Thunderbird Club

[/\/\3phist0]

TT!........ all these Bicens suddenly...George, Andy, V...

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Still want to get together with you sometime to test the Repop sidewinders.

 

[JJR58]

TT!........ all these Bicens suddenly...George, Andy, V...

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Bicie

Happy Thunderbird Thursday!

 

[dagrev]

New Bass Day!!!
A 1979 Bicentennial run, one of 7 black ones made that year. It’s a road worn daily gigging player bird original in all the important areas and in pretty good condition for its age. Our Queen mentioned early on that she had hit and miss experience with Bicentennial Birds so I decided to look for one that had been played the heck out of in hopes that it would increase the likelihood of being a hit vs a closet queen in pristine condition that might have been parked because of its lackluster performance. The gamble paid off! This thing screams and darn near plays its self. Some pics…
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I put a parchment pickguard on it, the original pickguard came with it and is supposedly signed by Chris Squire and Billy Sheehan (no provenance though). I might try to source a bridge and pickup cover and original style knobs to complete the vintage look.

I’ll be running it through all its paces at significant volume today, SoCal area might have false seismic activity alerts.

Sweet!. Congrats!

 

[TBird1958]

The other........

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

So the Wife and I are on the road to Palm Desert with a loaded U-Haul. To avoid Grapevine we’re going the Bakersfield / desert route. Wish us luck!

You're better off, grapevine stinks (bad)...,Good Luck!

 

[Stealth57]

So the Wife and I are on the road to Palm Desert with a loaded U-Haul. To avoid Grapevine we’re going the Bakersfield / desert route. Wish us luck!

Stop in Bako and have @MCF buy you a beer.

 

[MCF]

So the Wife and I are on the road to Palm Desert with a loaded U-Haul. To avoid Grapevine we’re going the Bakersfield / desert route. Wish us luck!

If by that you mean via Pear Blossom Highway out of Lancaster/Palmdale, please drive carefully. Lots of nutjobs on that road, especially at night. Sake travels!

 

[Stealth57]

If by that you mean via Pear Blossom Highway out of Lancaster/Palmdale, please drive carefully. Lots of nutjobs on that road, especially at night. Sake travels!

Not sure Sake and travel is safe.

 

[dagrev]

That sounds good!. Now where’s the other story?

Well Marcus, I was not hearing myself play so I did what any bass player worth a set of strings would do, I cranked the gain. The drummer got louder, so...I cranked some more. All the way, in fact. The problem was there was too many sound waves building up and bouncing around in the 12ax7 tube so they could be amplified (that whole tube watts as louder thing). And I hit an open E and it was too much. The sound waves bouncing around were just too much and the glass tube exploded sending one of the pins right into my outer ear. But you shoud have seen the drummer. He go both plates and the getter. Wasn't pretty. I should have known better that to overload the tube like that.

 

[dagrev]

Yikes! (Your wife's experience)
Meanwhile, you are now perfect. How cool is that?

It's not. It's frustrating. Seems you and I get it, but others not so much. It's a curse, really.

 

[dagrev]

Being the obnoxious Mesa fanboy around here, I’d be remiss if I didn’t formally make sure you all know about the latest offering:

https://www.gibson.com/blogs/gibson-gazette/how-the-mesa-boogie-bass-800d-channels-50-years-of-bass-amp-innovation?srsltid=AfmBOooShW61oGQCYByZifwodz4ulqD8Nh4-Tys97Ni6U0HP7JFxAZR5

Nice looking. I'm sure it sounds really good. But I'm in love with my Ashdown, and can't give up all the Ampeg tubes just yet.

In fact I used the new 300 with the '81 L1k. Normally I like the tubes with that one, but it sounded fantastic last night. Didn't want practice to end.

 

[dagrev]

Oops, wrong link. In my defence, the version I can’t find now is with Jools Holland, it’s on an album of his. I saw it on his “Later with…” TV show.

I meant this one, torch singer style.



But there is also this ‘in concert’ version which takes a step towards rock n roll. Possibly closer to The Nasty Habits version.

You can't post that kind of thing. If I get caught watching that by the wife. There might be a broken headstock.

