Thunderbird Club

[Haji]

Yeah, I understand! A corollary to lightweight gear being made and becoming popular is that it depresses the price of older, heavy used gear, so I can have a few thousand dollars worth of heavy gear for a few hundred bucks. My gig rig (not counting pedal board; pedals are popular again and won't get cheap for a while) has about $700 tied up in it, including the backup GK 800RB I've never gigged with in three years. My main is an SVT-3 Pro that weighs probably 60% of what your whole rig weighs. LOL!

 

[RedVee]

This probly sounds dumb... but it helped me kinda "find my voice" or whatever. Ya know the way ya sing when nobody's around, and yer really into the song? You most likely sing that way, because it's the way you think you sound your best. The trick is, to kick those inhibitions in the arse & bring that voice that you use in the car, or shower, or whatever... out of the shadows! With yer bass and amp... you twiddle with the volume, gain, tone, etc., until it's pleasing to your ears... then ya pretty much just hope the listener likes it too. Well... same thing with your singing voice. I don't make people listen to me much... but when I do... something about that mindset is kinda liberating. I'm finding that the timbre of your voice... or the way you think you sound... isn't nearly as important as singing in tune. If the pitch is on, a chorus of buffalo can sound good!

<edit>

LIGHTENING BOLT!!!

"Ain't No Sunshine" is a low, sultry groove. Yer gonna laugh... but if you're a baritone... ask yerself, "How would Barry White sing this song?". I'm not sayin' you should throw on a leopard skin leisure suit & white platform shoes (unless you want to)... but underneath all that swank, sweat, and cologne... Barry White is a blues singer. You might be able to find something that you can use in his early stuff. I would not recommend singing his songs in the shower. You may not be able to resist yourself...

Barry White hey? The staff may have some trouble with the octogenarians that night!

I’ll do some quiet practice and see if I can bring it in. I have an idea on how to approach it.

 

[theFixer]

So last night I was feeling alright as I was up late and in prime state of mind when I grabbed my Bird and went to plug in and realized that I should probably let some of you that are curious to hear what my Thunderbacker sounds like. Didnt know what to play so threw a drum track down and noodled clean into the 4 track with neck(Rick pickup) on 10 and bridge(Chickenbacker neck pickup) at 4 and tone down at 3, my standard setting for the Bird. For whatever its worth..........here it is. Listen for the Piano at 0:57 [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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YEAH man!!! That sounds killer!!! "Plump" is the word that comes to mind

 

[theFixer]

Barry White hey? The staff may have some trouble with the octogenarians that night!

I’ll do some quiet practice and see if I can bring it in. I have an idea on how to approach it.

I know it sounds odd, but I think you get what I'm talking about. The Baritonian Brotherhood does not have a strong presence in popular music. If a baritone is thirsty, there aren't a lot of wells from which to drink. For a song like "Ain't No Sunshine", I can see being able to get some ideas regarding approach, delivery, nuance etc. Yanevahknow

 

[Count Bassie]

So Mike @hillerup and I are doing a little neck swap. Here's the pair, his Goth for my Blackbird. The Goth is considerably wider at the nut than the BBird... getting it jigged onto the body this weekend, if all goes well.

Interesting also is the difference in headstock shape. The BBird is wider than the Goth...

Got the Goth neck on my Blackbird body. The neck heel is quite loose in the pocket, in comparison to the original neck, which was snug as a button on your grandmother's raincoat, but I tell you what, this neck feels great. The wider nut (way), and hence the space between the strings, is liberating, adds a whole new dimension to playing this thing! The taper from nut to bridge is just as minimal as I've ever known, and the entire experience is excellent.

This was interesting: The thickness of the Goth neck (back to front of fretboard) is a smidge less, so the strings sit lower on the bass now- in fact the strings were nearly touching the pickup, so that the pickup was actually damping the vibration of my strings, most noticeably my E string. The bass seemed as if it was being utterly squashed with compression, and I wasn't even plugged in!... this had me scratching my head until I finaly understood what was going on- quite a revelation to experience that. So I lowered the pickup, of course, and, Aahhh, there it is! Thwaaaaannnnnggg! Learn something if you try.

