Thunderbird Club

[Stealth57]

Jump on in, the water's fine!

Thunderbird hauler....
View attachment 5138533

From the car lot and before the Tonneau cover.

I’ll call your Tonneau cover and raise you a camper shell.

 

[MCF]

I’ve tried a number of strings on the 2015 and for me EBCFs seemed to work best followed closely by La Bella Black tapes.

Good luck on the set up. Those darn pickups have some massive magnetic pull!

Just a non intuitive thing I found with the 2015 - lower the pickups into the body as far as they will go, then do all of your restringing and action and intonation work. Once you have it all where you want it, slowly raise each pickup a bit then check intonation, action and tuning again. Keep doing this raise and check process until you start to notice the strings going out of tuning or intonation or if it starts to negatively impact the action to the point of fret buzz. When that happens, lower the pickups back down just a tad and reset your tuning and intonation and make sure your action is where you want it. I’ve never had to do that on any other bass I’ve ever owned. And it took me quite a while to figure it all out on this one.

Different strings will be impacted by the magnets differently, so where you end up on action and pup height will depend a lot on the strings you use.

PS - pay attention to the string break angle on the bridge. I found that I had zero break angle at the E string saddle once everything was set up and ready to go. So I removed the spacer plate from under the bridge, which allowed me to increase the saddle height to create the proper break angle needed for good intonation.

I didn’t like the EBCF’s on it, or on any of my basses as it turned out. I’d think the black La Bella tapes would be too dark, at least for me. Maybe the La Bella white tapes, which are supposedly brighter, might work. But they would look awful on a ‘15. Stainless rounds bring out all the character of the pickups.

Re the shim under the bridge. I’ve kept it in place on the ‘15, simply because I haven’t really had an issue. Although removing it would conceal the tops of the saddle screws into the bridge. Since I don’t put my hand down that low to palm mute, I haven’t removed the shim. I did have a bit of an issue getting the action down low with the shim in place when I initially installed the Babicz on the ‘13 NR, so I removed the shim.

 

[Stealth57]

I didn’t like the EBCF’s on it, or on any of my basses as it turned out. I’d think the black La Bella tapes would be too dark, at least for me. Maybe the La Bella white tapes, which are supposedly brighter, might work. But they would look awful on a ‘15. Stainless rounds bring out all the character of the pickups.

Re the shim under the bridge. I’ve kept it in place on the ‘15, simply because I haven’t really had an issue. Although removing it would conceal the tops of the pickup screws into the bridge. Since I don’t put my hand down that low to palm mute, I haven’t removed the shim. I did have a bit of an issue getting the action down low with the shim in place when I initially installed the Babicz on the ‘13 NR, so I removed the shim.

I have La Bella black tapes on my IV, and they really do bring out the low end thump. Not much on the high end though.

 

[MCF]

I have EBCF on my CP and Dano and Power Flats on a VP. Just for jollies, I'm going with @MCF Powersteels.

Ken and I approve. They build character, calluses, and force you to improve technique to eliminate finger noise. You’ve arrived young Jedi.

 

[MCF]

No love for these little jiggers?

View attachment 5138425

Do they still make those? Death on wheels. Flimsy and prone to rollover. Kinda a fun little car though.

 

[GonePlaid]

What does your "Now I'm P....d look" look like?

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Interesting, looks like they were copping @ChuckyStiletti

darn copycats!…….
TT!

 

[Gaolee]

In case it's not clear from that thread, it will technically work in this case, but since the "12AU7 half" is higher current, it works better in this case as it's a cathode follower. Otherwise you starve the following stage, and it won't sound as good. Nothing should catch fire.

Got it. I have been experimenting with various preamp tubes to see what happens. That's an experiment I won't try, seems like. There's not a whole lot of experimenting to do with power tubes that I'm aware of. They are either EL-84s or 6V6s in the amps I have. I don't see that the variants would make much difference. I had some ambitions to swap a few components in the Valve Junior, but like usual, haven't got to it.

 

[Gaolee]

I am not a fan of orange in general, but burnt orange finishes on guitars really speak to me!! I have a Squire Affinity Tele in burnt orange and it looks fantastic. It looks even better on a Tbird!!

That Thunderbird isn't just orange, it's the best sounding Thunderbird I have ever heard or played. I lust after that Thunderbird.

