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Thunderbird Club

#343,601
TBird1958 said:
My EB-3, the mudbucker is silly fun, with a little volume behind it the house rattles. I like using the bridge pickup by itself and playing thru a tube guitar amp, it easily cops that cool woofy tone of Andy Fraser. Mine is likely a 1970, it has no tug bar and a black plastic surround for the mudbucker, it's a really fun, interesting bass to play, balances very well, and you won't look or sound like the next guy!

kUTu3wl.jpg
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The SG / EB series bass was very popular then, thee most popular Gibson bass* - Jack Bruce really helped instill that bass into the music then. The Monks may have beat Jack rockin' an awesome white SG/EB bass in '66...

1780287054758.jpeg

It's interesting because the bass player is continually hangin' out in the middle of the fb (as in this pic)... was he deliberately not playing in 1st position to achieve some articulation playing higher up? (as in - the mud-bucker overpowering their overall mix?)

*including the early hollow-body EB bass

 
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#343,602
JIO said:
The SG / EB series bass was very popular then, thee most popular Gibson bass* - Jack Bruce really helped instill that bass into the music then. The Monks may have beat Jack rockin' an awesome white SG/EB bass in '66...

View attachment 7506846
It's interesting because the bass player is continually hangin' out in the middle of the fb (as in this pic)... was he deliberately not playing in 1st position to achieve some articulation playing higher up? (as in - the mud-bucker overpowering their overall mix?)

*including the early hollow-body EB bass

Click to expand...

I can think of several good reasons (including that one). Another likelihood to me: The rule of thumb was always that bass amps needed at least twice the wattage of guitar amps. Playing higher notes either let you run smaller amps or get even louder with a the 2x amp.
Or maybe he had low freq hearing loss?
 
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#343,603
Miles_ONeal said:
I can think of several good reasons (including that one). Another likelihood to me: The rule of thumb was always that bass amps needed at least twice the wattage of guitar amps. Playing higher notes either let you run smaller amps or get even louder with a the 2x amp.
Or maybe he had low freq hearing loss?
Click to expand...
Anything's possible - just struck me as odd once I noticed it.
 
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#343,606
BuddhaFingas said:
Build update;
Did a second 90% leveling sand with 600-grit yesterday, and added 3 more coats of clear.

12 coats of clear so far. 7 cans, one of which was mostly spent on tests.
Finally getting full depth over all grain texture, and smoothing out. Couple small dips still present.

View attachment 7506307View attachment 7506308

Probably add 1 or 2 more coats today, then let it shrink and cure a couple or 3 weeks to see if more are needed, or any drop fills, before final cure and polish.

Most of June and July will be curing time.

It won't be perfect, but it'll be the best I can manage given available time and materials, and it'll be unique.
Click to expand...
You have way more patience than I have.
 
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#343,607
TBird1958 said:
Not sure I understand the question, Miles. But, if you're asking about me doing set ups - I don't at this point, maybe in future. Had a fun day at the shop yesterday, we packed up all the basses, pedals, strings and various bits in prep for the move to the new location. I also sold an Ashdown Capri bass.
Roasted Capri-23
Click to expand...
Where is the shop moving to?
 
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#343,608
The Bass Abides said:
Hey there Thunderbirders!

I have a simple question that I know someone here will be able to answer.

So I ended up the proud owner of an Epiphone non-reverse Thunderbird PJ (I got a deal I couldn't refuse!). I understand that they are "Fenders in Thunderbird Clothing," but I really like the feel/size of the neck. I was wondering what Thunderbird would have the most similar feeling neck to the Epi non-reverse I have.

Thanks in advance!
Jimmy
Click to expand...
I understand that those have a fairly large neck. If you like a handful of neck, then an early bolt-on Thunderbird would be close. The early Korean ones have wide, deep necks that will absolutely fill up your left hand.
 
