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Thunderbird Club

#25,042
rodv66 said:
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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MF and GC are owned by the same company. The latter charges tax because they have bricks and mortar stores. Sweetwater tries to differentiate by being an e-commerce brand that emphasizes customer service, such as working with a particular sales rep and inspecting instruments before shipping them out. I have found Sweetwater less willing to do price matches and deep discounts but I am n=1.

I don't have an MF card but do have a GC card. If you look at those extended financing deals on GC.com, they tend to be brand specific. I am not sure why some brands, like Ric, opt out on occasion (which could be what you ran into with MF)? Maybe they think it could offer GC or MF competitive advantage over their other (smaller) vendors and they want to play nice in their B-2-B relationships?

Again, I am a sample of 1 but I have had pretty good luck with MF, in terms of snaring deals and getting respectable customer service. But I can appreciate the buzz kill of wanting to pull the trigger on a new bass and running into a snag.
 
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#25,044
Lo-Hz said:
I agree. It is more faithful to the shape of the original 3-point.
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Yeah. I like it because it looks like a bigger, chunkier 3-point.

Gaolee said:
The truly original was a two point or something like it, with a stop bar. My EB-2 just has a two point, no stop bar.
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The old school two piece ones basically look like a beefier tune-o-matic to me.

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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Weird. Rickenbacker scale.

JIO said:
Rics are 33-1/4" scale?
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Yep. The 4000, 4001, 4002, 4003, 4004, and 4005 are all 33.25" scale. I believe the 2000 series basses were as well, as was the 3001. The 3000 was short scale, like 30" I think.

kat888 said:
4001s were...
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Pretty sure all their basses except the old electric uprights and the model 3000 have been that scale.

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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There is a slight difference and I prefer 33.25" Not by much, though. 34" is still fine to me.

If I recall correctly, I read somewhere that to get their bass scale, they just continued the 24.75" scale (which is what their guitars are; they use the same scale for guitar that Gibson does) down five frets or something. Kinda interesting that way. Also unusual in that on the 4003 the pickups sit right under where the 24th and 36th frets would be.


As for fretless... I'm very glad I learned upright bass left hand technique before getting a fretless bass guitar.

I used to have a 30" scale EB-3 copy. Someone had modded it and put a Peavey T-40 pickup in the bridge position. Had individual on/off switches instead of a three position pickup switch. Was a weird, but cool bass. Sold it when I was in college, sadly. It needed new tuners and a refret, though.
 
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#25,045
IMG_9165.PNG
Hi all. Has anyone learned more info on this yet? Bird #3 I'm thinking... Thx
 
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#25,047
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#25,049
Stevis said:
MF and GC are owned by the same company. The latter charges tax because they have bricks and mortar stores. Sweetwater tries to differentiate by being an e-commerce brand that emphasizes customer service, such as working with a particular sales rep and inspecting instruments before shipping them out. I have found Sweetwater less willing to do price matches and deep discounts but I am n=1.

I don't have an MF card but do have a GC card. If you look at those extended financing deals on GC.com, they tend to be brand specific. I am not sure why some brands, like Ric, opt out on occasion (which could be what you ran into with MF)? Maybe they think it could offer GC or MF competitive advantage over their other (smaller) vendors and they want to play nice in their B-2-B relationships?

Again, I am a sample of 1 but I have had pretty good luck with MF, in terms of snaring deals and getting respectable customer service. But I can appreciate the buzz kill of wanting to pull the trigger on a new bass and running into a snag.
Click to expand...



I have noticed that MF has a much narrower lists of brands that get 24 month, or even 12 months. As far as basses, they don't have Epiphone, Fender, Gibson, Jackson, but have ESP, Washburn and Schecter. None of the 3 given anything over 6 on Rick, they probably don't need to offer it to sell them. Think Sweetwater has best overall choices. Thinking of pre-ordering the Trace Elliot Transit B. They are offering 6 months interest free. Ampeg scrambler, you can get 24.
 
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#25,051
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#25,053
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