Thunderbird Club

[Engle]

There was rock on Sat.

@Engle Really digging that Digiflex cable you recommended.

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They really are a quality cable at a reasonable price. Including XLRs, I have at least 50 Digiflex cables and I've never had a failure.

 

[GBassNorth]

My Hill to die on: We choose our basses more for their looks than their sound as in a mix almost all basses sound the same. We play Thunderbirds, probably, more for their awesome look than their tone.

Who’s this “we” person you’re talking about.

I gravitated to humbucker equipped basses because after years of playing jazz and P basses and other single coil variants I came to realize I just really like the sound and heft of a humbucker. Then I got my hands on a Tbird and found the ergonomics just fit me better than my Fender shaped basses. So now I play Tbirds almost exclusively and have even gone so far as to clone the last remaining Fender bass that I frequently played (because it had glorious humbuckers) into a Tbird body.

Do Tbirds look cool? Sure, and so do a number of Alembics and Warwicks and Spectors and Fenders and… you name it. I choose my basses on sound and feel, looks are a distant third. If you choose your basses on looks alone because all basses sound the same to your ears that’s cool too I guess, but don’t assume everyone is standing on that hill with you. I’m certainly not.

 

[Engle]

It's why I don't like the braided wire on the Probuckers. Easy for the braid to come into contact with the studs on the pots.

You could always put some thin tubing over the braided section in the cavity. Thin heatshrink tubing would work - don't have to shrink it.

 

[Stealth57]

That one probably did dive like a Stuka. The neck on those is bigger, and it has an additional tuner. I have a Pro IV and it's pretty well behaved, even though I removed the active electronics and replaced the pickups with much lighter Lace Alumitones. The three Gibsons I have are all very well behaved, better behaved than the Precision I keep around but hardly ever play any more.

I don't notice any neck dive on my Pro IV.

 

[Stealth57]

We want that weather back, thanks.

74 and sunny today.

 

[MCF]

It’s raining down here. The beginning of what looks to be another year of higher than average rainfall due to El Niño.

 

[JJR58]

Nice and cool in NY.
But I’m a winter baby and I welcome it.

 

[GBassNorth]

You never know what you’ll find under the cover. I’ll take it!
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Gotta love a nicely shielded bass!

I much prefer copper tape to conductive paint, but either is very effective if done right. The insulating tape that’s keeping the output jack from touching the shielding foil on the cavity cover will eventually wear thru. Assuming your cover is plastic, you could easily just remove the electric tape and a small section of the shielding tape (about the size of your thumb nail) then if the jack tip contacts the plastic cavity cover it won’t ground out.

BTW - mind the stray mesh wire on that neck volume pot, it’s getting pretty close to grounding out on the center lug, might be time for a trim job.

 

[GBassNorth]

It’s raining down here. The beginning of what looks to be another year of higher than average rainfall due to El Niño.

Blue sky here. And I’m lovin it.

 

[GonePlaid]

Blue sky here. And I’m lovin it.

 

[JJR58]

View attachment 5228176

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

My Hill to die on: We choose our basses more for their looks than their sound as in a mix almost all basses sound the same. We play Thunderbirds, probably, more for their awesome look than their tone.

interesting opinion, one we don’t share however…..for me it’s about the (sometimes illegal) mahogany and high output (over 9kOhm RDC) humbucker…..if any of my Ps could get closer to this, they would be gigged more often…..

 

[Gaolee]

i cant find my name on the eternal tbird club roster im sadden and hating it

That's a problem! I'm sure our Queen will rectify that problem.

[edit] Already done.

 

[Gaolee]

carburetor upgrade….going from US built Zenith Strombergs to Italian made Webers….they sound (think vintage Ferrari, Aston etc.) better and outperform the Strombergs…

I always got along well with ox-cart SU carburetors. The amazing intake hiss they make was a big part of my enjoyment of the TR-2 I had as a kid. And the Austin Healy my dad had and the MGB I had in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By 1992, I had to grow up and more or less be an adult because I had a kid. Now he's out of the house, so I can revert to wrestling with English machinery. It hasn't happened yet.

