Thunderbird Club

[RedVee]

Get a 5 string, problem solved.
Or tune a 4 string BEAD. Work out the fingerings.

Aha! I think @Miles_ONeal has his CP as BEAD

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Get a 5 string, problem solved.
Or tune a 4 string BEAD. Work out the fingerings.

Bonus: you can get 2 octaves of Bb / Cb / Db less shifting positions, and you can ignore the “drop” tuning note position mental gymnastics.
Easier to rely on muscle memory

 

[bylar13]

Y’all need to come play SXSW!

I was supposed in 1989 but spent a week in the Yuma County Adult Correctional Facility instead….. story for another time!

 

[dagrev]

are you just trying those on that bass or just in general?

I thought they might be a good match. Modern sounding flat on a modern take on an old Pbass. And that has a HS bridge when you drop the strings in and fish them through. Thought it would be easy to remove and not need to bend the strings unnecessarily getting them out. In the past it's only had GHS Pressurewounds on it, which were fantastic. After several years they began to lose some magic and I began to try other strings I had instead of just ordering another set.

 

[dagrev]

I have a question on detuning. I have an offer to join a second band that does originals. All the bass lines are Db, Ab, Db, Gb. Is that normal with the E detuned more than the other strings? Makes using the Pitch Fork pedal impossible.

That's great. The first part. FWIW, which is nothing, I have never had to downtune in my life. Maybe I should have but never played in bands or songs from rock to church where it was called for. Whatever called for means. I never even heard of it for basses until talkbass.

 

[dagrev]

And there’s always a room with your name on it here!

You have a Shame room?

 

[Ringhammer]

I worry about the E getting too floppy and buzzing. I really don't want to have to do a setup from scratch...I might play with the CP that has EBCF.

If your EBCF set is a 105-50, then all the strings will be fine tuned 1/2 step flat, and the E will be ok 1/2 step (Eb) and 1 1/2 steps (Db) flat.

I do this with a 105-50 set of EBCF’s on one of my P-basses for RSR, and that bass has good low action. The other basses I have set up for this tuning have 110-50 rounds, which works great, and I seem the think that a 105 flat is close to a 110 round (generally) in feel and tension.

I have used drop tuning since I began playing so it really doesn’t call for “mental gymnastics”, for me anyway.

However I never learned to play in any formal way, and I don’t know how to read charts, and “jamming in A minor” or whatever someone may call out, is sort of terrifying. I consider it a huge weakness as a player that I can’t just sit in a play songs with new people. I just have to take time, learn our songs as they are being written, or learn covers by tab and by ear, and, essentially play by memory. I have a handle on major, minor, and minor blues scales, so that helps, but… I really wish I could find a way to get over that hurdle but I don’t know how.

 

[Instagator]

15 years ago back stage waiting to go on. Weapon of choice?..T-Bird of course. Cheers!

 

[Stealth57]

Bonus: you can get 2 octaves of Bb / Cb / Db less shifting positions, and you can ignore the “drop” tuning note position mental gymnastics.
Easier to rely on muscle memory

4 stings are hard enough to keep track of. I am thinking of tuning E/B/E/A and then using the Pitch Fork pedal to detune 3 semi-tones. It's a thought.

 

[TBird1958]

I exercised over my weekend, I call this a Manhattan arm curl.

On a slightly more serious note, we rehearsed last night for shows on May 17 and 31, played this, love it! Bass, cord. amp, speaker, stupid simple, just the way I like it!

 

[Engle]

I have a question on detuning. I have an offer to join a second band that does originals. All the bass lines are Db, Ab, Db, Gb. Is that normal with the E detuned more than the other strings? Makes using the Pitch Fork pedal impossible.

I would ask what the guitarist does. The are probably tuned down 1 1/2 on the E and 1/2 on the rest.
If that's the case, do the same. You have enough basses that you could set up one or two with heavy stringsIt makes it much easier to follow each other.

 

[Engle]

Official... 82-hr workweeks are bad for project progress.

Yikes! Hopefully that slows down.

 

[Engle]

Maybe use the Pitch Fork to drop a semi-tone and then only have to drop the E two semi-tones instead of three. I worry about the E getting too floppy and buzzing. I really don't want to have to do a setup from scratch...I might play with the CP that has EBCF.

Will the pitch fork track an E dropped to D accurately?

 

[Stealth57]

Will the pitch fork track an E dropped to D accurately?

Good question. I use it for All Along the Watch Tower to drop a semi-tone across all strings. But that isn't played on the E string. Everything sounds correct.

 

[Count Bassie]

Yeah, professionally repaired in Canada by Red Green…

The best!

 

[Count Bassie]

I thought CFs were as bright as flats came.
Ah, well. They’re more than bright enough for me!

Yeah actually they do bright really well. I should be saying 'midrange'.

 

[Count Bassie]

Please keep us posted!

I think my problem is an intermittent speaker problem. The Schroeder 1210 I have is 25+years old, and the guy who sold it to me said there might be debris in the gap where the voice coil lives. I've written Jorg to see if he's got advice, or of I should get it/them reconed. If that has to happen I may hit up the guy who I got it from- he's a good guy and has been accessible about it all.
But it's hard to get to know the amp if you're not hearing it properly...
The lesson here is not a new one: don't run at anything. Let it unfold, nothing good comes of hurrying. Unless you're leaving a burning building. And that's not this.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Get a 5 string, problem solved.
Or tune a 4 string BEAD. Work out the fingerings.

That was my solution for anything below E (now D as all but one bass are now DGCF).
I keep my IV that way.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Aha! I think @Miles_ONeal has his CP as BEAD

My basic IV but a CP should work even better.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Bonus: you can get 2 octaves of Bb / Cb / Db less shifting positions, and you can ignore the “drop” tuning note position mental gymnastics.
Easier to rely on muscle memory

Exactly why I just went for BEAD. Much easier.