 

[JIO]

Yes. Literally, yes. They should put this thread on retainer.

They won't find a more concentrated T-bird-retentive flock anywhere else!

 

[Gaolee]

I’ve tried a number of strings on the 2015 and for me EBCFs seemed to work best followed closely by La Bella Black tapes.

Good luck on the set up. Those darn pickups have some massive magnetic pull!

Just a non intuitive thing I found with the 2015 - lower the pickups into the body as far as they will go, then do all of your restringing and action and intonation work. Once you have it all where you want it, slowly raise each pickup a bit then check intonation, action and tuning again. Keep doing this raise and check process until you start to notice the strings going out of tuning or intonation or if it starts to negatively impact the action to the point of fret buzz. When that happens, lower the pickups back down just a tad and reset your tuning and intonation and make sure your action is where you want it. I’ve never had to do that on any other bass I’ve ever owned. And it took me quite a while to figure it all out on this one.

Different strings will be impacted by the magnets differently, so where you end up on action and pup height will depend a lot on the strings you use.

PS - pay attention to the string break angle on the bridge. I found that I had zero break angle at the E string saddle once everything was set up and ready to go. So I removed the spacer plate from under the bridge, which allowed me to increase the saddle height to create the proper break angle needed for good intonation.

I have tapes on my '15. I find those to be perfect with the aggressive pickups.

 

[Gaolee]

I didn’t like the EBCF’s on it, or on any of my basses as it turned out. I’d think the black La Bella tapes would be too dark, at least for me. Maybe the La Bella white tapes, which are supposedly brighter, might work. But they would look awful on a ‘15. Stainless rounds bring out all the character of the pickups.

Re the shim under the bridge. I’ve kept it in place on the ‘15, simply because I haven’t really had an issue. Although removing it would conceal the tops of the saddle screws into the bridge. Since I don’t put my hand down that low to palm mute, I haven’t removed the shim. I did have a bit of an issue getting the action down low with the shim in place when I initially installed the Babicz on the ‘13 NR, so I removed the shim.

I don't remember whether the Babicz on my '15 is shimmed or not. I got it used and haven't changed how the bridge is attached. It hasn't needed much except playing time.

 

[JJR58]

I have La Bella black tapes on my IV, and they really do bring out the low end thump. Not much on the high end though.

The white tapes are awesome.
@Chucky Stiletti had a set on one of his Birds last year. If I remember correctly.

 

[BklynKen]

Babicz with shim TT

 

[JJR58]

Just a token of my extreme. TT

 

[Engle]

darn copycats!…….
TT!
View attachment 5138631View attachment 5138632

Wow that A saddle is quite far forward! Good thing the bridge has the adjustment range.

 

[WillyW]

Happy JazzerDay!

 

[GBassNorth]

I have tapes on my '15. I find those to be perfect with the aggressive pickups.

I guess it’s all about the sound you’re after.

I personally gravitate to soloed neck pickups, finger style playing and right hand placement near the neck pickup with vol between 50% and 80% and tone less than 50%. There are others in the club here that tend to do the exact opposite (pick player, over the bridge pup with vol and tone maxed). Either one can work just fine but the latter just isn’t my personal preference.

I found La Bella black tapes to sound very nice on the 2015 and they didn’t seem to be as effected by the pickups as other strings, thus allowing a nice low action. I switched to EBCF strings on a lark, and they are in fact quite a bit darker sounding than the Black Tapes. I found the tapes still retained a lot of the top end, fairly close to nickel rounds without the finger noise.

Sounds like Dave will be giving the SITs a try. They are a fantastic string. I think I had a set on the 2015 at one time prior to the tapes. My recollection for the change was too much interaction with the pickups (chorus effect, intonation issues) but keep in mind I can be fairly OCD about things, and once I hear an anomaly, I can’t unhear it, it just continues to exaggerate in my mind until it drives me nuts, so I eliminate it.

 

[MCF]

The white tapes are awesome.
@Chucky Stiletti had a set on one of his Birds last year. If I remember correctly.

My understanding is that the white tapes are stainless rounds underneath and are the brightest tape wound string.

 

[dagrev]

I’ll call your Tonneau cover and raise you a camper shell.

View attachment 5138587

That looks nice. I saw one of these the other day. Never seen one that I know of. The back was a window that had louvers like a fastback, but the whole window could raise up.