Thunderbird Club

[bass40hz]

Heck, I can remember people's faces, that's not hard. It's their stinkin names that I can never remember - even 30 seconds after being told what they are!

You know what I cant remember?
What I walked to the kitchen from the living room for...this getting old sh!t sucks...

 

[theFixer]

Magpie singing in the dead of winter
Take those broken baubles back to your nest
All your life
You were taunting dogs 'til sunset in the west

Magpie singing in the dead of winter
Eat those mulberries fermented from the frost
All your life,
You were only waiting for the moment to be fecked'n'sloshed

Magpie fly, magpie fly
Into the leave-less forest trees of the solstice's dark black freeze


With apologies to Sir Paul


View attachment 2772233
Black-billed Magpie, scourge of Alberta, and particularly Edmonton.



Actually, it was more the Cardinals (typically) that got schlitt-faced — every fall these prairie-poulet'd smack right into our kitchen window after imbibing frost-bitten fermented berries from the back yard.


Here in HK we've got several Magpies...

Eurasian Magpie (Magpie, Black-billed Magpie, Common Magpie):
View attachment 2772225


Oriental Magpie-Robin:
View attachment 2772226

Azure-winged Magpie:
View attachment 2772227

Red-billed Blue Magpie (Blue Magpie)
View attachment 2772228

And of course, the Orange Magpie Moth...
View attachment 2772229





I'm still waiting for the right '66 T-bird to come along...

I am of the thinking that, any '66 T-bird that comes along, is the right one

 

[BklynKen]

You know what I cant remember?
What I walked to the kitchen from the living room for...this getting old sh!t sucks...

Seriously. I can often remember why I went into the kitchen, but what was it I wanted from the fridge?

 

[theFixer]

Geez, has this thread been hijacked by the bird spotters club?

This IS the 'bird spotters club

 

[GBassNorth]

Magpie singing in the dead of winter
Take those broken baubles back to your nest
All your life
You were taunting dogs 'til sunset in the west

Magpie singing in the dead of winter
Eat those mulberries fermented from the frost
All your life,
You were only waiting for the moment to be fecked'n'sloshed

Magpie fly, magpie fly
Into the leave-less forest trees of the solstice's dark black freeze


With apologies to Sir Paul


View attachment 2772233
Black-billed Magpie, scourge of Alberta, and particularly Edmonton.



Actually, it was more the Cardinals (typically) that got schlitt-faced — every fall these prairie-poulet'd smack right into our kitchen window after imbibing frost-bitten fermented berries from the back yard.


Here in HK we've got several Magpies...

Eurasian Magpie (Magpie, Black-billed Magpie, Common Magpie):
View attachment 2772225


Oriental Magpie-Robin:
View attachment 2772226

Azure-winged Magpie:
View attachment 2772227

Red-billed Blue Magpie (Blue Magpie)
View attachment 2772228

And of course, the Orange Magpie Moth...
View attachment 2772229





I'm still waiting for the right '66 T-bird to come along...

You overlooked the smartest magpies of all...

 

[theFixer]

CTS 500k V 250k T. .047 cap of your preference for ThunderBuckers.

My current fave ThunderBucker set is a 63N at the neck with a 66S at the bridge and stacked V/T pots. That gives the maximum in tone variation, especially when the bridge pup is moved 1/2" closer to the bridge than the stock 60s location. That's what's going in this with the Fiver configuration to cover all 12 strings.

View attachment 2772246

After reading the descriptions at the ThunderBucker Ranch, that was the combination that seemed like it would be most appealing.

That greenburst is just SO sexy!!! Beautifully done, Sir!

 

[theFixer]

You know what I cant remember?
What I walked to the kitchen from the living room for...this getting old sh!t sucks...

As the saying goes... "Everyone forgets where their car keys are from time to time. It's when you forget what they're for that you should start to worry"

 

[GBassNorth]

CTS 500k V 250k T. .047 cap of your preference for ThunderBuckers.

My current fave ThunderBucker set is a 63N at the neck with a 66S at the bridge and stacked V/T pots. That gives the maximum in tone variation, especially when the bridge pup is moved 1/2" closer to the bridge than the stock 60s location. That's what's going in this with the Fiver configuration to cover all 12 strings.

