Thunderbird Club

[ectoflanger]

So it arrived and looks pretty good between my other green ones:
View attachment 5454658

Changed the strings to a bit lighter ones (had an old set of D'addario EXL170) and luckily as it is a string through body the long scale strings do fit even 'though I may try medium scales for it.
Pickups are hot and I lowered them quite a bit. Then a quarter of a turn of the truss rod and that's about it. Doesn't feel that heavy to me and balances nicely with the strap.

I made the obligatory sample. Some stupid riffing with a drum part taken from an older song. First both pickups on with a pick, neck pickup with a thumb (which felt and most likely sounds like it got stuck between the strings), repeat that, then the bridge pickup with fingers and then both pickups played separately in stereo.
Definitely dark sounding bass. I like it.
View attachment 5454661

There's definitely a harmony of colors between the basses as well as with the home decor-

 

[kyral210]

Young contemporary bands I don't know about, but Saxon's long-time bassist Nibs Carter has lately been playing a sunburst 'Bird on tour-

As great as Saxon are, it's hard to classify them as contemporary.

 

[Gaolee]

OK, Marshall. We are here to enable. If you haven't seen this one yet, it's got your name written all over it. I sure can't explain the price. It might be a scam since it seems too good to be true.

https://reverb.com/item/35737594-gibson-thunderbird-ii-non-reverse-1967-blue

 

[ectoflanger]

As great as Saxon are, it's hard to classify them as contemporary.

True, true- that was weighing on me- semantics get me every time- sometimes my friend, sometimes my foe- but Saxon are still writing and performing new material-

 

[PhR75]

It was 80's bands who inspired me not only to play bass, but fretless, whom I liked and still like to this day. But the songs were a bit off the mainstream-

To name the primary three, the first would be Icehouse featuring Guy Pratt on the Sidewalk and Measure for Measure albums, and whoever it was who played bass on the Man of Colours track "The Kingdom".

The thing about Icehouse was that, although they wrote straight up pop songs like "Hey Little Girl" and "Street Cafe", they also wrote deeply, haunting and atmospheric pieces like this one, the first fretless bass line I ever learned-



The subtle beginning with the roto-toms and the bass' three note slur at 1:22 still knock me out to this day-

I also liked the tracks "No Promises", "Angel Street", "The Flame", and "Spanish Gold" from that album.

The next would be The Fixx with Dan K. Brown's lovely work on the Walkabout album in 1986. Although the single was "Secret Separation", my two favorites were the relatively unknown "Read Between the Lines" and "Camphor", featuring nice work on Dan's Wal MK II fretless five- in fact they were so unknown that I was the first person to post them on YouTube as they did not appear on anthologies and Walkabout was no longer in print, nor were those two songs available as downloads from Amazon or iTunes.

A quick aside, after about six months to a year and so many views, a temporary hold was put on public viewing of those vids (though no castigation regarding copyright violation), after which the hold was removed and the videos appeared with a notice that they could not only be downloaded individually but that the entire album could be purchased via Amazon or iTunes.

Here are the two vids I submitted back in 2009 or so, debuting their appearance on YouTube- with the first, I added the pictorial and both have the lyrics, which I thought were phenomenal, in the description-





Made me want a Wal MK II fretless five, but alas they were rare and very expensive, so I had to settle for a good replacement, the Warwick Thumb NT 5-

Finally, Thomas Dolby's Golden Age of Wireless album- always liked "One of Our Submarines" although I hated "She Blinded Me with Science" (did not know it was the same artist, having never made the connection when I heard them on the radio. It wasn't until the advent of the internet that I have found out who it was.); the paired songs "Wreck of the Fairchild/Airwaves" featuring Mark Heyward Chaplin comping with his Fender Jazz have enthralled ever since I discovered them much later when I friend shared "Airwaves" at around 2009.

As with my other T-Bird club members, there are a lot of bands I have liked, but these are the ones who influenced me to play bass -

So, that's pretty much it- I tend to be song oriented, and not so much loyalty to bands on the whole-

Dan K. Brown is an excellent bassist. Didn't know he played a Wal too, I only assumed him with the Steinberger he started to use on "Phantoms" and onwards.
He had a fusion background and played on Isotope's last album "The Deep End" in 1976. Gary Boyle on guitar.

