Thunderbird Club

[Gaolee]

Will was keeping his hands to himself

I am shy.

 

[MCF]

Ummm, there is no Round Rock UT.

Well, there ought to be.

 

[MCF]

indeed.....
View attachment 7399184

But they no doubt had Kief and Willie. Probably Crosby too.

 

[MCF]

OK, that is my favorite bass. I just do not own it. Yet. Bwahahahaha!

Favorite song? I forgot to say, which is appropriate. Beats me. Miles Davis Sketches of Spain is a favorite record, not really a song. But I listen to it all the way through every time. It depends on my mood. The Sex Pistols version of Johnny B. Goode into Roadrunner is pretty great at times. So is the live version of Fables of Fabus by Charles Mingus. I have been listening to Public Enemy a fair amount lately. It seems like a reasonable time for angry music.

Mine too of those owned by others. I spent a couple hours with it at the Seattle GTG. Pretty perfect IMO.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

No sir... it reminded me very strongly of a plaza I saw in Spain on vacation a couple years back.

Well, let's see...

Was my second build, first bass build, from a kit resold by a company out of Utah, but originating from China.

Neck arrived with a severe S-bow in it, high at the 6th and at the nut end. Took some major rigging of clamping pressure and heat over time to get it straight. But its die-straight and rock solid now.

Was originally a "J-bass" kit but the neck is of P-dimensions/width and originally of an FSO head profile. I redesigned it into a hand-drafted Swinger/Katana motif mainly because 7ender never made a lefty one and I liked the rarity. Worked entirely from a handful of undimensioned photos from the web - I've never even seen a real one.

Headstock decal is handmade waterslide with metallic hand painting applied to the "back" sticky side of the decal so the black print on the front acts as a mask. Custom "brand" font designed myself as a lefty homage to the original Katana font... slant reversed.

Was originally routed JJ. I rerouted to PJ and it's got threaded inserts for both patterns, and connectorised pickups. Can swap from PJ to JJ in about 15 minutes' effort, for no good reason except I can.

Body had a pencil-eraser sized pocket of rot in it that I discovered while re-routing that I had to dremel out and fill.

Discovered mid-assembly after painting that the J-pickups/routs provided are smaller than standard, specific to one Chinese OEM maker. Nothing else will fit the pattern. Ended up returning the upgraded pups I'd bought. Spent a lot of research time finding the maker and sourcing a spare set for the future.

The Hipshot bridge and tuners (which required special-order sleeves due to odd-sized tuner holes) cost more than the rest of the build.

Stuff like that.

The fretless 'Bird I'm building now will have plenty of story, too, and it's definitely benefitting from what I learned duilding the emerald monster.

Picture to make it true.
In progress:

End result:

 

[RedVee]

My best bass is my Gibson
View attachment 7398604

My favourite bass… hmm, I think that is my Epi Goth.
View attachment 7398605

My favourite song - it swings rapidly depending on what we play in the Uke group, or are practising with the singing group.
At the moment either of Dirty Old Town; or I am, You are, We are Australian.

Edit: BTW The Pogues are touring in 26, but not in Sydney until Easter. I secured a couple of seats on Easter Monday at the Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall. Very much looking forward to it.

I probably should add a special mention to my old Ibby acoustic “Ringo”. Really nice to just muck around on or to work on a small riff that I want to try and copy.
I think the 32” scale is a big part of its appeal.

 

[Stealth57]

I probably should add a special mention to my old Ibby acoustic “Ringo”. Really nice to just muck around on or to work on a small riff that I want to try and copy.
I think the 32” scale is a big part of its appeal.

View attachment 7399429

I had one but couldn’t figure out where to put my thumb. Keep the Ahems to yourselves.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

He’ll have difficult time making it home for the New Year’s Eve gig. Assuming he’s really there…never know with him…

???....funny guy...
yes, here all right...

PM me if you want the New Year's gig....

 

[JJR58]

I had one but couldn’t figure out where to put my thumb. Keep the Ahems to yourselves.

Who needs an ahem when it’s absolutely self explanatory

 

[dagrev]

Ummm, there is no Round Rock UT.

Yeah, it was an attempt at a joke.

 

[dagrev]

indeed.....
View attachment 7399184

You carved your name in at the top, right?

 

[dagrev]

and without modern tools!

View attachment 7399081

But free slave labor helps. (In most cases of such building projects.)

 

[dagrev]

He’ll have difficult time making it home for the New Year’s Eve gig. Assuming he’s really there…never know with him…

I friend at church and his wife travel a good bit. While away he posts a lot of pics from home and once home posts pics of their trip. He was in charge of UPS data security world wide and really thinks through security issues. When they are gone no one is at home, which is up on a hill on a small farm out from the city.

 

[Ringhammer]

Sooo, I decided I’m going to make my one Epiphone (white 2017 VP) into a (close) Bicentennial. I liked it fine with the 760’s, but, since so many were raving about the newer pickups in the most current models (60’s, 64), I got my hands on the blue sparkle one with the broken off headstock (the carcass is now with Ray), and I put those pickups in my VP. Noticeable difference for sure, more lows for sure, but to my ears, and through my rig, I’d have to say less definition and a lot of that mid-high/mid to tame. I think ultimately these pickups aren’t for me.

Since there is no way I’ll be dropping the 3, 4, or 5k on a real bicentennial, and I otherwise really do like my VP, I figured I’d give the 916’s a try. I have a set of nickel covers that I was originally going to put on a pair of Gibson vintage reissues, in place of the chrome covers they come with. Instead, I decided to just use chrome hardware on the 2014 they went into, so I have these extra covers. They (916) said they will use these covers and take some $$ off if I sent them in. Love that they will ultimately get used!

