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Thunderbird Club

#53,301
Skerrvydog said:
Sweet!!!!! I Dig the shack shakers. Been meaning to listen to more of their stuff lately, thanks for reminding me! I’ve been loving playing slap upright these days
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Me too! Th’ ShackShakers were possibly my favorite band I was ever in. Was a sad day when I knew it was time to go, but it really was time. We’re still dear friends and I play with the singer, JD, on his solo stuff when time allows. They even let me play electric on occasion, but not very often :)
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Mostly this :)

Jello Biafra once called JD Wilkes “The last great rock and roll frontman.” I dunno about that, but he is one of the best I’ve ever seen
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#53,302
dukeorock said:
Here’s something I sometimes wonder. What made you want a Bird in the first place? My first impression of wanting one was possibly because of Pete Way, from UFO. Great sound and dude was quite the showman, which most bass players ain’t, if we’re honest. But it was mostly the sound. Then in the 80’s, lots of the hair rock dudes were playing em, which is no big deal, but I wasn’t in that world at all. Nikki Sixx kinda made me determined to never own a Bird, frankly. Gimme Tommy Stinson any day :)

I always loved the sound, but had perhaps unconsciously decided they didn’t fit my aesthetic.

The one who tipped the scales was Alex Hacke. EN’s ‘Silence is Sexy’ record in particular. Not a rock record by any stretch, but that bass sounded amazing to me. That kinda tipped the scales.
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Ever since I first heard the opening riff to Mike Watt’s “Contemplating the Engine Room”, which he played on a ‘68 T-bird, I’ve been chasing that tone.
Then recently saw the white Classic IV and decided to go for it
 
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#53,303
dukeorock said:
Here’s something I sometimes wonder. What made you want a Bird in the first place? My first impression of wanting one was possibly because of Pete Way, from UFO. Great sound and dude was quite the showman, which most bass players ain’t, if we’re honest. But it was mostly the sound. Then in the 80’s, lots of the hair rock dudes were playing em, which is no big deal, but I wasn’t in that world at all. Nikki Sixx kinda made me determined to never own a Bird, frankly. Gimme Tommy Stinson any day :)

I always loved the sound, but had perhaps unconsciously decided they didn’t fit my aesthetic.

The one who tipped the scales was Alex Hacke. EN’s ‘Silence is Sexy’ record in particular. Not a rock record by any stretch, but that bass sounded amazing to me. That kinda tipped the scales.
View attachment 2829881
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Nikki Sixx
 
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#53,307
dukeorock said:
Here’s something I sometimes wonder. What made you want a Bird in the first place?
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The first time I remember ever seeing one in the flesh was when I was 16 and there was a Gibson signed by nikki Sixx in (the late lamented) Musical Exchanges in Birmingham, but I was there to buy an Epiphone El Capitan acoustic and nothing would distract me from that. I did think the bird looked cool though.
Shortly after that I drifted from the bass for a few years until the bass player in the band I sang in quit and I made the error of volunteering to do both (so glad I did in the long run). I went through a couple of other options from that point until I saw the Specials on their 2009 reunion tour, where Horace Panter was wielding a gorgeous walnut t-bird. The sheer power of those pickups had me hooked, and a couple of months later I got my Tokai TB48 - Lady Penelope (because she’s not quite a thunderbird).
From that point on I didn’t want to buy any other type of bass, so she was joined by the classic pro (for which I traded in both my OLP stingray five string and the aforementioned El Capitan), and at some point in the next decade an Ebony VP will join the aviary. If I had the money and if I could find an excuse to feed to my wife I would add a Les Paul bass, but other than that I think I will be all birds all the way now. Maybe if I save enough in the next 2.5 years I could get myself a Gibson for my 40th...
 
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#53,308
clivem said:
Wasn't ebony covered by CITES, even before Rosewood was added? (Not my area of expertise. @Dadagoboi ???????)
I suspect maple or pau ferro are the only "sane" options for FB to completely avoid the CITES brouhaha.
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I chose ebony specifically because it wouldn't run afoul of CITES regulations. I'm not sure whether they even checked the box when it came through (there were no inspection stickers). Carlo specified the woods very clearly on the documentation.

NR41KB

NR41KB

 
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#53,309
clivem said:
Wasn't ebony covered by CITES, even before Rosewood was added? (Not my area of expertise. @Dadagoboi ???????)
I suspect maple or pau ferro are the only "sane" options for FB to completely avoid the CITES brouhaha.
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No, IIRC, only Madagascar Ebony is CITES regulated. 'Black Ebony' is not protected by CITES, although it is classified as endangered by other organizations.
 
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#53,311
clivem said:
Are you sayin' kat looks like a bear? ;)
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Well a couple of weeks ago I looked like a panda ... or actually more like a meerkat.

dukeorock said:
Here’s something I sometimes wonder. What made you want a Bird in the first place?
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Always liked the look of them. JAE and Overend played them. They sound like a big angry piano.

Thunderbirds are sleek and streamlined, whereas to me, an FSO looks a bit frumpy*. There's something in me which doesn't want the same bass as every other bugger.

* I'll make an exception for Carlo's pretendo-jazz-bird, which is quite simple the prettiest 'J' ever.
 
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#53,319
GBassNorth said:
I posted a progress pic of it a while back but as drastic as the changes were you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference unless you're familiar with the Goth (which is a good thing since I didn't want to lose the Goth DNA). It no longer is a three knob front jack passive layout. It's now a four knob, coil split switch, side jack, active bass with a battery box in the rear. The control cavity is packed, in fact I plan on going back in and cleaning up the wire routing a bit. The pups are now Bart's (a huge improvement) and the strings are black tapes. It's been fun to work on but there's still lots to do.
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Sorry if you already said previously... did you ever stain the fret board black, GBassNorth? Was that even you?? :D THX
 
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#53,320
Skerrvydog said:
Ever since I first heard the opening riff to Mike Watt’s “Contemplating the Engine Room”, which he played on a ‘68 T-bird, I’ve been chasing that tone.
Then recently saw the white Classic IV and decided to go for it
Click to expand...


angry piano
 
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