Thunderbird Club

[ThaCoast]

I have a set of TB+ I’d sell for cheap, if you want a pair to play with. One is a brand new one and one is from my ‘97. The other original pickup in the ‘97 was bad when I bought the bass.

View attachment 7410733

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$80 plus shipping from 94402.

Lmk

Tempting, will definitely let you know in short time. Appreciate the offer btw!

Would love to see a photo of the control cavity to see how that’s wired.
In every bass I’ve ever had that has a series/parallel switch that switch stays in series mode 95% of the time. I don’t think you can do it with the Gibson reissue pickups, but single/dual coil switching is something I’ve done to one of my Goths (with Bartolini soapbars) and I find it very very useful. I’ve also had great results with a stacked vol/tone pot for each pickup.

Since my bass is only a kill switch, i wired one of the pickups negative lead to the other's hot lead, thus creating Series wiring. I'll try to get a picture up tonight

When you guys say series/parallel do you mean switching the coils in each humbucker from series to parallel, or putting the two pickups between series or parallel to each other?

I assumed we were talking about one pickup wired in series with a second pickup.

Pretty much, instead of them being side by side "equal" output, in series, one after the other, you get a nice boost in volume overall. So say my Gibson RI pickups are roughly 8.6kohms each, if its just in parallel, it's simply 8.6k, in series you'd get closer to 16k.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Tempting, will definitely let you know in short time. Appreciate the offer btw!



Since my bass is only a kill switch, i wired one of the pickups negative lead to the other's hot lead, thus creating Series wiring. I'll try to get a picture up tonight





Pretty much, instead of them being side by side "equal" output, in series, one after the other, you get a nice boost in volume overall. So say my Gibson RI pickups are roughly 8.6kohms each, if its just in parallel, it's simply 8.6k, in series you'd get closer to 16k.

Parallel would be 4.3k total, series 17.2k .

 

[dagrev]

Love the sound of a Rhodes - Wurlitzer's aren't bad either.

Especially if overdriven.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

The band I'm in (or one of the bands) just released this new single today.


I used the Telecaster bass with DeCola T-Bird pickups. I'm also the main writer on this song. Danceable prog for the lack of a better description.

Groovy....hearing some of this....

https://share.google/OJxGTFeSN50V8qSdS

 

[Butcherboy]

This is mine, I actually haven't been able to spend much time with since I got it about 4 months ago, it's from a run Epiphone did for AMS and ZZ Sounds a few years back. It its long scale with a stout neck, a bit bigger than a VP, it feels like a big bass and it is! I can't say that I've heard a lot about these specifically, my original intent was to put some different pickups in mine but, as it turns out, the previous owner had installed a Preamp and rewired it, and it sounds quite good as it is now. So, for the time being I'll leave it alone tho I may install some different knobs on it, the current ones don't do much for me.
At one point I owned an '80s Gibson, it was 32" scale, it was "OK" but nothing too inspiring tone wise and I ended up using it as trade fodder for a Thunderbird. Gibson Re-issued them as a long scale bass, essentially a pointy Thunderbird, with a 3 Point and TB Plus pickups, I kinda want one, but I'm hoping some form of common sense will prevail as I'm running out of space for these things.

….not really lightweight (both)…the 2011 GC limited run sounds great (TB+ pickups), the 80s doesn’t…

 

[Nocturnal]

I love my Hamer Blitz (Explorer). It's been well-used but still rock-solid. Sounds killer with the vintage Dimarzio's.

 

[dagrev]

I love my Hamer Blitz (Explorer). It's been well-used but still rock-solid. Sounds killer with the vintage Dimarzio's.

I really love that Hagstrom. Gretch makes a Tom Petersson White Falcon that looks interesting. I'm not sure I would like a bass with a pup next to the neck, however. To me basses start sounding "tubby" or something, but I would love to try something like that one day. J.T. has one of the Gretchs, really likes it and told me one was for sale once. But he said they are deceptively more heavy than you would expect. Maybe one day. And maybe not, who knows.

 

[ThaCoast]

Would love to see a photo of the control cavity to see how that’s wired.
In every bass I’ve ever had that has a series/parallel switch that switch stays in series mode 95% of the time. I don’t think you can do it with the Gibson reissue pickups, but single/dual coil switching is something I’ve done to one of my Goths (with Bartolini soapbars) and I find it very very useful. I’ve also had great results with a stacked vol/tone pot for each pickup.

This is it - white is ground of neck pickup, connected direct to hot of bridge pickup. Then remaining hot & ground become common of both go to the on off switch.

& ive just done my electronics testing overall, & well here's my personal verdict towards the new bird build;

1- tone control is quite redundant in my case, i thought perhaps i was potentially missing something with just a killswitch, but im really not. With the pickups being wide open, & me never really using any tone controls on most of my basses, this is out.

