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Thunderbird Club

#27,081
GBassNorth said:
I actually agree. For me, he's missing the "cool" factor that goes along with being a blues guitarist. In person, his appearance, demeanor and body language just comes off kinda nerdy or a fish out of water. It's like you'd expect to bump into him in a Starbucks vs bumping into SRV in a smoke filled pool hall or Gibbons in a strip club. That said, he's an accomplished guitarist and his music has the necessary blues soul to it, it's a shame he doesn't.
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Yeah. He's a great guitarist, just.... not very interesting to me.

Gaolee said:
Polka Metal? I now have a new ambition! That sounds like it would be quirky enough to be worth doing.
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Already exists. Look up "Beer Beer" by Korpiklaani.

kat888 said:
Yeah, and apparently Rics too. In my experience no one really cares what bass/amp you have as long as it's in tune. Audience members wouldn't have a clue about basses, except maybe they'll know what a Fender looks like, but not whether it's a P or J ... or a copy.
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Eh, it's just that a lot of us from the Rickenbacker thread are on that thread also.

I did mention that my Rickenbackers and T-bird both get comments. My Peavey only gets comments from other bassists, and only very rarely.

I don't own any Fenders, so can't really compare.

RedVee said:
Do Thunderbirds "mean business"?

I say yes. :)
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Definitely.

GBassNorth said:
+1
To me (and it's just my stinkin opinion so take it with a grain of salt) nothing says Rock like a Gibson, be it bass or guitar. And nothing says hard rock like a Thunderbird bass and a Les Paul guitar. If I'm playing rock from the late sixties on, I'm most likely holding my TBird or SG. :cool:

Now, with all due respect to the Fender fan club (yes, I play Fenders also) nothing says Country, Motown or Jazz like Fender, be it bass or guitar. If I'm playing 50's to early 60's rock or anything Country, I'm most likely holding my Jazz, Precision or Tele bass. :p

And of course there's all the hybrids out there (Ric, Warwick, Spector, Stingray, 335, Coronado, etc) and the top shelf stuff (Alembic, Fodera, Ritter, etc) that are great to use for specific tasks. :wacky:

But at the end of the day, as long as I have something with 4 or 5 strings in my hand I'll do my best to make it work for the music I'm playing. Ask me about the time I had to finish a hard rock set using a Kala Uke Bass (good grief, I pulled it off). :wideyed:
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I don't really see basses as something to be used for a specific genre. I play everything with my Rickenbackers, and the only reason I mainly play doom metal with my T-bird is because of the tuning.

PillO said:
I agree about Gibson (especially Les Paul) being hard rock (Slash, Buckethead, et al). But nothing says 80s shred machine like a strat (Ywingie).
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Not a big fan of shredding, myself. I'm much more in favor of solid riffs. Some of my favorite bands don't even have any guitar solos. And one of the bands I'm in has never had a guitar solo (Catapult the Dead).
 
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#27,082
kat888 said:
Yeah, and apparently Rics too. In my experience no one really cares what bass/amp you have as long as it's in tune. Audience members wouldn't have a clue about basses, except maybe they'll know what a Fender looks like, but not whether it's a P or J ... or a copy.
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The Thunderbird is the only bass guitar I have ever had audience comments about. Even the Ric didn't get much attention. The big ol' Acoustic 360 will occasionally get commented on by an old guy, but that's rare. The fretless 'Bird gets all kinds of weird looks, always from a weird guy in the audience. Otherwise, the 'Birds have got comments like "that looks like rock and roll." That from somebody who probably didn't know it was a bass guitar, but I'll take it and say thank you anyway.

Audience knowledge vs. snobbery is not confined to bass guitars. I have had people come up to me and make all kinds of comments about my old Reuther drum kit. It's a Taiwan made Pearl stencil kit from back when made in Japan was cheap. Even then, this was the department store brand. If Danelectro had made drums in Taiwan and sold them under a different name, it would be this kit. It's tuned up and I like the way it sound to the point that I have no interest in another kit. Audiences notice that it's blue sparkle and tell me it's a really nice kit and that it must have been expensive. I don't tell 'em that all of the drums were cheaper than just the kick pedal I use to beat on the bass drum. A drum kit snob would be completely unimpressed, assuming that the drum snob didn't get fooled into thinking Reuther was some kind of obscure boutique brand.
 
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#27,084
Saw this uke bass hanging on the wall at a local mom and pop shop I stopped in to pickup a 25k mini pot for my preamp install on my olp.

No idea about brand and price, it was high on the wall and the tag was facing the other way.

_20170324_172147.JPG
 
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#27,089
PillO said:
I have said before: Every sub-genre of metal that can be made up for comic effect already exists and has ardent proponents.
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+1
In fact here's a professional big name band doing metal polka with its very own mosh pit and TBird bass to boot...

It doesn't get much stranger than this (and if it does, I don't wanna know).
 
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#27,091
kat888 said:
Remember the days when you could go to the local guitar shop and actually buy the gear your idols used for not too much money, to get you started on you musical adventures?
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Yes I do - a time of youthful ignorance. I remember having a Gibson SG and stupidly trading it in on some fly-by-night guitar that Jeff Lynn, of ELO, played at the time. It had more dials and switches!:banghead:

I didn't mean to put Joe B. and his musical ability down in earlier post. He's obviously very talented. I just find it so unusual that someone that is not really in the mainstream of music (and mostly an instrumentalist) has so many signature model guitars. For example, Clapton is a guitar god but he can sing and his work charted in pop music (and I don't recall him ever having a myriad of signature models - one Strat and one amp?). Another Seinfeldian observation.
 
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#27,092
kat888 said:
Remember the days when you could go to the local guitar shop and actually buy the gear your idols used for not too much money, to get you started on you musical adventures?
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I don't remember those days at all. When I started in the late 70's I couldn't afford the Les Pauls', Firebirds, or Flying V's that I wanted. My first few guitars were low cost Japanese made gear that were decent quality but nothing special.
 
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#27,094
kat888 said:

Remember the days when you could go to the local guitar shop and actually buy the gear your idols used for not too much money, to get you started on you musical adventures?
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Nope.

Rickenbackers, American T-birds and Explorer basses, American Fenders, vintage Aria SB1000s and so forth, were always expensive from my perspective. Same thing on the guitar side.
 
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#27,095
Gotta say I was fairly destitute when I started. Playing the bass was mostly all I cared about, but my relatively low-level functionality as an achiever meant I played cheap stuff. I was terrible at keeping a job, my relationships were sometimes a strain for friends, I was kind of a mess from the neck up!

I got better. I have kids now. I'm even saving up for that Rickenbacker... again...
 
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#27,100
I already believe that nobody but me cares what I sound like as long as the low end is there. I played a battle of the bands last year that we finished second in, and should have won...but it was the worst show if ever played. I forgot to plug in the clam filter and was making mistakes all show long. I was sure somebody would say "you weren't very sharp today", but even the drummer, who actually listens to what I'm doing, said "yeah, I heard a couple, but only a couple." If he didn't notice how bad I was as the judge's didn't (I talked to them after the show), then nobody really cares at all. That bodes well for my lack of talent and ability. :D
 
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