Thunderbird Club

[bylar13]

I've been playing Thunderbirds since, around, 1986, when I was in a Washington DC punk band called (surprise) King Face. I'm pretty sure this was a 1976 Bicentennial. Sold it for $400 back in 1991 (which was not as big as the regret I have for selling my white 1963 Fender Jazz for $500 back in 1987! SO stupid!)

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I think I was in a band that may have opened for you way back when.... I played bass in Electric Love Muffin. from Philadelphia.

 

[hillerup]

Yours truly with Will @Gaolee today for the Seattle are GTG

And with Louis @catcauphonic

Looks like you guys are having fun!

 

[kat888]

Looks like you guys are having fun!

Your average devil-may-care Bird herder tends to have more fun.

 

[KingFace]

I think I was in a band that may have opened for you way back when.... I played bass in Electric Love Muffin. from Philadelphia.

I totally remember you guys! (I mean with a name like that, how could one not!?) Did you guys get to DC much? I remember one particularly insane show at Club Pizzazz in Philly, where we played with our friends, Scream. It was their drummer, Kent's, last couple shows with them, before our pal, Dave Grohl took over. I remember sitting behind the drum riser with Dave while Scream was playing. Everything was cool until the skinheads there got a little feisty, and the whole night devolved into a police vs. skins situation. In fact, I left my Thunderbird at the club in the rush to get the hell out of there and drive to Boston. We fetched in on the way home the next night.
Ah, punk in the 80s

 

[hillerup]

Haven't posted here in a VERY long while. But, in that time I've been sorta busy...and sorta busy collecting a very particular breed of Thunderbird. Specifically, the 1979 ebony finish 'Birds. Which, according to Larry Meiner's book "Gibson Shipment Totals: 1937-1979", Gibson shipped only 7 of them on its final year. It took me a number of years, but I've managed to source four of them.
And yeah, it was exhausting!
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Wow... Just WOW!!!

Not leaving much to the rest of us, are you?

With the n+1 equation, I guess you better go for the remaining three as well, right?

 

[PillO]

Haven't posted here in a VERY long while. But, in that time I've been sorta busy...and sorta busy collecting a very particular breed of Thunderbird. Specifically, the 1979 ebony finish 'Birds. Which, according to Larry Meiner's book "Gibson Shipment Totals: 1937-1979", Gibson shipped only 7 of them on its final year. It took me a number of years, but I've managed to source four of them.
And yeah, it was exhausting!
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That's really cool. So, by my math, you own more than 50% of the 1979 ebony birds and nearly 20% of the 1979 birds.

If I had a 1979 bird, I would be very happy that you have amassed such a collection, as it would make my bird(s) more valuable.

 

[PillO]

Yea! That was such a great time! @TBird1958, your inbox is full ... was gonna submit the few photos i took (all are of you!) for posting approval. Putting my fave up anyway

Everybody was underdressed standing next to @TBird1958 . Dude, it was so good finally meeting you ... but next time wear a nametag. And let's not wait til next year to have a frosty beverage together

Here's the bird section with a fine pair of gams in it >
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Next Seattle get together, I may have to jump on a plane and join you all.

 

[DerekW]

I've been playing Thunderbirds since, around, 1986, when I was in a Washington DC punk band called (surprise) King Face. I'm pretty sure this was a 1976 Bicentennial. Sold it for $400 back in 1991 (which was not as big as the regret I have for selling my white 1963 Fender Jazz for $500 back in 1987! SO stupid!)

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Well, seeing what a shrewd negotiator you are, how much for a couple of those ebony birds? Take a g-note each, cash money, no haggle pricing?

 

[hillerup]

From the little I've been able to find on them I was thinking the TV Silver was the same pickups and hardware as the white. Care to throw out an opinion on how they compare to the TB+ pickups? I'm assuming the same pickups on yours as on the one in the link you provided.

Edit: it says those ARE TB+, so I'm left to assume they're the same as the black, shiny covers being the only difference. Sure would like some confirmation though. Anyone?

I remember Uwe from Last Bass Outpost getting one of those and showing us the pups, they were 6 pole guitar pickups as I recall.
I think the person we want chime in is Michael (Hillerup) as he likely can offer an opinion on your comparison. IIRC he has basses with both types of pickups.

I have a LE TV Silver and a LE Silverburst with those chrome pickups, which I'm pretty sure are the same ones as on the LE Vintage Sunburst, Alpine White and Ebony ones...

I haven't yet have mine taken out, so I can't confirm or deny whether they are in fact 6 pole guitar pickups as elsewhere stated. However in my band context with a virtual rig, they sound pretty much the same as my Epi birds with the black hardware. The really difference (if any) might very well be due to different strings on them - Some of mine with black hardware has Black Beauties or RotoSound RS66 Swing Bass strings (stainless steel) on them, whereas the TV Silver and Silverburst have RotoSound Roto's (nickel on steel) on them.

