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Thunderbird Club

#330,381
Chucky Stiletti said:
almost 4 hrs from SFO to Hol last night....crazy..
Click to expand...
That’s nutz!
Only took me a half hour longer than that (4-1/2 hours door to door) to make the 300 mile drive from LA area (Thousand Oaks) to Monterey.
We’re getting ready to leave Monterey to go into Carmel for the evening. I’m allotting an hour door to door. Any other time I’ve been up here it would have been a 30 minute drive at most. It’s starting to get to the point of just calling an uber so you don’t have to hassle with the traffic and parking situations. Not at all uncommon in big cities, but come on - Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz ain’t big cities. And don’t get me started on the $6.60/gallon I paid for gas in Paso Robles on the way up. :rollno:
 
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#330,382
Engle said:
Beautiful! Nice work!
Click to expand...
Thanks, Irv. I'm glad it's finished and I can finally play it, but my rushing and running of of time is noticeable for anyone who has an eye for such things. 2ft away or the average person would not have a clue. I relearned a lot. Who knows, I may refinish it next year if it bugs me. I won't have all the body corrections to do which took a lot of time, so it would in some ways be a piece of cake.

One real delay was the gain filler I used sucked. Had much praise, but didn't work well at all with mahogany at all. Looked fine, then put the primer on and much of the gain showed. That after many coats. It would be fine for wood that doesn't need grain filler! I should have asked for advice, but from what I read I had a good product. As you mentioned early on, I wish I had a trial project to do first in some ways, but unless the body was previously modded and sanded with a disk grinder it would have not been what I was facing in some ways.
 
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#330,385
dagrev said:
Thanks, Irv. I'm glad it's finished and I can finally play it, but my rushing and running of of time is noticeable for anyone who has an eye for such things. 2ft away or the average person would not have a clue. I relearned a lot. Who knows, I may refinish it next year if it bugs me. I won't have all the body corrections to do which took a lot of time, so it would in some ways be a piece of cake.

One real delay was the gain filler I used sucked. Had much praise, but didn't work well at all with mahogany at all. Looked fine, then put the primer on and much of the gain showed. That after many coats. It would be fine for wood that doesn't need grain filler! I should have asked for advice, but from what I read I had a good product. As you mentioned early on, I wish I had a trial project to do first in some ways, but unless the body was previously modded and sanded with a disk grinder it would have not been what I was facing in some ways.
Click to expand...
Did you hit with a damp cloth to raise the grain and then sand before the filler?

Also I'm happy to share the pickup ring riser 3D file if you know someone with a 3D printer.
 
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#330,386
You do what you gotta do.

579312538_25009531622043044_7091587025747457202_n.jpg
 
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#330,387
dagrev said:
All right....

Got the pickups and cap soldered in this morning. But the trim ring and pickguard on. Installed tuners. Pup height adjusted (needed more foam so had to pull them and add little more.


The 916 pups sound good. I was afraid they would be bright but that's not the case. Full, warm and punchy. Pups do seem hot--in a good way. I'll use the bass Sunday so we'll get a real test in.

I A/B the '21 NR and the '66 and the '66 is the clear winner in sound and feel. May look into selling the '21. If I want to play a NR I know which one I will want to grab--but then I'd need a case, and shipping.... The generic the '66 was in is not much, but I might be able to beef it up a little, we'll see.




And a way we go....







Crappy pics as usual. The pickguard is parchment, but looks really white in the pic.
View attachment 7364278



Not sure what all the spots on on the body below. I didn't clean it off after finishing up, who knows. Fortunately it doesn't have freckles in person. The color looks washed out for some reason. The pic above is closer to actual.
View attachment 7364280

View attachment 7364282


I do need to get a trim ring spacer. I have gold screws for the trim ring and pickguard arriving Monday. Needs a tug bar as well.

The strings I first thought about putting on to get started were too short (several used sets in fact). Had some new StringJoy NPS so they are on for a first go. I like them on the Epi Embassy doner bass, but I'll try a few because I'm me to find what seems ideal. The Epi has two, I might take the neck one and use it. We'll see. Might make that look more odd than the '66 with out it.

I am glad this is all put back together and ready to play. It was getting old having that hanging out there needing to be finished.

Now that I'm brushed up again on soldering I think I'll build an amp next.... :rollno:
Click to expand...
That looks fantastic!!
 
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#330,388
dagrev said:
All right....

Got the pickups and cap soldered in this morning. But the trim ring and pickguard on. Installed tuners. Pup height adjusted (needed more foam so had to pull them and add little more.


The 916 pups sound good. I was afraid they would be bright but that's not the case. Full, warm and punchy. Pups do seem hot--in a good way. I'll use the bass Sunday so we'll get a real test in.

I A/B the '21 NR and the '66 and the '66 is the clear winner in sound and feel. May look into selling the '21. If I want to play a NR I know which one I will want to grab--but then I'd need a case, and shipping.... The generic the '66 was in is not much, but I might be able to beef it up a little, we'll see.




And a way we go....







Crappy pics as usual. The pickguard is parchment, but looks really white in the pic.
View attachment 7364278



Not sure what all the spots on on the body below. I didn't clean it off after finishing up, who knows. Fortunately it doesn't have freckles in person. The color looks washed out for some reason. The pic above is closer to actual.
View attachment 7364280

View attachment 7364282


I do need to get a trim ring spacer. I have gold screws for the trim ring and pickguard arriving Monday. Needs a tug bar as well.

