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Thunderbird Club

It actually did. I found with the inserts the front screw couldn't adjust as low as I prefer. I like my action stupid low so removing that little lip really helped bring it to where I like. Of course it isn't as low as my other basses, but it's a Damn Thunderbird and I know it isn't meant for that ;)
I had the 2001 out to play yesterday evening, and noticed that it's set up with the lowest action of any of my bass guitars. I may have to think about that a little and do some work on the others. It was a whole lot of fun for that reason. Of course, it's the magic pixie dust bass, so whatever it has may not translate to anything else.
 
I had the 2001 out to play yesterday evening, and noticed that it's set up with the lowest action of any of my bass guitars. I may have to think about that a little and do some work on the others. It was a whole lot of fun for that reason. Of course, it's the magic pixie dust bass, so whatever it has may not translate to anything else.

Low action on a pixie dust Thunderbird. Bliss.
 
Forty Years ago, a Thursday night gig in July at the Whisky a Go Go. Recorded on a Teac 450 cassette recorder with a mic in front of the sound booth. Steve "ThunderBucker" Soar on Telecaster. Me playing my '77 Thunderbird, fingers, through two Sunn Coliseums and two SVT 8-10s. I played all the other songs with a stainless pick but this heavily Free influenced tune needed a lighter touch. Picture, from an earlier gig, was taken by Bibi Hansen, Beck's mom.

Petty was at this show, I had to switch back to the P after this song because the front strap peg pulled out of the 'Bird. He remarked how much better the TBird sounded than the P.
1gpNar7.jpg




Mars Cowling was also at the show, Pat Travers' bass player, although I didn't know it that night. They were headlining the weekend. He was surprised when I was setting up their sound check, my day gig was sound man/stage manager there. Nice guy and a great player. He gave me two sets of Rotosound 66s!
 
Forty Years ago, a Thursday night gig in July at the Whisky a Go Go. Recorded on a Teac 450 cassette recorder with a mic in front of the sound booth. Steve "ThunderBucker" Soar on Telecaster. Me playing my '77 Thunderbird, fingers, through two Sunn Coliseums and two SVT 8-10s. I played all the other songs with a stainless pick but this heavily Free influenced tune needed a lighter touch. Picture, from an earlier gig, was taken by Bibi Hansen, Beck's mom.

Petty was at this show, I had to switch back to the P after this song because the front strap peg pulled out of the 'Bird. He remarked how much better the TBird sounded than the P.
1gpNar7.jpg




Mars Cowling was also at the show, Pat Travers' bass player, although I didn't know it that night. They were headlining the weekend. He was surprised when I was setting up their sound check, my day gig was sound man/stage manager there. Nice guy and a great player. He gave me two sets of Rotosound 66s!


Ok, this is good.
One mic? Very tight playing by all.
Sounds incredible.
Otherwise speechless.
 
It actually did. I found with the inserts the front screw couldn't adjust as low as I prefer. I like my action stupid low so removing that little lip really helped bring it to where I like. Of course it isn't as low as my other basses, but it's a Damn Thunderbird and I know it isn't meant for that ;)

It's one of the smartest "little things" you can do to get lower action, all my '76s and '89 have bridge pretty much in contact with the body - Nice action.
 
Ok, this is good.
One mic? Very tight playing by all.
Sounds incredible.
Otherwise speechless.

Many Thanks! There was also a feed from the soundboard into the other channel but that was basically vocals.

Steve worked at Mars rehearsal studio so we got free time there. The concept was and always will be, "We suck, but if we all suck together maybe no one will notice."
 
Yes, they do now. They snorked up a whole lot of old brand names, and that's one of them.
I was recently on a consumer panel for GC, where the majority of the survey was about the Acoustic brand. The nature of some questions suggested that they might be considering rebranding.

They are always marking down their Acoustic cabs. So, I don't know how well that they sell?
 
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Forty Years ago, a Thursday night gig in July at the Whisky a Go Go. Recorded on a Teac 450 cassette recorder with a mic in front of the sound booth. Steve "ThunderBucker" Soar on Telecaster. Me playing my '77 Thunderbird, fingers, through two Sunn Coliseums and two SVT 8-10s. I played all the other songs with a stainless pick but this heavily Free influenced tune needed a lighter touch. Picture, from an earlier gig, was taken by Bibi Hansen, Beck's mom.

Petty was at this show, I had to switch back to the P after this song because the front strap peg pulled out of the 'Bird. He remarked how much better the TBird sounded than the P.
1gpNar7.jpg




Mars Cowling was also at the show, Pat Travers' bass player, although I didn't know it that night. They were headlining the weekend. He was surprised when I was setting up their sound check, my day gig was sound man/stage manager there. Nice guy and a great player. He gave me two sets of Rotosound 66s!



Sounds great Carlo! It's reminding me a lot of Free - Nice!
 
I know what a 63 ThunderBucker sounds like and that's not its raw tone. This is closer but there are a lot of other examples out there.

Your sound clip is much closer to what I've heard in the past. There are about a million different ways you can make a recording for YouTube and not all are equal. I suspect there was a fair amount of processing (intentional or not) going on behind the scenes in the other video. I also noticed at one point the player was comparing the two different bridge pups but he played one of them over the neck pickup and the other over the bridge pickup. An easy mistake to make but can have a profound difference in tone. I'd also wonder if he used the exact same pair of strings in each sound set vs just the same type of strings (where one set could be broken in and the other one new) again it can have a profound impact on sound.

But the real question I have is - tell me more about that wounded paw recording. What instrument, what amp and cab, etc? Loved it!
 
Your sound clip is much closer to what I've heard in the past. There are about a million different ways you can make a recording for YouTube and not all are equal. I suspect there was a fair amount of processing (intentional or not) going on behind the scenes in the other video. I also noticed at one point the player was comparing the two different bridge pups but he played one of them over the neck pickup and the other over the bridge pickup. An easy mistake to make but can have a profound difference in tone. I'd also wonder if he used the exact same pair of strings in each sound set vs just the same type of strings (where one set could be broken in and the other one new) again it can have a profound impact on sound.

But the real question I have is - tell me more about that wounded paw recording. What instrument, what amp and cab, etc? Loved it!
The Wounded Paw recording is from James Knopp in Phoenix. I don't really know anything else about it.
Here's the company website:

Wounded Paw, Bass and Guitar Effects and Blenders