Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

You can have mine.

When first offered, I didn't think I'd like them but they were really good!

 

[Gaolee]

Just a little sidebar here, since I've mentioned this old battle-axe before. Here it is close to the end of phase 1, stripping the old artwork and nitro. I don't know what to call this one anymore, since I'm kind of bringing it back to pre-artwork, and it's getting a Gibson re-issue Thunderbird p'up instead of the Rickenbackers that were in there (Jeff's old p'ups ), so it's not a Heckinecker anymore.
I'm thinking it'll get shot with black poly, add a cream-white pickguard and trc, and a single chrome TB p'up.
Anyway, got it pretty much stripped.

View attachment 7512511
View attachment 7512512
Brass wire brush on a last treatment of stripper, a wipe-down with mineral spirits next. I'll probably set a block into the Jazz pup rout and make sure the new pup will fit about where one of the Ric p'ups was. There are a few holes to deal with from the old harness/pots. Plug/Epoxy this, sand that... Then at some point it's off to the auto body shop.
(Edit: I've got a friend who does auto painting, he's good at it. He's into bartering and has some carpentry he wants done at his house. I like the bartering idea, way better than working there and spending here- just a fair exchange. There's a better spirit to it I think.)

Bartering is great. I was involved in a three way trade that included two basket case Norton motorcycles, a 1962 Coupe de Ville, a Honda 400cc sportbike, and a garage roof. The Coupe de Ville was even burgundy mist metallic, just to add icing on the cake. I did the roof and ended up with one of the basket case Nortons. I never got the Norton running and eventually sold it to a friend who wanted it. I'm not sure he's forgiven me for agreeing to let him buy it from me, but that's a different story.

 

[MCF]

I pulled the plug at 62 and I'm glad I did. I still work but I only do things I want to do. I currently work 8 hours a week at The House of Guitars, 18 hours a week doing historic millwork restoration (currently between contracts) and starting this spring I began working with a 50s-70s band doing the winery and nostalgia circuit that play1-2 times a week and they are booked into '27. I have no intention of slowing down.

I would love to get a gig in a music store. But what is in Bakersfield is pretty sad for a town that for a time was the “Nashville of the West.” There is an absolutely dreadful GC and one independent fighting every day just to hang on. Even L.A. has become a shell of what it was twenty to thirty years ago. Norms is still there, now owned by TNAG, but there isn’t a whole lot else left.

The new project sounds fun.

 

[JIO]

I would love to get a gig in a music store. But what is in Bakersfield is pretty sad for a town that for a time was the “Nashville of the West.” There is an absolutely dreadful GC and one independent fighting every day just to hang on. Even L.A. has become a shell of what it was twenty to thirty years ago. Norms is still there, now owned by TNAG, but there isn’t a whole lot else left.

The new project sounds fun.

Real Guitars not far from where I live is one of a few cool independent shops in SF. All used guitars, basses, amps and miscellaneous items. It's small and there's no sales people there, usually just the owners at the front counter. The luthier who makes my necks Dan Ransom has his shop there and they have a small repair shop in the back section.

Real Guitars | vintage guitars | San Francisco, CA, USA

www.realguitars.com

 

[Gaolee]

My TSC drummer is a Rush fan having seen them live before and favorably acknowledges their new kick-ass female drummer (as I do) but is less interested in a Rush nostalgia tour. I get that... but I'm sure it'll be a great show/tour.

She talks about how she uses technique because she's "not shaped like the guys." I have noticed that's true of a lot of women who do all kinds of physical things. There have been different things that I have done, from martial arts to motorcycle racing to music, where I can muscle through things up to a point. But, I have made a point of studying how women do those things to try to avoid being such a bonehead and to be a whole lot smoother and more fluid. It is a conscious decision to try to be more delicate and use better technique. That seems to be the key to getting really good at anything physical, even if it's extremely physical.

 

[Gaolee]

I retired last summer with a backlog of home repairs needed on our main home to get it sellable in a few years. We have a place in the mountains that also needs work and an addition of a garage and an extra room so we can move into it full time. I am constantly working on something. It’s hard. We want it done now. But there aren’t enough hours in the day. I’m 68, and don’t work as quick as I used to. Plus everything costs so much more than it should. But it beats the hell out of waking up sick to my stomach everyday dreading the horrors of my former profession (law).

I haven't met a lawyer who didn't hate his (or her) job and hate other lawyers eventually. I suppose there are a handful, including a friend who seems to like her job as an in-house attorney working on contracts. But I suspect that she will get fed up with it soon enough. She just won't admit it until she's older.

 

[JIO]

She talks about how she uses technique because she's "not shaped like the guys." I have noticed that's true of a lot of women who do all kinds of physical things. There have been different things that I have done, from martial arts to motorcycle racing to music, where I can muscle through things up to a point. But, I have made a point of studying how women do those things to try to avoid being such a bonehead and to be a whole lot smoother and more fluid. It is a conscious decision to try to be more delicate and use better technique. That seems to be the key to getting really good at anything physical, even if it's extremely physical.

I agree - I did a 2 day track weekend at Buttonwillow in SoCal (near Marshal/Bakersfield) with my motorcycling friends Lock, Joe & Kelly. They had a photo service there that you could pay to have pics of yourself 'in action' at one point on the course. Kelly's form on the bike was perfect and she was super smooth throughout.

 

[Count Bassie]

She talks about how she uses technique because she's "not shaped like the guys." I have noticed that's true of a lot of women who do all kinds of physical things. There have been different things that I have done, from martial arts to motorcycle racing to music, where I can muscle through things up to a point. But, I have made a point of studying how women do those things to try to avoid being such a bonehead and to be a whole lot smoother and more fluid. It is a conscious decision to try to be more delicate and use better technique. That seems to be the key to getting really good at anything physical, even if it's extremely physical.

