Thunderbird Club

[theFixer]

If you do any research, you will quickly see that the majority
of opinions will say to steer clear of CCB's. (Cheap Chinese Basses.)
The thinking is why hinder your learning with an inferior instrument.
Others counter that it's better to play a cheapie than not at all.
It's one of those circuitous arguments that comes up all the time.
(Tubes/SS, flats/rounds, Fender/Gibson. . I'm not advocating
either way, just be aware of what's available.

Thanks for the input!

When the time comes to move on something... I'll definitely be pickin' the brains of my Thunder-buddies!

 

[dukeorock]

Funny thing is I have bass guitar GAS off and on, but don't have upright bass GAS at all. This one is just fine for me, and keeps me completely happy. I even get pedal GAS on occasion, and I don't use pedals much. Go figure.

As long as my uprights are working as they should, GAS stays at bay for uprights with me too. Funny, at the gig Saturday night, I noticed my A string isn’t long for this world. Replacing that A string cost about half of what I made on a well paying gig :/

As for pedals, I don’t know what to say. I kinda hate em and have no real practical use for em, but every 5 years or so, I get some more and goof around. I rarely, if ever, take a pedal to a gig. And I hate overdrives, fuzz pedals, etc...once you’ve cranked a good tube amp up, even the best dirt boxes sound kinda dopey to me by contrast. Fine for home or recording, but I just don’t like em on the gig so far. I am digging filters lately. There’s one dude I play for where I could see bringing the EHX Cock Fight and my Canyon delay, but I tend to get exasperated by pedals pretty quick

 

[Inky13]

Christopher’s and Shens are a whole other level from the typical cheap Chinese uprights I was referring to! Nearly traded a custom cab for a Christopher a few years back. Solid basses. If I were going new, I think I’d get an Upton. Cool company, made in the US and they have something for nearly every price range.




It really is

Couldn't agree more about Upton. Although I wouldn't know what to do with a bass that wasn't made during the Eisenhower administration and didn't look like it was dragged behind the bus for several miles!

 

[Gaolee]

Couldn't agree more about Upton. Although I wouldn't know what to do with a bass that wasn't made during the Eisenhower administration and didn't look like it was dragged behind the bus for several miles!

That battered one I had qualified as a Truman era bass, and it looked like it had been dragged by everything that could drag anything. It had plenty of obvious repairs and was delaminating when I got it. I made a new tail for it, reset the neck twice, and bondoed up the body with the intention of painting it metal flake electric blue or something. Then the cat climbed it. I fixed that damage. The second time the cat did that, the body pretty much fell apart. That was the only destructive thing the cat ever did. Dick the Cat was the perfect cat, if you can overlook bass destruction.

 

[BklynKen]

That battered one I had qualified as a Truman era bass, and it looked like it had been dragged by everything that could drag anything. It had plenty of obvious repairs and was delaminating when I got it. I made a new tail for it, reset the neck twice, and bondoed up the body with the intention of painting it metal flake electric blue or something. Then the cat climbed it. I fixed that damage. The second time the cat did that, the body pretty much fell apart. That was the only destructive thing the cat ever did. Dick the Cat was the perfect cat, if you can overlook bass destruction.

The cat would probably blame the bass.

 

[theFixer]

As long as my uprights are working as they should, GAS stays at bay for uprights with me too. Funny, at the gig Saturday night, I noticed my A string isn’t long for this world. Replacing that A string cost about half of what I made on a well paying gig :/

As for pedals, I don’t know what to say. I kinda hate em and have no real practical use for em, but every 5 years or so, I get some more and goof around. I rarely, if ever, take a pedal to a gig. And I hate overdrives, fuzz pedals, etc...once you’ve cranked a good tube amp up, even the best dirt boxes sound kinda dopey to me by contrast. Fine for home or recording, but I just don’t like em on the gig so far. I am digging filters lately. There’s one dude I play for where I could see bringing the EHX Cock Fight and my Canyon delay, but I tend to get exasperated by pedals pretty quick

