Thunderbird Club

[GBassNorth]

ok…
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I’m just not as fond of the 1970’s hood snorkel. I like the cam head hood on yours better!

 

[GBassNorth]

I'd put them closer together (either way). Of course if you are after that type of sound two pickups very far from each other produce go for it but I found it almost always too woolly with no mids.

Spot on if I were going for an all around player. But in this case I’m specifically targeting one end of the tone spectrum - the bottom end grunt. And this layout with these particular pickups delivers it in spades. Much more than any passive bass I have and more than many of my active basses. I have plenty of birds with pups in the sweet spots, so don’t really need any more of those.

 

[GBassNorth]

I picked up this Thunderbird Pro IV a couple weeks ago.


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Some beautiful grain on that mahogany! Has it been sanded down to the raw wood?

 

[Stealth57]

pull the preamp tube (bottom left in pic) and see what happens….
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Will do once I get a chance to pull the chassis this evening. Can someone help with the two other bits?

 

[bobyoung53]

Not sure if this is considered 'real country', maybe pop country - but by a country artist.



Here's another by Ashley that I like - maybe TSC's will cover it someday -

I can only see one video, Ashley Monroe but it sounds like country to me. Good stuff.

 

[bobyoung53]

Will do once I get a chance to pull the chassis this evening. Can someone help with the two other bits?

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The little thing on the left is your phase inverter tube and the larger one on the right is an electrolytic capacitor, those dry out after a while and cause hum, the worse they are the louder the hum.

 

[GBassNorth]

Arty 'bird Tuesday
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Nice artsy shot!
This Tbird rich environment is good as gold…

 

[bobyoung53]

Will do once I get a chance to pull the chassis this evening. Can someone help with the two other bits?

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Have you left this on for at least a few hours yet (as long as the hum is not real loud)?

 

[Stealth57]

Have you left this on for at least a few hours yet (as long as the hum is not real loud)?

Played through it for about an hour just now. As long as I keep the volume 2-3 and the treble and bass at 3 there isn't significant hum. If you think just letting it sit with the power on and standby off for a few hours would do something, I can.

FYI: after some research, this is very likely a first year (1967) of production unit. The telling signs are the lack of a box around the knobs and the 200S logo. All the 1968 ones I found have a box around the knobs and there is a change to the red 200S logo. Someone in the Sunn group suggested that grill cloth was changed, but I found a photo showing maybe not.

 

[MCF]

Wikipedia has a lot of good info. But doesnt really cover all models.

Wikipedia barely scratches. There used to be a separate Epiphone page but that is gone. Greco, Orville, BaCH, Mike Lull and Cataldo all made Thunderbirds at some point. And there are others.

 

[JIO]

Spot on if I were going for an all around player. But in this case I’m specifically targeting one end of the tone spectrum - the bottom end grunt. And this layout with these particular pickups delivers it in spades. Much more than any passive bass I have and more than many of my active basses. I have plenty of birds with pups in the sweet spots, so don’t really need any more of those.

North-South pu positioning was common in the '60s. Big 'scoop" results, but it also helps tame a muddy neck-hugger with some treble definition. Personally I'm not attracted to the sound of neck-hugging pu's in general but that's just my personal tonal choice. Better on hollow-bodied basses like my 2-pu Custom Kraft. My ESP/Grass Roots Bass IV has 3-pu's and I never use the neck pu - and it's 3/4" from the neck-heal so not a true neck-hugger.

