Thunderbird Club

[Rickplaysbass]

On a P, I wouldn’t be found of a third pick up in that neck position.
Love to know who makes the other 2 though.

I could see it working lightly up to beef up the bridge maybe.

 

[Ringhammer]

That pickup looks comfortable enough to anchor a thumb on. As are the TB+. The Jazz type pickups are very squared off, so they have a sharp corner. Not good.

View attachment 5473700

From the time I started playing, I rested my thumb on the J-bass pickup in my first good bass, which was an Ibanez Roadstar II that I had modified with an EMG P/J set. Over time I realized I was playing a little too close to the bridge, and getting a little too thin of a tone. But, if I moved to the neck pickup to rest my thumb, the string tension was harder to deal with when playing fast. What I did a long time ago was put a thumbrest/tugbar between the two pickups. You can see it on these two:

It’s a shame I put the screw hole in the body, but this is done on basses I will likely not ever sell.

It was only recently when I found solid rosewood tug bars that I found a way to do this without putting any screw holes in the body part where there’s no pickguard. By moving the tugbar closer to the neck pickup, notching the tugbar at the corner where it meets the neck pickup so I could get the center of the tugbar at the edge of the pick guard, drilling a hole in the center of the tugbar, and using the hole closest to the neck pickup and the new center hole into the pickguard, putting a dummy screw head in the screw hole that’s is over the body, and filing the bottom of the tugbar so it sits on the pickguard and body evenly.

I did all this on a bass I had that had a great finish and grain showing so I didn’t want to mess that up. Unfortunately I had already put the ones on the pictured ones years ago, so damage done…

 

[5StringBlues]

Correction, the keyboardist is not Zappa alumni.

Damn good song and pretty good band! Biggest surprise? All Zappa alumni.

 

[JIO]

I loved Vettes up through 1982. But 1984-2019 were all meh looking. The current gen? Oooh, baby. Including that blue.

I was not a fan of the '70s Vette's - especially after the grotesque safety bumpers. Then they got really conservative looking in the '80s. (it was in the water then...) Things finally turned around and lately they've rediscovered their purpose on earth - to create a US made awesome 'sports-car'.

 

[Stealth57]

From the time I started playing, I rested my thumb on the J-bass pickup in my first good bass, which was an Ibanez Roadstar II that I had modified with an EMG P/J set. Over time I realized I was playing a little too close to the bridge, and getting a little too thin of a tone. But, if I moved to the neck pickup to rest my thumb, the string tension was harder to deal with when playing fast. What I did a long time ago was put a thumbrest/tugbar between the two pickups. You can see it on these two:

View attachment 5473774

It’s a shame I put the screw hole in the body, but this is done on basses I will likely not ever sell.

It was only recently when I found solid rosewood tug bars that I found a way to do this without putting any screw holes in the body part where there’s no pickguard. By moving the tugbar closer to the neck pickup, notching the tugbar at the corner where it meets the neck pickup so I could get the center of the tugbar at the edge of the pick guard, drilling a hole in the center of the tugbar, and using the hole closest to the neck pickup and the new center hole into the pickguard, putting a dummy screw head in the screw hole that’s is over the body, and filing the bottom of the tugbar so it sits on the pickguard and body evenly.

I did all this on a bass I had that had a great finish and grain showing so I didn’t want to mess that up. Unfortunately I had already put the ones on the pictured ones years ago, so damage done…

Dano ditto. Though mostly because lipstick pick ups are a bit too small to anchor my thumb.

 

[BklynKen]

From the time I started playing, I rested my thumb on the J-bass pickup in my first good bass, which was an Ibanez Roadstar II that I had modified with an EMG P/J set. Over time I realized I was playing a little too close to the bridge, and getting a little too thin of a tone. But, if I moved to the neck pickup to rest my thumb, the string tension was harder to deal with when playing fast. What I did a long time ago was put a thumbrest/tugbar between the two pickups. You can see it on these two:

View attachment 5473774

It’s a shame I put the screw hole in the body, but this is done on basses I will likely not ever sell.

It was only recently when I found solid rosewood tug bars that I found a way to do this without putting any screw holes in the body part where there’s no pickguard. By moving the tugbar closer to the neck pickup, notching the tugbar at the corner where it meets the neck pickup so I could get the center of the tugbar at the edge of the pick guard, drilling a hole in the center of the tugbar, and using the hole closest to the neck pickup and the new center hole into the pickguard, putting a dummy screw head in the screw hole that’s is over the body, and filing the bottom of the tugbar so it sits on the pickguard and body evenly.

