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Thunderbird Club

#289,441
dagrev said:
Even true of my '64 Embassy, hence the Rotos on it. Same electronics and wood. Could it be that tone is really in the shape?
Click to expand...
IMHO and from personal experience the headstock size (maybe not so much the shape) does impart a small bit of tone shaping to the bass.

From a physics standpoint any significant change to the neck of a bass can impact the natural frequency of that bass. It may move a dead spot from one fret to the next or lessen dead spots or woof tones or increase or reduce the attack or decay of certain fretted notes.I haven't messed with it enough to know how to predict what neck change will make what difference but I have experienced it first hand on a number of my builds.

The headstock size seems to be one of the bigger factors in how the bass reacts to the strings, along with wood type and nut material. I'm sure there are many that will disagree with my observations, they are subtle so they can easily go unnoticed in a mix or not heard by those that aren't listening with a critical ear. YMMV
 
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#289,442
Miles_ONeal said:
Ha! Being the magnet doesn't mean I'm interested. It's just my natural charisma and humility that attracts them.
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Piling it up kinda high this morning, Miles! :laugh:
 
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#289,444
Hi guys! :)

Sorry I've been out for a while! Been lots of work & non-work time-sink stuff going on lately eating up all my time :thumbsdown:

Let me know if I missed anything important?

After I saw this:

1000004208.jpg


:jawdrop:


I figured I'd just skip ahead a bit....
 
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#289,447
GBassNorth said:
IMHO and from personal experience the headstock size (maybe not so much the shape) does impart a small bit of tone shaping to the bass.

From a physics standpoint any significant change to the neck of a bass can impact the natural frequency of that bass. It may move a dead spot from one fret to the next or lessen dead spots or woof tones or increase or reduce the attack or decay of certain fretted notes.I haven't messed with it enough to know how to predict what neck change will make what difference but I have experienced it first hand on a number of my builds.

The headstock size seems to be one of the bigger factors in how the bass reacts to the strings, along with wood type and nut material. I'm sure there are many that will disagree with my observations, they are subtle so they can easily go unnoticed in a mix or not heard by those that aren't listening with a critical ear. YMMV
Click to expand...
Completely agree. Every little thing adds up and produces the big thing. Some little things are more or less noticable, but are still there adding their aspect to the big picture.
 
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#289,448
Miles_ONeal said:
I've noticed my Greco Thunderbirds[0] respond differently to my fingers[1] than my others - and for that matter than any other guitar or bass I can recall playing[2]. On most guitars/basses, as you move your plucking fingers from the bridge to the pickup regions to the lower end of the fretboard, the tone gets mellower and is most mellow near the 12th fret. On my Grecos, I can easily get more aggressive sounds playing over the fretboard. Has anyone noticed anything similar?
[0] Both sporting EBCFs, but so do my IV (whether strung EADG or BEAD), my CP, and my VP, and so did my PRO V. All but the BEAD IV are DGCF. FWIW. YMMV. IANAL.[1]
[1] Ahem?
[2] I didn't pay attention to that at the GTG or at Veronica's, which is where I Played most of the other Thunderbirds, but I have experienced this on a few 7SOs, and numerous guitars.
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GBassNorth said:
Interesting observation on the Greco Miles. I'll check both of mine later today to see if they respond similarly. I just took the completely dead flats off the 77 Greco II (moved them to my fretless Eastwood EUB for a more upright sound) and installed some leftover rounds on it, my 1990 Greco IV has GHS Bass Boomers on it, both are tuned EADG. So if nothing else it might reveal how much impact the strings have on right hand placement.
Click to expand...

OK Miles, I just ran both my Grecos through their paces. Both are strung with rounds - Boomers on the 1990 IV and Nickel Rounds of unknown brand on the II, both basses tuned to EADG, action is about 3/32" open E at the 12th, pickups are about 1/8" air gap with string fully depressed at the last fret.

