Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

Well... I was assuming so... but after the ketamine... who really knows what happened

"Your honor, Mr Mason seems to be on a fishing expedition..."

 

[theFixer]

Awesome Dude! Has your perfect neck search finally come to a close?, I sure hope so, less searching and more playing!.

I don't recall what the status was when you went on hiatus... but I found a Korean Epi TB IV with a fairly substantial neck on it. I traded the Goth for that. That's enough to keep me playing' until I can find my magical unicorn. Did ya get your Thunderbacker finished up the way you wanted?

 

[BklynKen]

Ken, I haven't hear of it but that's not surprising at all as there's an overabundance of beer here. I will try to find some for you if you like.

You are the awesomest of the awesomest, but if I understand you correctly, shipping beer is a pain in the ass.

I played in a brewery I never heard of last night. It is called Decibel Brewery, appropriately enough. I sure cannot keep up with all the brewing, and anybody who can won't be able to remember much after a short time.

That’s why I keep a database of the beers I have!

Yep, TV game show of the 50s...based on a radio game show of the 30s when it was the 'Sixty Four DOLLAR Question'.

Inflation’s a bitch, huh?

 

[ThunderFox]

you forgot to make mention of #62...

Not the #62 again . Let's just all pretend that the number 62, doesn't exist, has never existed, and never will exist . You can only have 61 or less things, or 63 or more things. You can only drive 61mph or less, or 63mph or more. Your heartbeat can only be 61bpm or less (I would go to the doctor if it was a lot less ), or 63bpm or more. 62 never existed. Everyone must now count 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64...

1st rule of Thunderbird Club, you can never talk about #62.

 

[bylar13]

Here is a really bad idea, executed (no pun intended) in real life:

1984 Gibson Explorer Bass w/Original Case - with wings clipped - still sounds ++ | eBay

 

[Larry V]

1st rule of Thunderbird Club, you can never talk about #62.

It's like the Roman numeral zero. It just does not exist!

 

[theFixer]

"Your honor, Mr Mason seems to be on a fishing expedition..."

That wasn't you??? *OOPS*

Well... some poor bastard's roaming the Earth in paralyzing fear of the number 62. That's can't be a bad thing can it?

 

[theFixer]

Here is a really bad idea, executed (no pun intended) in real life:

1984 Gibson Explorer Bass w/Original Case - with wings clipped - still sounds ++ | eBay

"Ho hum... another boring day in Alaska. Wudda you wanna do?".

"HEY!!! I gotta table saw! You still got that Explorer?"

"Yup."

"Hold my beer"

 

[JJR58]

Here is a really bad idea, executed (no pun intended) in real life:

1984 Gibson Explorer Bass w/Original Case - with wings clipped - still sounds ++ | eBay

Edit; that made me sick.

 

[ProgressiveDoom]

I don't recall what the status was when you went on hiatus... but I found a Korean Epi TB IV with a fairly substantial neck on it. I traded the Goth for that. That's enough to keep me playing' until I can find my magical unicorn. Did ya get your Thunderbacker finished up the way you wanted?

I sure did Fix, the chrome bridge for the Thunderbacker came courtesy of my new EB3. Aesthetically the chrome bridge was just too much chrome clumped together in one spot being right next to the bridge pup so the Thunderbacker black bridge made the perfect swap and now the Thunderbacker is complete and the EB3 looks sweet with the black bridge. I kept the original saddles with the original basses too(aesthetics).

Other than the bridge swap on the EB3 I added heavy guage 65-120 D'adario's. Im not sure if I want to mod this bass any further as the stock tone is very pleasing and aesthetically pleasing as well, perhaps a custom tort pickguard and that would be all.

 

[Cardinal Fang]

So the tone knob did exactly what I wanted it to do, gave me control over string scrape and pick noise. Mission accomplished.