IMHO... your love/hate relationship with fx, and your "single source" obsession seems to yield positive results! The samples you've posted recently, are interesting, unique, and multi-dimensional. Though I'm not a big fx user myself... I can certainly appreciate it when somebody who knows what they're doing, cuts loose and does something like that. I think that you're relationship with, or attitude towards effects, is a significant factor. A person who's overly fond of fx, tends to over-use them. Both of the pieces you posted recently, really allowed the character if your Thunderbird to shine through, instead of being lost in a sea of delays & choruses & whatnot. IMO... whatever you're doing (or not doing), works GREAT!

 

[dukeorock]

Dick the Cat was the perfect cat, if you can overlook bass destruction.

We should’ve named our cat Hank, Dick instead. Much more appropriate name for that little bastard

 

[Gaolee]

The cat would probably blame the bass.

Of course. Twice.

 

[bylar13]

I posted this in the luthiers corner. So far no response. Anyone here have any thoughts?


I have a 2014 Gibson Thunderbird that has been in my possession for about a year now. I bought the bass used and have no history prior to my owning it.

When I received it (via mail) it had virtually no tension on the the truss rod. I could easily move the truss rod nut with my fingers and the neck had a significant forward bow.

Using a 34" straight edge, notched for frets, I use a feeler gauge @ .015 at the 7th fret to establish relief that if comfortable for me. I have again just applied more tension.

That said, this is the 5th time I have had to adjust the truss rod back to those specs in the almost year time frame. Changes in weather seem to be the culprit but the relief will increase dramatically and quickly. I use Ernie Ball 105-55 stainless strings and always store the bass in its case.

Am I missing something or is this just a sensitive bass?

 

[dukeorock]

IMHO... your love/hate relationship with fx, and your "single source" obsession seems to yield positive results! The samples you've posted recently, are interesting, unique, and multi-dimensional. Though I'm not a big fx user myself... I can certainly appreciate it when somebody who knows what they're doing, cuts loose and does something like that. I think that you're relationship with, or attitude towards effects, is a significant factor. A person who's overly fond of fx, tends to over-use them. Both of the pieces you posted recently, really allowed the character if your Thunderbird to shine through, instead of being lost in a see of delays & choruses & whatnot. IMO... whatever you're doing (or not doing), works GREAT!

Wow, thanks! The single source thing is a really fun exercise, but you’d better be ok about some really long nights trying to pull out the sounds you want

 

[theFixer]

We should’ve named our cat Hank, Dick instead. Much more appropriate name for that little bastard

Years ago I knew some folks that had a dog named "Diogi"(pronounced dee-OH-jee). When I asked about the name, they jokingly said, "It's Italian for dog". I said, "What???". They said, "Dog... D-O-G... or 'Diogi'!"

 

[dukeorock]

I posted this in the luthiers corner. So far no response. Anyone here have any thoughts?


I have a 2014 Gibson Thunderbird that has been in my possession for about a year now. I bought the bass used and have no history prior to my owning it.

When I received it (via mail) it had virtually no tension on the the truss rod. I could easily move the truss rod nut with my fingers and the neck had a significant forward bow.

Using a 34" straight edge, notched for frets, I use a feeler gauge @ .015 at the 7th fret to establish relief that if comfortable for me. I have again just applied more tension.

That said, this is the 5th time I have had to adjust the truss rod back to those specs in the almost year time frame. Changes in weather seem to be the culprit but the relief will increase dramatically and quickly. I use Ernie Ball 105-55 stainless strings and always store the bass in its case.

Am I missing something or is this just a sensitive bass?

Shoot, sorry to hear that! Maybe @Dadagoboi can shed some light here. I have a 2014 as well and string it up roughly the same guage, but haven’t had any sort of problems at all.

