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Thunderbird Club

#25,022
JIO said:
Not like any other bass in general. I mean, a manufacturer can set whatever scale they choose but it's most usually 30", 32" 34" and for some fivers 35".
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Much as I love that Greco, that little bit of scale difference is usually responsible for a clam or two on my part when I'm playing it.
 
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#25,024
TBird1958 said:
Much as I love that Greco, that little bit of scale difference is usually responsible for a clam or two on my part when I'm playing it.
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It had been so long since I had picked up an instrument, scale length was the least of my worries when I went back. Getting my left fingers to stretch enough to fret properly and burning pain in the fingertips were the immediate problems.

As I said, don't think I'd feel a whole lot of difference playing a Ric scale, but on a 30" there'd be a definite tendency to run out of neck.
 
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#25,025
TBird1958 said:
33 1/4"........ Not like any other Bird. At one point I had a red Gibson Explorer from the '80s that was 32" - Which is the reason I don't still have it. Should have kept it, was a very rare bass as it turns out.




I don't have a stock post '88 Gibson to compare the Oriville to, mine all have Lull pickups in them so can't help there.
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As I recall 33 1/4" is Rickenbacker bass scale. Beats me why they chose that scale, but there you have it. I found playing a Ric similar enough to playing a 34" scale that I never really noticed the difference. Going from 34" to 30" throws me for a minute or two.

Change scale and make it fretless will cause a whole lot of clams. Ah, who am I kidding, no frets means endless clams no matter what. Some people have talent. I have a mollusk factory.
 
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#25,026
Gaolee said:
As I recall 33 1/4" is Rickenbacker bass scale. Beats me why they chose that scale, but there you have it. I found playing a Ric similar enough to playing a 34" scale that I never really noticed the difference. Going from 34" to 30" throws me for a minute or two.

Change scale and make it fretless will cause a whole lot of clams. Ah, who am I kidding, no frets means endless clams no matter what. Some people have talent. I have a mollusk factory.
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Life gives you mollusks, make chowder!
 
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#25,027
Gaolee said:
As I recall 33 1/4" is Rickenbacker bass scale. Beats me why they chose that scale, but there you have it. I found playing a Ric similar enough to playing a 34" scale that I never really noticed the difference. Going from 34" to 30" throws me for a minute or two.

Change scale and make it fretless will cause a whole lot of clams. Ah, who am I kidding, no frets means endless clams no matter what. Some people have talent. I have a mollusk factory.
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Yeah, perfect intonation on the 'cello does not automatically mean perfect intonation on the fretless bass...
 
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#25,029
kat888 said:
Yeah, perfect intonation on the 'cello does not automatically mean perfect intonation on the fretless bass...
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Mediocre to poor intonation on both is more along the lines of what I do. Depending on the day, I'll play 24-3/4", 25-1/2", 30", 34", and/or 42" scales. And then crawl off to bed all confused.
 
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#25,030
Gaolee said:
Mediocre to poor intonation on both is more along the lines of what I do. Depending on the day, I'll play 24-3/4", 25-1/2", 30", 34", and/or 42" scales. And then crawl off to bed all confused.
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I had a very frosty 'cello teacher who would sit there and bang notes on the piano when she wasn't happy with what I was playing. I took the hint and started practising at home in front of the piano and after a bit of serious effort on my part, she was a very affable person.
 
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#25,031
kat888 said:
I had a very frosty 'cello teacher who would sit there and bang notes on the piano when she wasn't happy with what I was playing. I took the hint and started practising at home in front of the piano and after a bit of serious effort on my part, she was a very affable person.
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An offended ear is hard to have on the side of one's head, just to be fair. Lol, Sorry! Glad you two got it worked out!
 
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#25,032
kat888 said:
I had a very frosty 'cello teacher who would sit there and bang notes on the piano when she wasn't happy with what I was playing. I took the hint and started practising at home in front of the piano and after a bit of serious effort on my part, she was a very affable person.
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Here's one to try - put a Snark tuner on the end of a bass and then play with it still on. It's amazing how distracting that is. "Oh, what do you know! That really is a Bb. Wait, what was I doing....? A song with another chord...?"

Piano is less distracting. The other thing I have done on the upright is put a dot where the fifth fret would be and where the octave is. That way when things sound crummy, at least I have some visual frame of reference to confirm what I think needs to happen to fix the intonation problem. The other solution is to play a million notes and hope one of 'em is close enough to pass for OK.

Joking aside, it took a lot of time with the bow to get decent intonation. Now I can tell when the bass is out of tune a little bit even though there's no frets and I can adjust a little to stay in tune. Gut strings make for lots of retuning if they have been disturbed in any way.
 
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#25,038
rodv66 said:
Got a 20℅ off coupon for mucisians friend and was going to get a Rick, I figured why not? Wanted to put it on my musicians friend card and get the no interest option. Sweetwater and GC always give my 12 or 24 months interest free. MF only gave me 6, said nothing longer if I use a coupon. Needless to say, not getting the Rick. No biggie though and will get one eventually.
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I refuse to deal with MF in any way. With Sweetwater and even Zzounds who needs em! I'll bet Sweetwater would match or come close to that coupon! MF are the equivalent of Fender snobs.
 
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#25,039
wolfkeller said:
I refuse to deal with MF in any way. With Sweetwater and even Zzounds who needs em! I'll bet Sweetwater would match or come close to that coupon! MF are the equivalent of Fender snobs.
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Thanks,

I was surprised with them. Sweetwater has been great. Got an Ashdown cab and my Steve Harris p bass from them. Sales were all pro, sent pics before sending items and thought that they were great. I have had nothing bad to say about GC either. Called and got free shipping on my Trace head and got 50$ off my Dean Hillsboro.

Matter of fact, not like I could use a Rick in my current band, so no need for it now. If anything, I should be working on a PA system
 
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#25,040
Klondike said:
What do you guys know about Artec soapbar pups such as is found on FleaBay? Younknow the ones, they are on there all the time for about $20-$22 usd. What is the sound like? Are they worth looking at? Or are they pretty much junk?
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The Artec pickup that was on my Bach was a decent quality pickup. Nothing stellar but not bad at all. I only replaced it because A: I wanted to add a real Tbird pickup and B: I seem to mod just about any bass I buy. Does your Bach have the original pickup in it?
 

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