Another great player was Matthew Seligman who played with Dolby too and was a member of The Soft Boys, one of the best bands of the punk/new wave era who didn't really fit.

 

[TBird1958]

It was 80's bands who inspired me not only to play bass, but fretless, whom I liked and still like to this day. But the songs were a bit off the mainstream-

To name the primary three, the first would be Icehouse featuring Guy Pratt on the Sidewalk and Measure for Measure albums, and whoever it was who played bass on the Man of Colours track "The Kingdom".

The thing about Icehouse was that, although they wrote straight up pop songs like "Hey Little Girl" and "Street Cafe", they also wrote deeply, haunting and atmospheric pieces like this one, the first fretless bass line I ever learned-



The subtle beginning with the roto-toms and the bass' three note slur at 1:22 still knock me out to this day-

I also liked the tracks "No Promises", "Angel Street", "The Flame", and "Spanish Gold" from that album.

The next would be The Fixx with Dan K. Brown's lovely work on the Walkabout album in 1986. Although the single was "Secret Separation", my two favorites were the relatively unknown "Read Between the Lines" and "Camphor", featuring nice work on Dan's Wal MK II fretless five- in fact they were so unknown that I was the first person to post them on YouTube as they did not appear on anthologies and Walkabout was no longer in print, nor were those two songs available as downloads from Amazon or iTunes.

A quick aside, after about six months to a year and so many views, a temporary hold was put on public viewing of those vids (though no castigation regarding copyright violation), after which the hold was removed and the videos appeared with a notice that they could not only be downloaded individually but that the entire album could be purchased via Amazon or iTunes.

Here are the two vids I submitted back in 2009 or so, debuting their appearance on YouTube- with the first, I added the pictorial and both have the lyrics, which I thought were phenomenal, in the description-





Made me want a Wal MK II fretless five, but alas they were rare and very expensive, so I had to settle for a good replacement, the Warwick Thumb NT 5-

Finally, Thomas Dolby's Golden Age of Wireless album- always liked "One of Our Submarines" although I hated "She Blinded Me with Science" (did not know it was the same artist, having never made the connection when I heard them on the radio. It wasn't until the advent of the internet that I have found out who it was.); the paired songs "Wreck of the Fairchild/Airwaves" featuring Mark Heyward Chaplin comping with his Fender Jazz have enthralled ever since I discovered them much later when I friend shared "Airwaves" at around 2009.

As with my other T-Bird club members, there are a lot of bands I have liked, but these are the ones who influenced me to play bass -

So, that's pretty much it- I tend to be song oriented, and not so much loyalty to bands on the whole-

I love The Fixx, great '80s band, they had a couple of really good bassist' the work on "One thing leads to another" is stellar. We recently discussed playing that song so I looked up a YT bass tutorial where the fellow was playing a Wal and really copping it well, needless to say probably above my abilities! '80s was actually a great decade of music, easily my fave, so many cool bands and different styles and influences.

This guy here,

 

[PhR75]

I love The Fixx, great '80s band, they had a couple of really good bassist' the work on "One thing leads to another" is stellar. We recently discussed playing that song so I looked up a YT bass tutorial where the fellow was playing a Wal and really copping it well, needless to say probably above my abilities! '80s was actually a great decade of music, easily my fave, so many cool bands and different styles and influences.

This guy here,

The original was most likely played on a Fender Jazz (not saying you or the guy in the video said it was Wal). Alfie Agius was responsible for that bassline, he was with the band for a short time and was let go during the recording of the album.
50% of the album "Reach The Beach" has no bass guitar at all actually.

 

[TBird1958]

Well, here we are......This is actually from a different source than the clip I was talking about earlier, we doinked the pauses - you can see me laughing about it.

Violent Femmes on a Lull.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Well, here we are......This is actually from a different source than the clip I was talking about earlier, we doinked the pauses - you can see me laughing about it.

Violent Femmes on a Lull.

phat tone!….