The strings I first thought about putting on to get started were too short (several used sets in fact). Had some new StringJoy NPS so they are on for a first go. I like them on the Epi Embassy doner bass, but I'll try a few because I'm me to find what seems ideal. The Epi has two, I might take the neck one and use it. We'll see. Might make that look more odd than the '66 with out it.

I am glad this is all put back together and ready to play. It was getting old having that hanging out there needing to be finished.

Now that I'm brushed up again on soldering I think I'll build an amp next.... :rollno:
Click to expand...
I can only hope mine turns out even partway this nice.

Gorgeous!
 
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#330,390
dagrev said:
All right....

Got the pickups and cap soldered in this morning. But the trim ring and pickguard on. Installed tuners. Pup height adjusted (needed more foam so had to pull them and add little more.


The 916 pups sound good. I was afraid they would be bright but that's not the case. Full, warm and punchy. Pups do seem hot--in a good way. I'll use the bass Sunday so we'll get a real test in.

I A/B the '21 NR and the '66 and the '66 is the clear winner in sound and feel. May look into selling the '21. If I want to play a NR I know which one I will want to grab--but then I'd need a case, and shipping.... The generic the '66 was in is not much, but I might be able to beef it up a little, we'll see.




And a way we go....







Crappy pics as usual. The pickguard is parchment, but looks really white in the pic.
View attachment 7364278



Not sure what all the spots on on the body below. I didn't clean it off after finishing up, who knows. Fortunately it doesn't have freckles in person. The color looks washed out for some reason. The pic above is closer to actual.
View attachment 7364280

View attachment 7364282


I do need to get a trim ring spacer. I have gold screws for the trim ring and pickguard arriving Monday. Needs a tug bar as well.

The strings I first thought about putting on to get started were too short (several used sets in fact). Had some new StringJoy NPS so they are on for a first go. I like them on the Epi Embassy doner bass, but I'll try a few because I'm me to find what seems ideal. The Epi has two, I might take the neck one and use it. We'll see. Might make that look more odd than the '66 with out it.

I am glad this is all put back together and ready to play. It was getting old having that hanging out there needing to be finished.

Now that I'm brushed up again on soldering I think I'll build an amp next.... :rollno:
Click to expand...
Nice!
 
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#330,392
dagrev said:
All right....

Got the pickups and cap soldered in this morning. But the trim ring and pickguard on. Installed tuners. Pup height adjusted (needed more foam so had to pull them and add little more.


The 916 pups sound good. I was afraid they would be bright but that's not the case. Full, warm and punchy. Pups do seem hot--in a good way. I'll use the bass Sunday so we'll get a real test in.

I A/B the '21 NR and the '66 and the '66 is the clear winner in sound and feel. May look into selling the '21. If I want to play a NR I know which one I will want to grab--but then I'd need a case, and shipping.... The generic the '66 was in is not much, but I might be able to beef it up a little, we'll see.




And a way we go....







Crappy pics as usual. The pickguard is parchment, but looks really white in the pic.
View attachment 7364278



Not sure what all the spots on on the body below. I didn't clean it off after finishing up, who knows. Fortunately it doesn't have freckles in person. The color looks washed out for some reason. The pic above is closer to actual.
View attachment 7364280

View attachment 7364282


I do need to get a trim ring spacer. I have gold screws for the trim ring and pickguard arriving Monday. Needs a tug bar as well.

The strings I first thought about putting on to get started were too short (several used sets in fact). Had some new StringJoy NPS so they are on for a first go. I like them on the Epi Embassy doner bass, but I'll try a few because I'm me to find what seems ideal. The Epi has two, I might take the neck one and use it. We'll see. Might make that look more odd than the '66 with out it.

I am glad this is all put back together and ready to play. It was getting old having that hanging out there needing to be finished.

Now that I'm brushed up again on soldering I think I'll build an amp next.... :rollno:
Click to expand...
Donnie, that is seriously gorgeous. Well done!

Red, White and Gold for the win!
 
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#330,393
GBassNorth said:
That’s nutz!
Only took me a half hour longer than that (4-1/2 hours door to door) to make the 300 mile drive from LA area (Thousand Oaks) to Monterey.
We’re getting ready to leave Monterey to go into Carmel for the evening. I’m allotting an hour door to door. Any other time I’ve been up here it would have been a 30 minute drive at most. It’s starting to get to the point of just calling an uber so you don’t have to hassle with the traffic and parking situations. Not at all uncommon in big cities, but come on - Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz ain’t big cities. And don’t get me started on the $6.60/gallon I paid for gas in Paso Robles on the way up. :rollno:
Click to expand...
My son and daughter-in-law live in Monterey now. They have mentioned traffic as an occasional headache, but then they both lived in LA for a long time, before and after they met.
 
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#330,398
Engle said:
Last night was the first time playing my Swanky Spider with a drummer. It cut through pretty well considering the nickel Daddarios. Stainless steel will be going on it - I may need to add the tailpiece sooner than later to use 34” strings.
My buddy didn’t play this kit (there are 3 others in the room), but I had to get this shot:View attachment 7364091
Click to expand...
That's sick right there.
 
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