Thunderbird Club

[ubernator]

LD????

Lighting director

 

[hillerup]

Well I remember the walnut option for sure, perhaps the other option was Cherry, or sunburst. It was a couple years ago and I didn't have the money. But I do remember thinking I preferred the walnut. Which maybe suggests the other was cherry, which i generally would not prefer (but was fine on an SG). Crap I don't remember. Was it possible that GC had a limited run of ebony?

No idea about a GC limited run...

Here is the original Gibson page from the 2014 Thunderbird:

Gibson.com: Thunderbird Bass

 

[hillerup]

Lighting director

Thanks...

 

[theFixer]

Basically you don't need the option of having individual saddle height adjustment with a 3-point bridge, since the entire bridge assembly is already adjusted to the same radius as the fretboard...

The seat in my Toyota moves forward, backward, higher, and lower. The back tilts, and has adjustable lumbar support. The headrest moves up & down, and even tilts. Why do you suppose they make it so adjustable, when they could just bolt a wooden stool to the floor?

I'd far rather have the feature & not need it, than to need it and not have it. Both 'birds I've had, have given me reason to wish I had it.

 

[Cardinal Fang]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the birds are usually 500k for volume and tone as well. The switch I was referring to wasn't a pickup selector, but a series/parallel so you get 2 different types of sounds when both pickups are on.

OK, I understand this explanation better, thanks. Sorry, it's been a long week, I'm not usually this dense.

But if you go VVT classic configuration, confirm here what tone pot to use. 500k audio is right for volumes, and im pretty sure 500k for tone as well. I will open mine up and check.

That would be a big help. I've found different Thunderbird wiring schemes component values on this and other forums.

Also, consider a no load tone pot, effectively takes the pot and cap out of the circuit when the tone is all the way up.

That's a good idea, I'm sure at some point I'll miss the sound I've been getting.

 

[bylar13]

The resonance, the transfer from strings to body. It sounds so wide open, not hollow like it was with the 3 point. I did the a/b pluged in. Really incredible I must say. Super impressed with it.

+1 on this vs. the 3 point on my 2014 T-Bird. I went with a Babicz replacement and I noticed the same types of improvements.

It also allowed me the get the action low and follow the radius of the neck with no problems. I got the E string height where I wanted it, used a radius gauge and the other strings were set in about 10 minutes. Easy, peasy.

FWIW, I did some recording recently and the engineer told me a couple of times he was suprised/really happy with how much low end there was on the direct recorded tone. Said it was the first time in recent memeory that he did NOT having to eq or shape the bottom end.

 

[JJR58]

+1 on this vs. the 3 point on my 2014 T-Bird. I went with a Babicz replacement and I noticed the same types of improvements.

It also allowed me the get the action low and follow the radius of the neck with no problems. I got the E string height where I wanted it, used a radius gauge and the other strings were set in about 10 minutes. Easy, peasy.

FWIW, I did some recording recently and the engineer told me a couple of time he was suprised/really happy with how much low end there was on the direct recorded tone. Said it was the first time he could remember NOT having to eq or shape the bottom end.

I think either the Hipshot or Babicz, are a good way to go, and the action i've got going is soooooo low, need to bring it up just a tiny bit.
Nice complement to get on the recording, especially when you're making the engineer's job easy.

 

[hillerup]

The seat in my Toyota moves forward, backward, higher, and lower. The back tilts, and has adjustable lumbar support. The headrest moves up & down, and even tilts. Why do you suppose they make it so adjustable, when they could just bolt a wooden stool to the floor?

Not a particularly good comparison IMHO... The car seat has the adjustment to cater for all kinds of heights, widths and weights - The 3-point bridge doesn't have to account for this and seems to do the job just fine. Should anyone have special requirements, they can always mount a 3rd party bridge.

 

[hillerup]

OK, I understand this explanation better, thanks. Sorry, it's been a long week, I'm not usually this dense.



That would be a big help. I've found different Thunderbird wiring schemes component values on this and other forums.



That's a good idea, I'm sure at some point I'll miss the sound I've been getting.

All my birds (Gibson and Epiphone) have 500K tone pots... I believe the 60's and 70's had other value tone pots, but then again also had quite different pickups than newer models which are rather dark sounding.

 

[ubernator]

OK, I understand this explanation better, thanks. Sorry, it's been a long week, I'm not usually this dense.



That would be a big help. I've found different Thunderbird wiring schemes component values on this and other forums.



