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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
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- club thunderbird
Nice!!! Congrats!
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,898
- 142,244
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
I've had to play under similar circumstances it was really not fun as I recall, played way too hard in an effort to actually hear myself and made lots of mistakes - Unstatisfying to put it mildly. Sometimes smaller amp is a good choice for boomy stages that just make playing the bass difficult - it's one reason I find 300 watts to be more than enough.
Yeah, never having played there before I had no way to know…
I have a GK 210 Neo IV 8ohm arriving today for this very reason, kick that Ashdown to 300watts of A/B power, which is still a lot. The 212 is a great cab and will be a good choice with no FOH, and/or outdoors, and/or low or no stage. And I believe both these cabs will also sound good with the GK fusion 800s tube pre/class D. Again, the 8 ohm 210 brings the 800watts to 400. Still a lot.
I have a GK 210 Neo IV 8ohm arriving today for this very reason, kick that Ashdown to 300watts of A/B power, which is still a lot. The 212 is a great cab and will be a good choice with no FOH, and/or outdoors, and/or low or no stage. And I believe both these cabs will also sound good with the GK fusion 800s tube pre/class D. Again, the 8 ohm 210 brings the 800watts to 400. Still a lot.
I don’t know if everything was in place on time for the 84 Olympics there, but I know the downtown traffic control system was in place and working!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,589
- 221,974
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Oh, I'm playing out.., but in my book a professional is someone who makes their living from playing out. I played with a real professional in Chicago (Eddie Taylor Blues Band) for 5 yrs but I had a 'day job'. My dear friends the Newmans (RIP Lou 2022) were lifetime symphony players. (1st & 2nd bass chair at the Kansas City Symphony) They retired about 7 yrs ago and like Mike didn't play bass from that day on. They had some beautiful (and valuable) carved double basses that they sold and Nancy still plays piano but no bass. When they 1st retired I was joking with Nancy saying "this is great, now you can hang at the local coffee shops playing your upright" - she laughed.
I met Lou Newman when I wanted to learn the double bass in the mid '70s. He taught on the side and I took lessons from him. He also traded basses as a side income (it was the KC Philharmonic at the time and they weren't making much money) and always had a dozen beautiful double-basses for sale. (most pro's have side-hustles) He had the one in this pic, a plywood King Mortone. Normally he only had vintage carved instruments that cost substantially more, so it must have been thrown in on a trade. (it sounded really nice for an affordable bass) The lessons were at their ranch home and over time we became good friends.
Lou used to look a lot like Jerry Garcia (dark hair/beard)
- this was during Chemo. He remained positive and happy and fought cancer bravely. I miss Lou very much and posting this reminds me to give Nancy a call.Happier times - Lou 'goofing' for the pic. We always laughed a lot when we were together.
Eddie Taylor 1980 - being in the band was for me being so lucky to be standing on the X when he needed a bass player -
That’s my question when I hear cries to shut them down. Yes, I have concerns. But where are the stats showing accidents per mile driven by self-driven vs human, and the severity index of the crashes. Because we have a lot of wrecks here, and none involve, say, two self-driven cars literally racing through a neighborhood and killing a family.
V gave away her Thunderbirds, Chuck traded his cars for a Vespa, and Mike started a personal war against smart phones.
You’re wearing the shirt but someone else is rocking a bird! Sounds great.
Did you play with Odie Payne?Oh, I'm playing out.., but in my book a professional is someone who makes their living from playing out. I played with a real professional in Chicago (Eddie Taylor Blues Band) for 5 yrs but I had a 'day job'. My dear friends the Newmans (RIP Lou 2022) were lifetime symphony players. (1st & 2nd bass chair at the Kansas City Symphony) They retired about 7 yrs ago and like Mike didn't play bass from that day on. They had some beautiful (and valuable) carved double basses that they sold and Nancy still plays piano but no bass. When they 1st retired I was joking with Nancy saying "this is great, now you can hang at the local coffee shops playing your upright" - she laughed.
I met Lou Newman when I wanted to learn the double bass in the mid '70s. He taught on the side and I took lessons from him. He also traded basses as a side income (it was the KC Philharmonic at the time and they weren't making much money) and always had a dozen beautiful double-basses for sale. (most pro's have side-hustles) He had the one in this pic, a plywood King Mortone. Normally he only had vintage carved instruments that cost substantially more, so it must have been thrown in on a trade. (it sounded really nice for an affordable bass) The lessons were at their ranch home and over time we became good friends.
View attachment 7352245
Lou used to look a lot like Jerry Garcia (dark hair/beard)
View attachment 7352265
Happier times - Lou 'goofing' for the pic. We always laughed a lot when we were together.
View attachment 7352267
Eddie Taylor 1980 - being in the band was for me being so lucky to be standing on the X when he needed a bass player -
View attachment 7352264
That dude's a genuine blues legend.
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,898
- 142,244
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
What in the HE Double Hockey Sticks are you smoking?
Ok, you got the thing about Mike right.
I'm hoping to get some nice, sunlit, cleaned up pix today, but at the moment it's misting and grey outside. So that will be later.
I got the setup playable last night.
Truss rod was almost slack and neck dead flat with strings loose. It needed a 1/3 turn tighter, and now tuned Eb the relief is around 0.010".
Nut cavity still had factory lube and polishing compound in it.
Rod nut turns freely and smoothly.
Rod cover back had not been cleaned from factory condition.
Babicz bridge is really quite cool, and easier to adjust than to spell.