As for the volume knobs all I can say is that after an hour I've found three distinctly different tones in this thing. And I've never had a bass guitar growl at me before without some kind of effects added. Neck pickup at 10, bridge pickup at 8 and it sounds so mean and nasty.

I need to play with it a lot more but so far I'm very glad I made the change.

Thanks again to everyone who gave advice.

 

[theFixer]

I sure did Fix, the chrome bridge for the Thunderbacker came courtesy of my new EB3. Aesthetically the chrome bridge was just too much chrome clumped together in one spot being right next to the bridge pup so the Thunderbacker black bridge made the perfect swap and now the Thunderbacker is complete and the EB3 looks sweet with the black bridge. I kept the original saddles with the original basses too(aesthetics).View attachment 2768832 Other than the bridge swap on the EB3 I added heavy guage 65-120 D'adario's. Im not sure if I want to mod this bass any further as the stock tone is very pleasing and aesthetically pleasing as well, perhaps a custom tort pickguard and that would be all.

That's killer man!

Nice move with the bridges

 

[Dadagoboi]

This morning's Max. Gonna be Pink Champagne Sparkle pearl to pop the gold hardware.

 

[hairypete1138]

Ska on a bird? that would be a yes...

Absolutely. Horace has sadly moved back to a jazz bass for most things now, but the bird comes out to play when he’s playing the pubs with his blues band. Always good to see

 

[theFixer]

This morning's Max. Gonna be Pink Champagne Sparkle pearl to pop the gold hardware.

View attachment 2768850

OOOooo... I'm lookin' forward to seein' that one all done up

 

[TBird1958]

Did you get your bridge cover from thunderbucker? Does it fit over the badbird ii?

I used Scott's bridge cover for my Greco, it matches the Nickel finish of his bridge components exactly. Regarding the fit, it's wide enough to fit over the center block, but not tall enough, this is very typical and easy to fix. If you look close you'll see there are some pads made from .100 black styrene supporting the bridge cover.

 

[hairypete1138]

I have posted this before but you may find it interesting.

Thanks for that Kat - that’s fascinating. I now really want a 4003 again.

 

[Korladis]

*cough* Better than a Ford *cough* Sorry that chest cold came back

Mine runs fine at 160,000 miles.

Retiring is a very far off thing for me.................

Probably never going to happen for me.

That doesn't quite match up with the one one I've messed around with locally. 1 11/16" nut width... thick & juicy all the way from nut to body... minimal taper... flat radius... satiny finish... it meets all my criteria. It's been the neck I've compared all others to since this little adventure began, and none have even come close to the feel of that one.

View attachment 2767906

Nice. I really like the lack of taper with Rickenbacker necks. My 4003S has the best feeling neck out of all my basses.

I will take quick stab of what I liked and did not like about my Ric's. I owned 3 2(4001's) and 1(4003) all were from the late 1970's.

Unlike Carlo, I loved the way the look. Still do. All of mine had thinner (read not so wide at the nut) necks vs. current models I have played. I really liked the upper fret access and the minimal (as compared to older Fender products) neck radius. I loved the recorded sounds and they worked well in studio situations.

I did not like the stock bridge. Not one bit. It was an evolutionary dead end that Ric got rid of on thier newer models. Tiny frets. They wore out quickly with round wound strings and eventually I had to have the bass re-fretted. The guy I took it too destroyed the neck feel for me, by putting in railroad tie size frets (not Ric's fault) but something to consider if you plan to hold on to it for a long time. The pick up output was a bit weak. The newer ones have new pick up designs so I can't speak to that. I always felt that the bridge pick ups were particularly weak and did not add much of value (clearly opinion, not fact) to the sound. Rick-o-sound is a gimmick that has out lived its usefulness.

