• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Thunderbird Club

#302,281
  • Like
Reactions: dagrev and GBassNorth
#302,284
PhR75 said:
Quick question about the wires in DeCola pickup:
For the series wiring which go together and which one is hot and which one is ground?
One would assume red is hot but better not (for me) to assume anything...
I know about the wiring options but I wanna first try the series wiring. If they work then I'll have my friend work for the more complicated options.
Click to expand...
As promised earlier, here’s a picture of the magnetic field on the 5 string DeCola pickups, along with a plastic template showing (in black ink) a typical four string layout and where they’d fall in relationship to the magnetic fields of each pole.
IMG_3571.jpeg


From the looks of it, the four string bass strings will line up perfectly between each pole position on all four strings. So you should get a fairly even response from each string.

By comparison, here’s a picture of Gibsons Flagship bass, the Memphis LP Gold Top, which clearly has 6 string split coil guitar pickups in it, some strings are directly over the hot spots and some are between the poles - it sounds fine.
IMG_3572.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, Count Bassie, dagrev and 6 others
#302,286
Engle said:
It will get a bridge cover, but probably not a pickup cover. Even if one came up, it would likely cost more than the bass!
I like the bridge cover for pick playing.
Click to expand...
Yah, someone should re-issue those large N-pu covers for a fair price.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GBassNorth and Engle
#302,292
Forgive me. For I have sinned. I used the new, greatly improved search function to see what BaCH threads I could find.

I came across this one. It looks like @godofthunder59 bought it.

https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/fs-ft-bach-non-reverse-thunderbird-ii-copy-in-black.857879/

He said he was going to put a Thunderbucker in it and put one of his pickguards on it. So Scott. Did you do that? Did you subsequently sell it with the Thunderbucker in it? If so, do you recall where it went?

I have another ebony one that you owned at one time that passed through George to me.

Is it too much to hope that the incoming one has a Thunderbucker in it?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, GBassNorth, Chucky Stiletti and 3 others
#302,294
GBassNorth said:
As promised earlier, here’s a picture of the magnetic field on the 5 string DeCola pickups, along with a plastic template showing (in black ink) a typical four string layout and where they’d fall in relationship to the magnetic fields of each pole.
View attachment 7022062

From the looks of it, the four string bass strings will line up perfectly between each pole position on all four strings. So you should get a fairly even response from each string.

By comparison, here’s a picture of Gibsons Flagship bass, the Memphis LP Gold Top, which clearly has 6 string split coil guitar pickups in it, some strings are directly over the hot spots and some are between the poles - it sounds fine.
View attachment 7022063
Click to expand...
Thanks for doing this George! Makes me want to try some guitar pickups 😀
 
  • Like
Reactions: GBassNorth, dagrev, JJR58 and 1 other person
#302,295
GBassNorth said:
As promised earlier, here’s a picture of the magnetic field on the 5 string DeCola pickups, along with a plastic template showing (in black ink) a typical four string layout and where they’d fall in relationship to the magnetic fields of each pole.
View attachment 7022062

From the looks of it, the four string bass strings will line up perfectly between each pole position on all four strings. So you should get a fairly even response from each string.

By comparison, here’s a picture of Gibsons Flagship bass, the Memphis LP Gold Top, which clearly has 6 string split coil guitar pickups in it, some strings are directly over the hot spots and some are between the poles - it sounds fine.
View attachment 7022063
Click to expand...
Thanks! Will definitely try them and I actually like the look of the exposed polepieces especially as they are going into the Franken-Tele-Precision.

I also googled the Stringray prototype with the 10 polepiece pickup and learned that the "old smoothie" nickname came from that. Smoother attack because the strings are between the poles. That definitely makes me want to try a similar pickup on my passive Stingray (a custom built non-
Music Man). Or at least a bar magnet version.

Now it would be nice to compare directly both 4 and 5 versions of the DeCola with a 4-string bass. It could be assumed that the "between poles" would also help a bit with the hot output, no?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, Engle, GBassNorth and 2 others
#302,297
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, Count Bassie, JIO and 7 others
#302,300
GBassNorth said:
As promised earlier, here’s a picture of the magnetic field on the 5 string DeCola pickups, along with a plastic template showing (in black ink) a typical four string layout and where they’d fall in relationship to the magnetic fields of each pole.
View attachment 7022062

From the looks of it, the four string bass strings will line up perfectly between each pole position on all four strings. So you should get a fairly even response from each string.

By comparison, here’s a picture of Gibsons Flagship bass, the Memphis LP Gold Top, which clearly has 6 string split coil guitar pickups in it, some strings are directly over the hot spots and some are between the poles - it sounds fine.
View attachment 7022063
Click to expand...
It would be interesting how a G&L MFD pickup would show up/look. I know you said you never got along with the Tribute you had, but for the sake of thoroughness and curiosity, would you mind buying a G&L to test? :smug:
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: RedVee, Engle, GBassNorth and 2 others

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back