Thunderbird Club

[ThaCoast]

I rely on shims. I tried a Supertone on two of my Epi bolt-ons. But couldn’t get low enough action for my taste, even shimming with tapered shims.

Sit Power Steels or Dunlop Marcus Miller stainless steel Superbrights for the win.

I'll check those strings out, thanks for the suggestion!

Did you swap out the Supertone or keep it & managed?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

He's a JKD (Jeet Kun Do) guy as well. I think he wrote a book about Bruce Lee.
Also one of my favorite bass players to listen to... We're doing "What's so Funny..." too. I'm singing it too, which has, so far, been hilarious...

He’s now written a second Bruce Lee book!

 

[WillyW]

I'm trying to make the 3-point work at the mo so I don't have to drill more holes for the bridge (all 2-points I've seen will need more holes because of the intonation line) and I've a 3-point Hipshot on my RexBird but am about to try a standard 3-point on it. I'm suspicious that the amount of surface area it occupies is having a damping effect on the bass end of the instrument: I play all my instruments (guitars too) "acoustically" in a quiet room to determine if I think the things are "mechanically" functioning optimally (or no pickup/amp will help enough) and the RexBird has a big chunk of low end missing - and it's not that there's a prominent mid being produced (or any other frequencies masking it), once I noticed this I heard it through the amp too. I will report back on this later once I've played with bridges! First though, a different brand of strings!
Scored a brand new Hosco 3-point for £1.20 on evilbay (free postage) a couple of days ago! I've a spare one already but it's a tatty ol'thing.

Before the interwebz I didn’t realize how bad the 3 points are…

Truly the only thing I don’t like is how the ball end winding and silks end up over the saddle.

never had any other issues.

I learned through this group about Greco’s that had a claw tailpiece in addition to the 3 point and that solved everything I didn’t like about the 3 point.

I do also like the two point and claw but I only have those on my embassy basses.

I have now added claws to all my 3 points.

I sold my EB-3 for other reasons but I wonder if a claw would have saved it.

 

[GBassNorth]

Love it, some great bass fills in there and a sweet bass forward section near the end. Excellent playing Geo!

Just outta curiosity, has anyone gone the opposite way? 7ender body/TBird neck. Only seen them with 'Bird body(yea!) and 7ender neck(ugh!!).

I’ve thought about putting a Tbird neck on a jaguar bass along with Tbird pickups. When all is said and done it would be a real sleeper, the Fender folks would think it a modded Jag and the Gibson folks would think it a modded Tbird.

Yep - it's been a go-to bridge for many of my builds.

Jim Burns (of London) might have been the first to do a roller-saddle bridge in the early '60s on a bent-plate platform. My '63 Burns of London Vista Sonic - I fabricated the E saddle out of brass because it was missing when I got it. Needless to say, finding an original replacement was out of the question.
View attachment 5240525
Hipshot has created many great bridges in the last 15-20 yrs and I also use their KA on basses. The best version of a Leo Quan BA bridge to date.
View attachment 5240536
But frankly, I've never had a problem with a gen1 Fender 'bent-plate' threaded saddle bridge.
View attachment 5240539

Geo - I’m looking at Fender bridge options for my ThunderCaster build. The stock bridge from my Tele Modern Player (the donor bass) is a Fender high mass style, but it doesn’t have string alignment capability, which I’d like. I will only put another fender bridge on it but it looks like Fender has three adjustable string option bridges.
A high mass…
Genuine Fender American Standard Big Block High Mass Vintage Chrome Bass Bridge 717669689476 | eBay

A lower mass…
005-8396-000 Genuine Fender Deluxe Chrome 4-String Bass Bridge w/ Screws | eBay

And a bent plate…
Fender P Bass/J Bass Vintage Bridge Assembly | eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/332601086392
Any experience with high mass vs bent plate bridges as far as sound quality goes?

 

[JIO]

Love it, some great bass fills in there and a sweet bass forward section near the end. Excellent playing Geo!

Thanks G! It's how I like to roam in a jammy section which this song provides. We play it with TSC's also. I never play it the same twice and some forays are better than others so I was happy to land it solidly for this recording. Over the years Paul and I have developed an understanding of how our guitars blend and we do it w/o thinking. Oh, and it's nothing like the Doors bass-line - I just treat it like a blues jam.