View attachment 2772246

Carlo, very cool build!
I've decided to FrankenBird my Goth for sh#ts and giggles. It currently has 500k volume and tone pots with an unknown cap. Because I'm a rookie and have lots of time to goof around I plan on making up a couple of test harnesses to see what I like best. The pups will be Bart dual coils and I'll be using SPST push/pull pots to split between parallel and single coil. One of the test harnesses will have 250k volume and tone pots, one will have 500k volume and tone pots and one will have 500k volume pots with a 250k tone pot. I have a few different cap values I'll try as well .047 Emerson and a higher value orange drop.
I really don't know what to expect from the 250k Vol pot with a Humbucker (I've always used 500k for that) but 250k is what I've always used for single coils and since I'll be splitting coils on the fly between parallel humbucker and single coil I thought I'd give the configuration a try. Do you think I'm wasting my time with 250k Vol pots in this application, does the Vol pot value make a huge difference?

 

[theFixer]

When I see them, magpies don't usually make many sound, just busy looking for food. And when they are foraging for food, they seem to hop around similar to kangaroos. It's looks quite elegant, but it's also funny to see them jump around.

Seen a lot more robins this year than usual, wrens are popular too, as well as an owl I saw in the countryside in the early morning, we also have a few crows living around our neighbourhood, as well as a couple of hedgehogs (which are becoming extensively rare in the U.K.) and quite a few squirrels getting nuts from trees in the church's graveyard near my house. It's been good for nature watching this year, I love it.

A few years ago, I found myself in the quaint li'l town of Poole. My employer at the time, had asked if I would accompany him, when he went there to spec out a Sunseeker. I remember standing out on the balcony, looking across the rooftops, and seeing one large owl on each rooftop in town every morning. I'd never seen more than one at a time, and it was always out in the country. I found it fascinating... and slightly Hitchcockian...

 

[PillO]

I've seen a bunch of different Hummingbird's, an amazing looking Cardinal, Woodpeckers, probably a Crow or two, Hawks and Turkey Vultures are common when there's something dead nearby. Much more common are Blue Jays, Robins, and Morning Doves. Actual Turkeys too. There's a bunch more that I don't know. (Bird feeders help)

Along with those birds, deer come around from time to time, Coyotes are spotted, and heard, on my road nightly, not usually near my house. Squirrels are VERY common.
Oh and I once saw a person on a horse going down a trail beside my house.
I haven't seen any Foxes or Hedgehogs around... yet.

Everything I mentioned has been seen in my backyard. Moving from the city, or what Jeff would consider "the suburbs", was a pretty interesting change.

Edit: fair amount of bats too

 

[Dadagoboi]

Carlo, very cool build!
I've decided to FrankenBird my Goth for sh#ts and giggles. It currently has 500k volume and tone pots with an unknown cap. Because I'm a rookie and have lots of time to goof around I plan on making up a couple of test harnesses to see what I like best. The pups will be Bart dual coils and I'll be using SPST push/pull pots to split between parallel and single coil. One of the test harnesses will have 250k volume and tone pots, one will have 500k volume and tone pots and one will have 500k volume pots with a 250k tone pot. I have a few different cap values I'll try as well .047 Emerson and a higher value orange drop.
I really don't know what to expect from the 250k Vol pot with a Humbucker (I've always used 500k for that) but 250k is what I've always used for single coils and since I'll be splitting coils on the fly between parallel humbucker and single coil I thought I'd give the configuration a try. Do you think I'm wasting my time with 250k Vol pots in this application, does the Vol pot value make a huge difference?

Really depends on what Bartolini recommends. Pretty sure you can get the man on the phone if you give him a call. Either way, won't make THAT much difference but sounds like a fun project! They are fairly dark but that's what you said you're looking for in your previous post , right?

When I got my one of the first Alumitone pickups sold I called Lace to give them hell about no screws (which coincidentally turned out to be the same ones we later used on ThunderBuckers). Don Lace answered, didn't make an excuse and sent me four of them.

 

[Gaolee]

I don't remember if my Alumitones came with screws or not. At this point I have them in a bass and in a guitar, which means I have had several opportunities to know if they come with screws. But, I don't remember at all. I know for sure that the pickups for the P-Bird didn't come with screws of any kind. They are Barden split P rail pickups. I liked the way they look. Still don't know what they sound like. Probably not much different from any other P pickup out there, since they are all close variations of the same thing.