I think of Gibson basses, especially Thunderbirds, as the same kind of quirky and not for everyone that English roadsters are.

 

[JIO]

Gotta love a nicely shielded bass!

I much prefer copper tape to conductive paint, but either is very effective if done right. The insulating tape that’s keeping the output jack from touching the shielding foil on the cavity cover will eventually wear thru. Assuming your cover is plastic, you could easily just remove the electric tape and a small section of the shielding tape (about the size of your thumb nail) then if the jack tip contacts the plastic cavity cover it won’t ground out.

BTW - mind the stray mesh wire on that neck volume pot, it’s getting pretty close to grounding out on the center lug, might be time for a trim job.

I usually use both - 3 full coats of shielding paint on the entire cavity, and copper tape on the inside of the cover and floor to star-ground to. On my '64 II it appears to be aluminum paint, which seems to work. The inside of the cover appears to be aluminum tape.

 

[Stealth57]

I usually use both - 3 full coats of shielding paint on the entire cavity, and copper tape on the inside of the cover and floor to star-ground to. On my '64 II it appears to be aluminum paint, which seems to work. The inside of the cover appears to be aluminum tape.

All my Epi's are painted (carbon? the paint is black) in the cavity and have a silver film on the lid.

 

[GonePlaid]

interesting opinion, one we don’t share however…..for me it’s about the (sometimes illegal) mahogany and high output (over 9kOhm RDC) humbucker…..if any of my Ps could get closer to this, they would be gigged more often…..

 

[JIO]

Blue sky here. And I’m lovin it.

Same here in SF - yesterday was the annual R&R Swap Meet at Winters' Tavern under grey skies and drizzle the whole day. There were various sellers of records, clothing and curios and back-to-back bands from noon to 6. (inside ) Even with the weather, there was a steady crowd of die-hards both inside & out. I bought a couple LP's and a couple singles (Walker Brothers & Dusty Springfield) and hung out with musician friends, some who were playing there that day. A visiting musician friend from NYC remarked on the look of the attending crowd, saying you'd never see that in NYC. (older weirdo's and freaks - normal for here!) He used to live in Oakland so he knows the turf, but has lived in NYC for years. Said it's mostly young rich kids at any sort of similar event. We agreed that there were other places like SF/Bay Area like Portland, Seattle and Austin, where there are a similar crowd. Both SF & NYC are competing for most expensive city to live in, but it is easier day to day to live here than NYC.

 

[GonePlaid]

Same here in SF - yesterday was the annual R&R Swap Meet at Witers' Tavern under grey skies and drizzle the whole day. There were various sellers of records, clothing and curios and back-to-back bands from noon to 6. (inside ) Even with the weather, there was a steady crowd of die-hards both inside & out. I bought a couple LP's and a couple singles (Walker Brothers & Dusty Springfield) and hung out with musician friends, some who were playing there that day. A visiting musician friend from NYC remarked on the look of the attending crowd, saying you'd never see that in NYC. (older weirdo's and freaks - normal for here!) He used to live in Oakland so he knows the turf, but has lived in NYC for years. Said it's mostly young rich kids at any sort of similar event. We agreed that there were other places like SF/Bay Area like Portland, Seattle and Austin, where there are a similar crowd. Both SF & NYC are competing for most expensive city to live in, but it is easier day to day to live here than NYC.

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Appropriate title...

 

[kyral210]

interesting opinion, one we don’t share however…..for me it’s about the (sometimes illegal) mahogany and high output (over 9kOhm RDC) humbucker…..if any of my Ps could get closer to this, they would be gigged more often…..

Don’t get me wrong, I play an epiphone pro because of its woods and construction. I installed custom 12k RDC humbuckers and pushed them into a Darkglass Tone Capsule. However, I do this with vanity because I want the body shape. If I loved the P shape as much, I would throw these pickups in and use the same preamp.

Quarter Pound™ P-Bass 4 String Pickup | Seymour Duncan