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#343,609
Gaolee said:
I understand that those have a fairly large neck. If you like a handful of neck, then an early bolt-on Thunderbird would be close. The early Korean ones have wide, deep necks that will absolutely fill up your left hand.
Click to expand...
1780323681572.jpeg
 
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#343,610
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#343,612
Stealth57 said:
15 mile commute. Seems longer than the current location?
Click to expand...

It's a mile or so north of where they were when you all visited, but getting to the new location will actually take me less time as I can most of the way there on better roads. The other thing is that I will only be there on Sundays, so no commute traffic to deal with.

As of today my regular job will be changing as well, I'll be moving from managing the showroom to the Commercial division which is a Work from Home job that is not 40 hrs per week, all email and I'll have a remote assistant as well. For now, I'll still go in at least until the home office is set up and functional, I'm looking forward to the change and a lot less driving, more time to play the bass!

pFHVsxu.jpg
 
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#343,613
TBird1958 said:
It's a mile or so north of where they were when you all visited, but getting to the new location will actually take me less time as I can most of the way there on better roads. The other thing is that I will only be there on Sundays, so no commute traffic to deal with.

As of today my regular job will be changing as well, I'll be moving from managing the showroom to the Commercial division which is a Work from Home job that is not 40 hrs per week, all email and I'll have a remote assistant as well. For now, I'll still go in at least until the home office is set up and functional, I'm looking forward to the change and a lot less driving, more time to play the bass!

pFHVsxu.jpg
Click to expand...
Karma is working out.
 
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#343,615
GBassNorth said:
It’s unique for sure.
The Vintage EB sound isn’t for everybody (maybe not even for most people) and really only fits in very specific settings where you might want to slather on a super thick woolly rich sub sound if desired. Jack Bruce made good use of it, hence the Cream reference on the PU toggle. Not sure how many of our Tbird owners also have a vintage EB (I think our Queen does) but it’s quite a bit further to the dark side than any of my Thunderbird type basses.

The Goth pickups bring the design back into reality and drastically improve the useability of the bass. Goths are really quite nice with the proper tone caps and pot values and easily cover 90% of the sound I chase, a bit more top end than a TB+ but every bit as deep and dark, plus the physically scooped ends of the pickup just fit my hand perfectly for a thumb rest.

As a side note, I may switch the EB/GB bass to EBCF strings for the trifecta, that’s the perfect string for the Goth pickups and might also do very well with the massive fundamentals of the EB pickup.


It’ll be a push button kill switch. The bass already has a PU toggle so I didn’t want to introduce a second toggle to the mix.
I’ve never really seen a good use in the bass world for momentary kill buttons, so this one will be a latch action - push flush mounted button to kill, push it again to activate. Because it’s flush mounted and not a toggle I chose to mount it near the forward most volume pot so it can easily be found without looking.
It’s this type…
Click to expand...
You should get a purple one to match the EBCF silks. :smug:
 
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#343,616
TBird1958 said:
It's a mile or so north of where they were when you all visited, but getting to the new location will actually take me less time as I can most of the way there on better roads. The other thing is that I will only be there on Sundays, so no commute traffic to deal with.

As of today my regular job will be changing as well, I'll be moving from managing the showroom to the Commercial division which is a Work from Home job that is not 40 hrs per week, all email and I'll have a remote assistant as well. For now, I'll still go in at least until the home office is set up and functional, I'm looking forward to the change and a lot less driving, more time to play the bass!

pFHVsxu.jpg
Click to expand...
These are positive developments! Congrats!
 
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#343,619
JIO said:
The SG / EB series bass was very popular then, thee most popular Gibson bass* - Jack Bruce really helped instill that bass into the music then. The Monks may have beat Jack rockin' an awesome white SG/EB bass in '66...

View attachment 7506846
It's interesting because the bass player is continually hangin' out in the middle of the fb (as in this pic)... was he deliberately not playing in 1st position to achieve some articulation playing higher up? (as in - the mud-bucker overpowering their overall mix?)

*including the early hollow-body EB bass

Click to expand...

they were cheaper than Birds iirc....
 
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