 

[theFixer]

Just posted this, and it replaced the word of the bird (t-i-t-s), to "Boobies", no joke. This was not intentional. I don't know why it did that, don't know if it was my phone or the forum system replacing the word for me. I edited it just after I saw it. It says the actual word on the edit, but says the other word when I confirm. Just in case anyone sees it. I'm not talking about rude things, it's a bird, A BIRD.

Now I'm really worried . Funny though.

Given that our Queen is on the TB staff... I'm certain you need not worry. Context will be understood by our wise and compassionate leader

 

[Korladis]

Went to my rehearsal studio to do some bass and fuzz pedal comparisons at high volume.

Note, the graphic on my custom fuzz pedal, pictured below, may be considered NSFW. If you have an issue with it, please PM me directly rather than reporting me to the mods over it and I'll take it down.

All my electrics in one place at one time for once:
View attachment 2772647

These three are tuned BEAD:
View attachment 2772648

Did a comparison of fuzz pedals as well. Since all of them are Muff based, I decided to take a "family photo":
View attachment 2772649

Conclusions:

My 4003S is my most aggressive sounding bass. The 1975 4001 (the blue one) sounds similar, but still different (note, I have a modern 4003 bridge pickup, reissue toaster neck pickup, and wiring harness in the 4001). Maybe it's because it has older strings and is in EADG?

The T-bird in series mode doesn't sound that different, but I need to bump the highs on the amp a little to get it really close.

As far as the fuzz pedals, my custom Dunwich still sounds the best to my ears, partly because it can be tweaked the most. Besides the usual volume/tone/sustain controls, there is also a mids knob (that's nearly dimed), a "crunch" knob like with the Swollen Pickle, a switch between traditional somewhat scooped mids (the circuit is based on the Green Russian, so not as scooped as the original Big Muff) and flat/boosted mids, and a switch between LED and Silicon diodes (pictured here in LED setting). Switched to traditional mid voicing and silicon diodes, the sound is similar to the EHX Green Russian reissue. Switched to prominent mids and LED, of course, it's a much nastier beast. I'll probably be getting a second one with more "family friendly" art, possibly of a Tu-95 bomber (since that's what it sounds like).

The Way Huge Swollen Pickle was the main fuzz I used for a while, though it actually belongs to Catapult's lead vocalist. Way more low bass and high mids than my custom Dunwich or the EHX Green Russian. I remembered why I stopped using it... a bit too glitchy in the lows for my tastes (though that may be exactly what some are looking for). A lot more low end than any of the others though.

Least usable for me was, no surprise, the regular big box Big Muff. Too scooped and too glitchy, not enough attack. There was a reason I only used it in conjunction with wah when I had it on my board.

In a less dense mix than Catapult, the Green Russian reissue would be really good. I'll be keeping this and possibly starting a second, smaller board with it. Not glitchy, very solid in the lows and with enough low mids that it would probably still be heard in a mix. Even sounded good at low distortion settings. Would definitely recommend. Definitely way more attack than the regular Big Muff as well. Well done, EHX.

 

[GBassNorth]

Really depends on what Bartolini recommends. Pretty sure you can get the man on the phone if you give him a call. Either way, won't make THAT much difference but sounds like a fun project! They are fairly dark but that's what you said you're looking for in your previous post , right?

When I got my one of the first Alumitone pickups sold I called Lace to give them hell about no screws (which coincidentally turned out to be the same ones we later used on ThunderBuckers). Don Lace answered, didn't make an excuse and sent me four of them.

Good call on reaching out to Bart, I'll give that a try. Turns out the Bart's don't come with screws either, I'll just reuse the ones from the Goth pups (hopefully they'll fit). And yes, I am going after a deep dark rich thick smooth sound which I would think the 250k pots would help with. Should be fun and enlightening.
On a related note, I'll also be blacking out the rosewood fretboard with some of the Stewmac India ink fretboard dye. The light color rosewood board looks odd with the blacked out Goth. We'll see if their stuff works good or just makes a sticky blue mess out of everything.

 

[kat888]

Seriously. I can often remember why I went into the kitchen, but what was it I wanted from the fridge?

Beer

 

[theFixer]

Beer

Aahhh yes. "Beer". The correct answer to most questions

 

[kat888]

@Sartori 'family friendly' is a weird little phrase. Generally, if you want a family, the 'parts' illustrated on your pedal are a requirement ... therefore should be considered family friendly, or perhaps family conducive.

 

[BklynKen]

Beer

That’s the default, yeah.

 

[kat888]

TB page loads/refreshes are bad at the moment - did our bird pics break the internet?