Dropped the action to 2.25mm low, 1.75mm high.
Fretboard clearly had never seen oil.
How dry?
This dry:
Drank f-One like a sponge.
But zero fret sprout. Nice job, Gibson.
I can find zero sign of fret wear. Frets were patina'ed even on top. Cleaned right up with an eraser.
Some of the higher frets still had polishing compound trapped in the join.
So far, no sign of high or low frets, no dead spots I can hear. No tendecy to buzz or clack that's not operator-induced.
Voice is excellent, tho I think the pickups need to be lower. Bridge pickup was at upper limit of screw length.
Pots all turn smooth and silently even with high gain.
There is a tiny bit of hum when I'm not touching the strings. Very small, but there. Maybe the complex design and black coating on the Babicz isnt letting the strings ground fully? Easy enough to test.
The rounds on it (no silks, gold balls... factory?) are clean and very 'sharp' to my fingers. Almost rasp-like, no signs of wear.
Tone wide open, with these strings, is almost piano-like, especially with a pick. Rich and low but not muddy. I like it!
So now I'm torn about restringing... I don't like rounds in general as I cant control the noise well, but... all original.
Staring at the set of EBCFs I bought for my build, just sitting there on the bench. Won't need them for months yet.
But... all original...
Conundrum.
Next up; the <2% 'bad.'
I got the setup playable last night.
Truss rod was almost slack and neck dead flat with strings loose. It needed a 1/3 turn tighter, and now tuned Eb the relief is around 0.010".
Nut cavity still had factory lube and polishing compound in it.
Rod nut turns freely and smoothly.
Rod cover back had not been cleaned from factory condition.
Babicz bridge is really quite cool, and easier to adjust than to spell.
Dropped the action to 2.25mm low, 1.75mm high.
Fretboard clearly had never seen oil.
How dry?
This dry:
Drank f-One like a sponge.
But zero fret sprout. Nice job, Gibson.
I can find zero sign of fret wear. Frets were patina'ed even on top. Cleaned right up with an eraser.
Some of the higher frets still had polishing compound trapped in the join.
So far, no sign of high or low frets, no dead spots I can hear. No tendecy to buzz or clack that's not operator-induced.
Voice is excellent, tho I think the pickups need to be lower. Bridge pickup was at upper limit of screw length.
Pots all turn smooth and silently even with high gain.
There is a tiny bit of hum when I'm not touching the strings. Very small, but there. Maybe the complex design and black coating on the Babicz isnt letting the strings ground fully? Easy enough to test.
The rounds on it (no silks, gold balls... factory?) are clean and very 'sharp' to my fingers. Almost rasp-like, no signs of wear.
Tone wide open, with these strings, is almost piano-like, especially with a pick. Rich and low but not muddy. I like it!
So now I'm torn about restringing... I don't like rounds in general as I cant control the noise well, but... all original.
Staring at the set of EBCFs I bought for my build, just sitting there on the bench. Won't need them for months yet.
But... all original...
Conundrum.
Next up; the <2% 'bad.'
Thanks. Worked out great as a charcuterie board, the oily meats didn’t leave a mark and she washed up fine afterwards. A cutting board would need to be made of a harder wood like maple. Now that I’ve about worked out all the proportions of basically a 2/3 scale Tbird body and headstock (with a shortened neck of course) it’s ready for prime time.
The ThunderBoard…
This was just a proof of concept using a bamboo serving board I had lying around. It was actually 5 ply bamboo with the center ply running cross grain and having numerous voids, hence the black side painting to cover all the wood epoxy I had to add to fill the voids.
Two more boards are on the way both in solid wood vs plywood. One Non Reverse body (no neck) in teak and one reverse like the bamboo one above but in cherry. I still have another bamboo reverse that I’ll probably make a wall clock out of, maybe even with a reverse running clock mechanism in it just for laughs, should be fun in the guitar room.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,589
- 221,974
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I did on that recording, and for a local TV show spot. The funny story about that was that once the TV camera (large-size in those day) was trained on him he got stage fright and sorta froze. It cracked me up because the was a real showman/performer in the clubs.
The LP we recorded was another funny story. It was organized by a German promoter in Chicago to be sold/promote All-Star Blues" shows in Germany later that year. Willie Dixon, Eddie, and other Blues bandleaders playing as a band. I can imagine it being weird as they were all leaders of their own bands and not used to being "side-men". It was recorded on the same street as other famous blues LP's were cut (South Michigan Ave - "Record Row") but sorta' "slam-bam, thank you mam". We were all in a big old room - no overdubs, no headphones and as few takes as possible. Eddie was way across the room and we had to watch him like hawks to stay together. It's amazing it sounds like anything! I also remember it being Chicago winter cold that day, and we were all freezing!
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,898
- 142,244
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
Glad you enjoyed it! When I was living aboard I would see a lot cool of scenes like that- some of them I couldn't resist taking a snapshot of. and that was one of them-
I feel for you. That kind of thing is zero fun. Sometimes it can't end fast enough. Not hearing just starts the domino effect of other things not falling into place. Even if you are playing well you might not feel like it. I played with a drummer a couple times who was ungodly loud. We gave him some Hotrods. Didn't help. Still sounded like he was trying to play a stadium with no PA. Likely the best I ever played with, but he had not awareness of the context. Couldn't hear me or barely anything but him. One of those guys that was never told the volume knob for a drummer is between the ears. Maybe there was nothing there!