 

[JIO]

Geo - I’m looking at Fender bridge options for my ThunderCaster build. The stock bridge from my Tele Modern Player (the donor bass) is a Fender high mass style, but it doesn’t have string alignment capability, which I’d like. I will only put another fender bridge on it but it looks like Fender has three adjustable string option bridges.
A high mass…
Genuine Fender American Standard Big Block High Mass Vintage Chrome Bass Bridge 717669689476 | eBay

A lower mass…
005-8396-000 Genuine Fender Deluxe Chrome 4-String Bass Bridge w/ Screws | eBay

And a bent plate…
Fender P Bass/J Bass Vintage Bridge Assembly | eBay
Any experience with high mass vs bent plate bridges as far as sound quality goes?

I have to say my ears aren't that critical when it comes to bridges. Nuts yes, but as long as a bridge mechanically does all that's needed I think they all sound good. The "high mass" thing is overrated in my opinion. I've used all three of those options and to me the important part is the saddle threads for proper string spacing. If it were me, it would come down to which one looks best on the particular bass. As in, I'd put a standard Fender threaded-saddle bent-plate bridge on a period-specific Fender bass.

 

[MCF]

I'll check those strings out, thanks for the suggestion!

Did you swap out the Supertone or keep it & managed?

I have no use for the Supertone. I’ll probably sell it. I much prefer the Babicz because it allows the lowest string action.

 

[The EDP]

I'm trying to make the 3-point work at the mo so I don't have to drill more holes for the bridge (all 2-points I've seen will need more holes because of the intonation line) and I've a 3-point Hipshot on my RexBird but am about to try a standard 3-point on it. I'm suspicious that the amount of surface area it occupies is having a damping effect on the bass end of the instrument: I play all my instruments (guitars too) "acoustically" in a quiet room to determine if I think the things are "mechanically" functioning optimally (or no pickup/amp will help enough) and the RexBird has a big chunk of low end missing - and it's not that there's a prominent mid being produced (or any other frequencies masking it), once I noticed this I heard it through the amp too. I will report back on this later once I've played with bridges! First though, a different brand of strings!
Scored a brand new Hosco 3-point for £1.20 on evilbay (free postage) a couple of days ago! I've a spare one already but it's a tatty ol'thing.[/QUOTE

Glad I tried some other strings - the Boomers must've been stored somewhere that affected them badly - a set of SIT Power Wound and the bass sounds FANTASTIC again!!!
Trying out the whole thing, the potted pups/strings/setup in a little bit. Got to sort the surrounds/rings - most definitely need shims on those, but it definitely looks as swish as can be!!!

 

[ThaCoast]

I have no use for the Supertone. I’ll probably sell it. I much prefer the Babicz because it allows the lowest string action.

That's good to hear, + i like the look of the Babicz over the Supertone. I've hipshot A style on a BB300 copy i built, & a transtone on my plexi bass clone, & i've used their kick4$$ on two so far. All of which work & look great. The supertone just looks too big & on most pictures i've seen of Birds with them, the sides overlap the raised section. The Babicz 3 point replacement looks sleek all around.

 

[The EDP]

So I'm excelling at this posting lark, managed to make my post part of the quote - quick summary:
new strings seem to have solved the lack of bass end on my RexBird, no need to experiment with a different bridge for the time being!

 

[GBassNorth]

I have to say my ears aren't that critical when it comes to bridges. Nuts yes, but as long as a bridge mechanically does all that's needed I think they all sound good. The "high mass" thing is overrated in my opinion. I've used all three of those options and to me the important part is the saddle threads for proper string spacing. If it were me, it would come down to which one looks best on the particular bass. As in, I'd put a standard Fender threaded-saddle bent-plate bridge on a period-specific Fender bass.

View attachment 5240621

I’ve been kinda in the same boat on bridges as well but wasn’t sure if I’ve just not listened closely enough. This application is being driven by pickups with exposed pole pieces which are spaced exactly the same regardless of neck or bridge pickup. So visually you end up with the G and E strings not over the pole on one pickup but ok on the other pickup. It’s an OCD thing that drives me nutz on exposed pole pups. The current bridge is a high mass but no string spacing option, so I’ll probably go with the high or mid mass threaded barrel model to gain a bit of fine tuning adjustment on the strings. I’m locking my self into Fender options because that’s what this bass is all about. The bent plate would look out of place on this modern build.

 

[JJR58]

I’ve been kinda in the same boat on bridges as well but wasn’t sure if I’ve just not listened closely enough. This application is being driven by pickups with exposed pole pieces which are spaced exactly the same regardless of neck or bridge pickup. So visually you end up with the G and E strings not over the pole on one pickup but ok on the other pickup. It’s an OCD thing that drives me nutz on exposed pole pups. The current bridge is a high mass but no string spacing option, so I’ll probably go with the high or mid mass threaded barrel model to gain a bit of fine tuning adjustment on the strings. I’m locking my self into Fender options because that’s what this bass is all about. The bent plate would look out of place on this modern build.

