Thunderbird Club

[MCF]

It is. I used it twice today. Once for a new guts for a toilet. Handy to thoroughly dry places where water might linger and avoid a rag.
Like this guy. I bought the second best in his testing. Around $50 and I had $15 gift card from donating blood, so it was even less expensive. May not last, but who knows.

What always bugs me is how cold the cans get and having to wait until they warm up again. And not being able to regulate the flow.

 

[MCF]

Some day!

At least send Sharon.

 

[Gaolee]

@Engle
Kinda hard to record the ThunderCaster without clipping the signal, but here goes.

Order of sound samples
Neck only, tone off
Bridge only, tone off
Neck only, tone full up
Bridge only, tone full up
Neck and bridge full on, tone off
Neck and bridge full on, tone full up
Sweet spot - neck half up, bridge quarter up, tone three quarters up

View attachment 7157753

Play it thru headphones or your bass amp if possible, desktop speakers won’t do it any justice. It’s plenty deep and dark, remember it’s Fenders answer to the Gibby Mudbucker. Never one of my favorite solo sounds, but in a mix it lays a solid foundation.

The sweet spot really is the sweet spot.

 

[MCF]

DUAL New Bass Day!
View attachment 7158854
View attachment 7158855
Had a wonderful morning here with Marshall. He picked up his nearly new 2013 EB 5 string from me and we knocked back a few beers while playing every kind of thunderbird you can imagine. Marshall loved the Pink Burny and the ThunderCaster and he’s looking forward to getting home to plug his EB in next to his 2015 bird. (He loves the tort guard, as much as I love Neil Young).

A trip to George’s bass room is better than Disneyland. And the company ain’t bad either. He and my girlfriend Khaleesi (his dog) are great friends and we had a nice visit. No better way to pass time on a beautiful SoCal Saturday. I played I don’t know how many wonderful Thunderbirds. And a very impressive Warwick through his Thunderfunk and Berg cab.

Only thing I couldn’t do was talk him into selling me the blue BaCH. Even with the stock Artec pickups, it is an amazing Thunderbird.

I can vouch for the Burney. It is a cool Thunderbird. I know some have not had the best of luck with those, but his is quite the Thunderbird. Very nice neck, not quite Gibson or BaCH, but close. The pickups sounded fine through the Thunderfunk rig. And the metallic “pink” or whatever it’s called is beautiful. Pictures do not do it justice.

I played the Peterson Lull. Oh my god. I want it. But then again, he has probably ten basses I would buy if he would sell them. Including a few of his own builds. His “parts bass” Thundercaster literally puts out the voice from God.

 

[Ringhammer]

I bought a rechargeable duster (instead of buying more air cans. Seem to be very helpful given there note at the bottom.
View attachment 7158452


I haven't scanned the code for fear of what might show up.

I bought one but it’s not really good, which is this one?

Does it “blast” strong like cans?

 

[dagrev]

You know you’re always welcome Donnie. Play away. You can stay on the mountain. SVT and Berg NV610.

I have a new EB fiver. And another surprise. I just PM’d the seller we have a deal for another bucket list Thunderbird. And no, it is not one of the vintage 60’s ones we’ve been discussing.

Thank you, Sir.
About your EB? Is it an H or HH model? New version or older with ceramic pickups. (Which I thought sounded better than the alnico in my SR4. My 5er wasn't something I needed to keep, but it's one I do miss from time to time. With unlimited funds I would have one again. It was a great instrument and wonderful to play.

 

[dagrev]

What always bugs me is how cold the cans get and having to wait until they warm up again. And not being able to regulate the flow.

Yes. exactly what I told the wife. The duster I got has several speeds--and a dial where you can adjust it anywhere from completely off, barely on to full. Nice is you want to taper the volume of air. I haven't yet, but could be handy at times.

Apparently it was $60 before my $15 discount.
Amazon.com

 

[dagrev]

I bought one but it’s not really good, which is this one?

Does it “blast” strong like cans?

Yes it does. See reply to Marshall for link. I'm sure some are better, but I wasn't going to pay more than I did.

 

[GBassNorth]

Well, my build-a-lefty-bird project pretty much died today and in a most unexpected way.

Riddle me this; how in this day and age can a kit maker, even a "budget" offshore kit maker, produce and ship a "34-inch scale" bass neck
where the frets are short of proper position, and the error increases the further you get from the nut?

It's not just that the pattern was mispositioned: The proportions from fret to fret are off, so even if I could move the nut out, it'd never be in tune at more than 1 fret.

1st fret is 0.04" short.
12th fret is 0.10" short.
20th fret is 0.12+" short. Essentially an 8th of an inch off, short.

View attachment 7158931

These people have invented the 33.8" scale bass.