So anyway there's my story so far. My bass just got new life, thanks @hillerup ! Now gotta save for that Thunderbucker Ranch 66s... It'll be interesting to hear Michael's story once he gets my Blackbird neck.

It's late, pix when I get a minute! Tomorrow I spose. 'Night all.

 

[ProgressiveDoom]

YEAH man!!! That sounds killer!!! "Plump" is the word that comes to mind

Thanks Dude, plump is cool, its late October and the plumpkins are coming out. Im conjuring up the plumpkins eh!.

 

[theFixer]

I know I posted this a while back, but I wanted to do it again. This is the coolest Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers performance, that I've ever seen! The whole band is really ON... and it kinda seems like Tom knows it (although I hear Mike Campbell tag a bad note coming out of a solo. Only time I've ever heard that)! The audio quality is "vintage", and the whole performance is in a low quality black & white... but that really adds to the overall coolness of the show. STRONGLY recommended!!! (@kat888 I'm lookin' at YOU)

 

[theFixer]

Got the Goth neck on my Blackbird body. The neck heel is quite loose in the pocket, in comparison to the original neck, which was snug as a button on your grandmother's raincoat, but I tell you what, this neck feels great. The wider nut (way), and hence the space between the strings, is liberating, adds a whole new dimension to playing this thing! The taper from nut to bridge is just as minimal as I've ever known, and the entire experience is excellent.

This was interesting: The thickness of the Goth neck (back to front of fretboard) is a smidge less, so the strings sit lower on the bass now- in fact the strings were nearly touching the pickup, so that the pickup was actually damping the vibration of my strings, most noticeably my E string. The bass seemed as if it was being utterly squashed with compression, and I wasn't even plugged in!... this had me scratching my head until I finaly understood what was going on- quite a revelation to experience that. So I lowered the pickup, of course, and, Aahhh, there it is! Thwaaaaannnnnggg! Learn something if you try.

So anyway there's my story so far. My bass just got new life, thanks @hillerup ! Now gotta save for that Thunderbucker Ranch 66s... It'll be interesting to hear Michael's story once he gets my Blackbird neck.

It's late, pix when I get a minute! Tomorrow I spose. 'Night all.

It's nice to have new life breathed into something like that (especially when it's something as cool as a T-Bird)

 

[theFixer]

"Expected Nov. 11th"...

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[Korladis]

11/11 is a national holiday, though.

 

[Korladis]

Also, no T-birds last night, but Crud's bassist was playing an Epiphone EB-0.

 

[theFixer]

11/11 is a national holiday, though.

Of course it is... and it's a Saturday

 

[RedVee]

Got the Goth neck on my Blackbird body. The neck heel is quite loose in the pocket, in comparison to the original neck, which was snug as a button on your grandmother's raincoat, but I tell you what, this neck feels great. The wider nut (way), and hence the space between the strings, is liberating, adds a whole new dimension to playing this thing! The taper from nut to bridge is just as minimal as I've ever known, and the entire experience is excellent.

This was interesting: The thickness of the Goth neck (back to front of fretboard) is a smidge less, so the strings sit lower on the bass now- in fact the strings were nearly touching the pickup, so that the pickup was actually damping the vibration of my strings, most noticeably my E string. The bass seemed as if it was being utterly squashed with compression, and I wasn't even plugged in!... this had me scratching my head until I finaly understood what was going on- quite a revelation to experience that. So I lowered the pickup, of course, and, Aahhh, there it is! Thwaaaaannnnnggg! Learn something if you try.

So anyway there's my story so far. My bass just got new life, thanks @hillerup ! Now gotta save for that Thunderbucker Ranch 66s... It'll be interesting to hear Michael's story once he gets my Blackbird neck.

What did you do about the fit?

 

[RedVee]

OT - I’ve been noodling around on the acoustic BG this afternoon. I intend to buy some La Bella tapes for it and was wondering on cleaning up the current bronze strings when they come off.
I remember someone here cleans strings ,
wondering if anyone has experience cleaning the bronze ABG strings? Advice?

