• 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

#304,561
Water buffalo said:
Hello all, today Zzounds delivered my purple flake Epi Thunderbird. I ordered it a couple months ago, and it was put on backorder until now.

My first thought was how cool it looked, but upon further inspection, it appears to me that the bridge is rather high off of the body. to the point of being slightly tilted. the breaking angle from the tailpiece to the bridge seems to be pretty extreme.
View attachment 7052392

I have a black Epi Tbird, it's the version before the 64 bird, I got a deal on it due to it having cracks at the nut. The string tension keeps the cracks closed and I haven't had the time to repair it, but it plays fine as is. It is currently in my bass storage, so I haven't been able to compare it, but I feel that the black bird plays better. I may be wrong.

Also, as I was taking pics, I found cracks on both sides of the neck. Nothing horrible, but they are there.
View attachment 7052400View attachment 7052401

The neck has an underbow (strings are closer at nut/body, higher in the middle of board), I am a builder/tech, but I do not want to touch it until I'm sure that I'm not going to return it.



Honestly, the cracks at the nut are not a deal breaker, I'm more concerned with the height of the bridge. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Yes, all legit concerns for a brand new bass, especially as a builder. (as in, you know the true ins & outs) Yah, if anything a low bridge is better as you can always shim the heel to get the good balance between bridge/pu height and correct action over the fb. I took extra effort get my pu's even with the strings on the "Gilded Bird" VP I worked on. It took fabbing specific risers/spacers for each. My '64 has a similar pu/string relationship/correlation but the bridge is pretty much at the body..

1728787186829.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: dagrev, MCF, GBassNorth and 1 other person
#304,565
Chucky Stiletti said:
yessir, lived there for years, on the Santa Cruz half of HWY-9 between Felton and Boulder Creek…Henflings ios there as well..
Click to expand...

One of my most epic solo bicycle rides (when I was super fit) involved riding to HW9 from Pacifica, down (W) 9 to HW1, back up 9 to Skyline, cross Skyline and down 9 (E) to Saratoga and back to Pacifica via many roads that would take too long to describe. About 150 miles and over 8hrs. Those were the days!

Never been to Henflings - I Googled it and it seems it is temporarily closed awaiting new management.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: GBassNorth and Miles_ONeal
#304,566
MCF said:
They’re all over down here in Newport. We’ve seen several of them this week. Fugliest vehicle ever. Designed in 1970 by the bored kid sitting in the back of math class in the 7th grade who drew it as a joke.
Click to expand...
at the opposite end of the scale (old, small, petrol) I saw a pair of Fiat 850 Sports cruising along this morning.
It’s Bathurst today, it seems to drag classics out of their garages.

IMG_6334.jpeg


Also saw a mid engined Euro exotic of some sort on the same trip. It was matt black and blacked out badging. Couldn’t work the brand out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gaolee, dagrev, MCF and 5 others
#304,567
RedVee said:
at the opposite end of the scale (old, small, petrol) I saw a pair of Fiat 850 Sports cruising along this morning.
It’s Bathurst today, it seems to drag classics out of their garages.

View attachment 7052511


Also saw a mid engined Euro exotic of some sort on the same trip. It was matt black and blacked out badging. Couldn’t work the brand out.
Click to expand...
sweet, RHD? screams Bertone a mile away… always loved those wheels, also went into bothh Fiat and Ferrari Dinos……to think the engine in a 390 AMX is 7 1/2 times bigger……:woot:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Gaolee, dagrev, Miles_ONeal and 4 others
#304,569
RedVee said:
at the opposite end of the scale (old, small, petrol) I saw a pair of Fiat 850 Sports cruising along this morning.
It’s Bathurst today, it seems to drag classics out of their garages.

View attachment 7052511


Also saw a mid engined Euro exotic of some sort on the same trip. It was matt black and blacked out badging. Couldn’t work the brand out.
Click to expand...
I would love a car like that!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gaolee, dagrev, MCF and 3 others
#304,571
Chucky Stiletti said:
sweet, RHD? screams Bertone a mile away… always loved those wheels, also went into bothh Fiat and Ferrari Dinos……
Click to expand...
Rear engine, and rwd, and the ones today are RHD (not sure of the photo as I googled it up).

It’s like a “big block” :D Coupe Bambino. (It’s the coupe “sports” of the 850 sedan).
They used to be almost common in Sydney in the early 70s. Hadn’t seen one for years before today, and I got 2 about 20 metres apart.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Gaolee, dagrev, MCF and 2 others
#304,574
This is either cringe-worthy or simply main-stream media exploitation of a serious Beatles (abet pop) song on 1970 TV. Juliet Prowse was a serious dancer/actress then - doing her best to honor Shiva under the highly commercial TV spot-lights...



B- for effort... the original is every bit as killer today as it was then, maybe more so -

 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, MCF, Engle and 2 others
#304,575
Water buffalo said:
Hello all, today Zzounds delivered my purple flake Epi Thunderbird. I ordered it a couple months ago, and it was put on backorder until now.

My first thought was how cool it looked, but upon further inspection, it appears to me that the bridge is rather high off of the body. to the point of being slightly tilted. the breaking angle from the tailpiece to the bridge seems to be pretty extreme.
View attachment 7052392

I have a black Epi Tbird, it's the version before the 64 bird, I got a deal on it due to it having cracks at the nut. The string tension keeps the cracks closed and I haven't had the time to repair it, but it plays fine as is. It is currently in my bass storage, so I haven't been able to compare it, but I feel that the black bird plays better. I may be wrong.

Also, as I was taking pics, I found cracks on both sides of the neck. Nothing horrible, but they are there.
View attachment 7052400View attachment 7052401

The neck has an underbow (strings are closer at nut/body, higher in the middle of board), I am a builder/tech, but I do not want to touch it until I'm sure that I'm not going to return it.



Honestly, the cracks at the nut are not a deal breaker, I'm more concerned with the height of the bridge. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Yes, the bridge is higher than it should be, not ideal. But those cracks at the nut are excessive. A single hairline crack at the nut isn’t too much to worry about, but those have spider webbed and could easily cause the clear coat to flake off, thereby changing an aesthetic issue into a physical finish issue that you’ll feel when you play.

I’d return the bass for a replacement.
JIO said:
Yes, all legit concerns for a brand new bass, especially as a builder. (as in, you know the true ins & outs) Yah, if anything a low bridge is better as you can always shim the heel to get the good balance between bridge/pu height and correct action over the fb. I took extra effort get my pu's even with the strings on the "Gilded Bird" VP I worked on. It took fabbing specific risers/spacers for each. My '64 has a similar pu/string relationship/correlation but the bridge is pretty much at the body..

View attachment 7052477
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the bass in question does not have a bolt on neck, so shims are not really an option.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dagrev, Miles_ONeal, MCF and 3 others
#304,576
GBassNorth said:
Yes, the bridge is higher than it should be, not ideal. But those cracks at the nut are excessive. A single hairline crack at the nut isn’t too much to worry about, but those have spider webbed and could easily cause the clear coat to flake off, thereby changing an aesthetic issue into a physical finish issue that you’ll feel when you play.

I’d return the bass for a replacement.

Unfortunately the bass in question does not have a bolt on neck, so shims are not really an option.
Click to expand...
Hah! ... correct... and part of a bigger problem that my '64 II doesn't have.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MCF and GBassNorth

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back