Thunderbird Club

[Engle]

and that's my point, ultimately I want to play live bass (without singing vocals if possible).....with Beat Street (first GTG band) we would practice once a week (like you say 3 and 4 part harmonies) and after all that effort the band no longer plays out which makes me wonder if I should have just stuck with JMB alone.....

Ok, I see what you mean. I've spent a lot of hours rehearsing with bands only to have them fall apart without playing very many gigs. I've also said no to bands that go on to play lots of gigs.
But yeah, a situation where you can just roll in to a gig and play rock is pretty sweet!

 

[Engle]

No, Rob made that bass for Uwe Hornung - The man that owns 99% of the basses in the BOOK.

It's hard to keep up with all the beautiful basses Rob makes!

 

[Engle]

Agreed. You never know what the live situation will present except that it will be unexpected. If you are struggling with the basics, it will only get worse….

I'm reading the Stewart Copeland book. I like the way he thinks:

And yes, there are many unintended departures from the plan (behind locked doors we call them mistakes), but the trick is to make them work. We have an epoch of stagecraft experience between us and we could write the encyclopedia of swaggering through mistakes. That’s the great thing about music. If you played it, it’s correct. The worst musical train wreck hurts absolutely no one. It’s all part of the show. In fact it’s how we get to the great stuff. There is no penalty for skating on the edge or throwing ourselves off the cliff. So we do.

 

[GonePlaid]

Agreed. You never know what the live situation will present except that it will be unexpected. If you are struggling with the basics, it will only get worse….

One thing that helps us control live situations is that we provide the PA, rather than walk in and find some unfamiliar/unworkable 'stuff'.

 

[BklynKen]

Only playing bands that do original material, requires regular rehearsals to accomplish anything.

We practice (Highfield) once a week pretty consistently.

I don’t have time for folks who don’t want to rehearse or always have schedule issues.

I understand that people’s lives get complicated/busy and you need to be flexible regarding finding the time.

That said, people also need to be honest about their realistic ability to commit to the time, prioritize it and if not, realize that your behavior affects other people.

As you can tell by this “mini rant”, this is something I have experienced……

Same here. I feel so lucky to have found a band where everyone's on the same page in these respects. I don't think it's too much to ask for the band to be one of your priorities if you want to be in it.

 

[BklynKen]

I'm reading the Stewart Copeland book. I like the way he thinks:

And yes, there are many unintended departures from the plan (behind locked doors we call them mistakes), but the trick is to make them work. We have an epoch of stagecraft experience between us and we could write the encyclopedia of swaggering through mistakes. That’s the great thing about music. If you played it, it’s correct. The worst musical train wreck hurts absolutely no one. It’s all part of the show. In fact it’s how we get to the great stuff. There is no penalty for skating on the edge or throwing ourselves off the cliff. So we do.

Start strong and end strong.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

You folks make my currents goal of, "be good enough to play outside my house with more than 3 people and a cat present" and "build my third instrument so it doesn't suck" feel rather small-time, but I love being around for the stories.

Inspires me. Truly.

 

[GBassNorth]

After the delivery of my Bicentennial Bird a few weeks ago I’ve been completely enamored with the sound of the Sidewinder pickups in series. Nice high output and super responsive to right hand placement and technique.
So…. I did a thing.
Negotiated a sweet deal on a set of ‘76 bird pups. Should be arriving tomorrow. They’ll likely go in my cream colored BaCH, replacing the existing ChinaBuckers and wired up identical to my Bi. I might even put a Black pick guard on the NR to make it a true bookend reverse of my Black Bicentennial for a nice set of Reverse/NR sidewinder series bird options…
The Before Pic…

After pic will be posted when it’s all done and sorted out, along with a sound clip to compare the two. Should be a nice little set.

 

[Stealth57]

After the delivery of my Bicentennial Bird a few weeks ago I’ve been completely enamored with the sound of the Sidewinder pickups in series. Nice high output and super responsive to right hand placement and technique.
So…. I did a thing.
Negotiated a sweet deal on a set of ‘76 bird pups. Should be arriving tomorrow. They’ll likely go in my cream colored BaCH, replacing the existing ChinaBuckers and wired up identical to my Bi. I might even put a Black pick guard on the NR to make it a true bookend reverse of my Black Bicentennial for a nice set of Reverse/NR sidewinder series bird options…
The Before Pic…
View attachment 7391757
After pic will be posted when it’s all done and sorted out, along with a sound clip to compare the two. Should be a nice little set.

Looks like pickup location is pretty close between the two. Should be a fair comparison.

 

[GBassNorth]

Looks like pickup location is pretty close between the two. Should be a fair comparison.

Yeah, there’s a number of small differences between the two - bridge style, nut, body weight, set vs neck thru, tuners and strings (I didn’t measure pup locations yet). So I don’t expect an exact duplicate in sound but my hope is that they’re very close with a lot of overlap between the two.

 

[MCF]

After the delivery of my Bicentennial Bird a few weeks ago I’ve been completely enamored with the sound of the Sidewinder pickups in series. Nice high output and super responsive to right hand placement and technique.
So…. I did a thing.
Negotiated a sweet deal on a set of ‘76 bird pups. Should be arriving tomorrow. They’ll likely go in my cream colored BaCH, replacing the existing ChinaBuckers and wired up identical to my Bi. I might even put a Black pick guard on the NR to make it a true bookend reverse of my Black Bicentennial for a nice set of Reverse/NR sidewinder series bird options…
The Before Pic…
View attachment 7391757
After pic will be posted when it’s all done and sorted out, along with a sound clip to compare the two. Should be a nice little set.

They are nice pickups. I find it surprising that some didn’t think much of them at the time and swapped them out. I sure like the tone of them in my ‘77.

