Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

We had a 4.1 quake around 6:30 tonight and a smaller tremor a bit later. Centered on the Peninsula (Millbrae) in San Mateo County where the San Andreas Fault runs through. I know the area well having lived in Burlingame for 10 yrs, the next city north of Millbrae. Haven't felt a quake for a few years.

 

[Ringhammer]

Yep, got a nice shake down here in San Mateo (2 towns south of Millbrae).

for the rest of you, SFO is on the east borders of Millbrae and San Bruno (highway 101, is pretty much the borderline)

 

[Stealth57]

We had a 4.1 quake around 6:30 tonight and a smaller tremor a it later. Centered on the Peninsula (Millbrae) in San Mateo County where the San Andreas Fault runs through. I know the area well having lived in Burlingame for 10 yrs, the next city north of Millbrae. Haven't felt a quake for a few years.

Didn’t feel anything in the East Bay.

 

[Ringhammer]

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Seems like a darn good price, says 6146, but I don’t see the tops with the wires coming off (I forgot the term for them)

 

[JIO]

Didn’t feel anything in the East Bay.

One jolt, enough to know it happened. The second one much less.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

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Seems like a darn good price, says 6146, but I don’t see the tops with the wires coming off (I forgot the term for them)

anode caps, can’t see them either…..great price (even if a 6550 model) and local….won’t be up for sale long…
@Stealth57 it’s got your name all over it…

 

[MCF]

anode caps, can’t see them either…..great price (even if a 6550 model) and local….won’t be up for sale long…
@Stealth57 it’s got your name all over it…

Given where it is, let’s start a rumor that it was used at Altamont.

 

[MCF]

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.

Sorry…….

 

[Roger W]

Yes, and not necessarily - some of us also have Tbird pickups in other basses.

I’m going to be a bit more adamant. Since I’ve never met any of you all in person, it’s possible that, like some fish species, some of you have eyes that extend out of your heads on stalks and you can look back at yourself while playing bass. I’m mostly blind in one eye and wear glasses so even if my eyes could extend out of my head, they’d bump up against my lenses. Yeah, it’s nice if a bass looks cool in the rack/stand, but I really care about feel, including balance and weight, followed by sound followed by looks. I’ve sold basses and guitars that looked cool as hell, but felt bad (2 Gibson Explorers and SGs come to mind) and kept a white (blech) Jazz with a bound fretboard (double blech) because of its great neck and sound.

 

[Roger W]

Blue sky here. And I’m lovin it.

We had a warm spike here on Monday: 82 and clear skies.

 

[cmassa]

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!

Beautiful job on the neck change. What strings did you settle on? Does the reverse tuners give you a tighter E string?

 

[dagrev]

Another piece of the puzzle now in place.
Rack em, stack em and pack em.

View attachment 5232481

Cool!

 

[dagrev]

When you know how to operate a piece of gear. It’s very advantageous.

That's my problem..... Well, one of them....

 

[ThaCoast]

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….
View attachment 5232487

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…
View attachment 5232488

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)…
View attachment 5232489

And next to its soon to be mothballed brother…
View attachment 5232495

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.

My vote goes for Dakota Red, with a black guard (or even white pearloid). I've painted the back of my 79 Les Paul standard in dakota red (body front is my darker version of tobacco burst). Fiesta to me is too pale, & candy apple though great, is too much to get right. Dakota is my prefered fender shade of red xD

 

[Stealth57]

We had a warm spike here on Monday: 82 and clear skies.

Heading in the opposite direction here.

 

[Engle]

I was looking at the 20 ft NGG (dual right angle). Is that what you got? The connectors look huge, but I guess that’s no biggie. Are the cables supple and tangle-resistant?

They are Neutrik connectors:
NP2RX

 

[BklynKen]

They are Neutrik connectors:
NP2RX

And I just ordered a 25' right angle to straight connector for the board to amp because my 15' at times has needed more slack.

 

[JIO]

I’m going to be a bit more adamant. Since I’ve never met any of you all in person, it’s possible that, like some fish species, some of you have eyes that extend out of your heads on stalks and you can look back at yourself while playing bass. I’m mostly blind in one eye and wear glasses so even if my eyes could extend out of my head, they’d bump up against my lenses. Yeah, it’s nice if a bass looks cool in the rack/stand, but I really care about feel, including balance and weight, followed by sound followed by looks. I’ve sold basses and guitars that looked cool as hell, but felt bad (2 Gibson Explorers and SGs come to mind) and kept a white (blech) Jazz with a bound fretboard (double blech) because of its great neck and sound.

View attachment 5233090

One mans 'blech' is another mans 'ummm' ...but at least we both agree on how it plays!

 

[GBassNorth]

do you even need a pg on that red burst?….

Technically not on the build I’m making, just a trim ring around the neck pup is all that’s required.

But on a Jazz bass if you dump the pick guard you’re left with the control plate looking like it’s free floating and should be connected to something. A lot of people like that look, I’m not one. Maybe with a custom control plate that didn’t look like it needed to tuck into a pickguard it might be ok.

I’m going to be a bit more adamant. Since I’ve never met any of you all in person, it’s possible that, like some fish species, some of you have eyes that extend out of your heads on stalks and you can look back at yourself while playing bass. I’m mostly blind in one eye and wear glasses so even if my eyes could extend out of my head, they’d bump up against my lenses. Yeah, it’s nice if a bass looks cool in the rack/stand, but I really care about feel, including balance and weight, followed by sound followed by looks. I’ve sold basses and guitars that looked cool as hell, but felt bad (2 Gibson Explorers and SGs come to mind) and kept a white (blech) Jazz with a bound fretboard (double blech) because of its great neck and sound.

View attachment 5233090

^Pretty much this^
Above all else it has to sound good, once past that it has to feel good (weight, ergonomics, fret ends, neck size…) then a very distant third is how it looks.

I will admit that in the looks department I do have a couple of NoGo lines that I’ve drawn, where regardless of sound and feel I ain’t buyin it, namely Lakland basses. I’ve played a few that sounded and felt very nice, but I just can’t get past that butt ugly bridge. Their only bass that remotely looks nice with that bridge is the semi hollow body, the rest don’t inspire me in any way shape or form to even pick one up. And Antigua finishes that have aged to baby poop green don’t really appeal to me either. But that’s about the only exceptions.

 

[GBassNorth]

One mans 'blech' is another mans 'ummm' ...but at least we both agree on how it plays!

View attachment 5233292

I’m not particularly a huge Jazz bass fan, but put a nice Fender bridge cover on that baby and I’d rock it. One of the better looking jazz basses I’ve seen.