 

[ectoflanger]

Dan K. Brown is an excellent bassist. Didn't know he played a Wal too, I only assumed him with the Steinberger he started to use on "Phantoms" and onwards.
He had a fusion background and played on Isotope's last album "The Deep End" in 1976. Gary Boyle on guitar.

Another great player was Matthew Seligman who played with Dolby too and was a member of The Soft Boys, one of the best bands of the punk/new wave era who didn't really fit.

Did't know Dan K. Brown played fusion, but not surprised.

Matthew Seligman I discovered when the same friend who shared "Airwaves", turned me on to Dolby's "Screen Kiss"-



Dan K. Brown with Wal-

 

[Mvf]

isn't sales a great career choice?…

I loved my job. Was in sales totally for almost 40 years, in the same branch all that time, but working for two different companies. After staying 27 years at one company, I moved over to a competitor. Same customers, new suppliers, more products.
What I liked is that I basically could do my job as I wanted, nobody was there checking me out all the time or telling what to do, very independent job. And as I said, home office when I started at the second company.
I was doing trading of raw materials for steel plants and foundries, and my sales area was the Nordic Countries, Baltics and also Russia, Ukraine and Belrussia, until 2014.
And suppliers where mainly in Europe, but especially alloys and pig iron I bought from all around the world. So a lot of travelling all over the globe. And I surely enjoyed it.
And now I enjoy my retired life, and my calendar seems even more full than before....

 

[TBird1958]

phat tone!….

Trace Elliott + SWR + Lull and nothing else!

 

[MCF]

I can't think of an album produced by Eno that I didn't like, or those by Alan Parsons, or Rupert Hine for that matter. Mind you I haven't always liked their own projects, but I've liked what they've done for other musicians and bands.

I'm a huge fan of James. Eno produced two of their best albums, Laid and Wah Wah.

 

[kyral210]

Trace Elliott + SWR + Lull and nothing else!

How import is the SWR cab to the tone?

 

[MCF]

IKEA indeed.

Thanks!

 

[MCF]

So it arrived and looks pretty good between my other green ones:
View attachment 5454658

Changed the strings to a bit lighter ones (had an old set of D'addario EXL170) and luckily as it is a string through body the long scale strings do fit even 'though I may try medium scales for it.
Pickups are hot and I lowered them quite a bit. Then a quarter of a turn of the truss rod and that's about it. Doesn't feel that heavy to me and balances nicely with the strap.

I made the obligatory sample. Some stupid riffing with a drum part taken from an older song. First both pickups on with a pick, neck pickup with a thumb (which felt and most likely sounds like it got stuck between the strings), repeat that, then the bridge pickup with fingers and then both pickups played separately in stereo.
Definitely dark sounding bass. I like it.
View attachment 5454661

Nice!

 

[TBird1958]

How import is the SWR cab to the tone?

I used to play through GK cabinets, 2 4x10s - For kicks one day I took my 700RB II head and a Thunderbird to The Bass Shop | Selected Used and Vintage Bass Guitars and tried an SWR 6x10 Goliath. It came home within minutes of hearing it, the voicing was so much better to me, much more depth in the lo mid and bass than a GK cab. I got rid of the GK's very shortly after that and have since picked a 4x10SWR as well, it stays upstairs in the spare bedroom practice room - soon to be Jeff's bedroom

 

[MCF]

OK, Marshall. We are here to enable. If you haven't seen this one yet, it's got your name written all over it. I sure can't explain the price. It might be a scam since it seems too good to be true.

https://reverb.com/item/35737594-gibson-thunderbird-ii-non-reverse-1967-blue

That one has been around for a long time. So long that what seemed like a high price for a repaired refin now seems reasonable. @D.M.N. tried to negotiate for it a couple years ago or so. I would think about it were I not in the poorhouse due to our good Uncle in April.

 

[Butcherboy]

Well, here we are......This is actually from a different source than the clip I was talking about earlier, we doinked the pauses - you can see me laughing about it.

Violent Femmes on a Lull.

…one of my all time top 10 songs….great….and one of the best record covers ever
…and a Bach NR w Lull pickup….

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

…one of my all time top 10 songs….great….and one of the best record covers ever
…and a Bach NR w Lull pickup….

View attachment 5454801

wow! looks like Marshall's….