Thunderbird Club

[dagrev]

Taking my one mulligan this morning. 15 minutes from the house and realized I left a carry-on on the porch. That would have been a disaster since it was my wife’s.

We can fix this.

Step 1.

If that doesn't work, continue...



Step 2.

There is no step 3....

 

[/\/\3phist0]

White bass Wednesday:
In honor of G&L’s impending demise.
THE prototype (85) sickle headstock (reverse)made by me while at the factory.
DARK rosewood fretboard, low n wide nickel frets with minimal wear and a fret dress, OG tuners, hand crafted brass nut. Modern LB100 body
The Prototype MFD split coils in modern covers with SB-2 wiring, and vintage style replacement knobs.

R.I.P. Leo, George, Dale, Lloyd and all the others.

Thanks for all the memories G&L

 

[ectoflanger]

Yes, I saw Flowers live before the name change and bought the Icehouse album (by Flowers) the first chance I got.
Do I have it correct that it was just reversed in overseas markets and it became the Flowers album by Icehouse???

The first album was under the name Icehouse in the United States in the early-80's. That one had that cool open window overlooking a sea of ice on the front cover. It wasn't until much later that here were some alternative versions under the name "Flowers", with different cover art, which I have a CD with that band's name.

 

[JIO]

My bad

no worries -

 

[/\/\3phist0]

no worries -

Identity of object does not diminish my lust for it!

Daaaaaaam!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I'll step up and cover the first dollar for this project.

Mustard seed money.

 

[JIO]

Identity of object does not diminish my lust for it!

Daaaaaaam!

It was my first custom (hybrid) build, late '90s. Three section V-joint body referenceing my '64 II, with added ergonomics. Koa's a very hard wood, similar in density to ebony but not as brittle. Perfect for a fretless.

It originally had J pu's - can't remember what harness was in it then.

 

[JIO]

White bass Wednesday:
In honor of G&L’s impending demise.
THE prototype (85) sickle headstock (reverse)made by me while at the factory.
DARK rosewood fretboard, low n wide nickel frets with minimal wear and a fret dress, OG tuners, hand crafted brass nut. Modern LB100 body
The Prototype MFD split coils in modern covers with SB-2 wiring, and vintage style replacement knobs.

R.I.P. Leo, George, Dale, Lloyd and all the others.

Thanks for all the memories G&L

View attachment 7334359

So you worked for G&L in the '80s? I always liked this one (with sickle hs) - the Interceptor. Pretty rare, I've never seen one in person.

 

[Gaolee]

I've heard the first person to live to 150 is already born...mmmm

That person won't be anybody I know. That's pretty much guaranteed. For a lot of reasons.

 

[JIO]

 

[Gaolee]

You’re fortunate. I literally wanted to throw up every morning when I walked into the home office and turned on the computer. Every day became a day filled dealing with uncivil attorneys and untrained clueless insurance adjusters. All the good people retired. I joined them.

Lawyers pay me to mess with other lawyers. People like me are one of the reasons your job was awful. I get all the fun, none of the stress.

 

[Gaolee]

I’m aiming for 120 in reasonable health.

I figured 30 was not going to happen. Everything after that has been a surprise bonus.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

So you worked for G&L in the '80s? I always liked this one (with sickle hs) - the Interceptor. Pretty rare, I've never seen one in person.

View attachment 7334398

Yep! I was there starting in 83.
Built many of those while there. The neck on the white mongrel I posted was originally on a cobalt blue Interceptor with a kahler trem.

Once the hoopla settles down, and the IP rights are determined, I am planning on making “inspired by” basses with “inspired by” MFD type pickups.

 

[dagrev]

So you worked for G&L in the '80s? I always liked this one (with sickle hs) - the Interceptor. Pretty rare, I've never seen one in person.

View attachment 7334398

I liked those as well. Came very close to buying one years ago. Black I believe it was.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

speaking of monster rigs....,
my bud Dan sent these from the other night.....apparently dude nailed Dewar's voice....

 

[GBassNorth]

Swanky Spider update:

As noted yesterday the Burny sounded pretty good, but on the quiet side
Checking the DC resistance at the jack, both pickups were around 3.6K. Hmmm.... time to pull the pickguard.
The pickups have a ground, red & white. Red was wired to the pots and white was capped off nicely with a piece of heat shrink.
Guess what white to ground measured? 7.2K! So the bass was wired from the factory with permanently tapped coils

It only took a few minutes to rewire it to use both coils and now it sounds much hotter (and juicier ) - go figure!

@GBassNorth you may want to check your Burny bird

You called it Irv!

I checked both my Burny Birds and both are wired from the factory as single coils. Whodathunk, a new design feature - single coil humbuckers.

Original wiring was about 3.3KOhms, now with the red wires capped off and the whites connected its about 6.6KOhms. But I kinda see why they did what they did. The pickups are fairly dark in the full humbucker orientation with the stock .022uf cap. So I installed a variable cap chip in place of the stock one and found the .016uf setting to be best for my amp/cab and tone preference.
Here’s a pic of the finished product…

 

[/\/\3phist0]

You called it Irv!

I checked both my Burny Birds and both are wired from the factory as single coils. Whodathunk, a new design feature - single coil humbuckers.

Original wiring was about 3.3KOhms, now with the red wires capped off and the whites connected its about 6.6KOhms. But I kinda see why they did what they did. The pickups are fairly dark in the full humbucker orientation with the stock .022uf cap. So I installed a variable cap chip in place of the stock one and found the .016uf setting to be best for my amp/cab and tone preference.
Here’s a pic of the finished product…
View attachment 7334448

You can claw back a bit more high end with 500k volume pots. This will also increase the output a bit.

 

[TBird1958]

speaking of monster rigs....,
my bud Dan sent these from the other night.....apparently dude nailed Dewar's voice....
View attachment 7334437
View attachment 7334438

Nice rig!
I was lucky enough to see Robin Trower in '75 when James Dewar was the voice of the band, that man had an incredible, beautiful voice................

Still one of my faves.




This song.........

Dewar on an EB, that voice of his! Some people really know how to make a Strat sound good, Trower is one of them.

 

[ectoflanger]

speaking of monster rigs....,
my bud Dan sent these from the other night.....apparently dude nailed Dewar's voice....
View attachment 7334437
View attachment 7334438

Trower, a long time favorite of mine. I had all of his 70's albums, a couple from the 80's, and another from the 90's. Having cut my teeth on "Robin Trower Live" and "Bridge of Sighs", I later segued to his brief late-70's atmospheric R&B phase- "In City Dreams" and "Caravan to Midnight". Rustee Allen took up bass duties on those albums. Amazing work, particularly on the former with songs like "Somebody Calling" and "I'm Out to Get You." Just goes to show how eclectic he is- He also played on Bryan Ferry's "Taxi" album and may have had a hand in the production.

 

[GBassNorth]

You can claw back a bit more high end with 500k volume pots. This will also increase the output a bit.

The planned next step if it still drops out in the mix is to check the pot values. If they aren’t already 500k volume pots they’ll be swapped out for some. The good news is, even though they are really nice sounding pickups they are Gibson Tbird sized so plenty of PU options available if desired. The other great thing is the overall build, design and hardware far exceeds Gibson standards, so she’s a keeper.