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Thunderbird Club

#46,903
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#46,904
PillO said:
Interesting, I read today that Warwick has a Lee Sklar signature model.
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It includes a three way "producer switch".

As I continue to think about the Pro-V, I have been thinking about Seymour Duncan Blackouts. If I wire it VV, and as I am thinking no tone, I have two empty holes. In one, I would put an on/off switch so that I don't have to unplug it. Perhaps a producer switch or a 3 way pickup selector?
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Have been thinking similar but different thoughts. (And I don’t have a Pro).
Left to right:
V toggle/pickups
V T or blank
 
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#46,906
GBassNorth said:
For those of you that might be a few years younger than me...
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Interesting article from the New York Times about the return of '80s bands along with lots of videos. I don't recall if TBirds were seen on stage much back then. IIRC things like headless basses and Spector and Yamaha were the rage in the 80's.
Enjoy!
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I thought it was spandex, hair spray, and lots of lime green and neon pink. Especially the hair spray. Big hair and a 1984 Camaro. Trying to figure out who was male and who was female was kinda tough, but unlike the Nasty Habits, it wasn't on purpose.
 
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#46,907
GBassNorth said:
But why go to ESP I wonder. Spector and Warwick have great Artist programs. Never really tried an ESP bass, always kind of thought of them as cheap beginner student level basses, kind of like LTD and OPM. Guess I need to get out more and try some new stuff.
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Because Spector and Warwick don't make guitars, and Bill is a guitarist.
 
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#46,910
Gaolee said:
I thought it was spandex, hair spray, and lots of lime green and neon pink. Especially the hair spray. Big hair and a 1984 Camaro. Trying to figure out who was male and who was female was kinda tough, but unlike the Nasty Habits, it wasn't on purpose.
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Spandex... and perms! Pointy guitars, Aria, BC Rich and oh yeah Fenders. I had a couple pop-metal scene friends I'd go out with once in a while, and they were pretty funny dudes. Lots of talk about hair, new guitars, clothes. I was the "Blues and Alternative Guy", wore jeans and a vest or something, sometimes had a goatee...
The punk scene... Fender P-Bass, for the most part, in my memory. Captain Sensible of The Damned is pictured here and there with a Thunderbird though.
 
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#46,911
Count Bassie said:
Spandex... and perms! Pointy guitars, Aria, BC Rich and oh yeah Fenders. I had a couple pop-metal scene friends I'd go out with once in a while, and they were pretty funny dudes. Lots of talk about hair, new guitars, clothes. I was the "Blues and Alternative Guy", wore jeans and a vest or something, sometimes had a goatee...
The punk scene... Fender P-Bass, for the most part, in my memory. Captain Sensible of The Damned is pictured here and there with a Thunderbird though.
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That's because Captain Sensible is cool.
 
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#46,914
silky smoove said:
They say that Thunderbirds are prone to neck dive. That may be true, but... Placing the upper strap button on the heel block and the lower strap button off-center (towards the E string side) at the tail has resulted in a bass that hangs in roughly the same position as my Jazz and G4 basses. That's just a generic non-grippy Planet Waves strap I had laying around, and not some big suede-backed wide leather beast of a strap. I'm calling this a success.

Now to adjust the pickup height and try to drop the action in the upper register and it'll be ready for battle.

View attachment 1187130
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@silky smoove I'm just now seeing this.

That turned out fantastic!
 
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#46,915
BTL said:
@silky smoove I'm just now seeing this.

That turned out fantastic!
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Yeah Brad, it really did. Thanks to you for supplying such a killer body for the project! Since that photo was taken I’ve replaced the EMG GZR Ps with EMG PXs and relocated the rear strap button to shift the bass back on a strap and put the first few frets in more Jazz/Precision territory. At this point it’s an absolute killer bass with a unique tone compared to the rest of my stable.
 
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#46,917
Anyone else see something like this happen, with the corner of the pick guard sort of coming up with a crack developing? No idea how long it’s been like this.

8F766A18-3ED1-4DE0-9C4A-C97911A8A589.jpeg
 
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#46,920
TBird1958 said:
I do agree on the aesthetics, PG aside I don't usually care for re-designs of a shape that I consider to be the best out there, this one just isn't "right" to my eye. I do like the shape of the center block tho, and the builder is faithful to the original Thunderbird in terms of concept, that is, a multi-ply laminated through neck bass with a very specific type of pickup(s). So this isn't going to be an inexpensive bass to build, especially at the boutique level as opposed to mass production, I don't think his pricing is out of line but, I'm still not biting on one either :laugh:
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I didn't mean to imply that it's priced out of it's league. It's priced out of mine:)
 
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