Fridays 7enderbird.
Packing and making the drive out to Sequim, WA. for tomorrow night's show. It's a cool, clear Autumn day, perfect motoring weather!
Rock it baby!
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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- club thunderbird
Rock it baby!
Another piece of the puzzle now in place.
Rack em, stack em and pack em.
Rack em, stack em and pack em.
Since it’s been declared Fenderbird Friday I’ll post a progress shot of one of my current builds, called the ThunderCaster.
Recall that I only have about one Fender bass left that I haven’t mothballed because I don’t have anything else that sounds remotely like it, a 2012/13 two year run of Fender Telecaster Modern Player basses….
Well, in my quest to have a flock of Tbirds that can cover just about any sound I decided to meld the two brands together by installing virtually every Fender Tele component (except the pickguard) onto a NR Tbird body. It required routing templates I don’t have, so I took it to @Freekmagnet (Jeremy) in Fillmore for neck pocket and pup routes and had him put a forearm rest and belly cut on it as well. Came out great…
I just did a preliminary fit test and will have Jeremy deepen the neck pickup pocket a bit more (my bad, I gave him the bridge pup depth not knowing the neck pickup was different). Anyway, it all looks great and will go to the finisher (Pat Wilkins) soon. Here’s the rough fit test (a final fit test will be done prior to finishing)…
And next to its soon to be mothballed brother…
I’m still on the fence when it comes to the finish I’ll ask Pat Wilkins to do - looking for something that screams Fender (Surf Green, Three Tone Sunburst, Antigua, Butterscotch Blonde, MaryKay white, Red or Pink Paisley…) open to ideas if anyone has any, but the neck will not be refinished, it will remain vintage tint maple. Pickguard shape is set but color could be coordinated with the finish chosen.
Recall that I only have about one Fender bass left that I haven’t mothballed because I don’t have anything else that sounds remotely like it, a 2012/13 two year run of Fender Telecaster Modern Player basses….
Well, in my quest to have a flock of Tbirds that can cover just about any sound I decided to meld the two brands together by installing virtually every Fender Tele component (except the pickguard) onto a NR Tbird body. It required routing templates I don’t have, so I took it to @Freekmagnet (Jeremy) in Fillmore for neck pocket and pup routes and had him put a forearm rest and belly cut on it as well. Came out great…
I just did a preliminary fit test and will have Jeremy deepen the neck pickup pocket a bit more (my bad, I gave him the bridge pup depth not knowing the neck pickup was different). Anyway, it all looks great and will go to the finisher (Pat Wilkins) soon. Here’s the rough fit test (a final fit test will be done prior to finishing)…
And next to its soon to be mothballed brother…
I’m still on the fence when it comes to the finish I’ll ask Pat Wilkins to do - looking for something that screams Fender (Surf Green, Three Tone Sunburst, Antigua, Butterscotch Blonde, MaryKay white, Red or Pink Paisley…) open to ideas if anyone has any, but the neck will not be refinished, it will remain vintage tint maple. Pickguard shape is set but color could be coordinated with the finish chosen.
When you know how to operate a piece of gear. It’s very advantageous.
Freekmagnet
Commercial User
Wow that looks cool, George! Can’t wait to see it come together.
I vote Mary Kaye White
That NR Tele P bass looks very good indeed - reminds me to ask the club if there's a reason why I haven't seen a NR body that's actually a normal TB just flipped over? Is there a reason why not or have I just missed them or has nobody gotten around to doing that yet?
Cool! That’s a new Ashley?
The color of the bass Jeremy just completed the finish on, a blueish turquoise, looks wonderful in the pics he posted the other day. If it were mine, that’s what I’d do.
Jeremy @Freekmagnet doesn’t know it yet, well I guess he does now, I have a small project and a medium sized project coming his way. I’ll have him slightly lengthen the pickup route on the BaCH II. And I’ll get him involved in the 60’s reverse TBird project. It is great to have a resource we can trust so close.
Greco does it. Maybe down the road I'll get one and convert it to left-handed so it looks like a regular Reverse.
Great! Just Great!
.I almost was for sure going to buy a set of Gemini Dominators, and now I see the Dunable option. Hearing good things about these guitars, so I’m wondering about their pickups. Also affordable (sort of), not as pricey as Lollar, Novak, or Duncan anyway.
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It’s used, but in practically mint condition. Looks like it’s been well taken care of.
It's from the late 90's, early 2000's.
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Dusty Coral, that almost-salmon-colored cousin to Fiesta Red. That is slamming with a maple fretboard like that one.
I would be overwhelmed.
It took me weeks to learn the TT800. And that amp has the best, most easy to understand manual ever written by TBer’s, including the late Alan @Chef. And, I was somewhat familiar with the Fender tone stack used for the Boogie channel, having owned a pre CBS Bassman 50 head back in the day (should have kept it for my guitars). But spending the time reading, understanding, and tweaking the TT has been well worth it.
The M6 Carbine manual is confusing. But I’m getting there. The M6 Carbine is a fabulous amp. It is actually very intuitive and has the five preset voices. It took only a few minutes to get great, although different, tones that are my preference, dialed in. I will be sticking with the onboard preamp. I’m loving it.
Many of us Mesa enthusiasts have been pestering Andy to do a Carbine based Subway. The D800 and the D800+ were offshoots of some of the baked in Carbine tones. But neither of those have a tube preamp like the Carbines did. I will not be surprised if the next Subway is called something like the Subway MC800. It will have a built in HPF. But skip the compressor and the EQ from the M9 Carbine. Neither are needed IMO.
And for @BklynKen. I think I found a tone close to the GK RB800 tone today in the Carbine. Something that has escaped me in both of the TT800 channels. And the SVT. I do not think I need to buy another pedal.
Congratulations my friend. Happy to have been a small part of your journey.
FUN!...go easy your highnessFridays 7enderbird.
Packing and making the drive out to Sequim, WA. for tomorrow night's show. It's a cool, clear Autumn day, perfect motoring weather!
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