 

[dagrev]

Good luck today Donnie

Thanks Geoff. Nothing but Basal so far. Two more results but all should be able to be addressed by the radiation. Tiny doses, 3x a week for 3 weeks it seems.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Nice looking. I'm sure it sounds really good. But I'm in love with my Ashdown, and can't give up all the Ampeg tubes just yet.

In fact I used the new 300 with the '81 L1k. Normally I like the tubes with that one, but it sounded fantastic last night. Didn't want practice to end.

Tried various models in different settings over the years and Mesa bass amplification plain doesn't do it for me.....love their guitar amps..

 

[MCF]

Nice looking. I'm sure it sounds really good. But I'm in love with my Ashdown, and can't give up all the Ampeg tubes just yet.

In fact I used the new 300 with the '81 L1k. Normally I like the tubes with that one, but it sounded fantastic last night. Didn't want practice to end.

It sounds great on paper anyway. Simple controls with a HPF included and the Fenderesque tone stack for those so inclined. Already have that for the most part with the Boogie channel in the TT. Which means I get to save a grand for something else. What is interesting to me is that makes six distinct heads in production now.

 

[MCF]

Tried various models in different settings over the years and Mesa bass amplification plain doesn't do it for me.....love their guitar amps..

Yep. I get it. We’re all different. Sorta like players who don’t get Thunderbirds or J basses.

 

[Nocturnal]

TT!........ all these Bicens suddenly...George, Andy, V...

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I keep saying I need to get better pics of mine and promptly forget to actually do it. You can't see the wear in this photo.

 

[RedVee]

Good to see her again. We used to get a daily dose of her when the Princess Fingers club was active around here.

I guess I’m the only one with a shy smile when the “on my knees” line is sung by Kylie?

 

[RedVee]

Thanks Geoff. Nothing but Basal so far. Two more results but all should be able to be addressed by the radiation. Tiny doses, 3x a week for 3 weeks it seems.

I had a thing cut out of my back earlier this year. It was there for a while but over the last year it had grown a bit and got a bit rougher. (It was right in the middle, just at the point where I could just reach it.
Anyway I got it cut out. They showed it to me and it had quite long roots that they cut out - I was a bit surprised by them. Anyway 7 internal stitches and 3 external.
No swimming (no hardship!), but showering was awkward. They kept the stiches in about a week longer than I thought.
But it wasn’t anything bad, and I don’t even think about it anymore.

 

[GBassNorth]

With respect to the chunk, the below is really good. Possibly a little overkill, but it will not break off, shrink, etc. Can be used outside and is easy to work with--as such things go. Sands well and can be shaped as needed. There are other options, but I've used this on a few things and am very pleased with the results. Heck, it might hold a headstock on. This would adhere better than a wood filler. That's the easy part. Getting the finish matched would take a fair amount of experimenting, unless one does it a lot.
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Take it to an auto paint store that can do color match on poly. Wil did pretty thick fills on the Willbird. Granted that was gloss black, but the fill was perfect after some sanding and polishing.

White is one of the hardest opaque colours to match & blend-in as there are so many subtle shades of "white". It may be better to mix colourant in epoxy (using cured tests before applying) and get as close as possible to the finish colour w/o needing paint over the area. A very accurate taping job around the perimeter is critical.

The forearm sanding could be a fairly easy way to work around the missing chunk. The color-matching would be an issue, even with todays color matching technology.

Congrats on the '79 Bird!! All that player wear makes me think you got a good one!

All good input! Thanks.
I suspect I’ll go one of two routes…

Option 1 - two part wood epoxy fill to get the shape back then a couple of thin coats of color matched poly with a clear coat or two in the effected area. Won’t be perfect, but it’ll pass as a stage bass and be fine for gigging.

Option 2 - turn it over to Pat Wilkins with instructions to add a forearm contour that will eliminate the chunk issue and have him reshoot it in an aged white with a soft relic job to make it look about the same age as the neck. Will be perfect but not cheap or quick.

Right now I’m leaning towards option 1 with the thought of punting to option 2 and turning it over to Pat if I’m not happy with it or if I mess it up.