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Thunderbird Club

#41,421
JJR58 said:
Not sure I can give you a good answer on that Fix. TB+ pick ups and neck through are the major differences, slightly chunkier neck. iirc, I think the fret work is cleaner as well. But without tools, I've just been eye balling. But playing them side by side will tell me something. I don't cave to the "better" philosophy, but what differences do I prefer. We'll see.
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sunburst I presume...
 
#41,423
JJR58 said:
So, as you know, I had mentioned I was thinking of trading the bolt on for a neck through. I'm very tempted to stop at Sam Ash on the way home today to compare the two. I've been checking out the neck through for a while now every time I've gone in there. It's a great bass. It's used but in great shape and a flawless player.
Thoughts?
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Thumps up from me! :thumbsup:

If it's a Classic Pro you can't go wrong! :)
 
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#41,425
JIO said:
It's a distinct possibility... :) The Sean Conneries is a Bond Girl spin-off (minus BG Cherie and plus Bruce on keys) and we play a "shuffle" mix of songs compared to primarily Bond and spy related songs - more rock and less lounge. Adding a female singer is in the works to further broaden our scope. A friend who speaks French pointed out that "conneries" roughly translates to "foolery", so Sean Foolery - which made me think of tomfoolery.., so I guess it fits!

origin of tomfoolery:
The term "Tom o' Bedlam" came from a very old poem and was used to describe beggars and vagrants who were (or pretended to be) mad. Foolery means acting the fool. 'Tom' is more than the shortening of Thomas - it was often used in the 16th century to indicate maleness (hence “tomcat”).
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Cool... :)

And there are still a bunch of great Bond band names left for other projects:

The Moonrakers, The Men with the Golden Guns, Goldfingers, Skyfall, The Island of Dr. No, Thunderballs and The Octopussies... Guess I better stop before I get carried away...:roflmao:
 
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#41,426
JJR58 said:
Good to hear your take on that. I like the Jazz, cause of what it sounds like.
No way would I expect a Thunderbird to sound like one.
It's in a league all of its own.
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Major difference sonically of any bass (one to another) is pu's & electronics. The late Phil Kubicki felt the neck (woods) contributed next, then body, then (marginally) - remaining parts. I tend to agree. Didn't mention construction (neck-thru/set-neck/bolt-on) but things like resonance and sustain are byproducts (become audible-are featured) of the pu's/electronics.
 
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#41,427
GBassNorth said:
Cool! Can you take your bolt on with you and play them back to back through the same cab with the same settings? I'd be very interested to hear a report back on what if any differences there are sound, feel and playability wise. :thumbsup:

Reason I'm interested - I desperately want the sound of the 2015 Bird and it's coil switching controls but I want it in an NR body shape. So if there's not a lot of difference between the bolt on and neck through I could go the cheap route and get the Eppi NR Bird with the P/J layout and route it for humbuckers. Otherwise, I'm forced to buy a Gibby NR (which I think is actually a set neck) and flip out the stock humbuckers and controls for some 2017 EB humbuckers and controls. The Gibby route will cost at least $1000 more, so it would be handy to know if there's really a significant BO vs NT difference (that's not entirely attributed to the pickups, since I would be swapping those out any way).

Edit: obviously, if anyone else in the club already has a BO and a NT and maybe even a SN Bird they'd like to compare and contrast for me it would be very much appreciated.
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Although I have plenty of bolt-on and necktrough Epi's none of mine are NR's and it's hard to make a precise comparison, as they either have different pickups, different strings or are built out of different woods, which all contribute to subtle differences one way or another.

In general they all have a huge, deep and dark sound - Except for the Pro's with active circuitry, which sounds (for lack of better word) like s***... Sterile ("modern"?) and totally uninspiring sound.
 
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#41,428
JIO said:
Major difference sonically of any bass (one to another) is pu's & electronics. The late Phil Kubicki felt the neck (woods) contributed next, then body, then (marginally) - remaining parts. I tend to agree. Didn't mention construction (neck-thru/set-neck/bolt-on) but things like resonance and sustain are byproducts (become audible-are featured) of the pu's/electronics.
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I would tend to agree as well, but I'm sure we've all seen many debates here, (not in the club nessacarilly) on that particular subject. I guess my 1/2 cent would be electronics>strings>technique. But I'm just throwing that in the mix.
 
