Thunderbird Club

[Count Bassie]

was thinking the same thing but it looks like it may be the series wiring as the "cold" side (blk) of the neck pup goes to the jack and the "hot" side (clear) blends with the bridge pup at the wiper of the of the bridge volume pot....the whole thing "floats", notice only two of the terminals on all three pots are used....my 79:
View attachment 7249433

I've just never dug into this wiring thing. Glazes me over and leaves me wandering to the fridge, or the television.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I've just never dug into this wiring thing. Glazes me over and leaves me wandering to the fridge, or the television.

pretty boring stuff, don't sweat it, musicians shouldn't have to double as electronics techs....

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

was thinking the same thing but it looks like it may be the series wiring as the "cold" side (blk) of the neck pup goes to the jack and the "hot" side (clear) blends with the bridge pup at the wiper of the of the bridge volume pot....the whole thing "floats", notice only two of the terminals on all three pots are used....my 79:
View attachment 7249433

another interesting data point may be JIO's single sidewinder implementation.....

 

[Nocturnal]

is that Way"? cool track.

It's The Dogs D'Amour. Their bassist owned the bass after Way. That's him in the photo you posted.

 

[Gaolee]

Thanks Will.

I’m scheduling two cataract surgeries for July/August and after that going to plan a trip to Boston to visit my daughter. Maybe look up @bobyoung53 if he isn’t in Peru and @Count Bassie (if I have time to get to Providence). And I have a herniated disc in my neck I may decide to get taken care of.

I don’t know if I’ll practice again. I’ve pretty much had it. I’ll keep the license active for a while in case I need to supplement the income with contract work. But frankly, I’d rather pretty much do annything else. I hear flipping burgers at In-N-Out pays like $20.00 an hour. That’s enough. I’d rather do that. Or maybe see if my friend who owns the amazing local record store will let me work some hours for store credit. I’d much rather do that.

Sounds like a good plan. You will have no problem with filling time. I sure won't. I have all these unfinished projects...

 

[Stealth57]

Sounds like a good plan. You will have no problem with filling time. I sure won't. I have all these unfinished projects...

How’s the Camaro coming along

 

[Gaolee]

How’s the Camaro coming along

It will be alive later this year. No kidding! And the garage will be mostly sorted. Really. What?

 

[dagrev]

Happy Take This Job and Shove It Day!


July 7th will be it.

Pre last day congratulations!

 

[Engle]

Maybe, but the bridge pup only has two leads (wire mesh wrap for ground and core for hot). Whereas the neck pickup has an insulated outer wrap and inside there’s a bare ground wire, a hot or positive insulated wire and a neutral or negative insulated wire.

IIRC the Bicentennial is wired in parallel vs series on later birds, I wonder if it has to do with that or possibly an in phase or out of phase wiring scheme. That might also account for the supposed significant difference in sound (and volume?) between these and other birds.
Very interesting and unexpected find, would love to get to the bottom of it.

was thinking the same thing but it looks like it may be the series wiring as the "cold" side (blk) of the neck pup goes to the jack and the "hot" side (clear) blends with the bridge pup at the wiper of the of the bridge volume pot....the whole thing "floats", notice only two of the terminals on all three pots are used....my 79:
View attachment 7249433

Yup that's what is happening: series wiring

 

[TBird1958]

Well............

Mine don't look at all like what's been posted.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Well............

Mine don't look at all like what's been posted.

They do in essence, but the details obfuscate that fact.

Also, the different wiring for the neck pickup is required for in-phase serial unless you get funky.
I wish all pickups had two signal wires inside the shield (foil, braid, whatever - although braid typically goes through bendy tunnels a bit easier!) Let ground be ground and signal path be signal path!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Well............

Mine don't look at all like what's been posted.

the cavities have been painted on both, the tech probably threw out the original wiring and used new hookup wire....

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I live cheap. Except for my Thunderbird addiction. I have been working myself into an early grave. Time to stop. I took the bar exam in July of ‘86. And passed. Tied me to a career I really never liked. I’m more than done. Now I can become the Thunderbird player I was meant to be! Or at least be happy trying.

still takes huevos....good for you Marshall.

 

[Count Bassie]

pretty boring stuff, don't sweat it, musicians shouldn't have to double as electronics techs....

I think knowing the basics is a good idea. What gets talked about here, sidewinders incorporated into split schemes with another pickup, getting into routing for all the different attributes of pickups, all of it leaves me in the waiting room like a customer at Midas Mufflers.
But knowing which tab to solder to and where the little orange capacitor goes would be pretty good. I should be spending a little time with Google to get that sorted.

 

[dagrev]

Interesting Bicentennial Bird observation I wasn’t aware of…
Note the pickup leads in each of the three different Bicentennial pics below:
View attachment 7249378View attachment 7249379View attachment 7249380
How odd that they’d have an insulated three wire lead on the neck pup but a single core wire metal mesh lead on the bridge pup. First time I saw it I assumed the neck pup was an aftermarket replacement, but looks like all the ones I can find pictures of are wired the same way. Whodathunk.

Mine. I thought I had a better pic, but need to keep moving.

 

[Engle]

I think knowing the basics is a good idea. What gets talked about here, sidewinders incorporated into split schemes with another pickup, getting into routing for all the different attributes of pickups, all of it leaves me in the waiting room like a customer at Midas Mufflers.
But knowing which tab to solder to and where the little orange capacitor goes would be pretty good. I should be spending a little time with Google to get that sorted.

It's really not that complicated, but it's hard to see when looking at wiring cavity pics.
The Seymour Duncan diagrams are pretty good.
I'll see if I can find a wiring diagram for pickups in series.

 

[Count Bassie]

It's really not that complicated, but it's hard to see when looking at wiring cavity pics.
The Seymour Duncan diagrams are pretty good.
I'll see if I can find a wiring diagram for pickups in series.

Thanks, I need to do a little homework...

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

It's really not that complicated, but it's hard to see when looking at wiring cavity pics.
The Seymour Duncan diagrams are pretty good.
I'll see if I can find a wiring diagram for pickups in series.

look at the bright side, at least we're discussing Thunderbirds.....

 

[MCF]

another interesting data point may be JIO's single sidewinder implementation.....
View attachment 7249461

That’s a very clean job that @JIO did.

 

[TBird1958]

Oh my!

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This has a dignified appearance including cracks and weather checks. Accessories: hard case. Serial number: 900038. Weight: 3.69kg. Neck scale: long. Number of frets: 20 frets or less.

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