I also found for live applications, I had to EQ quite a bit for the venue (more than I do now with my Thunderbird or than I ever did with my Jazz bass) even though the amp was the same. This, like most of this is subjective rant, often times left me feeling like I was missing the punchy mids I needed to cut through a mix with guitars & drums. The bass provided plenty of wide, low end and plenty high end but getting consistently solid rock tones was often times a struggle. YMMV

I like the modern pickups more than the old ones. The 60s and 70s 4001 basses also had a low-cutting capacitor in line with the bridge pickup (the idea was to run that pickup to a guitar amp and the neck pickup to a bass amp). 4003 basses don't have this (except for the most recent ones, where it's toggle-able with a push/pull pot). The frets are also much more sturdy on newer basses.

The bridge looks cool, but agreed, is kind of a pain. Hence why it isn't used on the 4004.

I usually run bridge pickup only when in a mix with loud guitars and drums. It has a nasty midrange bite.

That's the FIRST thing you do on a Ric ... remove the sodding pickup cover! Why they persist with them is a mystery.

I'm probably going to add the cover back onto my 4003S (previous owner took it off) when I have it refinished.

Never owned a Ric and I'm sure their fine basses but I just can't get past the looks of the darn things. They look like they were designed by a committee made up entirely of mechanical engineers.

I disagree. I think it and the Thunderbird are about the most beautiful electric basses ever made.

Have the house to myself so I decided to take a new family photo (minus the FSO and beater) considering I already had the 8:88 in my "photo booth"
The pup felt like she was part of the family too, but didn't wanna say "cheese"
View attachment 2768177 View attachment 2768179

Man I hate "warm" coloured lights.

Nice basses and pup.

If you like the Ric, get it. They are cool basses. I would highly suggest you immediately replace those POS Ric pickups with some Classic Amplification pickups though. Ric has basically cut corners at every opportunity to keep their basses somewhat affordable. Their current pickups are absolutely worthless in my opinion. The neck is unusable as a standalone, and the bridge pickup lacks the girth and sizzle that they used to have. I posted a few threads about the work Ive done to Ric's over time. I've owned several. I love the way they look and love how some of them play, but it's very inconsistent. I posted some sound samples of the differences between the stock and the CA pickups as well. It's pretty apparent that the Ric pickups just don't stand up. I also posted pictures of the Ric vs. CA pickups and you can really tell exactly how cheap those Ric pickups are. I also hate the bridge. I hate adjusting the dual truss rod neck as well, although it's not technically difficult it is more difficult than what the standard is.

For me, nothing fits like a Thunderbird. I wish I would have found them years ago. Thenagain I really love the thin necks! Good luck!

I disagree about the stock pickups being "POS." CA pickups I think are made for old fogeys who like the old, weak output pickups (which I do NOT). To me, the CA pickups are overpriced "solutions" in search of an actual problem.

Like so many other bits of regulation, CITES is regulation written to keep lawyers employed.

If humans could use natural resources without exhausting them, CITES wouldn't be necessary. The fact is that barring a rule, we will harvest wildlife until it is extinct. My uncle, who deals in exotic art, complains about CITES all the time and it annoys the crap out of me. I'd rather have elephants not be extinct than have ivory and other such things be easily tradeable internationally.

Always wondered where you’d rest your thumb if you’re a finger player.

I rest my thumb on the edge of the pickguard (it isn't beveled like a Fender), or on the edge of the body itself, or on the pickup cover.

Well either you like Ric's or you don't - Kinda like Thunderbirds...

Exactly like Thunderbirds.

Really sounding like it does when a bunch of Fender snobs bash T-birds in here right now.

Here is a really bad idea, executed (no pun intended) in real life:

1984 Gibson Explorer Bass w/Original Case - with wings clipped - still sounds ++ | eBay

Oh gods, that is terrible. That poor bass.

Why would anyone do this?

 

[Dadagoboi]

Really sounding like it does when a bunch of Fender snobs bash T-birds in here right now.

And that really sounds like whining to me. Lighten the fork up.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

...
I disagree. I think it and the Thunderbird are about the most beautiful electric basses ever made.
...

Agreed

...
Nice basses and pup.
...

Thanks!