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#41,429
JJR58 said:
So the novice that I am presumes the ones with the TB+ p/ups are the Classic Pro.
Those basses really do have some of their own mojo that really appeals to me.
And thx good sir.
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It's quite easy to spot the differences between the Pro and the Classic Pro though they both are neckthrough (albeit different construction wise):

The Pro's have active circuitry with a battery compartment on the back and have 4 control knobs.

The Classic Pro's have passive circuitry (no battery compartment) and 3 control knobs in a row.
 
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#41,430
hillerup said:
It's quite easy to spot the differences between the Pro and the Classic Pro though they both are neckthrough (albeit different construction wise):

The Pro's have active circuitry with a battery compartment on the back and have 4 control knobs.

The Classic Pro's have passive circuitry (no battery compartment) and 3 control knobs in a row.
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Thx, exactly as I thought.
Yeah, this ones a Classic Pro.
 
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#41,431
JIO said:
Major difference sonically of any bass (one to another) is pu's & electronics. The late Phil Kubicki felt the neck (woods) contributed next, then body, then (marginally) - remaining parts. I tend to agree. Didn't mention construction (neck-thru/set-neck/bolt-on) but things like resonance and sustain are byproducts (become audible-are featured) of the pu's/electronics.
Click to expand...
I completely agree but would probably slip "strings" in there just before the neck woods as far as tonal impact goes.

;)Of course we all know Tort has a huge impact on tone as well, it makes your bass sound more like a FSO.
 
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#41,433
hillerup said:
Although I have plenty of bolt-on and necktrough Epi's none of mine are NR's and it's hard to make a precise comparison, as they either have different pickups, different strings or are built out of different woods, which all contribute to subtle differences one way or another.

In general they all have a huge, deep and dark sound - Except for the Pro's with active circuitry, which sounds (for lack of better word) like s***... Sterile ("modern"?) and totally uninspiring sound.
Click to expand...

This is why it's really hard to do a side-by-side test. It also helps dispel cliches - I have an 9v Audere JZ3 powered ash J (Fralin pu's) and once set correctly it sounds huge, deep and dark. Nothing like the commonly leveled "nasally" reference J's get. Needless to remind, Family Man plays a J.

In general, players of J's usually want their J to sound like a J, just as T-bird players want their T-bird to sound like a T-bird. Put a T-bird HB pu & 500k pots in a J and it will sound like a T-bird and visa-versa. Strings of course make a big difference also. <(edit - I probably wrote this as GbassNorth added his post!) :)
 
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#41,434
.
bylar13 said:
This is one of the two (second is the humbucking pick ups) major reasons I own a bird and what brought me to them in the first place. To my ear, there is a noticeable feel/tonal difference between neck though and bolt on construction.

I have a Jazz bass that checks the single coil, bolt on box. I don't need two of the same thing. The neck-through humbucking pick up construction is different enough to warrant owning one of each....or at least that is how I justify it!
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That's excellent, I'll use that. 'Neck through, single pickup, high mass bridge ... bolt on, single pickup, low mass bridge' ... definitely need one with neck through, dual pickup and low mass bridge to complete the set.
 
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#41,435
I had to do it, done deal.
More details when I get home.

image.jpeg
 
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#41,438
kat888 said:
Another factor to consider with bolt on necks, is how many bolts/screws are there? My bass with the tight neck pocket and 6 screws will couple the neck and body differently to a bass with three screws and a looser neck pocket. Or at least that's what I would expect.
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That us my understanding as well. A modern, six bolt neck is a very secure joint with lots of contact between the neck and body.

My 1973 Jazz Bass, with a 4 bolt neck and a neck pocket that looks like it was cut by someone who dropped acid at lunch, has a different level of contact.....:woot:
 
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#41,439
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