Thunderbird Club

[bylar13]

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and notes on bandmates perception of your new bass, thanks for sharing with us.
On a side note I can tell you as a devote pick player that I always wear at least two wrist bands at every show, cures the friction burn!

Ok then, wrist band it is! Thanks!

 

[D.M.N.]

Do what I do with it - keep it caged up in the basement and never let it get turned up past about 1.5. It does, in fact, go to eleven, but it doesn't have to. I gigged with it for quite a while until recently, and now I have a slightly smaller Acoustic USA 360 which I do gig with. Moving them is far easier than a 410 back breaker, in my opinion. 150 lbs of tilt-back on wheels beats 70 lbs of dead weight all day every day. All the weight is in the cabinet. The head is the preamp only, and is almost entirely hollow. After you lug around anything with a transformer, a 360 preamp is like picking up a balloon. It's amazing how reliable the old equipment is. The 126 combo I keep at the practice space for one band has needed exactly three repairs in the 35 years I have owned it. It sounded a little ratty, so I got the transistors replaced six or seven years ago, and then it burned up a resistor. It didn't really need the replacement transistors, and I suppose the resistor may not have burned if the transistors hadn't been replaced. The only other repair it ever needed was the giant capacitor. That exploded when the amp was a couple months old. It may have been replaced under warranty, but I don't remember. It should have been, since Acoustic had a lifetime warranty, never mind that I was not the first owner. Acoustic Control is my one really peculiar brand loyalty. Every other preference is more negotiable.

Agreed, I'd much rather lug my 2000s cabs than a 1x15 or 4x10 with no wheels, or even with wheels for that matter. You can stand up straight and just push, it's easy to tilt into the back of a vehicle, and with two people it's a pretty easy move up or down stairs. I don't get so much of a break moving the head though, seeing as the transformers in Sunn heads are the size of grapefruits. I'll also vouch for the reliability of high-quality old gear. Most of my Sunn heads have gone in for basic service, update caps and change to a 3-prong, but one of them still has its original Mullard 5AR4s and Tung-Sol 6550s, and another has never had any internal work done: all original caps, 2-prong still, old RCA valves (did have to replace the phase inverter). It's been played with impedance mismatch, on bad power sources, and just keeps on trucking. Which at least partially contributes to my brand loyalty to Sunn. Lots of different basses, but only Sunn for amps for 7 years...although I did just get a Marshall...

On a side note I can tell you as a devote pick player that I always wear at least two wrist bands at every show, cures the friction burn!

Or go on the offensive and wear heavy bracelets, like I do:

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, 7ender, but it's nitro and the TII has a lot thicker finish, so I doubt I'll be seeing this sort of damage on a bird anytime soon)

 

[BklynKen]

On a side note I can tell you as a devote pick player that I always wear at least two wrist bands at every show, cures the friction burn!

I never learned to play with a pick, but the band had me try because of one part in a song where I'm doing harmonics and they thought it would make them sing better. Fortunately for me, no difference.

 

[veebass]

ah I see! thanks man!

one last question: 8k or 9.2k?

I eventually went with a pair of 9.2s, after buying a set of 8s- with one DOA.
They actually measured 9.52 & 9.58 K. The slightly higher one is in the neck position.
Here is a shot of mine- showing the spacers installed. They do make quite a difference because the pickups are quite shallow and can stick out of the body and be unstable otherwise.

 

[Gaolee]

I almost never play with a pick, either. I can, and do rarely. The technique requires rotating the bass from the neck up position I prefer for finger style to a more horizontal position. Pick playing and slapping require similar ergonomics, at least for me. The horizontal position makes left hand technique a little awkward, but at least a 'Bird will stay put wherever you put it.

 

[BklynKen]

Ah, interesting. For me that's right hand technique. My bass teacher, who wrote the Bass Guitar for Dummies books, still has trouble saying "fretting" hand instead of right or left.

 

[kat888]

Is this what you saw?

That looks like the bass.

 

[BklynKen]

That looks like the bass.

There's a fun interview about it: GibsonBass Mike Watt Interview, part 4: the Gibson Thunderbird bass

 

[kat888]

Ah, interesting. For me that's right hand technique. My bass teacher, who wrote the Bass Guitar for Dummies books, still has trouble saying "fretting" hand instead of right or left.