2- dual volumes: while i do enjoy the sound of the neck pickup alone, it kinda reminds of a "Pbass" in the sense its massive, & clear/punchy sounding. & while i tried the bridge pickup blended in roughly 85-90%, i kinda prefer both full volume. Theres a slight dip granted, but the rounded neck & brighter bridge balance each other. It feels & sounds better to my ear. Granted, i might be biased because ive had this bass wired with its pickups full on always over a decade, but within my arsenal of basses, i want a tbird to be a tbird. So dual volumes are also out.

3- series/parallel: this is honestly probably the better thing to have overall in my case. Its more a question of how often would i be in one mode over the other, or balanced 5050 depending on needs. TBD.

^^^side mounted jack + plate. Dig it more than the tube style jack, on the new build, the cavity might not be as big/long as this original one is.

 

[Gaolee]

I really love that Hagstrom. Gretch makes a Tom Petersson White Falcon that looks interesting. I'm not sure I would like a bass with a pup next to the neck, however. To me basses start sounding "tubby" or something, but I would love to try something like that one day. J.T. has one of the Gretchs, really likes it and told me one was for sale once. But he said they are deceptively more heavy than you would expect. Maybe one day. And maybe not, who knows.

I love the sound of the right pickup up at the neck in mudbucker position.

 

[Nocturnal]

I really love that Hagstrom. Gretch makes a Tom Petersson White Falcon that looks interesting. I'm not sure I would like a bass with a pup next to the neck, however. To me basses start sounding "tubby" or something, but I would love to try something like that one day. J.T. has one of the Gretchs, really likes it and told me one was for sale once. But he said they are deceptively more heavy than you would expect. Maybe one day. And maybe not, who knows.

The Hagstrom is pretty versatile really. The 6 position switch really gives lots of tone options. Comfortable bass to play and its short scale, I just don't use it as much as it deserves to be played. Great for noodling on the couch tho.

 

[GonePlaid]

You mean several.

Could get rid of some trains.
J/K

 

[GonePlaid]

I really love that Hagstrom. Gretch makes a Tom Petersson White Falcon that looks interesting. I'm not sure I would like a bass with a pup next to the neck, however. To me basses start sounding "tubby" or something, but I would love to try something like that one day. J.T. has one of the Gretchs, really likes it and told me one was for sale once. But he said they are deceptively more heavy than you would expect. Maybe one day. And maybe not, who knows.

Who knows. The Shadow do.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I love my Hamer Blitz (Explorer). It's been well-used but still rock-solid. Sounds killer with the vintage Dimarzio's.

A Hagström is one of the few non-Thunderbird basses I'm interested in. That one's a beauty.

 

[GonePlaid]

The Hagstrom is pretty versatile really. The 6 position switch really gives lots of tone options. Comfortable bass to play and its short scale, I just don't use it as much as it deserves to be played. Great for noodling on the couch tho.

?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

View attachment 7411303
View attachment 7411304
This is it - white is ground of neck pickup, connected direct to hot of bridge pickup. Then remaining hot & ground become common of both go to the on off switch.

& ive just done my electronics testing overall, & well here's my personal verdict towards the new bird build;

1- tone control is quite redundant in my case, i thought perhaps i was potentially missing something with just a killswitch, but im really not. With the pickups being wide open, & me never really using any tone controls on most of my basses, this is out.

2- dual volumes: while i do enjoy the sound of the neck pickup alone, it kinda reminds of a "Pbass" in the sense its massive, & clear/punchy sounding. & while i tried the bridge pickup blended in roughly 85-90%, i kinda prefer both full volume. Theres a slight dip granted, but the rounded neck & brighter bridge balance each other. It feels & sounds better to my ear. Granted, i might be biased because ive had this bass wired with its pickups full on always over a decade, but within my arsenal of basses, i want a tbird to be a tbird. So dual volumes are also out.

3- series/parallel: this is honestly probably the better thing to have overall in my case. Its more a question of how often would i be in one mode over the other, or balanced 5050 depending on needs. TBD.

View attachment 7411305
^^^side mounted jack + plate. Dig it more than the tube style jack, on the new build, the cavity might not be as big/long as this original one is.

What's with the cracking over the jack (crackerjack)?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Who knows. The Shadow do.

"Who knows what hearts lurk in the shadows of men?"

 

[GonePlaid]

A Hagström is one of the few non-Thunderbird basses I'm interested in. That one's a beauty.

Yup! And I'm no SOB for white, but that one looks great.
BTW, I have a hat that reads Sweet Old Buzzard.

 

[GBassNorth]

Do you mean La Bella Gold Flats? They are a little higher in tension and the 760FL (104 set) is all I want to put on it. And they sounds great. If stable in a couple years, I might but I'm really happy with the DTFs.

My bad, you’re correct LaBella Gold Flats are the ticket…

 

[MCF]

Could get rid of some trains.
J/K

You should see the layout. Pretty cool.

 

[ThaCoast]

What's with the cracking over the jack (crackerjack)?

From when i drilled out the larger hole to fit the open style jack, it cracked/split the finish (even with the tape surrounding the area). I had drilled for the tube style jack way back when i first modified it. & theres nothing wrong with the tube style, i just thought itd be beneficial & sturdier to have this style with a plate.