorite so far)
The magnets under the pup covers kinda act like split P rails. So each pup is dead silent even if soloed.
Click to expand...

That’s a super cool bass.
I’ve never tried a fanned fret bass before. very curious now.
Not that I could ever afford one.
 
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#243,850
TR-6s may be very fuel efficient but….:banghead:
gotta love sons….
upload_2023-4-20_15-40-26.jpeg
 
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#243,851
icefly said:
Yes, it would be a nice color :thumbsup:
Voyage VW Brazil, 80's with this color (here is pimped); If I'm not mistaken it was sold in Mexico/USA under the name Fox.

541700727424dfd6c3d826b6dc16fa25.jpg
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Fox?
We had an Audi Fox here. Assembled here among the first series of VW Passat. Only came in 4 dr sedan format with Passat doing 4 door fastback sedan, 2 door fastback sedan, and station wagon.
After 76 they all became imports and the prices went skywards.
The next Fox was renamed as 5+5 and had a larger sibling called 5E. They were pretty proud of the 5 cylinder engine I think!
 
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#243,852
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#243,853
GBassNorth said:
Wait no longer.
New Bass Day at the GB house - Looks and plays fantastic and the seller was great to work with. Scratches an itch I’ve had for a while now. I might eventually put a Wenge pickguard on it and maybe some flats, but other than that she’s wonderful as is…
View attachment 5037452
View attachment 5037458
Click to expand...
Interesting, I'm putting DR Fat Beams on mine, they are polar opposite of flats.
20220619_113106.jpg
 
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#243,854
GBassNorth said:
I don’t think so. As far as I know, all the D-Birds were passive. The only bit of unique circuitry it has is a 4 position pickup selector switch to select interesting combinations of the three pickups.
1 - bridge (kinda jazz bridge burpy)
2 - bridge and middle (kinda stingray sounding)
3 - middle (kinda P bass sound)
4 - bridge, middle and neck (my favorite so far)
The magnets under the pup covers kinda act like split P rails. So each pup is dead silent even if soloed.
Click to expand...
Dbirds and D-Rocs (Other than mine, and heard of another) are passive.
 
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#243,857
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#243,858
GBassNorth said:
Wait no longer.
New Bass Day at the GB house - Looks and plays fantastic and the seller was great to work with. Scratches an itch I’ve had for a while now. I might eventually put a Wenge pickguard on it and maybe some flats, but other than that she’s wonderful as is…
View attachment 5037452
View attachment 5037458
Click to expand...

That is a great find!! The difficult to find original body shape and a beautiful color!! Congrats!!
 
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#243,859
Chucky Stiletti said:
All right Guys, shooting for the first weekend of July OR the first weekend of August (couple of days this time) for the Second Annual Thunderbird Club GTG in Hollister CA!
Input from all welcome......LETS DO THIS!!!!:hyper::bassist::hyper::bassist:
Click to expand...

Either looks good on my calendar - :thumbsup: :bassist: :hyper:
 
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#243,860
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