Since the bridge mount holes are not drilled, I suppose I could de-fret it , and make a playable 34" fretless if you just ignore any lines and dots... but now I'm seriously demotivated to invest time and energy in something that'll be essentially flawed forever.

There's a half-dozen other fairly major issues with this kit, but I thought I could work past them.

But this one... urk.

And returning it is not looking like any kind of savings once cost and effort are considered.

I am depressed.

That’s a bummer. You could always defret it and have a fretless bass. Willie used to do stuff like that in his sleep, maybe he can chime in with advice.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

That’s a bummer. You could always defret it and have a fretless bass. Willie used to do stuff like that in his sleep, maybe he can chime in with advice.

I was semi-committed to doing it as a fretless to begin with... but probably the only thing worse than trying to learn fretless is trying to do it on a bass with non-standard scale length, and all the lines and dots are wrong?

Or maybe that's just disappointment speaking. I may rally yet and try to save this kit.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

I would actually be OK with the shorter scale length. As long as the frets are in correct proportion to each other, it's just a matter of getting the bridge mounted in the right location.
Assuming its not a 3 point? Place the bridge so that the G string saddle adjusted to its most forward position is at double the distance from the nut to the center of the 12th fret + 1mm or so.
What kit is it?

I haven't done the math yet on new measurements that would be proportionately correct to a 33.8" finished scale. I will check it once I do, but I'm having a hard time picturing an error that precise - - every fret wrong but wrong to precise scale? Did their template shrink in the wash or something?

And yeah, it was going to be a three-point bridge.

The kit is from Pango (guitarkit.shop). In all the internet they were the only maker I could find still making a lefty T-bird-like kit.
Lawsuits killed off all the rest of the non-FSO/non-hollowbody lefty bass kits. Used to be more choices even a few years back.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

You hire the cheapest, most inexperienced labor you can find, provide almost no training, and don’t explain the precision, or at least its importance. They’re doing it by hand on ancient equipment with lots of slop in its workings.

I can sympathize with most of that, but how does your fret cutting jig magically shrink an eighth of an inch longitudinally, proportionately?

It's like finding your ruler got shorter overnight or something.

 

[Stealth57]

V, need one?

 

[PhR75]

Greetings with a pic of the Stora Enso paper mill, taken today while walking on ice. This is for @Chucky Stiletti

 

[MCF]

Thank you, Sir.
About your EB? Is it an H or HH model? New version or older with ceramic pickups. (Which I thought sounded better than the alnico in my SR4. My 5er wasn't something I needed to keep, but it's one I do miss from time to time. With unlimited funds I would have one again. It was a great instrument and wonderful to play.

HH. It has a the DeCola Alnico V tapped pickups. The circuit is different from the taps in the ‘15 Thunderbird. Explanation to follow.

 

[MCF]

V, need one?

View attachment 7159102

Get one for @PillO.
On second thought, don’t.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Greetings with a pic of the Stora Enso paper mill, taken today while walking on ice. This is for @Chucky Stiletti View attachment 7159155

Pretty awesome! Thank you P!... yup that's it, what's it like -50 in that pic? Pretty gnarly shot......hey, I recall another mill further down the hill (on the Russian side) that had once belonged to Finland prior to WWII....is that still there? It was running last time I was there......Спасибо!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

@Engle made a nice B-W-B one for my 2013 EB 4 string. I have to assume he still has the template. However, I can’t say it’s the same for a 5 String. I think the pickups in my 4 string EB are the same as what’s in your 2015. If your 2015’s pickups are the same size / dimensions as your new 5 string EB’s pickups, then, maybe the pickguards on the 4 and 5 string EBs are the same.

yup, Irv rocks.....

 

[Engle]

I haven't done the math yet on new measurements that would be proportionately correct to a 33.8" finished scale. I will check it once I do, but I'm having a hard time picturing an error that precise - - every fret wrong but wrong to precise scale? Did their template shrink in the wash or something?

And yeah, it was going to be a three-point bridge.

The kit is from Pango (guitarkit.shop). In all the internet they were the only maker I could find still making a lefty T-bird-like kit.
Lawsuits killed off all the rest of the non-FSO/non-hollowbody lefty bass kits. Used to be more choices even a few years back.

Agreed it's weird, but there's no need to do any math to check if it will work:

Fret Position Calculator for Fret Spacing - StewMac

Get precise fret spacing every time with our fret position calculator. Ideal for builders who demand accuracy across every scale length.

www.stewmac.com

I would be surprised to learn that you have a 33.8 scale bass kit

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Pretty awesome! Thank you P!... yup that's it, what's it like -50 in that pic? Pretty gnarly shot......hey, I recall another mill further down the hill (on the Russian side) that had once belonged to Finland prior to WWII....is that still there? It was running last time I was there......Спасибо!

I know it should be Kiitos but was surprised when the only signs I could somewhat "understand" around there where in Swedish...