Thunderbird Club

[SubHuman]

I had to do that with my '89, used a reamer - you have much more control with it.

Thanks T-Birders for the help!

 

[SubHuman]

Next step on the VP64 conversion. Titebond III a block so I have a place to screw in the spacer Irv made (shown on the neck cavity just for demonstration.

View attachment 5447417 View attachment 5447418

Pretty Slick!

 

[Count Bassie]

I need to drill the tuner holes on a through neck bass so probably won't be able to use my drill press. Too awkward to hold. I'm concerned with the headstock finish chipping if I use a hand drill and 14mm bit so thinking about buying a reamer to open the holes up a little. I can't believe it is so close! What do y'all think? hand drill or reamer?
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I'd be inclined to use a drill, from the back of the headstock. I like the drillpress idea: If you couldjig up a way to clamp the bass into a poition so the headstock is flat to the table you could have control and avoid chipping. But it would be time-intensive and you'd be engineering something a little crazy. But that's me...

 

[GonePlaid]

Purely intended to put butts on the dance floor, simple repetitive monotonous beat to keep ‘em on the dance floor. No creative bass line, no significant vocal arrangement, cheap electronic generated club dub, trance music. Five minutes of it and I’m done.

Five? I'm in the door, hear that, out the door.

 

[Rickplaysbass]

I did an interesting chop job on a T-40 when I was still a young player. Ended up giving it to a local band's bass player. He really dug it. Don't know where it is now...

Still weighed 11.7 after the chop. Lolol

 

[GonePlaid]

Of all my Thunderbirds, only the ‘15 and one of the Epi Custom Shops have 1.5 nuts. Weird. I need more Gibson neck through reverses. Right? Oh. And the BaCh nut is a 1.5.

All of my Thunderbirds have a 1.5" nut. All one of them.

 

[Stealth57]

Moving the bridge pickup closer to the neck right?

~3/8”

 

[Stealth57]

That’ll turn out to be a slick solution. What did you use to cut the rout?

Richard did it with a small router, top bearing bit, and used the trim ring as a guide.

 

[Stealth57]

Pretty Slick!

Glad Irv got that Christmas present. Oh, and the skill to do it!

 

[JIO]

I still have my Japanese Gitane that I bought in ‘78.

Japanese Gitane? Gitane was/is? a French company and most Euro brands didn't start having their bikes made outside of their own country until much later AFAIA.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Geo - always enjoy reading your observations. Insightful and informative. Hadn’t really made the connection with the prevalence of micro speakers in phones, laptops and iPads (primary listening devices these days) and how that’s driving how sound is mixed.

Compare that with the monster Cerwin Vega and Pioneer speakers and subwoofers that we listened through in the 70’s through the 90’s home stereo systems as our primary music listening devices.

More people listen with ear buds or headphones, or through bluetooth speakers than not, so I'd still expect better bass mixing. I'm sure what geo said accounts for some of it, though.

 

[JIO]

Ugh. Such a great band. We need to find a date they’re playing so the gang can see them. Hopefully they fix that problem.

They were just at the Great American Music Hall recently. You would have loved it - they played "Hey Hey, My My" with a film of Neil playing above the stage. I've talked with Jim Thomas in the past and Neil is a big favorite of his.


Slim's (Boz Scaggs' place) - Bond Girl played there ... been closed for about 6 yrs now.

 

[Count Bassie]

Still weighed 11.7 after the chop. Lolol

Actually with a skilsaw and a belt sander, you can do a lot of chopping...

 

[MCF]

Japanese Gitane? Gitane was/is? a French company and most Euro brands didn't start having their bikes made outside of their own country until much later AFAIA.

Mine is a made in Japan Gitane with all Shimano running gear. It was $285 at the bike shop on Main Street in Huntington Beach in 1978. Another Mystery Gitane - Bike Forums. I’ll get pics later Geo. It’s a nice bike for what it is. It was my daily commuter to and from UCI during my junior and senior years. I actually rode it in a few mini triathlons when I was in law school. The bike legs were always my worst.

 

[MCF]

They were just at the Great American Music Hall recently. You would have loved it - they played "Hey Hey, My My" with a film of Neil playing above the stage. I've talked with Jim Thomas in the past and Neil is a big favorite of his.


Slim's (Boz Scaggs' place) - Bond Girl played there ... been closed for about 6 yrs now.


View attachment 5447475

Cool! Yes. I really want to see them live. I suspect he and Neil know each other.

 

[MCF]

Glad Irv got that Christmas present. Oh, and the skill to do it!

Dude is setting himself up for a retirement gig. I wish he would have bought the Thunderbucker stuff. We all should have gone in together and bought it. Put Irv in charge. Woulda, coulda, shoulda had any of us been thinking.

 

[JIO]

Cool! Yes. I really want to see them live. I suspect he and Neil know each other.

Who knows - Jim's favorite two guitarists are Neil and Jimi Hendrix. I turned him on to Nels Cline many years ago, and then started seeing him and Jennifer at his shows! (way pre Wilco)

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Ah, you cannot resist the call of a Thunderbird. It only makes it more insistent. It will be calling you at home, at work, at the doctor's office (but we won't get into why).

It's a siren call, but Odysseus' trick of stuffing the ears won't work.

 

[MCF]

Richard did it with a small router, top bearing bit, and used the trim ring as a guide.

Excellent! It’s great to have talented friends. We are a lucky group. This club is AWESOME!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Something more like this I’m afraid.
1975 SCHWINN VARSITY MENS 10-SPEED LIME GREEN ROAD BIKE CONTINENTAL RACER SPRINT | eBay

If it were local I'd go try the fit, but it's in WI and I'm pretty sure it's too small. Whew!