When I first started playing in 1966, all bass (live) was boomy and indistinct. Back then I gravitated to players like Tim Bogert, Jack Cassidy and Jack Bruce (EB-3) and later to Chris Squire (sort'a) because I heard delineated bass notes, and also freedom from static root-shackles. Some considered that "guitar bass" and "out if line" (Jaco got accused of that regularly) but as long as the root is clearly defined - I call it melodic freedom from convention/stereotype. Even James Jamerson had problems "staying in line" with recording producers. Having said that - I love playing a straight-ahead minimal bass-line when appropriate/needed in a song.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Just received the donor bass from a recent eBay purchase, so now I can finish my layout and routing work for the ThunderCaster build. I’ll be using literally every part, component, nut and screw off the Fender Telecaster bass (except the body and pickguard) and installing it on the Tbird NR body to create the most thunderous thunderbird out there. The pup spacing on the NR body will be identical to the Fender as well as the Butterscotch Blonde finish, the new NR pickguard (shown rough sketched on a paper template) will be black and picks up some design ques from both the Fender and Tbird.
View attachment 5071811
Should be a fun build! If successful, it’ll replace about the only Fender I play anymore with a more ergonomically comfortable body shape for me. If done in time I’ll bring it to the August GTG.

Note to those concerned: No Fender products will be harmed in this project. This is a relatively rare Fender bass, only made for one or two years and climbing in value. All components will remain intact and stock and returnable to the original body if necessary.

you should start making/selling basses….got good taste..

 

[JIO]

you should start making/selling basses….got good taste..

It's a very crowded market...

 

[TBird1958]

Wikipedia barely scratches. There used to be a separate Epiphone page but that is gone. Greco, Orville, BaCH, Mike Lull and Cataldo all made Thunderbirds at some point. And there are others.

ESP, Jackson, Sessions, Gould, Hamer, Eastwood, Tokai, Ibanez......

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

The little thing on the left is your phase inverter tube and the larger one on the right is an electrolytic capacitor, those dry out after a while and cause hum, the worse they are the louder the hum.

not the electrolytics for if that was the case, the volume control would have no effect….more like a shielding preamp, feedback/osc thing….. seen it often in that model…Dynas did it too…

 

[MCF]

PM pls…..let’s not derail..

Although that is how we learn. But I know it is not a good idea to poke around without guidance.

 

[GBassNorth]

North-South pu positioning was common in the '60s. Big 'scoop" results, but it also helps tame a muddy neck-hugger with some treble definition. Personally I'm not attracted to the sound of neck-hugging pu's in general but that's just my personal tonal choice. Better on hollow-bodied basses like my 2-pu Custom Kraft. My ESP/Grass Roots Bass IV has 3-pu's and I never use the neck pu - and it's 3/4" from the neck-heal so not a true neck-hugger.

When I first started playing in 1966, all bass (live) was boomy and indistinct. Back then I gravitated to players like Tim Bogert, Jack Cassidy and Jack Bruce (EB-3) and later to Chris Squire (sort'a) because I heard delineated bass notes, and also freedom from static root-shackles. Some considered that "guitar bass" and "out if line" (Jaco got accused of that regularly) but as long as the root is clearly defined - I call it melodic freedom from convention/stereotype. Even James Jamerson had problems "staying in line" with recording producers. Having said that - I love playing a straight-ahead minimal bass-line when appropriate/needed in a song.

All good points. To be honest I go back and forth on the sharp/crisp/clean bass sound vs the deep/dark/creamy bass sound but tend to favor the slightly darker stuff along with neck pickup position more often than not. Being a less than mediocre bass player that plays by ear I always find it comical to pick up one of my darker (less defined) basses like the Goth or this Tele and work through figuring out the approximate bass line on a given song, thinking I’ve about got it. Then picking up my Dingwall or Alembic and knowing that when I play that same song I’m gonna find a bunch of the notes I was playing on the darker less defined bass were close but not correct.

 

[Stealth57]

not the electrolytics for if that was the case, the volume control would have no effect….more like a shielding preamp, feedback/osc thing….. seen it often in that model…Dynas did it too…

What should I expect by pulling the preamp tube? Just checking if there is hum or hiss when turning up the volume?

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

What should I expect by pulling the preamp tube? Just checking if there is hum or hiss when turning up the volume?

be happy to help via PM….these folks probably don’t care about this stuff..

 

[bobyoung53]

not the electrolytics for if that was the case, the volume control would have no effect….more like a shielding preamp, feedback/osc thing….. seen it often in that model…Dynas did it too…

Yup, I told him that before.