Thunderbird Club

[Chucky Stiletti]

Then there was Sunday......
We were pretty tired after a long day Saturday, thus, we missed Sunday breakfast with everyone, sorry about that, but we needed to get as much sleep as possible considering the upcoming drive back to Seattle.
I scraped myself together and we grabbed Andy for a quick trip to Damm Vineyard, which is a rather cute, somewhat unexpected place not far from Chuck's home.
The Lull and the MPC were there and it was a treat to hear Chuck give them both a workout in the 96 degree heat, however by the third set he had to have his Precision as he wasn't able to palm mute on the Thunderbird because it has a bridge cover.
I wanted to say that it was a musical treat to hear Chuck, his drummer and the exceptionally talented Becca play together, great music and a fun afternoon.

Post show we returned to the garage and simply enjoyed the afternoon, it was warm but as the sun set it was quite comfy.
Taking a well deserved break.

Non Reverse with new Rotos sounding great!

Jio

Irv playing a couple of my basses.

Miles chilling

This shot has already been posted before, it was taken by Becca's father, he's very nice and I have to say it was truly wonderful to see this man being so supportive of his daughter.
I want to thank everyone that could make it and again, especially Chuck and Rosa, your kindness and generosity are unmatched. I don't mind saying that this picture makes me tear up, you're all so wonderful, Thank you.

this one’s pretty cool too…

 

[Miles_ONeal]

106F at 17:30. But it should be down to 104 by the time I go riding. Sharon wanted me to wait until after work so it would be cooler. It was cooler (not much, but cooler) at 2PM. My basses are definitely not going outside to play.

 

[Funkengruuven]

Hey Gals and Fellas, I sure like to join up with them T-birds. The Pink Ladies did NOT send me.
My Epi T-Bird Classic. Came stock with Gibson pickups and electronics. I added the Hipshot Bridge, the Hipshot Ultralight mini-clover tuners, I had the luthier drill the body for "string through". Oh, and the knobs go to 11.

 

[MCF]

106F at 17:30. But it should be down to 104 by the time I go riding. Sharon wanted me to wait until after work so it would be cooler. It was cooler (not much, but cooler) at 2PM. My basses are definitely not going outside to play.

You’re nuts Miles. Hydrate. And be safe!

 

[BklynKen]

And you snapped it right up at that price?

He offered them $1500 and they took it.

 

[Engle]

Ha. Everyone there is so much better than me. But I knew that going in. I’m an old hack trying to find the skills I had when I was a teen into my early twenties. It is taking so freaking long to get back there.

It's not a contest. Enjoy making those big fat waves in the air!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Hey Gals and Fellas, I sure like to join up with them T-birds. The Pink Ladies did NOT send me.
My Epi T-Bird Classic. Came stock with Gibson pickups and electronics. I added the Hipshot Bridge, the Hipshot Ultralight mini-clover tuners, I had the luthier drill the body for "string through". Oh, and the knobs go to 11.

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Love the whole deal! Beautiful bird. Did you redo the L2 cab? What's it going into? Which Rumble is that?
The Queen should be along soon with a number. Welcome!

 

[MCF]

Hey Gals and Fellas, I sure like to join up with them T-birds. The Pink Ladies did NOT send me.
My Epi T-Bird Classic. Came stock with Gibson pickups and electronics. I added the Hipshot Bridge, the Hipshot Ultralight mini-clover tuners, I had the luthier drill the body for "string through". Oh, and the knobs go to 11.

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Nice! CPs are great Thunderbirds with the TBirdPlus pickups. Welcome!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

You’re nuts Miles. Hydrate. And be safe!

Thanks! I know! I do. I will do my best!

 

[Gaolee]

Irv will be down to visit in two weeks............I'm requsting your presence

Oh, hell yes!

 

[Gaolee]

Queens summon, not request…

She's being polite. I got the message, since I know what's good for me.

 

[Gaolee]

But I can really live up to can't play.... I'm semiprofessional at it. Yet like Joe said, "But I have a good time."

There is a reason I have two numbers in the Crappy Bass Players with Expensive Equipment club.

 

[Engle]

Hey Gals and Fellas, I sure like to join up with them T-birds. The Pink Ladies did NOT send me.
My Epi T-Bird Classic. Came stock with Gibson pickups and electronics. I added the Hipshot Bridge, the Hipshot Ultralight mini-clover tuners, I had the luthier drill the body for "string through". Oh, and the knobs go to 11.

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Nice! And welcome!
I think I used to have a Funkengruven VW Tshirt.

 

[TBird1958]

Hope this finds you all well. Haven’t been around this page in awhile, but I stumbled across this today in Rapid City, SD. ‘64 that was originally purchased locally and spent most of its life under a bed. They’re asking $35k!!!
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Lovely bass! Nice to hear from you, Mark!

 

[Gaolee]

The B-100 has *much* beefier caps after the rectifier, and a bit more filtering after that. These are both common (especially the first part) in SS amps vs tube amps. While electrolytics can be smaller today than in the 60s, they're still not that small in terms of space in an amp. A modern 47uF 450V cap (the largest typically used in most tube amps) is a bit larger than my index finger from its tip to halfway to the second knuckle. A 4700uF like in your B-100 would be far larger, take a while to charge, and require the use of a SS rectifier rather than a tube rectifier.
Then, as I said, there's even more filtering going to the other stages before the power amp. Whiel tube amps typically have this, too, the caps are again larger in this amp than in a tube amp.