Will have a look on the pickups next time I get them home...

 

[KingFace]

Well, seeing what a shrewd negotiator you are, how much for a couple of those ebony birds? Take a g-note each, cash money, no haggle pricing?

Tempting! Especially with the no-haggling

 

[DerekW]

Tempting! Especially with the no-haggling

Sounds good, we'll split the shipping cost.

 

[wolfkeller]

Got the cool Kat knobs, now I'm REALLY rockin, but not with Dokken.

 

[wolfkeller]

Tempting! Especially with the no-haggling

Hey bro, got a big lot of old punk records for ya, just need your, um, address. Hahahaha!

 

[Gaolee]

Now you has SVT GAS?

Nope. Not me. I can't speak for anybody else. I'm getting slowly converted to some GK GAS, though. Not enough to give up the big ol' Acoustics, which means it will be untreated GAS. But there it is. That's what I liked.

Too many pedals involved on Sunday to really hear what anything sounded like anyway. There was a demonstration by a guy who is a spectacular player. He was dancing on pedals a bit, and I could hear some subtle differences, but not enough to make all the electronic wizardry worthwhile.

Get offa my lawn!

What he said about his amp (GK) had to do with finding sonic space for each instrument. That made a huge amount of sense to me, and his comments about how GK's eq capabilities help him do that for bass fueled a little of my budding GK GAS. But, I have a ToneHammer to do that kind of thing with, so there you have it.

 

[Gaolee]

And there were a lot of Jazz clones. I still don't like 'em. Only one Ric. I still like 'em but only enough to like 'em. Not enough to buy another one, let alone multiples. There was a fretless coffee table thing that had seven strings, a neck like an aircraft carrier deck, and a fingerboard that was undoubtedly some kind of exotic wood. Only problem, the exotic wood looked like bleached MDF to me. I'm clearly not the target audience for something like that. Straight ahead and fairly simple is good. More than that is too much.

 

[kat888]

There was a demonstration by a guy who is a spectacular player. He was dancing on pedals a bit, and I could hear some subtle differences, but not enough to make all the electronic wizardry worthwhile.

Get offa my lawn!

Bloody penguins!

+10 on the subtle differences in many pedals. Either go large or not at all.

 

[MCF]

It was a lot of fun. It's always loud, and there's always a whole lot of slapping and popping by people who are virtuosos. (I'm not a virtuoso and can't play one on TV.) All the boutique stuff didn't make me want boutique stuff, but it was fun to see. And, I got to play Mark's '77 for a bit. Its neck is just a hair chunkier than the later ones. I like it a lot. Plus, I really like the purple paint. The best part was seeing Mark and Louis.

Glad to see you made it and were representing with the '15. I'm sad that I live a thousand miles away.
I'm with you on the boutique stuff. I'm perfectly happy with my '15, my Goth, my MIM Fenders and my Ibenez. I'm still gassing for a 4003. Someday.

 

[JJR58]

Next Seattle get together, I may have to jump on a plane and join you all.

I would also. But the cost of a ticket from NY, Thunderbird, GTG?.......

 

[Gaolee]

Your average devil-may-care Bird herder tends to have more fun.

It's all in the attitude. Or maybe the wrist. Or knobs. I dunno.

 

[bylar13]

I totally remember you guys! (I mean with a name like that, how could one not!?) Did you guys get to DC much? I remember one particularly insane show at Club Pizzazz in Philly, where we played with our friends, Scream. It was their drummer, Kent's, last couple shows with them, before our pal, Dave Grohl took over. I remember sitting behind the drum riser with Dave while Scream was playing. Everything was cool until the skinheads there got a little feisty, and the whole night devolved into a police vs. skins situation. In fact, I left my Thunderbird at the club in the rush to get the hell out of there and drive to Boston. We fetched in on the way home the next night.
Ah, punk in the 80s

Too funny! Small world and all ot that...We played the 9:30 club a bunch, plus DC Space and I think it was the Cheetah Club(?) we played there with Ignition, I think the singe was Ian MacAye"s brother(?). We also opened for Govt Issue and MArginal Man inPhilly.

Punk in the 1980's WAS fun. I got to meet all of my musical hero's pretty much face to face. Over the years and thorugh touring the US/Canada a couple of times We opened for Husker Du, Meat Puppets, Soul Asylum, Dead Kennedys Mudhoney, The Fluid, Goo Goo Dolls , The Lemonheads, etc etc. I miss not working and having no responsibility to anyone but my band mates and myself!