Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

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…
View attachment 5483512

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.

I dig it - ...especially being that light!

 

[Stealth57]

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?

I won't be putting the Peavey Foundation back together until the end of the month. But Bourns swears this is a real blend and not a pan. It is not a full size pot, so the soldering might get a bit tricky. A couple of forums confirmed this has no volume drop at detent. We'll see.
Link Removed

 

[JJR58]

I will refrain from posting a certain Zappa song from the 80s.

Ha!! It’s gotta be one of 2.
I won’t say which

 

[5StringBlues]

Damn, my mind is searching for the second 1 now..

Ha!! It’s gotta be one of 2.
I won’t say which

 

[dagrev]

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…
View attachment 5483512

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.

Love the looks of it!

 

[MCF]

I prefer East Indian Rosewood for it's more natural dynamics and slightly compressed feel. Don't get me started on that West Indian junk though. I'd rather have a stinky slab of pau Ferro.

For me, the darker the better. Once I’m flush again, I will add a TB with an Ebony board to the GAS list.

 

[MCF]

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.

She has great taste! My wife joined the Guild for this last show. It’s like a family.

 

[dagrev]

I see you.... Little Thunderbird thief trying to sneak around...

 

[BklynKen]

I had one in high school. Too bad she moved after junior year.

Did she move to Century Village?

 

[MCF]

Did she move to Century Village?

Ha. No. She was actually a year behind me. Sweet sixteen.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I had one in high school. Too bad she moved after junior year.

only one?….

 

[JIO]

For me, the darker the better. Once I’m flush again, I will add a TB with an Ebony board to the GAS list.

That would be the only 'other' T-bird I'd be interested in. I don't know the exact dates Gibson offered a Gen1 T-bird with an ebony fb, but it was in the late '80s-early '90s.

Other than my Factorbird w/lined fret-less ebony fb that is...

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I had one in high school. Too bad she moved after junior year.

You had a 90 year old groupie in HS?!?!?

Dave, I told you he was the real Chick Magnet.

 

[MCF]

only one?….

One was enough. It was a juggling act. We had two high schools in town. Between Suzy Q (her name was Susan, and of course we played the song for her) and other girlfriends….it got “complicated.” The saving grace was that there wasn’t social media. I don’t understand how kids have fun now. I’d think there would be way too much drama to pull that off now.

 

[JIO]

You had a 90 year old groupie in HS?!?!?

Dave, I told you he was the real Chick Magnet.

 

[JIO]

One was enough. It was a juggling act. We had two high schools in town. Between Suzy Q (her name was Susan, and of course we played the song for her) and other girlfriends….it got “complicated.” The saving grace was that there wasn’t social media. I don’t understand how kids have fun now. I’d think there would be way too much drama to pull that off now.

I can't imagine what it must be like now. All the little things making growing up problematic times 11. It might be radical to not use social media.

 

[Stealth57]

View attachment 5483603

Stop posting photos from Mike's flip phone. My eyes hurt.

 

[Rickplaysbass]

That would be the only 'other' T-bird I'd be interested in. I don't know the exact dates Gibson offered a Gen1 T-bird with an ebony fb, but it was in the late '80s-early '90s.

Other than my Factorbird w/lined fret-less ebony fb that is...
View attachment 5483578

That thing is freaking awesome

 

[MCF]

I see you.... Little Thunderbird thief trying to sneak around...
View attachment 5483532

Ok. I’m being serious now. We are not supposed to use weed killers at our mountain place. So managing vegetation for fire control can be a challenge. I only use vinegar mixed with water and a tiny bit of dish soap as a surfactant. It doesn’t get the roots, but it also doesn’t harm the wildlife. I saw my second deer of the season last night. I love watching them.

 

[Stealth57]

Ok. I’m being serious now. We are not supposed to use weed killers at our mountain place. So managing vegetation for fire control can be a challenge. I only use vinegar mixed with water and a tiny bit of dish soap as a surfactant. It doesn’t get the roots, but it also doesn’t harm the wildlife. I saw my second dear of the season last night. I love watching them.

You can add 1 cup of salt per gallon of vinegar and that will increase the effectiveness. Actually, no need for the water.