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Thunderbird Club

#276,261
Well, did a bunch of surgery/testing today, trying out different pickup combinations in the Greco. Started with the Lull in the neck, as it has been, then swapped back to the stock pickup, then to a no-name "Toaster", then swapped the bridge pickup to an Argentine Horseshoe. Recorded each combination in stereo so I could A/B them back to back. As it stands I'm trying the Toaster/Stock bridge pickup for a while. Love the Lull, but felt it wasn't quite giving enough articulation when tracking in stereo. Felt a bit pillowy in the lows. The stock neck pickup is good, but based on the high gain it has those raised pole pieces, and there's a lot of clatter when playing due to heavy attack. The Toaster is tighter in the lows than the Lull, but not as attack heavy overall as the stock pickup, and has lower output than either, so have to boost the volume a bit. Want to look at finding a proper toaster RI. I was actually very impressed by the Argentine Horseshoe, a fair bit clearer overall than the stock bridge pickup. A very nice, open sound to it. I almost stuck with the Toaster Horseshoe combo, but the horseshoe has VERY low output, really have to crank the gain to get it at an equivalent level, which isn't super handy when switching between basses, either tracking or live.
 
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#276,263
GBassNorth said:
I do like the vintage cherry burst and it’s not a color you ever see on a Tbird, unfortunately it’s not a popular Fender color. I’m really wanting this bird to scream FENDER when you look at it. It’s kind of a subtle middle finger to those close minded players or bandmates that raise an eyebrow if you walk into a room with a Tbird. Um , Antigua burst would fit the bill too, but that color really turns my stomach when it ages, looks good fresh though.

I did it once with an expensive nearly dead set of Optima Gold rounds. It brought them back to life for about two days then they were deader than a door nail. Don’t waste your time.
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Thanks!
 
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#276,264
Gaolee said:
You trying to cause a problem here?

This is what a Precision should look like.
rfroaiig616nwqncltv4.jpg


Save the pepperoni for pizza.

Mine looks like that. Of course, the "P" stands for "poseur" because mine is a 2010 Road Worn, not a 1957 Precision, but that's just details.
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I like the tort on the '62 J. Some had black (Leon's did) and I don't care for that. The '58 is even more to my liking. George has the sister of the Jazz in a P and it does look nice as well.

1.jpeg


2.jpeg


(The paper is my one bass lesson a guy wrote down for me.)
 
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#276,265
GBassNorth said:
I do like the vintage cherry burst and it’s not a color you ever see on a Tbird, unfortunately it’s not a popular Fender color. I’m really wanting this bird to scream FENDER when you look at it. It’s kind of a subtle middle finger to those close minded players or bandmates that raise an eyebrow if you walk into a room with a Tbird. Um , Antigua burst would fit the bill too, but that color really turns my stomach when it ages, looks good fresh though.
Click to expand...

Pat did this lovely 'version' of Antiqua for me according to my stipulations. I told him I wanted aged brie - he nailed it.

upload_2024-1-24_18-5-4.jpeg
upload_2024-1-24_18-5-58.jpeg
 
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#276,270
MCF said:
So you’re a lawyer too? I hate being the only killjoy here.
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No, but always had an interest in it and seriously considered Law School. Unbeknownst to him, a friend who was in law school here kept trying to talk me into going and thought I would be good at it for some reason. I/my profession would get more flack and than you. I'm a dreaded pastor. Which means part manager, lawyer, historian, theologian, philosopher, counselor, and translator. Top that killjoy!;):D
 
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#276,276
D.M.N. said:
Well, did a bunch of surgery/testing today, trying out different pickup combinations in the Greco. Started with the Lull in the neck, as it has been, then swapped back to the stock pickup, then to a no-name "Toaster", then swapped the bridge pickup to an Argentine Horseshoe. Recorded each combination in stereo so I could A/B them back to back. As it stands I'm trying the Toaster/Stock bridge pickup for a while. Love the Lull, but felt it wasn't quite giving enough articulation when tracking in stereo. Felt a bit pillowy in the lows. The stock neck pickup is good, but based on the high gain it has those raised pole pieces, and there's a lot of clatter when playing due to heavy attack. The Toaster is tighter in the lows than the Lull, but not as attack heavy overall as the stock pickup, and has lower output than either, so have to boost the volume a bit. Want to look at finding a proper toaster RI. I was actually very impressed by the Argentine Horseshoe, a fair bit clearer overall than the stock bridge pickup. A very nice, open sound to it. I almost stuck with the Toaster Horseshoe combo, but the horseshoe has VERY low output, really have to crank the gain to get it at an equivalent level, which isn't super handy when switching between basses, either tracking or live.
Click to expand...
Yeah I had to lower the neck pu on my MIJ Ric cause its easy to dig and hit the pole pieces. Have you ever done stereo out with a Tbird?
 
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#276,277
Engle said:
Yeah I had to lower the neck pu on my MIJ Ric cause its easy to dig and hit the pole pieces. Have you ever done stereo out with a Tbird?
Click to expand...

I did lower my neck pickup when I originally was running the bass stock, but by the time I got it low enough to negate the clatter, it was too far from the strings and too quiet. I haven't done stereo out on my 'birds, as most of them are IIs. I have run with a splitter cable out of that into two amp before, set differently, and have thought about setting the VP up for stereo, but the bridge pickup just isn't very useful to me, too far back near the bridge. With the 4001, the "bridge" pickup is closer to middle, which is generally where I like my main pickup to be, instead of a true bridge pickup like a jazz or Thunderbird.
 
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