I did all this on a bass I had that had a great finish and grain showing so I didn’t want to mess that up. Unfortunately I had already put the ones on the pictured ones years ago, so damage done…

That's cool, but I like the tension at the bridge.

 

[BklynKen]

Dano ditto. Though mostly because lipstick pick ups are a bit too small to anchor my thumb.

View attachment 5473816

Funny, I never had a problem anchoring my thumb on my Danelectro's lipstick pickup.

 

[MCF]

That pickup looks comfortable enough to anchor a thumb on. As are the TB+. The Jazz type pickups are very squared off, so they have a sharp corner. Not good.

View attachment 5473700

As an Epi fanboy, all I can say is that the standard Epi iv pickups with the curved pickup ends are a joy for us finger players.

 

[MCF]

Words by Neil young? I love that song. Everything from that album that was recorded in the barn has a fantastic sound and vibe to it. I'm guessing the song on veronica's set list is words by missing persons. Makes sense, coming in after CARS.

Yep. I guess few here know the song. But it’s epic. We’re brothers here String. Please keep sticking around.

 

[5StringBlues]

Man, I learned so much in this thread. This is 1 of the better places on talk base. I don't post here much, but I pretty much read all of the thread. It may take 2 hours in the middle of the night every now and then to catch up but so be it..

Yep. I guess few here know the song. But it’s epic. We’re brothers here String. Please keep sticking around.

 

[5StringBlues]

Alexa learn how to spell base is base instead of bass so I don't have to say bass

 

[MCF]

I loved Vettes up through 1982. But 1984-2019 were all meh looking. The current gen? Oooh, baby. Including that blue.

So you liked the bloated 70’s models? Chevy designers have pretty much sucked since 1970. I do like the look of the new vette though.

 

[JIO]

As an Epi fanboy, all I can say is that the standard Epi iv pickups with the curved pickup ends are a joy for us finger players.

I never use finger or thumb rests. If they come on a bass and are in the way - I remove them, otherwise I leave them for vintage reference 'looks'. I use my right-hand pinky as a stilt to ground playing/articulation, usually right behind the bridge pu. Wear-marks there confirm. I have a pic somewhere that illustrates this but it would be exhausting to find it amid thousands of pics.

 

[MCF]

Man, I learned so much in this thread. This is 1 of the better places on talk base. I don't post here much, but I pretty much read all of the thread. It may take 2 hours in the middle of the night every now and then to catch up but so be it..

We’re happy to have you here my friend. From what I’ve observed over the years, you and I have a similar sense of humor.

 

[JIO]

Alexa learn how to spell base is base instead of bass so I don't have to say bass

I hate a computer talking to me - I finally found a way to disengage that annoying program.

 

[5StringBlues]

Yes, another reason I come to this thread. A lot of twisted blankety blanks blank blanks like ourselves.

We’re happy to have you here my friend. From what I’ve observed over the years, you and I have a similar sense of humor.

 

[5StringBlues]

She's in the fire stick program or whatever the hell it is, I am not a technical guy at all. She doesn't talk back. And I'm not going there..

I hate a computer talking to me - I finally found a way to disengage that annoying program.

 

[JIO]

She's in the fire stick program or whatever the hell it is, I am not a technical guy at all. She doesn't talk back. And I'm not going there..

When I used to respond to "her" (it), its response back to me was "I won't respond to that". Maybe someday in the future it will be un-"PC" to talk to computers like that... hopefully after I'm... not around.

 

[JIO]

All this Talk-Ric... never played one but always thought these were cool... ('76 currently on eBay - no affiliation)

 

[Ringhammer]

So you liked the bloated 70’s models? Chevy designers have pretty much sucked since 1970. I do like the look of the new vette though.

Never been big on corvettes, but I liked the ‘68-‘72,(73?) while they still had chrome front AND rear bumpers.

Though they aren’t as fast or would nearly handle as well, I’ll take a big ole ‘69 Charger or ‘70 Challenger over a ‘vette any day, but that just my personal taste. ‘70-‘73 Formula (not Trans Am) Firebirds and ‘66-‘69 GTO even.