 

[dagrev]

After the delivery of my Bicentennial Bird a few weeks ago I’ve been completely enamored with the sound of the Sidewinder pickups in series. Nice high output and super responsive to right hand placement and technique.
So…. I did a thing.
Negotiated a sweet deal on a set of ‘76 bird pups. Should be arriving tomorrow. They’ll likely go in my cream colored BaCH, replacing the existing ChinaBuckers and wired up identical to my Bi. I might even put a Black pick guard on the NR to make it a true bookend reverse of my Black Bicentennial for a nice set of Reverse/NR sidewinder series bird options…
The Before Pic…
View attachment 7391757
After pic will be posted when it’s all done and sorted out, along with a sound clip to compare the two. Should be a nice little set.

Love it!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

You could also perform as "Merkin".

That’s one possible place I was heading with the logo comment!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

We were just joking about that scenario at BG rehearsal tonight... It started out talking about playing a song and experiencing "magic" (song played well together) and devolved into humor... "creating the magic takes more rehearsing... after a while you'd get so good at rehearsing that you didn't need to play out!"

interesting angle....for me it's "magic" when it's spontaneous and not practiced....some enjoy rehearsals, some view them as necessary evils, some don't care....again, depends what you're out for....I just wanna play bass.....

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

After the delivery of my Bicentennial Bird a few weeks ago I’ve been completely enamored with the sound of the Sidewinder pickups in series. Nice high output and super responsive to right hand placement and technique.
So…. I did a thing.
Negotiated a sweet deal on a set of ‘76 bird pups. Should be arriving tomorrow. They’ll likely go in my cream colored BaCH, replacing the existing ChinaBuckers and wired up identical to my Bi. I might even put a Black pick guard on the NR to make it a true bookend reverse of my Black Bicentennial for a nice set of Reverse/NR sidewinder series bird options…
The Before Pic…
View attachment 7391757
After pic will be posted when it’s all done and sorted out, along with a sound clip to compare the two. Should be a nice little set.

Nice!....adding the lack of a bridge sidewinder (and II wiring) to the comparison for tonal variation....
IV


II

 

[dagrev]

interesting angle....for me it's "magic" when it's spontaneous and not practiced....some enjoy rehearsals, some view them as necessary evils, some don't care....again, depends what you're out for....I just wanna play bass.....

I recall way back rehearsing with nothing on the calendar and you just hoped something would open up. That got a little old. But it was a time to learn some new songs. I was never good enough to just show up at most things and it be fun. Knowing songs well makes it more fun for me than worrying about what I'm not doing right or even close to right. I also recall a band a guy put together and invited me an a another guitarist I was in a band with for one outdoor event and thought it would turn into more. We learned a bunch of songs none of us knew, did the gig which went great. Never played them again.

I like rehearsals more if there is a point. But I would like playing songs I like with people I like in a basement even if no gig. I just like playing. I love the sound of a good bass. It's better with a good player, but I'm stuck with me so I take what I can get.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Ok, I see what you mean. I've spent a lot of hours rehearsing with bands only to have them fall apart without playing very many gigs. I've also said no to bands that go on to play lots of gigs.
But yeah, a situation where you can just roll in to a gig and play rock is pretty sweet!

or give me charts....

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I recall way back rehearsing with nothing on the calendar and you just hoped something would open up. That got a little old. But it was a time to learn some new songs. I was never good enough to just show up at most things and it be fun. Knowing songs well makes it more fun for me than worrying about what I'm not doing right or even close to right. I also recall a band a guy put together and invited me an a another guitarist I was in a band with for one outdoor event and thought it would turn into more. We learned a bunch of songs none of us knew, did the gig which went great. Never played them again.

I like rehearsals more if there is a point. But I would like playing songs I like with people I like in a basement even if no gig. I just like playing. I love the sound of a good bass. It's better with a good player, but I'm stuck with me so I take what I can get.

exactly, I don't mind rehearsing if it's gonna accomplish something....so many times were asked to learn material (forget rehearsing it) that never gets played...then there's the way people rehearse...I'm used to "bar 40, what are you playing at the end of the passage?".....not "let's go over the whole 3rd set"....fme, many view rehearsals as social outings...just don't have that kinda bandwidth these days ....

 

[MCF]

I recall way back rehearsing with nothing on the calendar and you just hoped something would open up. That got a little old. But it was a time to learn some new songs. I was never good enough to just show up at most things and it be fun. Knowing songs well makes it more fun for me than worrying about what I'm not doing right or even close to right. I also recall a band a guy put together and invited me an a another guitarist I was in a band with for one outdoor event and thought it would turn into more. We learned a bunch of songs none of us knew, did the gig which went great. Never played them again.

I like rehearsals more if there is a point. But I would like playing songs I like with people I like in a basement even if no gig. I just like playing. I love the sound of a good bass. It's better with a good player, but I'm stuck with me so I take what I can get.

It was always fun. We may not have been good, but it seriously didn’t matter in the seventies, early eighties. Audiences may have thought we sucked, but they never said it to us out loud. A kinder, gentler time.

 

[MCF]

exactly, I don't mind rehearsing if it's gonna accomplish something....so many times were asked to learn material (forget rehearsing it) that never gets played...then there's the way people rehearse...I'm used to "bar 40, what are you playing at the end of the passage?".....not "let's go over the whole 3rd set"....fme, many view rehearsals as social outings...just don't have that kinda bandwidth these days ....

To me, band practice was where songs got worked out, some messing around was had, that sort of thing. Rehearsals were Wednesday or Thursday night before a Friday or Saturday night gig. We had a rotating group with different drummers, a couple different singers, sometimes sax, sometimes keys, sometimes not.