There may be more to it, but that's a big factor.

I suspect, but don't know for sure, that the reason old ACC and Peavey amps sound like they do has to do with both transformers and ginormous capacity caps. I replaced one in the 360 because it was swelling just a little. The new one was the same everything and sounds the same but was a little smaller physically. I gave the old one to a friend who was a physics and math teacher. He charged it a little, not a lot, and it kept a light burning for two days. He was nervous about charging it all the way, and to my knowledge never did that. I hope he gave some warnings to the new teacher he passed it along to when he retired. That thing was the size of a Foster's beer can. Charge it all the way and it could probably kill somebody.

 

[Gaolee]

Hope this finds you all well. Haven’t been around this page in awhile, but I stumbled across this today in Rapid City, SD. ‘64 that was originally purchased locally and spent most of its life under a bed. They’re asking $35k!!!
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A white one! I wonder if it's been refinished. $35k is a bit much. Maybe not for Scott's roadie.

Good to see you pop in. You living in Europe these days?

 

[Funkengruuven]

Love the whole deal! Beautiful bird. Did you redo the L2 cab? What's it going into? Which Rumble is that?
The Queen should be along soon with a number. Welcome!

Thank you. The L2 has a JBL E140, that is the only mod. The Schred cabinet has the other JBL E140. It's a Rumble 100.

 

[TBird1958]

Hey Gals and Fellas, I sure like to join up with them T-birds. The Pink Ladies did NOT send me.
My Epi T-Bird Classic. Came stock with Gibson pickups and electronics. I added the Hipshot Bridge, the Hipshot Ultralight mini-clover tuners, I had the luthier drill the body for "string through". Oh, and the knobs go to 11.

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I will bring the list forward later this evening, please do be welcome here!

 

[JIO]

So as it’s now just Chuck and I….
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I've already stated a bit of my Sat T-bird GTG day at Dave's music store bass impressions, but there were basses that 'played themselves' - and Chucky's '72 J (not at that event) is one. The other, that was there was (music store owner) Dave's '66 P - through a '66 Fender Bassman amp. Tone bliss - his P sounded very similar to mine and checked all my boxes. Personal tone preferences? - no question, but their feel is part of that assessment, both of which were excellent. V's robin's-egg blue NR was also exceptional (looks/feel/tone). The black late '65 NR was exceptional. Others were good, but I'm recalling personal preferences.

(our) Daves' '60s National short-scale (were there any pics shot of it?) was surprisingly nice. In VGC for a 50+ yr old bass, it played well and sounded great. A bass doesn't have to cost any more than whatever he paid for it (very little) to be a great player. One just needs to drop all the stigma's about this and that and approach any bass of any age/vintage, brand, scale or notoriety as an electric bass that can be played in any situation from bedroom to a stage to a recording studio - and judge it objectively from that point of view. Thanks for bringing it Dave, it reaffirms my support of these mostly lambasted basses from '60s Japan.

 

[GBassNorth]

That's beautiful!

Thx. I wish I at least had some pics of the turquoise rings and bracelets I used to make. The exwife burned all my photo albums and most of my record collection while I was at work one day. She was a real treat.

Looks great! I used to have a silver Native American bracelet I used to wear when I was single and cool. I loved it, but have no idea where it is now. I think Native jewelry is nice looking. My wife doesn't care for it. Humm, maybe she knows what happened to my bracelet......

It is a bit of a love it or hate it thing. I really like it, but for some reason don’t have any, go figure.

Then I'm quarter-professional. But wherever I am, hack to pro, I plan to have a good time!

I’m right there with ya (but quite a few steps lower on the ladder). Having fun is what it’s all about. And if you’re good enough that other people find it fun listening to you, then that’s just icing on the cake.

Ha. Everyone there is so much better than me. But I knew that going in. I’m an old hack trying to find the skills I had when I was a teen into my early twenties. It is taking so freaking long to get back there.

Marshall, there’s a very good reason I’m in the Crappy Players with Nice Gear Club.

I can make anyone feel better about their playing

Hey, you were head and shoulders above everyone else there, at least in height.

I should mention how much I like George’s D-Bird. Of course the secret sauce is that he rewired it to make it sound so good. I so wish that more of them were made before they changed the body to the D-Rock design.

It is interesting that the setting that everybody seemed to default to and like best is not even an available setting from Dingwall. It’s an easy but goofy mod that seems to make all the difference in the world. If anyone in the club picks up a D-Roc or D-Bird in the future PM me and I’ll walk you through it.

Hey Gals and Fellas, I sure like to join up with them T-birds. The Pink Ladies did NOT send me.
My Epi T-Bird Classic. Came stock with Gibson pickups and electronics. I added the Hipshot Bridge, the Hipshot Ultralight mini-clover tuners, I had the luthier drill the body for "string through". Oh, and the knobs go to 11.

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Sweet bird! I really like the string through option, eliminates both the silk on the saddles issue and the potential body stud lift issue. LOL - I just gave away a Couch strap as a door prize, it looked a lot like yours.