Observations:
1990 Greco IV both pups full on and tone full up - seems fairly typical of my other Tbird IV basses. Bright and thin, lots of attack and quick decay when played at the bridge pickup, warms up as you approach the neck pickup, starts to give a scooped sound as you approach the neck heel and is deepest and less defined as you move up the neck. Pretty much the same results with the neck pup soloed and the tone knob all the way off - much warmer and less defined than the previous settings but still the same relative differences from position to position.

1977 Greco II pup full on and tone full up - interestingly much less responsive to right hand placement than the Greco IV. Still brighter when playing down near the bridge and warmer up on the neck, but the span of virtually no change in tone was much much larger. Several inches south of the pup sounds about the same as several inches north of the pup. Interesting, and I hadn't noticed that before. Not sure if that's typical of single pup basses or not, I'll have to check some other basses I have to be sure. But I would think the consistent tone over a large span "feature" would be neat to have when gigging, less attention needed to right hand placement.
 
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#289,449
KaraQ said:
Hi guys! :)

Sorry I've been out for a while! Been lots of work & non-work time-sink stuff going on lately eating up all my time :thumbsdown:

Let me know if I missed anything important?

After I saw this:

View attachment 5439864

:jawdrop:


I figured I'd just skip ahead a bit....
Click to expand...


Hi Kara!


Mostly normal noise in here, except Miles!

He only looks innocent.

kl9Djb0.jpg
 
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#289,455
KaraQ said:
Hi guys! :)

Sorry I've been out for a while! Been lots of work & non-work time-sink stuff going on lately eating up all my time :thumbsdown:

Let me know if I missed anything important?

After I saw this:

View attachment 5439864

:jawdrop:


I figured I'd just skip ahead a bit....
Click to expand...

A few hundred birds bought and sold. About 1/3 that many amps. Votes on whether to disenfranchise anyone who misses the GTG. The usual.
 
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#289,456
GBassNorth said:
OK Miles, I just ran both my Grecos through their paces. Both are strung with rounds - Boomers on the 1990 IV and Nickel Rounds of unknown brand on the II, both basses tuned to EADG, action is about 3/32" open E at the 12th, pickups are about 1/8" air gap with string fully depressed at the last fret.

Observations:
1990 Greco IV both pups full on and tone full up - seems fairly typical of my other Tbird IV basses. Bright and thin, lots of attack and quick decay when played at the bridge pickup, warms up as you approach the neck pickup, starts to give a scooped sound as you approach the neck heel and is deepest and less defined as you move up the neck. Pretty much the same results with the neck pup soloed and the tone knob all the way off - much warmer and less defined than the previous settings but still the same relative differences from position to position.

1977 Greco II pup full on and tone full up - interestingly much less responsive to right hand placement than the Greco IV. Still brighter when playing down near the bridge and warmer up on the neck, but the span of virtually no change in tone was much much larger. Several inches south of the pup sounds about the same as several inches north of the pup. Interesting, and I hadn't noticed that before. Not sure if that's typical of single pup basses or not, I'll have to check some other basses I have to be sure. But I would think the consistent tone over a large span "feature" would be neat to have when gigging, less attention needed to right hand placement.
Click to expand...

Interesting; I'll have to try that with the controls. I should have mentioned this was with only the neck pickup and tone either all the way down or about 10% up. Horribly unscientific of me. I was distracted by all the chicks. I'm really hoping Dave will step up his game and pull some of them his way.
 
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#289,458
Chucky Stiletti said:
cool open mic hosted by JMB last night….an absolutely stunning (over 6') brazilian beauty requested to sing "Girl from Ipanema" which to everyone's surprise we performed (never played it in F# so I had to keep my eyes on Becca's fingerboard for the bridge part) flawlessly….boyfriend threw a C-note into the tip jar….fun jam…:bassist:
View attachment 5439728
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I've had to play "Ipanema" in so many keys(C#/Db is supposedly the original)because of singer's ranges that-once I know what key they're in-I go by relative position rather than try to think "wuttinnahell's the next effin chord?".
 
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