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Thunderbird Club

#254,982
stingray69 said:
Kings Chair - we were from Alton, IL (same as Judge Nothing).

We never got nearly as popular as Judge Nothing, but we did play out a lot at places like Pops, Granny's Rocker, Mississippi Nights, etc. Made some great friends & great memories! :thumbsup:
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Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry. I was in Whistleblower and Bibowats, also not as popular as JN.
 
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#254,986
Miles_ONeal said:
OT1H, I agree. OTOH, with an error of 1/16" to 1/8", we're still able to get things quite close to the original locations (or any others we choose) - much closer than Gibson has been putting most bird pickups for years. OTGH, the GTG gives us an opportunity to apply a single protocol (with witnesses! 8^) to measure whatever basses people bring. We can document that with photos and videos so that we have a baseline going forward.
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On this subject, I've got a spare Pbass, thinking of replacing the P PUP with a Chinabucker bridge PUP. Will look to put it in the '64 Thunderbird position. Has anyone here done this yet?
 
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#254,989
Roger W said:
I learned useful things:
I hate quarterdeck watches and manning the rails. There’s a difference between liking someone and trusting their work and the other way around as well. Contrary to movies and TV, most professional criminals are stupid, boring, and dangerous because of their stupidity. Despite the large number of sexually attractive and available people people in the world, the spousal unit and I are a good fit for nearly 45 years.
Nobody hired me to do preventive maintenance on watertight doors or be able to do field maintenance on or operate an FP250 so all the damage control training and drilling went out the window. But not the concepts. Same with electronics.
I have a tendency to be an introverted bookish person; the Navy enhanced my ability to make decisions on the fly and search out alternative solutions in the real world.
But this is the thunderbird club:
View attachment 5132008
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Yes, I too learned useful things:
When a superior-in rank, if not intelligence-asks your opinion, they really only want you to support their opinion.
That in many cases there is a "right way, a wrong way, and the Navy way(usually close to the wrong way)".

I picked up bass(a Navy issued EB-3)in '67 while stationed in Charleston, SC. Due to my pre-Navy experience (piano lessons from age 7 to 16)and clarinet/sax from age 12, I was able to put that knowledge toward my bass playing, which began as 1's and 5's and progressed from there. Luckily, having a good ear for chords and patterns, I got to be pretty decent at hearing tunes and knowing where to go on the neck. After serving my 4 years(64-68), I found fairly steady work in local bands in the Miami area, including one gig that was 6 nights a week for 5 1/2 years, then another 2 1/2 years at a different location-same band.
These days(nights?), it's all one nighters at local Elks, VFW's, American Legions, etc., more or less as an expensive hobby.
My main bass for most of those years, starting in 73, has been my '67 Gibson NR Thunderbird IV.
20180603153130.jpg
 
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#254,990
GonePlaid said:
Yes, I too learned useful things:
When a superior-in rank, if not intelligence-asks your opinion, they really only want you to support their opinion.
That in many cases there is a "right way, a wrong way, and the Navy way(usually close to the wrong way)".

I picked up bass(a Navy issued EB-3)in '67 while stationed in Charleston, SC. Due to my pre Navy experience (piano lessons from age 7 to 16)and clarinet/sax from age 12, I was able to put that knowledge toward my bass playing, which began as 1's and 5's and progressed from there. Luckily, having a good ear for chords and patterns, I got to be pretty decent at hearing tunes and knowing where to go on the neck. After serving my 4 years(64-68), I found fairly steady work in local bands in the Miami area, including one gig that was 6 nights a week for 5 1/2 years, then another 2 1/2 years at a different location-same band.
These days(nights?), it's all one nighters at local Elks, VFW's, American Legions, etc., more or less as an expensive hobby.
My main bass for most of those years, starting in 73, has been my '67 Gibson NR Thunderbird IV.
View attachment 5132213
Click to expand...
And a beautiful workhorse it is!
 
