- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,589
- 221,969
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
-
- Tags
- club thunderbird
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
The only groupie I ever had was 90 years old. Kinda hot for a 90 year old, though, so there's that.
one of my favorite live bands! They always put on a great show and engage the crowd.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,589
- 221,969
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
The older the berry, the sweeter the juice. Or something like that....
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,589
- 221,969
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
cool pic - looks like a pastel drawing!
Just checked and they have an HX One in stock. I use the HX Stomp Pitch Capo, which is the sdame effect in the HX One, for my down tuning and I think it works better than the Digitech version. YMMV.
But, it also has a TON of other effects that are quite useful and can be used in addition to the simple droptune. Or you can simply use it for the downtuning.
Seems like I'm not the only one... Also, I might need to try the Poly Pitch instead of Capo.
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Ditto and Ditto.
After I got it I realized the bird logo was upside down for the application I intended.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,589
- 221,969
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
How is that? If installed correctly the bird is right-side up, unless it's on a left-handed bass. Or did you want to install it above the E-string on a Fender P?
When I got my custom PG, I didn't have it drilled for the factory tug bar, which is now a thumb rest on my EB-0.
<w/tugbar 
new PG, no tugbar 
< 67 tugbar as thumbrest on Epi EB-0
The Fret King Esprit arrived yesterday. Beautiful condition and nice low action. Nice and light at 7 pounds 8 ounces. Perfectly balanced on a strap. Comfy neck and great top notch hardware and electronics. Love the look and the angel wing pickguard…
So how does she play?
First of all, nothing like a Tbird in feel or sound. Playing while seated forces my right hand to naturally fall at about the 20th fret on the 22 fret neck, playing over the pickup feels awkward because of the large rear bout. The thigh cutout on the lower bout is just barely adequate for seated playing (the bass has slipped out of my lap a couple of times, never had that happen on any bass before). Easy reach to all the tuners and nice shallow neck somewhere between a jazz and P bass in width. The controls are laid out nicely and intuitive especially if you’re a palm mute type player who keeps his right hand near the bridge. Overall, I’d say it’s a very nice playing bass but maybe a hair less so than my NR and Reverse Tbirds.
And how does she sound?
In a word, Different. A very distinct sound that would work fantastic in some songs and not at all in others. With the coil pan set on center and the tone knob fully up its not nearly as crisp and bright as a Stingray but slightly more so than most of my Tbirds. On the bottom end, with tone rolled off and the coil set to front only it’s less distinct and a bit muddy with more mids than my Tbirds in a similar setting (neck pup solo, tone off). In all settings it has substantially more grit, grind and growl than my birds. Hence, great for lots of hard rocking songs, but no so much so for mellow laid back stuff.
How effective is the Vari-Coil control?
It’s an interesting concept that has room for improvement. Basically it’s a pan or blend knob that allows you to pan or blend from one set of coils on the pickup to the other set of coils in the pickup. When turned all the way to the south coil you get a very convincing jazz bass bridge sound, when turned fully north you get a much thicker humbucker kinda Stingrayish sound. The problem with the actual application in this case is the pot used. The zero setting is full south coil, turn it to 2 and the much stronger north coil completely takes over, with no noticable change from about 2 to 10. A coil switch would have been just as effective and easier to use than this pot selection. There are pots out there that have different sweep patterns but might not come in a blend configuration. I’m thinking a true Fender blend pot would work better in this situation, but good luck finding one. @Stealth57 hows your true blend pot search going?
Is the bass a keeper?
Sure, it plays very nicely and does get into the Stingray territory, which none of my birds do very well. At some point I might consider just dropping a vintage PreEB Stingray pup and preamp into it. For now I’ll rock it with a smile, but I don’t see it sidelining any of my Tbirds.
So how does she play?
First of all, nothing like a Tbird in feel or sound. Playing while seated forces my right hand to naturally fall at about the 20th fret on the 22 fret neck, playing over the pickup feels awkward because of the large rear bout. The thigh cutout on the lower bout is just barely adequate for seated playing (the bass has slipped out of my lap a couple of times, never had that happen on any bass before). Easy reach to all the tuners and nice shallow neck somewhere between a jazz and P bass in width. The controls are laid out nicely and intuitive especially if you’re a palm mute type player who keeps his right hand near the bridge. Overall, I’d say it’s a very nice playing bass but maybe a hair less so than my NR and Reverse Tbirds.
And how does she sound?
In a word, Different. A very distinct sound that would work fantastic in some songs and not at all in others. With the coil pan set on center and the tone knob fully up its not nearly as crisp and bright as a Stingray but slightly more so than most of my Tbirds. On the bottom end, with tone rolled off and the coil set to front only it’s less distinct and a bit muddy with more mids than my Tbirds in a similar setting (neck pup solo, tone off). In all settings it has substantially more grit, grind and growl than my birds. Hence, great for lots of hard rocking songs, but no so much so for mellow laid back stuff.
How effective is the Vari-Coil control?
It’s an interesting concept that has room for improvement. Basically it’s a pan or blend knob that allows you to pan or blend from one set of coils on the pickup to the other set of coils in the pickup. When turned all the way to the south coil you get a very convincing jazz bass bridge sound, when turned fully north you get a much thicker humbucker kinda Stingrayish sound. The problem with the actual application in this case is the pot used. The zero setting is full south coil, turn it to 2 and the much stronger north coil completely takes over, with no noticable change from about 2 to 10. A coil switch would have been just as effective and easier to use than this pot selection. There are pots out there that have different sweep patterns but might not come in a blend configuration. I’m thinking a true Fender blend pot would work better in this situation, but good luck finding one. @Stealth57 hows your true blend pot search going?
Is the bass a keeper?
Sure, it plays very nicely and does get into the Stingray territory, which none of my birds do very well. At some point I might consider just dropping a vintage PreEB Stingray pup and preamp into it. For now I’ll rock it with a smile, but I don’t see it sidelining any of my Tbirds.
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They’re great! They did a 40 minute opener the night before for one of the young country bucks at SoFi Stadium the night before in front of who knows how many thousands. They are a brilliant mix of rock, alt country, Americana, folk, and even a touch of southern rap.
They’ve really become special with their sister Bonnie on keys and vocs. And Crawford is one of the best doublers in music. He almost makes me want to try upright. Almost. Like I need something else to learn. And then there’s Kwan on Cello.
My wife is a big country fan. It’s one of the few bands we can both love and share an interest in. She loves Neil and Wilco too.
I had one in high school. Too bad she moved after junior year.
I feel the same. My wife is a huge fan and introduced them to me when we met and have seen them 5 or so times since then.
I will refrain from posting a certain Zappa song from the 80s.
Man. You have so many new basses George. I haven’t been by since February. We need to set a date. Maybe in late August? Spend a Saturday in the bass room?
