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Thunderbird Club

#24,662
JJR58 said:
I don't even wanna go there, with all the basses I've owned, and worse, sold. I'm 58, starting playing at 13. It's ugly.
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:D Same age here, I started playing in '74........$%#& I'm old :eek:
 
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#24,666
I found it, no long hair now though.
 

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#24,671
Haji said:
Since you guys know so much about so many different basses, perhaps somebody can tell me what the relationship between the Guild Pilot bass (still want one) and the DeArmond basses that look exactly like a Pilot is. Haven't seen the Guild around Nashvegas but I havw seen a couple DeArmands.
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DeArmond and Guild were both owned by Fender (presumably overlapping) so the DeArmond was most likely a Fender orchestrated Guild retro spin-off.
 
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#24,672
Haji said:
Since you guys know so much about so many different basses, perhaps somebody can tell me what the relationship between the Guild Pilot bass (still want one) and the DeArmond basses that look exactly like a Pilot is. Haven't seen the Guild around Nashvegas but I havw seen a couple DeArmands.
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Just a rebadge I think. Same with the Ashbory, it's been a Guild, a DeArmond and now a Fender.
 
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#24,673
Dadagoboi said:
Fun fact: A set of Rotosounds cost $30 in '74, my rent was $50 a month. Thirty dollars then is the equivalent of $146 today.
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That's crazy! Just goes to show, music gear was more expensive in the past. Sure, you can say a Fender Jazz Bass only cost Squier money ($279.50) when it came out in 1960, but that's $2,266 in today's currency. Almost $1,000 more than what a 2016 American Standard cost.

Now that I think of it, bass strings have pretty much always cost about $30 a set. I remember when I was a young player, it was pretty onerous for a teenager to come up with (or part with) those 30 clams. Those were the days of boiling strings, or replacing only a single string. I remember one time, I put a single, black, tape-wound string on my bass with the three old round-wound strings, because I found it in a discount box at a local mom-and-pop music store among a bunch of other random stuff. It's a good thing all the other strings were dead, so you couldn't really hear the difference!
 
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#24,674
JIO said:
DeArmond and Guild were both owned by Fender (presumably overlapping) so the DeArmond was most likely a Fender orchestrated Guild retro spin-off.
Click to expand...

Exactly right, at least from what I remember. There was a neck-thru DeArmond Pilot as well. Not too long ago you could still find Guild pilots for around $300+/-.
 
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#24,675
Mosstone said:
That's crazy! Just goes to show, music gear was more expensive in the past. Sure, you can say a Fender Jazz Bass only cost Squier money ($279.50) when it came out in 1960, but that's $2,266 in today's currency. Almost $1,000 more than what a 2016 American Standard cost.

Now that I think of it, bass strings have pretty much always cost about $30 a set. I remember when I was a young player, it was pretty onerous for a teenager to come up with (or part with) those 30 clams. Those were the days of boiling strings, or replacing only a single string. I remember one time, I put a single, black, tape-wound string on my bass with the three old round-wound strings, because I found it in a discount box at a local mom-and-pop music store among a bunch of other random stuff. It's a good thing all the other strings were dead, so you couldn't really hear the difference!
Click to expand...

When I bought my 1976 Thunderbird in 1985 it came with a flat and 3 round wounds with different color silks on them. I bought a set of Roto's for $30 cause that was about the only brand that store sold at the time.

It seems like some gear cost a lot more back then and we didn't have all the lower priced options that were worth a #@&* either. We really are in a good era for affordable quality gear nowadays.
 
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#24,676
Mosstone said:
That's crazy! Just goes to show, music gear was more expensive in the past. Sure, you can say a Fender Jazz Bass only cost Squier money ($279.50) when it came out in 1960, but that's $2,266 in today's currency. Almost $1,000 more than what a 2016 American Standard cost.