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#254,993
GonePlaid said:
Yes, I too learned useful things:
When a superior-in rank, if not intelligence-asks your opinion, they really only want you to support their opinion.
That in many cases there is a "right way, a wrong way, and the Navy way(usually close to the wrong way)".

I picked up bass(a Navy issued EB-3)in '67 while stationed in Charleston, SC. Due to my pre-Navy experience (piano lessons from age 7 to 16)and clarinet/sax from age 12, I was able to put that knowledge toward my bass playing, which began as 1's and 5's and progressed from there. Luckily, having a good ear for chords and patterns, I got to be pretty decent at hearing tunes and knowing where to go on the neck. After serving my 4 years(64-68), I found fairly steady work in local bands in the Miami area, including one gig that was 6 nights a week for 5 1/2 years, then another 2 1/2 years at a different location-same band.
These days(nights?), it's all one nighters at local Elks, VFW's, American Legions, etc., more or less as an expensive hobby.
My main bass for most of those years, starting in 73, has been my '67 Gibson NR Thunderbird IV.
View attachment 5132213
Click to expand...
it’s a great bass.
 
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#254,994
GonePlaid said:
Yes, I too learned useful things:
When a superior-in rank, if not intelligence-asks your opinion, they really only want you to support their opinion.
That in many cases there is a "right way, a wrong way, and the Navy way(usually close to the wrong way)".

I picked up bass(a Navy issued EB-3)in '67 while stationed in Charleston, SC. Due to my pre-Navy experience (piano lessons from age 7 to 16)and clarinet/sax from age 12, I was able to put that knowledge toward my bass playing, which began as 1's and 5's and progressed from there. Luckily, having a good ear for chords and patterns, I got to be pretty decent at hearing tunes and knowing where to go on the neck. After serving my 4 years(64-68), I found fairly steady work in local bands in the Miami area, including one gig that was 6 nights a week for 5 1/2 years, then another 2 1/2 years at a different location-same band.
These days(nights?), it's all one nighters at local Elks, VFW's, American Legions, etc., more or less as an expensive hobby.
My main bass for most of those years, starting in 73, has been my '67 Gibson NR Thunderbird IV.
View attachment 5132213
Click to expand...

That's the best bass I have seen evar... regardless of brand or year or colour...

GBassNorth said:
Hey, it’s Fretless Friday! Where’s @WillyW ?
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it's sunday
 
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#254,995
Instagator said:
That’s my cheapest find and best deal I guess.
Here’s what it looked like after restoration.
I did give the guy two six packs for the deal. :)

View attachment 5132022 View attachment 5132023 View attachment 5132024 View attachment 5132025 View attachment 5132026
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I have never seen a 68-75 style headstock logo/font style WITH the serial on the headstock. I always thought the serial moved from the neck plate to the headstock when they reduced the size of and removed the serifs from the font for the Precision or Jazz Bass part of the decal.

I have a ‘75 maple fretless and the body weights a ton. I think the whole bass weighs almost 12 lbs. And a previous owner hack in a j-bass pickup in the bridge position, very poorly, and put it too close to the bridge. I’m deciding if I wand to fill the j-bass hole and refinish in white-blonde, or just replace the body with something lighter, and store the original body to keep it for if and when I ever sell it.
 
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#255,000
Ringhammer said:
I have never seen a 68-75 style headstock logo/font style WITH the serial on the headstock. I always thought the serial moved from the neck plate to the headstock when they reduced the size of and removed the serifs from the font for the Precision or Jazz Bass part of the decal.

I have a ‘75 maple fretless and the body weights a ton. I think the whole bass weighs almost 12 lbs. And a previous owner hack in a j-bass pickup in the bridge position, very poorly, and put it too close to the bridge. I’m deciding if I wand to fill the j-bass hole and refinish in white-blonde, or just replace the body with something lighter, and store the original body to keep it for if and when I ever sell it.
Click to expand...
Good eye!!!
The waterslide was damaged by the flood so I installed a new one. I was able to save the serial number. That's why the number looks a little rough.
After I put the new slide on I covered with about 20 thin coats of nitro and sanded back.
 
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