The obvious answer will be EBCF's (Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats)
45-100 for E Standard tuning works well, and 45-105 does good if you do any drop D.
50-105 if you like higher tension
55-110 if you do D standard.
Last edited:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
-
- Tags
- club thunderbird
The obvious answer will be EBCF's (Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats)
45-100 for E Standard tuning works well, and 45-105 does good if you do any drop D.
50-105 if you like higher tension
55-110 if you do D standard.
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,915
- 142,443
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
In this matter you should advise me, I usually just have pretty low brow stuff for the day-to-day, and that's fine. Your visit is a nice occasion and I'll be off from work so the coffee should be enjoyed.
For rock or metal with flats I'd be inclined to look at Ernie Ball Cobalt flats which you already have or Rotosound 77 flats. Both are a little brighter than what most people think of with thumpy flats. I've never tried them, but I'd imagine the Steve Harris Rotos would fit the bill nicely as well.
Not sure this has been documented yet, so here's one that we may want for the Tbird sticky.
Spotting a Gibson Thunderbird Reissue Pickup vs an Epiphone Thunderbird 760 ProBucker Pickup
Epiphone on the left, Gibson on the right - Eppi is nickel Gibby is chrome, Eppi has larger screw holes, both pickups are nominally the same dimensions.
Epiphone on Left, Gibson on the Right - very different on the backside, Eppi has three holes in line on the left and one on the right, much longer solder seams, is stamped with "Epiphone USA" and has "HB-C" sticker indicating this is a Bridge pickup (neck would read HN-C). By contrast, the Gibson pickup has its wire pass through holes on the right and they are set back about three screw hole diameters from the screw hole. The Gibson pickup housing solder points are much smaller and in four places vs the two on the Eppi. Gibson also chose to bring both thin black coil leads outside the housing to connect to the main pickup lead vs Eppi only bringing one out. Gibson wrapped the north coil lead solder joint in electrical tape (which promptly fell off when I touched it, should have been shrink wrapped). Gibson does not offer a neck vs bridge option. The Eppi bridge pickup measured at 9.42ohms (8.39ohms for the neck pickup) the Gibson pickup measured at 8.48ohms.
Close up of the Epiphone wiring - fairly neat, secure and robust solder job.
Close up of Gibson wiring - looks secure on the south or ground side but the north or hot side looks relatively frail. Tape fell off and I'm a bit concerned about the potential for thin black insulation on the hot wire to be cut into by the pickup housing (I'll be installing shrink wrap on the wire solder joint and putting a dab of silicone caulking in the pass through hole to act as a rubber grommet).
Big difference on wire type used as well - for those that don't want to pull their pickups out to see what they have, you might be able to spot the difference in the control cavity of the bass. The Gibson wire is shown on top and Epiphone on the bottom - note the Epiphone wire is a bit larger gauge, it has an insulating black vinyl wrap over the grounding mesh, thick pull back cloth wrap under the mesh and a multi strand hot core. The Gibson wire has no outer wrap to prevent unwanted grounding, the overall wire size is smaller, the pull back cloth insulation is thinner, the hot multi strand appears to be about the same size as the Epiphone.
It would be wonderful if somebody with ChinaBuckers (EY Humbuckers) could post similar photos so we can spot the differences in those vs the Gibby and Eppi offerings. All my ChinaBuckers are installed so they're a bit more difficult to photograph and measure the resistance on.
Spotting a Gibson Thunderbird Reissue Pickup vs an Epiphone Thunderbird 760 ProBucker Pickup
Epiphone on the left, Gibson on the right - Eppi is nickel Gibby is chrome, Eppi has larger screw holes, both pickups are nominally the same dimensions.
