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Thunderbird Club

#321,561
Chucky Stiletti said:
excellent point and 100% agree, the response of their tube implementation in the preamp definitely seems weighed more influentially than in other brands....
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Curiosity Question: When you turn up the tube, the volume also increases. In stupid terms, is this because there are essentially 2 pre amps and the tube pre get added to the SS pre?
 
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#321,562
GBassNorth said:
Aren't we all!
If had spent less time listening to the nonsensical fallacies about Gibson products and specifically Thunderbirds I would have saved tens of thousands of dollars on basses and been happier with my sound sooner.

When I first started playing, the pro advice from bass players I knew and general consensus from TalkBass was - start with a passive Jazz and add a PJ if needed. I did that, acquired a number Jazz basses trying to find one I liked, but just never felt good about the sound. Then went the PJ route and it got better but just never utilized the bridge pup much. Logically I dumped the PJ plan and went with a plain Precision and that more or less scratched the itch for a bit but I still wanted more balls and a broader range of tones.

Decided to take a side journey down the active humbucker path with Alembics, Spectors, Warwicks and Stingrays and that was an improvement but something else was still lacking. Then I bought a Gold Anniversary Tbird and BANG! That was it, the exact sound I was after all along. By this time I was probably 30 bass purchases into the journey.

Since then almost all subsequent purchases have been Tbirds in every sound flavor imaginable. I have active birds, passive birds, PJ birds, single coil birds, single humbucker birds, dual humbuckers birds, triple humbucker birds, split coil birds, piezeo bridge birds, parallel and series birds, ukulele birds, short scale birds, standard scale, long scale, extra long scale, four and five string birds, fretless birds, fretted birds, fanned fret birds, semi hollow body birds, set neck, neck thru and bolt on birds. Maple, ash, poplar and mahogany body birds. Maple, mahogany, walnut, pao Ferro, and Wenge neck birds. And rosewood, ebony, maple, macassar ebony, wenge and blackteck fretboard birds. Pickups from Bartolini, Nordstrand, ChinaBuckers, Gibson Reissues, Epiphone 760ProBuckers, Dingwall, EMG, Greco, Sammick, Shadow piezeo, Burny pickups, TB+ pickups, and even Fender pickups. Along the Tbird journey I'm finding some body shapes and woods as well as neck shapes and woods and fretboard woods I like best, along with pickup types and placements I like best and control and layout designs that work best for me.

Someday soon I'll take all that knowledge and experience and build about four basses that I would consider Perfect Tbirds for me. A studio model, a stage model, a fretless and an active.
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I think my '64 was the 3rd bass I bought about 43/4 yrs ago.* First was a Peavey T-400lbs, my white '78 P with an A neck, then the Thunderbird. Peavey was traded for the Pbass, which was stolen years later. After seeing Leon play Thunderbirds for years, it was only a matter of time for me. In fact, I have a vintage guy in town on the lookout for me and one day he landed one can let me know.

*That makes me feel old. For good reason.
 
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#321,563
dagrev said:
I think my '64 was the 3rd bass I bought about 43/4 yrs ago.* First was a Peavey T-400lbs, my white '78 P with an A neck, then the Thunderbird. Peavey was traded for the Pbass, which was stolen years later. After seeing Leon play Thunderbirds for years, it was only a matter of time for me. In fact, I have a vintage guy in town on the lookout for me and one day he landed one can let me know.

*That makes me feel old. For good reason.
Click to expand...
surprised you weren't playing NRs earlier...
 
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#321,564
dagrev said:
Curiosity Question: When you turn up the tube, the volume also increases. In stupid terms, is this because there are essentially 2 pre amps and the tube pre get added to the SS pre?
Click to expand...
yes to both...typically ss and tube circuits are in parallel, then get summed/mixed at the end of the pre where the master just makes everything louder or not....
 
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#321,565
/\/\3phist0 said:
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Tocos :: Potentiometers :: Passive Components :: Electronic Parts :: Banzai Music GmbH

www.banzaimusic.com

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Note: these are 6mm Solid shafts only.
No split shafts available in this series. (RV24)

They are 6mm solid shafts: NOT 1/4" so: US speck knobs will need a sleeve.
Import set screw knobs will work.
Import push on knobs will also work, although a bit of a tight fit.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing you use the RV24YN? I'd hope 10mm (if I read that right) would be plenty of collar depth.
 
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#321,566
Gaolee said:
This makes me wonder if Gibson would build a custom shop Thunderbird at all these days. I'm sure it would be stupid expensive if they did, but just knowing they would for some absurd price would make me happy.
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They do the one-offs that are mainly different paint and maybe trim now and then ...
 
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#321,571
Gaolee said:
This makes me wonder if Gibson would build a custom shop Thunderbird at all these days. I'm sure it would be stupid expensive if they did, but just knowing they would for some absurd price would make me happy.
Click to expand...


This is a new Thunderbird, built at Gibson by Jim DeCola.
It's completely possible.

gb7jLFX.jpg
 
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#321,578
Miles_ONeal said:
I'm guessing you use the RV24YN? I'd hope 10mm (if I read that right) would be plenty of collar depth.
Click to expand...
1750124194243.jpeg

Jazz plate used as "holder" for the parts for soldering.

RV24YN20S B504 24DC = volume
500k linear

RV24YN20S 15A254 253C = tone 250k Audio (LOG) tone pot
 
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