 

[bylar13]

Shoot, sorry to hear that! Maybe @Dadagoboi can shed some light here. I have a 2014 as well and string it up roughly the same guage, but haven’t had any sort of problems at all.

Thanks! It is not too much trouble to add a 1/4 turn on the truss rod, I just don't want to mess it up! The neck is a good bit slimmer width wise and front to back than the 2006 T-Bird I had previously...

 

[theFixer]

Wow, thanks! The single source thing is a really fun exercise, but you’d better be ok about some really long nights trying to pull out the sounds you want

If you have a connection in the movie industry... I think your single source stuff is solid sound track material

 

[dukeorock]

Thanks! It is not too much trouble to add a 1/4 turn on the truss rod, I just don't want to mess it up! The neck is a good bit slimmer width wise and front to back than the 2006 T-Bird I had previously...

It is a pretty slim neck, but I’m not very sensitive to that stuff for whatever reason...maybe because every neck feels kinda tiny compared to an upright
I should double check, but my ‘02 and ‘14 Gibson’s feel very similar to me

 

[kat888]

I can't tolerate tweeters, I turn em off or disconnect them.

Correct!

 

[dukeorock]

If you have a connection in the movie industry... I think your single source stuff is solid sound track material

Thanks! I have written a lot of stuff for background music in tv and film. If this stuff turns out cool, I’ll submit it around. It’s got a long way to go before then, but it’s a thought!

 

[kat888]

And how did that work out?

Well we don't have a Ric330....

 

[Gaolee]

We should’ve named our cat Hank, Dick instead. Much more appropriate name for that little bastard

About 937 pages ago, I explained Dick's name. We have new members, so maybe I should do that again. My wife is from London and tends to stay fairly proper about things. She's also deathly allergic to cats. When we first moved to Seattle, we lived for a while in a one bedroom apartment right across from another apartment on the first floor of an old fourplex. One summer evening, when the windows were open, a tiny kitten jumped in the window and claimed my wife. She was allergic to the kitten, but it was tiny, about as cute as they come, and absolutely convinced that it owned her. So, what could we do? As it turned out, the guy in the opposite apartment, who was about as gay as it is possible to be, had gotten the kitten from somewhere. He called the kitten "Serena." He also had a small dog who hated the kitten. Because the dog and kitten were going to be a problem, and because the kitten had chosen my wife, he decided the kitten should be our kitten.

I'm a rural person. Animal gender isn't a tough thing to figure out. "Serena" was a boy. Which I though was a really amusing point for the guy next door to have missed. My wife, with a completely straight face, said that we should call him "Dick." Then there would be no confusion. Which, made the whole situation even funnier because it was so out of character for her to say something like that the way she said it. So, he was Dick the Cat. Officially Richard the Cat on his vet record, but who's counting? He only lived four years before some bug got him. During that time, he was the perfect cat. He didn't make messes, didn't get into trouble, slept on one chair that he had claimed as his own and didn't shed blankets everywhere else. He was a perfectly symmetrical black and white cat. I have never seen another cat quite like him. Even when he died, he did it politely.

I don't want another cat, but even after more than 25 years, I miss Dick.

 

[GBassNorth]

And speaking of coated strings...
Has anyone tried the Optima Gold plated strings that JAE used in the later years of his career?
I'm sure they would look really nice on either an Ebony or 50th Anniversary bird...

Finally got time to put my Optima strings on last night. They sound even better than they look. I went with the Unique strings, they seem like they have a bit more tension than the regular Optima strings. In fact I had to tighten the truss about a half turn to increase the back bow a bit vs the Chromes that I had on it before.

Here's the strings...

Here's the bass and silks...

 

[Inky13]

Wow, thanks! The single source thing is a really fun exercise, but you’d better be ok about some really long nights trying to pull out the sounds you want

I gotta say, it's super fun! It's like Chris Squire recorded "The Fish"
somewhere in the Mid South for a Hammer Studio soundtrack.
Or something like that.