Sometimes bullying through isn't the straight line, yes. Straight lines are the way.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

bring it on...

 

[TheDuff]

I retired last summer with a backlog of home repairs needed on our main home to get it sellable in a few years. We have a place in the mountains that also needs work and an addition of a garage and an extra room so we can move into it full time. I am constantly working on something. It’s hard. We want it done now. But there aren’t enough hours in the day. I’m 68, and don’t work as quick as I used to. Plus everything costs so much more than it should. But it beats the hell out of waking up sick to my stomach everyday dreading the horrors of my former profession (law).

Great.

One thing I have noticed is that I myself do all kinds of physical work now. Yard work, shoveling, chopping, chainsawing, dragging, carrying, lifting, etc…..

Because of this I have injured myself more than once due to ‘age related overdoing it’. I required shoulder surgery a year ago to repair the problem and pain.

The pain from my injuries sustained from over doing it physically was interfering with my guitar playing. The pain was clearly a disincentive to playing guitar.

That is what motivated me to see the surgeon.

Therefore it might be wise to keep in mind taking it easy when it comes to dragging extra heavy objects or tackling chores that would have been a piece of cake 40 years ago.

Be careful overexerting yourself doing all kinds of physical work that might not actually be healthy.

 

[Count Bassie]

Great.

One thing I have noticed is that I myself do all kinds of physical work now. Yard work, shoveling, chopping, chainsawing, dragging, carrying, lifting, etc…..

Because of this I have injured myself more than once due to ‘age related overdoing it’. I required shoulder surgery a year ago to repair the problem and pain.

The pain from my injuries sustained from over doing it physically was interfering with my guitar playing. The pain was clearly a disincentive to playing guitar.

That is what motivated me to see the surgeon.

Therefore it might be wise to keep in mind taking it easy when it comes to dragging extra heavy objects or tackling chores that would have been a piece of cake 40 years ago.

Be careful overexerting yourself doing all kinds of physical work that might not actually be healthy.

Yep. Even *I*, lol, suddenly one day had a realization that physical endeavor has to happen differently. Suddenly I was in a different gear. It's fine, it's been good for my head to move a little more methodically.
I also recently learned that one leg is significantly shorter than the other. You get used to anything if it's been there since childhood, lol. I wear a couple heels I cut out from padded insoles in my left shoe, and I notice the difference. Probably the reason for many of the small aches and pains I've got now.
I'm getting along with the new pace.

 

[Stealth57]

bring it on...
View attachment 7512875

Massachusetts?

 

[Stealth57]

Admit it, you would be drooling.

 

[MCF]

Real Guitars not far from where I live is one of a few cool independent shops in SF. All used guitars, basses, amps and miscellaneous items. It's small and there's no sales people there, usually just the owners at the front counter. The luthier who makes my necks Dan Ransom has his shop there and they have a small repair shop in the back section.

Real Guitars | vintage guitars | San Francisco, CA, USA

www.realguitars.com

I do like Lovie’s in Thousand Oaks where we visited and dropped off a few basses for Brian to work on. The prices are high. But they have a lot of cool stuff, mostly guitars. I still have one Thunderbird to pick up and three more to drop off. Brian did a great job on the Fender PJ and BaCH I dropped off. I’ll have him enlarge the rout on the other BaCH I have, do a complete level and crown on the ‘13 NR, and do some work on my white LECS.

 

[MCF]

I haven't met a lawyer who didn't hate his (or her) job and hate other lawyers eventually. I suppose there are a handful, including a friend who seems to like her job as an in-house attorney working on contracts. But I suspect that she will get fed up with it soon enough. She just won't admit it until she's older.

It wasn’t so bad the first twenty or thereabouts years. But the profession descended into nastiness, really starting around the time of the “Great Recession.”

 

[Gaolee]

Admit it, you would be drooling.

View attachment 7512903

The headstock is odd looking. But yeah, that's a bass I would play the crap out of if it was real and not AI.

 

[MCF]

Great.

One thing I have noticed is that I myself do all kinds of physical work now. Yard work, shoveling, chopping, chainsawing, dragging, carrying, lifting, etc…..

Because of this I have injured myself more than once due to ‘age related overdoing it’. I required shoulder surgery a year ago to repair the problem and pain.

The pain from my injuries sustained from over doing it physically was interfering with my guitar playing. The pain was clearly a disincentive to playing guitar.

That is what motivated me to see the surgeon.

Therefore it might be wise to keep in mind taking it easy when it comes to dragging extra heavy objects or tackling chores that would have been a piece of cake 40 years ago.

Be careful overexerting yourself doing all kinds of physical work that might not actually be healthy.

Yep. Good advice. I have a few days worth of chainsaw work left as part of annual fire clearing on my mountain property (1/2 acre). But I need my son to be there when I do it. I will not operate the saw without someone else being there with me. Plus, I’m a bit wary of rattlesnakes…they are pretty prevalent this year.

 

[MCF]

Massachusetts?

Yep. I have not been to them, but a couple of the locations are very close to my daughter’s place. When I get out to visit her, I’ll have to go for shrimp cocktail!

 

[Gaolee]

Yep. Good advice. I have a few days worth of chainsaw work left as part of annual fire clearing on my mountain property (1/2 acre). But I need my son to be there when I do it. I will not operate the saw without someone else being there with me. Plus, I’m a bit wary of rattlesnakes…they are pretty prevalent this year.

 

[Stealth57]

You suggesting this is something to do to lawyers?