My mum was cacking herself laughing instead of offering sympathy or assistance when I banged up my hand in my teens. She asked me which hand and I replied 'bowing'.

 

[Gaolee]

I have never been able to tell right from left reliably. Fretting from picking is easier. At this point, I'm just sticking with what works.

 

[bylar13]

So another quick question for the hive mind. My T-Bird came with an epi case. While the bass fits well, the case is pretty low quality. I already had to re-attach the rear hinges with new bolts and the latched can come undone if jostled hard. I called Gibson and they have none. There is one on ebay and it $300 and needs a handle installed....ummm...okay

Would anyone know of a durable replacement case that is solid fit with no modifications needed? I don't want to drop $100 on an Epi case and repeat the current situation.

 

[BklynKen]

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but that just made me realize that Gibson had to make a custom mold for the short run of left-handed Thunderbirds.

 

[JIO]

So another quick question for the hive mind. My T-Bird came with an epi case. While the bass fits well, the case is pretty low quality. I already had to re-attach the rear hinges with new bolts and the latched can come undone if jostled hard. I called Gibson and they have none. There is one on ebay and it $300 and needs a handle installed....ummm...okay

Would anyone know of a durable replacement case that is solid fit with no modifications needed? I don't want to drop $100 on an Epi case and repeat the current situation.

Gator makes a HSC advertised to fit T-birds (GWE-TBIRD-BASS)

 

[PillO]

So another quick question for the hive mind. My T-Bird came with an epi case. While the bass fits well, the case is pretty low quality. I already had to re-attach the rear hinges with new bolts and the latched can come undone if jostled hard. I called Gibson and they have none. There is one on ebay and it $300 and needs a handle installed....ummm...okay

Would anyone know of a durable replacement case that is solid fit with no modifications needed? I don't want to drop $100 on an Epi case and repeat the current situation.

The only suggestion I have for you is this:
Yorkville Sound - Hardshell Thunderbird Bass Case

 

[Gluvhand]

Gator makes a HSC advertised to fit T-birds (GWE-TBIRD-BASS)

I bought this case for my new Epi Bird and it didn't really fit without some work. The neck cradle as installed, on the body side of the accessory cavity, lifted the neck way too high. To the point where I felt a lot of resistance when closing the case. I flipped the cradle to the neck side of the cavity and it seems good. The tolex, for lack of a better term, is very easily scratched and ripped though.

 

[Count Bassie]

That looks like the bass.

Hell yeah.

 

[Korladis]

I almost never play with a pick, either. I can, and do rarely. The technique requires rotating the bass from the neck up position I prefer for finger style to a more horizontal position. Pick playing and slapping require similar ergonomics, at least for me. The horizontal position makes left hand technique a little awkward, but at least a 'Bird will stay put wherever you put it.

I have my basses in the same position whether using fingers or pick.

I switch between fingers and pick style sometimes multiple times within one song. In the song "Last Breath," I go from pick, to fingers, pick, fingers, pick, fingers, pick. In an as of yet unnamed song, I start with pick, then switch to fingers, then pick again, and then fingers again.

 

[Count Bassie]

I have my basses in the same position whether using fingers or pick.

I switch between fingers and pick style sometimes multiple times within one song. In the song "Last Breath," I go from pick, to fingers, pick, fingers, pick, fingers, pick. In an as of yet unnamed song, I start with pick, then switch to fingers, then pick again, and then fingers again.

Sounds like a guy winning a fried chicken eating contest!

 

[Korladis]

Sounds like a guy winning a fried chicken eating contest!

?

 

[Gaolee]

I have my basses in the same position whether using fingers or pick.

I switch between fingers and pick style sometimes multiple times within one song. In the song "Last Breath," I go from pick, to fingers, pick, fingers, pick, fingers, pick. In an as of yet unnamed song, I start with pick, then switch to fingers, then pick again, and then fingers again.

I'm guessing you don't like the neck in as extreme a vertical position as I do most of the time. I have always preferred the neck pointing at the ceiling, almost like an upright. It made learning to play upright a whole lot easier, since the ergos were similar to what I already do most of the time.

One of the great things about a Thunderbird is that you can wave the neck around for a lot of reasons. For me, it's partially ergonomics, partially just putting on a show.