I have the wiring diagram for the original bicentennial, and now I need to get the 100k split-shaft audio taper pots.

Anyone have a link to some good high quality ones?

Also, will anyone have any interest in buying a set of pickups from an Epiphone’64?

 

[PhR75]

I didn't know there was a difference between the VP pickups and the '64s. Tells how often I drop by...

Anyway, Happy New Year!
And to show off something, here's my "new" Roland RS-202 string synthesizer (or string machine as I prefer to call it). I turned 50 last November and didn't buy anything then if I recall correctly and didn't get anything for Christmas either so when a friend was selling this I thought those are my excuses.
From 1976 so almost as old as me. Used by Tony Banks, Peter Bardens, Robin Lumley, Nick Magnus and many others. Sounds perfect and has the Roland's legendary "Ensemble" effect which really does the 75%.

 

[Thumper]

Yeah, it was an attempt at a joke.

Yeah, that's cool. Sometimes I forget Utah is the butt of a lot of jokes, most of them on the nose. I think of it as a clown show myself. Can't beat the beauty of the place though, and the best place on earth to ski and side-by-side, and world class trout fishing. Makes living here bearable.

 

[GBassNorth]

Sooo, I decided I’m going to make my one Epiphone (white 2017 VP) into a (close) Bicentennial. I liked it fine with the 760’s, but, since so many were raving about the newer pickups in the most current models (60’s, 64), I got my hands on the blue sparkle one with the broken off headstock (the carcass is now with Ray), and I put those pickups in my VP. Noticeable difference for sure, more lows for sure, but to my ears, and through my rig, I’d have to say less definition and a lot of that mid-high/mid to tame. I think ultimately these pickups aren’t for me.

Since there is no way I’ll be dropping the 3, 4, or 5k on a real bicentennial, and I otherwise really do like my VP, I figured I’d give the 916’s a try. I have a set of nickel covers that I was originally going to put on a pair of Gibson vintage reissues, in place of the chrome covers they come with. Instead, I decided to just use chrome hardware on the 2014 they went into, so I have these extra covers. They (916) said they will use these covers and take some $$ off if I sent them in. Love that they will ultimately get used!

I have the wiring diagram for the original bicentennial, and now I need to get the 100k split-shaft audio taper pots.

Anyone have a link to some good high quality ones?

Also, will anyone have any interest in buying a set of pickups from an Epiphone’64?

I basically did the same thing with my white BaCH NR bass. I was able to score a set of vintage 1976 Tbird pickups for a pretty reasonable price (about twice the price of Gibson Reissues), so if you’re not in a hurry you might find a similar deal out there. I ended up using 500k volume pots and a 250k tone pot, otherwise wired exactly like a Bicentennial. Sounds great. I still haven’t been able to confirm the pots in a Bi bird are actually 100k, if you confirm that with actual measurements please let me know and I’ll redo my pots to match as well.

In any case, it sounds like you’re bi build will be a great bass. I love my 1979 and the newly finished Bi BaCH. Soundwise, both are right at the top tier of my Tbird line up.

 

[dagrev]

Yeah, that's cool. Sometimes I forget Utah is the butt of a lot of jokes, most of them on the nose. It's because I think of it as a clown show myself. Can't beat the beauty of the place though, and the best place on earth to ski and side-by-side, and world class trout fishing. Makes living here bearable.

Butt of jokes...that's Kentucky. Mostly by people who have never been to the areas they joke about--often any part of the state for that matter. (Often true of the South in general as well.) I even make them myself. Keeps people from New Jersey from moving here! Every state has plenty to joke about, some more than others for sure. Utah looks beautiful and I hope to get out that way one day.

 

[Stealth57]

Butt of jokes...that's Kentucky. Mostly by people who have never been to the areas they joke about--often any part of the state for that matter. (Often true of the South in general as well.) I even make them myself. Keeps people from New Jersey from moving here! Every state has plenty to joke about, some more than others for sure. Utah looks beautiful and I hope to get out that way one day.

Just to pile on...

 

[dagrev]

Sooo, I decided I’m going to make my one Epiphone (white 2017 VP) into a (close) Bicentennial. I liked it fine with the 760’s, but, since so many were raving about the newer pickups in the most current models (60’s, 64), I got my hands on the blue sparkle one with the broken off headstock (the carcass is now with Ray), and I put those pickups in my VP. Noticeable difference for sure, more lows for sure, but to my ears, and through my rig, I’d have to say less definition and a lot of that mid-high/mid to tame. I think ultimately these pickups aren’t for me.

Since there is no way I’ll be dropping the 3, 4, or 5k on a real bicentennial, and I otherwise really do like my VP, I figured I’d give the 916’s a try. I have a set of nickel covers that I was originally going to put on a pair of Gibson vintage reissues, in place of the chrome covers they come with. Instead, I decided to just use chrome hardware on the 2014 they went into, so I have these extra covers. They (916) said they will use these covers and take some $$ off if I sent them in. Love that they will ultimately get used!

I have the wiring diagram for the original bicentennial, and now I need to get the 100k split-shaft audio taper pots.

Anyone have a link to some good high quality ones?

Also, will anyone have any interest in buying a set of pickups from an Epiphone’64?

Curious for your take on the 916 pups. In my obsession and A/B bases I can say with certainty the 760s are higher output. By a fair amount. Not a problem as amps have volume knobs. I find the 760s to have more natural mids and lows than the 916s. Again, amps have knobs. I think the 916s tend to be less 3-D in sound you might say and somehow more clean (not brighter necessarily). But in one bass that will be 60 yrs old and the Epi a few. Not a knock on the 916s just the differences I notice. One day when I'm really bored I might drop a 760 in the old NR just to see what happens. Then again, I may never be that bored.