Epiphone on Left, Gibson on the Right - very different on the backside, Eppi has three holes in line on the left and one on the right, much longer solder seams, is stamped with "Epiphone USA" and has "HB-C" sticker indicating this is a Bridge pickup (neck would read HN-C). By contrast, the Gibson pickup has its wire pass through holes on the right and they are set back about three screw hole diameters from the screw hole. The Gibson pickup housing solder points are much smaller and in four places vs the two on the Eppi. Gibson also chose to bring both thin black coil leads outside the housing to connect to the main pickup lead vs Eppi only bringing one out. Gibson wrapped the north coil lead solder joint in electrical tape (which promptly fell off when I touched it, should have been shrink wrapped). Gibson does not offer a neck vs bridge option. The Eppi bridge pickup measured at 9.42ohms (8.39ohms for the neck pickup) the Gibson pickup measured at 8.48ohms.
Close up of the Epiphone wiring - fairly neat, secure and robust solder job.
Close up of Gibson wiring - looks secure on the south or ground side but the north or hot side looks relatively frail. Tape fell off and I'm a bit concerned about the potential for thin black insulation on the hot wire to be cut into by the pickup housing (I'll be installing shrink wrap on the wire solder joint and putting a dab of silicone caulking in the pass through hole to act as a rubber grommet).
Big difference on wire type used as well - for those that don't want to pull their pickups out to see what they have, you might be able to spot the difference in the control cavity of the bass. The Gibson wire is shown on top and Epiphone on the bottom - note the Epiphone wire is a bit larger gauge, it has an insulating black vinyl wrap over the grounding mesh, thick pull back cloth wrap under the mesh and a multi strand hot core. The Gibson wire has no outer wrap to prevent unwanted grounding, the overall wire size is smaller, the pull back cloth insulation is thinner, the hot multi strand appears to be about the same size as the Epiphone.
It would be wonderful if somebody with ChinaBuckers (EY Humbuckers) could post similar photos so we can spot the differences in those vs the Gibby and Eppi offerings. All my ChinaBuckers are installed so they're a bit more difficult to photograph and measure the resistance on.
Last edited:
Awww, you're too sweet.
I'll come up with an idea or 2.
But I'm figuring a good local Seattle brew will do just fine.
I have a 1968 Fender Precision bass in 100% original condition, including the case. I'm hoping he gets every penny he's asking for that thing. If he does, mines going on the block for $1000 less. What a bargain!
the soup and salad are passable….the rest…….wonder if you're only family when you're there….
Flats on Thunderbirds (some anyway) sound great. TIs and Fender Flats may be available and are not bad.
Currently on Thunderbirds:
'64 - SIT Power Wounds (NPS)
'76 - Roto 66s
'06 - LaBella Black Nylon Tapes (great choice)
Epi Vintage Pro - GHS Precision Flats
Epi VP - SIT Pro Steels
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,915
- 142,443
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
I'd consider selling my '64 Pbass for $10k less. The body was professionally refined decades ago and I'd bet the bass itself that it sounds better than that one listed.
A 1000 or less?!!!
I'll take it!
I've never seen any '68 P.
Even in tip top original shape go for more then 8K
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,631
- 222,222
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
+1 on all of the above!
From a friend at work:
"My son is a senior at UT Austin getting an RTF degree and has a post-audio/sound design internship in LA (Burbank area) this summer, but currently has no place to live. If you happen to have family or friends that that live out in that area that might be willing to rent out a room for the summer to an awesome well-mannered young man, then please let me know. We, of course, are also looking at short term rentals and colleges, and long-term hotels."
No known bass, much less Thunderbird, associations, alas.
I don't know the son, but I know the dad, and trust his judgement. PM me with any leads. Thanks!
"My son is a senior at UT Austin getting an RTF degree and has a post-audio/sound design internship in LA (Burbank area) this summer, but currently has no place to live. If you happen to have family or friends that that live out in that area that might be willing to rent out a room for the summer to an awesome well-mannered young man, then please let me know. We, of course, are also looking at short term rentals and colleges, and long-term hotels."
No known bass, much less Thunderbird, associations, alas.
I don't know the son, but I know the dad, and trust his judgement. PM me with any leads. Thanks!
If you have time, what's the purpose of the thimble? Providing some resistance* or an insulator/protector?
*My ignorance likely really showing here.
If you get SIT strings over there, I'd recommend trying their Power Steels. Raise the pickups up close to the strings, put the neck pickup on full and the bridge rolled off a bit, and enjoy.
