Thunderbird Club

[RedVee]

not quite the same but manual 360s were fun…
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Our Hornets didn’t look like that.

We only got the 4door (which looked pretty cool with the short boot and wide wheel arches) with the 6 cylinder. I think that coupe would have been popular esp if it came in V8 form. But I suppose they were aiming at Javelin sales plus the limited run AMX and Matador Xcoupes.

 

[JIO]

Yep, Hornet, not quite the AMX/ Javelin, right?!?



Yep, played a good New Year’s Eve-eve show. Winters is always a fun one with its baked in challenges. Lots of people, not a great opener, really good closer, and we did ok for a band that hadn’t practiced together for two weeks. Not our preference, but holidays, family members in town, and such, made everyone’s schedules impossible to get rehearsal together since the Monday (18th) before Christmas. Good thing all of our completed songs are recorded well so we all did practice individually a lot. But there still no substitute for playing / practicing together.

Cool - yah, TSC will be playing at Winters' tomorrow (J1) 3-5PM ... Geo's B-day Bash. We'll do two sets of 8 songs each covering all 16 songs on our CD in order. We haven't rehearsed much either due to the holidays - but it won't matter as we know the material well and most likely there will be a small crowd being J1. All our new songs both original and covers will appear at the next show in February.

Now just to decide which bass to bring...

 

[MCF]

Don’t get me started on all the different pick ups you could replace those with.

You know what Jeff? Go ahead and make suggestions. The P pickup in my ‘13 MIM Standard sounds better than the P pickup in that PJ. And that “noiseless” J pickup is anemic and lifeless. Since this is the year I’m devoting to whipping all my basses into shape, I will want to do something with that one.

 

[MCF]

Cool - yah, TSC will be playing at Winters' tomorrow (J1) 3-5PM ... Geo's B-day Bash. We'll do two sets of 8 songs each covering all 16 songs on our CD in order. We haven't rehearsed much either due to the holidays - but it won't matter as we know the material well and most likely there will be a small crowd being J1. All our new songs both original and covers will appear at the next show in February.

Now just to decide which bass to bring...

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Happy birthday Geo! Have a good show!

 

[MCF]

Yes, it is an XVive, on sale - their cheapest one. I don't need all the bells & whistles for twice the price. The one I bought years ago was some generic crap from China when they first hit the scene. This one is most likely also made in China, but like you say - at least SW will back me up for a couple years. I don't like standing on cables on stage - a pet peeve of mine. Plus, when sound-checking I can stand in the audience-space to get the best impression. The 'walking through the crowd while playing' is a lead guitarist thing...

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I think you’ll find that set to be reliable. It’s a decent “name brand.”

 

[MCF]

How it's been for the past 3-4 years
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^^^epiphone deep sixx pickups, original 3 point bridge, complete refin fron satin goth black to bright red with hand brushed dead tree. Killswitch, tube output jack.

To today:
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^^^new Gibson 60s tbird RI lead pickups, new babicz epiphone 3 point replacement bridge.

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^^^made a pickup ring spacer because the pickup heights are much higher (especially the bridge pickup), so the actual underside of the cavity was visible. Made of plywood, topped with some metal tbird pickup rings (painted black to match the painted pickups). Still getting use to resting my hand on the babicz, but the extra length for the claw feels nice under the palm. + giving the string to sit properly on the saddle & not the fat winding.

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^^^new 12th inlay marker, irish/celtic Triquetra symbol. Wood burned, & painted metallic silver paint with a coat of varnish to seal it. Many meanings, but to me this represents continous change, & growth. Through the 12 years of owning this bird, modifying it through the roof, fixing, & refins. Its come to a nice close in its mod/fix era, & can now enjoy its life helping me create, grow & evolve my own music.

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^^^full slab back, raised middle upfront. Support sheets needed for the mahogany body starting to split on both wings at the bottom (nothing major, but didn't want a mishap again). Feels good as a slab body to me.

Thats it, strung with SIT power steels 50-105. It sounds great, close enough to what id call angry piano. I will say, not being used to stainless strings over nickel, they are rather "cold" feeling under fingers. Nothing a month of consistent playing cant remedy xD.

I may invest in new keys down the line, though these still function adequately. I do need to check my output jack, theres some minor interference/hicc with it.

Going into the new year, with a refurbished bass. Nice way to conclude 2023

Thunderbirds GO!!

Cool Andi. I like it! You’ll get used to the feel of stainless. Nothing beats the tone IMO.

 

[JIO]

I think you’ll find that set to be reliable. It’s a decent “name brand.”

Yah, I got spoiled using the other one till it crapped-out.

 

[JIO]

Happy birthday Geo! Have a good show!

Thanks Marshall - it's always low-key fun. I've done it most every year over the last 10 yrs - missed a few, a couple due to Covid.

Most likely will bring this bass -

 

[JJR58]

You know what Jeff? Go ahead and make suggestions. The P pickup in my ‘13 MIM Standard sounds better than the P pickup in that PJ. And that “noiseless” J pickup is anemic and lifeless. Since this is the year I’m devoting to whipping all my basses into shape, I will want to do something with that one.

Will do Marshall, I’ll make a short list for you and pm you with some suggestions

 

[MCF]

never been into short scale basses but this vireo made me go get a new Musicmaster (same finish) as I could not afford the Mustang…..

They have their place. Especially when I was driving all over the place and staying in hotels a lot. The Mustang and a little Rumble 25 kept me company.

 

[Engle]

I've seen such pot value rigs on YouTube. I have a cool 'no longer available' solder-less passive Jazz harness made by Santellan Sounds - Elek-Trix with 9 pot rating choices. Since it has 250k pots, I chose .022 uf - it also has a push-pull series-parallel pot (center) which remains bridge pu V when not pulled up. The 'tone board' is near the jack. I think they were bought by another company and they stopped making it which is a drag as it was a really good design.

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I just ordered some Phoenix connectors and universal circuit boards. It should be pretty easy to set a bass up so I can plug in pickups and capacitors.

 

[MCF]

Thanks Marshall - it's always low-key fun. I've done it most every year over the last 10 yrs - missed a few, a couple due to Covid.

Most likely will bring this bass -
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I love that bass. But then again, I pretty much love your whole collection.

 

[MCF]

Cool - yah, TSC will be playing at Winters' tomorrow (J1) 3-5PM ... Geo's B-day Bash. We'll do two sets of 8 songs each covering all 16 songs on our CD in order. We haven't rehearsed much either due to the holidays - but it won't matter as we know the material well and most likely there will be a small crowd being J1. All our new songs both original and covers will appear at the next show in February.

Now just to decide which bass to bring...

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What and where in February? I need to talk to brother Dave. He may be selling an amp I want. Could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

don’t forget adding a mudbucker in the neck of a pbase is awesome too.

 

[WillyW]

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that’s the Sting signature bass, it confirmed that I like the single coil pickup, but at the time the jury was still out on 7ender basses.

 

[JJR58]

When those first came out they were 499.
Sold like hot cakes, of course I had one, then traded it.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Or this one for me
Alan Lancaster in Status Quo

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yeah remember him…..talk about a brit name….another one of those bands I could unfortunately not get into …..

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

What and where in February? I need to talk to brother Dave. He may be selling an amp I want. Could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

say hi!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Thanks Marshall - it's always low-key fun. I've done it most every year over the last 10 yrs - missed a few, a couple due to Covid.

Most likely will bring this bass -
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looks like Dave’s copping your licks….

 

[dagrev]

Like they do in Georgia?

I've probably said too much already.