I think every piece of the puzzle does a little something, some more then others.

 

[Stealth57]

New toy Saturday. But I do have some questions to others with acoustic electric basses:

1) where the 7ender to you anchor your thumb?
2) how far from the cabinet do you stand to kill the piezo feedback?
3) any string suggestions?

 

[MCF]

New toy Saturday. But I do have some questions to others with acoustic electric basses:

1) where the 7ender to you anchor your thumb?
2) how far from the cabinet do you stand to kill the piezo feedback?
3) any string suggestions?

View attachment 5240731

Cool!

 

[The EDP]

I’ve been kinda in the same boat on bridges as well but wasn’t sure if I’ve just not listened closely enough. This application is being driven by pickups with exposed pole pieces which are spaced exactly the same regardless of neck or bridge pickup. So visually you end up with the G and E strings not over the pole on one pickup but ok on the other pickup. It’s an OCD thing that drives me nutz on exposed pole pups. The current bridge is a high mass but no string spacing option, so I’ll probably go with the high or mid mass threaded barrel model to gain a bit of fine tuning adjustment on the strings. I’m locking my self into Fender options because that’s what this bass is all about. The bent plate would look out of place on this modern build.

I have prob missed something along this convo - I'm not sure I follow what the "application" is, are you using a simulation or something?
When I planned my five string builds I worked out the string spacings for the two p'ups, got some made for me by Billy Gill (was doing the R&D custom stuff at Basslines back then), and noticed within a year that SD were producing p'ups with 70/74mm spacings. Whether it's 4 or more strings the pole pieces should be spaced differently on the two pickups.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I have to say my ears aren't that critical when it comes to bridges. Nuts yes, but as long as a bridge mechanically does all that's needed I think they all sound good. The "high mass" thing is overrated in my opinion. I've used all three of those options and to me the important part is the saddle threads for proper string spacing. If it were me, it would come down to which one looks best on the particular bass. As in, I'd put a standard Fender threaded-saddle bent-plate bridge on a period-specific Fender bass.

View attachment 5240621

love these….

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

let’s do this!…

 

[JIO]

I’ve been kinda in the same boat on bridges as well but wasn’t sure if I’ve just not listened closely enough. This application is being driven by pickups with exposed pole pieces which are spaced exactly the same regardless of neck or bridge pickup. So visually you end up with the G and E strings not over the pole on one pickup but ok on the other pickup. It’s an OCD thing that drives me nutz on exposed pole pups. The current bridge is a high mass but no string spacing option, so I’ll probably go with the high or mid mass threaded barrel model to gain a bit of fine tuning adjustment on the strings. I’m locking my self into Fender options because that’s what this bass is all about. The bent plate would look out of place on this modern build.

The strings have two critical places they connect with the instrument to create optimal resonance - the bridge and the nut. So what I will say makes a difference is Bruce Johnsons technique of a buried bridge plate/anchor. I've used it on a few of my builds and I believe it makes a difference. The thought behind it is similar to a string-thru option - to make a dynamic string connection to the body. A 1/4" thick (or thicker) brass platform (the same footprint as your bridge) is submerged into the body with a fraction (1/16") sitting above the body. It is epoxied and steel-molly/machine bolted into the body - essentially becoming fused/one with the wood. The bridge (whatever version you choose) is machine bolted on top of the brass plate and does not touch the body. The string then has a direct connection to the body through the bridge/plate coupling.

A 1/4" brass plate was epoxied into the routed body and all 7 machine bolts had steel mollies sunk into the body. I converted a CNC'd 5-string body to 4 so that's why the 5 routes are there, which were for Ibanez individual bridge units which had lower flanges. They were covered by a scratch-plate.

You can see the brass anchor-plate peeking under the Schaller bridge. Made for a really solid resonant bass. It has an awesome John East 9v mid-sweep (upper black stacked pot) that gives you a range from clank to dub.

Master of sparkle finishes Marty Bell custom addressed my request for a trans-black cherry sparkle finish - nailed it. This pic was not altered - late evening summer sunlight hitting it. I was lucky to notice it and shoot a pic. It shows the Westone neck plate and fretless neck that was on it prior to having Dan Ransom make the walnut/ebony 22 fret neck seen in the above pic. Sperzel locking tuners, brass nut and etched brass hs face-plate.

 

[JIO]

love these….
View attachment 5240750

They were the originals, but it required a bit of work filing the string slots. Not a big deal to anyone with basic skills - but some players needed a tech to do the job.

 

[JJR58]

let’s do this!…
View attachment 5240751

You're a gigging machine!