 

[theFixer]

OT - I’ve been noodling around on the acoustic BG this afternoon. I intend to buy some La Bella tapes for it and was wondering on cleaning up the current bronze strings when they come off.
I remember someone here cleans strings ,
wondering if anyone has experience cleaning the bronze ABG strings? Advice?

I believe it's @ubernator who's talked about cleaning his strings. He's been kinda quiet here lately...

 

[kat888]

In the space of

I know I posted this a while back, but I wanted to do it again. This is the coolest Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers performance, that I've ever seen! The whole band is really ON... and it kinda seems like Tom knows it (although I hear Mike Campbell tag a bad note coming out of a solo. Only time I've ever heard that)! The audio quality is "vintage", and the whole performance is in a low quality black & white... but that really adds to the overall coolness of the show. STRONGLY recommended!!! (@kat888 I'm lookin' at YOU)

Watched it the day he died after you posted it the first time thanks. Then The Fillmore DVD and I'm going to watch the Olympic Show (Last DJ) maybe this week ... and there's the Playback DVD there as well.

 

[Count Bassie]

What did you do about the fit?

Nothing, screwed the sucker on. Plays very nice. I will investigate that, probably get to the shop and start in on cutting up some Sapele shims, but I'm not bugging about it. Gotta admit I was disappointed at first, and had a defined twinge of regret at removing that beautiful marriage of a bolt-on joint I had. But for the playability of the wider neck I made it happen. It's not a major thing.

 

[Count Bassie]

OT - I’ve been noodling around on the acoustic BG this afternoon. I intend to buy some La Bella tapes for it and was wondering on cleaning up the current bronze strings when they come off.
I remember someone here cleans strings ,
wondering if anyone has experience cleaning the bronze ABG strings? Advice?

I'll bet some kind of copper cleaner, or even Brasso, would handle that. It's what I'd do anyway. Which... might not mean anything! But, it's metal. Rubbing them down with alcohol afterward, maybe with a little Scotch-Brite (TM) pad would probably pull off any yack you get in between the windings from the cleaning.

 

[hillerup]

Don't know them, but I'm sure I know some folks that do. I'll see what I can find out.

Please do..!

Got the Goth neck on my Blackbird body. The neck heel is quite loose in the pocket, in comparison to the original neck, which was snug as a button on your grandmother's raincoat, but I tell you what, this neck feels great. The wider nut (way), and hence the space between the strings, is liberating, adds a whole new dimension to playing this thing! The taper from nut to bridge is just as minimal as I've ever known, and the entire experience is excellent.

This was interesting: The thickness of the Goth neck (back to front of fretboard) is a smidge less, so the strings sit lower on the bass now- in fact the strings were nearly touching the pickup, so that the pickup was actually damping the vibration of my strings, most noticeably my E string. The bass seemed as if it was being utterly squashed with compression, and I wasn't even plugged in!... this had me scratching my head until I finaly understood what was going on- quite a revelation to experience that. So I lowered the pickup, of course, and, Aahhh, there it is! Thwaaaaannnnnggg! Learn something if you try.

So anyway there's my story so far. My bass just got new life, thanks @hillerup ! Now gotta save for that Thunderbucker Ranch 66s... It'll be interesting to hear Michael's story once he gets my Blackbird neck.

It's late, pix when I get a minute! Tomorrow I spose. 'Night all.

Nothing, screwed the sucker on. Plays very nice. I will investigate that, probably get to the shop and start in on cutting up some Sapele shims, but I'm not bugging about it. Gotta admit I was disappointed at first, and had a defined twinge of regret at removing that beautiful marriage of a bolt-on joint I had. But for the playability of the wider neck I made it happen. It's not a major thing.

Really happy the neck worked out for you, and being able to help a brother out!

Looking forward to trying the Blackbird neck on my spare Goth!

 

[Count Bassie]

Please do..!





Really happy the neck worked out for you, and being able to help a brother out!

Looking forward to trying the Blackbird neck on my spare Goth!

I look forward to hearing about it! You may have to shave a little wood, based on what my experience here is, but if you like a narrow neck, that one is a sweetie- been to me anyway. Alright, talk soon Mike!