Now that I think of it, bass strings have pretty much always cost about $30 a set. I remember when I was a young player, it was pretty onerous for a teenager to come up with (or part with) those 30 clams. Those were the days of boiling strings, or replacing only a single string. I remember one time, I put a single, black, tape-wound string on my bass with the three old round-wound strings, because I found it in a discount box at a local mom-and-pop music store among a bunch of other random stuff. It's a good thing all the other strings were dead, so you couldn't really hear the difference!
Click to expand...
I remember driving 50 miles to the closest decent music store which was in Santa Barbara to buy my first set of replacement strings (Rotos) for my then almost four year old Silvertone 1490. I know they cost twenty something. Heck, that bass was only about eighty dollars when my parents bought it for me as a Christmas present. It was the height of the gas crises when gas doubled from 30 cents to almost 60 cents a gallon. I was broke for weeks after that. It was the same store we rented a Traynor PA from when we couldn't con the music director at our high school into letting us borrow the school's Kustom PA. If we were playing at the school or a church, he was cool. Except for the time we returned it with a small gash in the tuck and roll (yep, the drummer, at least he was helping). On the plus side, we used to get paid what we thought was pretty decent money for those days to play dances at central coast high schools and churches; $75 for 90 minutes and $150 for three hours. Sometimes more (we didn't have a lot of competition). Gear is relatively cheap now compared to those days...
 
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#24,678
Nocturnal said:
When I bought my 1976 Thunderbird in 1985 it came with a flat and 3 round wounds with different color silks on them. I bought a set of Roto's for $30 cause that was about the only brand that store sold at the time.

It seems like some gear cost a lot more back then and we didn't have all the lower priced options that were worth a #@&* either. We really are in a good era for affordable quality gear nowadays.
Click to expand...

I would say a golden age. Look at all the parts and pickups and hardware that are available aftermarket as well. When I was a kid, you either liked the pickups in your bass or you bought a different bass. Even if I knew how crappy my pickups and bridge and tuners were, I had no idea I could do anything about it. I mean, I knew about Warmoth and Stew Mac, and the stuff you see in the back of guitar magazines, but all that seemed very remote to me. Like something exotic and beyond my reach.

Now, the quality of the pickups, etc., are the least of my concerns. Sometimes, I've already got the replacement parts before I even buy the instrument!
 
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#24,679
Mosstone said:
I would say a golden age. Look at all the parts and pickups and hardware that are available aftermarket as well. When I was a kid, you either liked the pickups in your bass or you bought a different bass. Even if I knew how crappy my pickups and bridge and tuners were, I had no idea I could do anything about it. I mean, I knew about Warmoth and Stew Mac, and the stuff you see in the back of guitar magazines, but all that seemed very remote to me. Like something exotic and beyond my reach.

Now, the quality of the pickups, etc., are the least of my concerns. Sometimes, I've already got the replacement parts before I even buy the instrument!
Click to expand...

...and speaking of replacement parts - These coloured strap locks are new to me:

Strap Locks Buttons Schaller Style for Guitar Bass Parts Replacement | eBay

Now, if only they had matching metal dome knobs... ;)
 
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#24,680
MCF said:
I remember driving 50 miles to the closest decent music store which was in Santa Barbara to buy my first set of replacement strings (Rotos) for my then almost four year old Silvertone 1490. I know they cost twenty something. Heck, that bass was only about eighty dollars when my parents bought it for me as a Christmas present. It was the height of the gas crises when gas doubled from 30 cents to almost 60 cents a gallon. I was broke for weeks after that. It was the same store we rented a Traynor PA from when we couldn't con the music director at our high school into letting us borrow the school's Kustom PA. If we were playing at the school or a church, he was cool. Except for the time we returned it with a small gash in the tuck and roll (yep, the drummer, at least he was helping). On the plus side, we used to get paid what we thought was pretty decent money for those days to play dances at central coast high schools and churches; $75 for 90 minutes and $150 for three hours. Sometimes more (we didn't have a lot of competition). Gear is relatively cheap now compared to those days...
Click to expand...

It's cheaper and better. I wouldn't wish my first bass on anybody... ESPECIALLY a beginner!

I seem to always be having this conversation out in the real world (among players 45+) and every time, someone invariably mentions that what you can buy for $500-$800 today is is better quality than the top-shelf guitars of 30 or 40 years ago.
 
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