That's a good idea, I'm sure at some point I'll miss the sound I've been getting.

Too tired to do it now. Bear in mind mine are epiphones, and there are a plethora of real Gibsons on this thread, many have a plethora each

@Dadagoboi probably could recommend the best pot and cap values and types.

In general, don't fear this mod as long as the guy drills the holes in the right spots. Pots and caps are easy to swap out.

Edit @hillerup already confirmed 500k tone. And surely there are 500k no load tone pots available, which is the way to go.

 

[JJR58]

All my birds (Gibson and Epiphone) have 500K tone pots... I believe the 60's and 70's had other value tone pots, but then again also had quite different pickups than newer models which are rather dark sounding.

And with that said, i want to take my tone control out of the circuit, or go the no tone load pot route.

 

[theFixer]

I didn't think of it, but it's never occurred to me. I only thought of side-to-side because the nut on my B-Bird is a tad narrow for my liking.

Hillerup covered that note though, in that the bridge radius is a right match to the fretboard radius. You just adjust the post heights.

So, there.

So... do you let everybody decide what you do & don't need, man? Do you like butter on your mashed potatoes, man? I sure do! Don't let the Gibson fascists take away your butter, man! FIGHT THE POWER!!!

 

[ubernator]

And with that said, i want to take my tone control out of the circuit, or go the no tone load pot route.

@Cardinal Fang you might want to consider the VV ser/par option and no tone. Or even just a VV option like @kat888 likes. I think shavos silver custom tbirds (the signature model that wasn't) are VV because they have 2 knobs (though it could be VT with both pickups on full)

 

[theFixer]

Ooooh, look at that: Thunderbird strap locks.

Thunderbird Strap Lock | Allparts.com

View attachment 2761216

NEED!!!

Sigh. Lusting after cheap, shiny, little blingy things like this always makes me feel like a drunken man whore with thirteen dollars in his pocket stalking Zippo lighter vendors at the county fair. Which I know nothing about, of course.

CREEPY!!![/QUOTE]

 

[ubernator]

That $80 deal on the mahogany 87 peavey foundation I got is VV, and it is pretty cool that way. I will be restoring it with a no load tone pot and a capacitor value that keeps mids when the tone is rolled all the way down (my olp stingray was upgraded that way before I put a preamp in, and I dig that cap value, not sure what it is but it is tiny and says 223 on it, that whole circuit is slated for the refinish/rebuild of my fretless (ripped and filled frets) first bass cut up squier).

I'm OK keeping my birds stock, but might do the no load pot thing in the future. Never know when I may want to roll back the tone. With the foundation it is a must to do the bridge pickup jaco burp.

 

[Cardinal Fang]

@Cardinal Fang you might want to consider the VV ser/par option and no tone.

That would still leave me with only three holes in my bird...

So may options. I could ask him to sell me the hardware for multiple set ups and try them all out. Make recordings and post them here, of course.

CREEPY!!!

Yup. My wife is a lucky lady.

 

[JJR58]

@Cardinal Fang you might want to consider the VV ser/par option and no tone. Or even just a VV option like @kat888 likes. I think shavos silver custom tbirds (the signature model that wasn't) are VV because they have 2 knobs (though it could be VT with both pickups on full)

Series/parallel. Another thing to consider as well.

 

[theFixer]

But someone like Joe Bonamassa can have signature everything including a Les Paul with a Firebird headstock
Henry J needs to get his $#!+ together

I just cannot get into Bonamassa. He's technically a very good player... but everything about him just seems to contrived and disingenuous. The exact opposite of what the blues is. Kinda like Bill Gates putting on some temporary tattoos and a bandana & trying to pass himself off as a hardcore biker gang type

 

[ubernator]

That would still leave me with only three holes in my bird...

So may options. I could ask him to sell me the hardware for multiple set ups and try them all out. Make recordings and post them here, of course.



Yup. My wife is a lucky lady.

My suggestions from the get go were all based on 3 controls in a row like a classic bird, but the series parallel switch in place of the tone control, to keep the "switch" motif of the blackbird as well as adding a super punchy powerful P bass on steroids and blow sound as well

 

[JJR58]

I just cannot get into Bonamassa. He's technically a very good player... but everything about him just seems to contrived and disingenuous. The exact opposite of what the blues is. Kinda like Bill Gates putting on some temporary tattoos and a bandana & trying to pass himself off as a hardcore biker gang type

I'm with you on that one Fix, not a fan at all. but credit due to his playing.