Thunderbird Club

[LH MCCURDY BASSES]

View attachment 2896191 My new Bird has landed!

What is that! More pics?

 

[theFixer]

Just as refined, but not so subtle

 

[dmac1961]

It's a Dingwall D Bird Custom, I'll get some more pics up when I get her home.

 

[Dadagoboi]

That's a comfort! I don't have an original but I believe my Cataldo JAEbird has the original 60s pickup positions.

Yes, it does.
ThunderBuckers in it? The first one I sent to the UK (originally Jimi Jimmi's) had Duncan SSBs. The others have ThunderBucker 66 sets IIRC.

 

[TBird1958]

View attachment 2896191 My new Bird has landed!

It's a Dingwall D Bird Custom, I'll get some more pics up when I get her home.

Awesome! Was this the one at The Bass Shop in Seattle?

 

[BklynKen]

I'm spoiled after buying single sets my entire life...grudgingly. I have at least a dozen sets from new to ancient in the shop. Buying strings when not on sale is something I don't like to do, I'd rather buy two or three sets when they are. I buy D'Addario twin packs as my stock Cataldo strings. EXLs at times have been less than $25 on sale for those. But lately the price is up. Some stock up on beer, I stock up on strings.

Last time I tried to buy nickel RS no one had them, it was a while ago. Back when they had blue silk. I see they're around again. Thanks for the heads up!

Beer tastes better than strings.

Do you know why and/or when they switched from nickel to SS?

 

[Dadagoboi]

Beer tastes better than strings.

Do you know why and/or when they switched from nickel to SS?

IDK when they intro'd SS. I'm guessing it wasn't until after another company did and they became popular. I switched to Boomers in '78 or so. They were a lot cheaper but still nickel. From '84 until '02 I was pretty much MIA from music.

Around 1973 Rotsounds cost $33 a set. My half of the rent at the Schit Shack (so christened by Stan Lynch) was $25 a month. Hell yeah, I boiled them!

 

[Gaolee]

I couldn’t agree...more? Ha! I like the color stuff. The ‘63 does sound the most open to me as well

I don't have to like the color stuff. I live it. It's one of those little bonuses of having an odd mental schematic.

 

[Gaolee]

Ok, NOW I'm done thinking about strings and pickups for the night...same clip, except the second bass is the '02 Gibson, strung with Cobalt flats
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It sounds very much like the Thunderbucker 63 now. The papery-ness is out of it and it's got the space around the colors. Still has the bash everything girth, too.

 

[BklynKen]

IDK when they intro'd SS. I'm guessing it wasn't until after another company did and they became popular. I switched to Boomers in '78 or so. They were a lot cheaper but still nickel. From '84 until '02 I was pretty much MIA from music.

Around 1973 Rotsounds cost $33 a set. My half of the rent at the poopie Shack (so christened by Stan Lynch) was $25 a month. Hell yeah, I boiled them!

Holy crap that's expensive in 1973 dollars!

 

[LH MCCURDY BASSES]

BB's sound great. Heft & low-mid. Very present.

 

[Gaolee]

Great observation, thanks!
There’s so many variables here. I enjoy looking at the differences. Not everyone likes flats. Some folks prefer em. I like em when I like em. They weren’t my favorite in this clip, because they tamed certain aspects of my bass I’d prefer not to tame. That’s where the Black Beauty’s are a great middle ground kind of string for a lot of my gigs. That’s really valuable to me. My best hope is these clips will be helpful for different needs.
“Remind me to try Cobalts!”
Remind me to NEVER try Cobalts!”

Funny thing is that I'm not a pick player, so I have to translate the sound and attack you get to what I would sound like. But, the Black Beauties, which I like very much, were my least favorite strings in those clips. Somehow, they got a little dark and maroon by comparison with the others. For sitting in a mix, they are perfect. For being aggressive and out front, the others were more appropriate. What I like about Cobalt Flats is that they sound a whole lot like rounds, but last a long time, like flats. Black Beauties and other coated DR strings have a similar quality. Cobalt flats sound most like an angry piano to me. There's a bit of orange that creeps into the sound sometimes.

What's great is that we all are hearing the same clips and hearing slightly different things.

 

[Kink Rimson]

Yes, it does.
ThunderBuckers in it? The first one I sent to the UK (originally Jimi Jimmi's) had Duncan SSBs. The others have ThunderBucker 66 sets IIRC.

I was the second owner of Jimi's, with the SSBs. I didn't really like them, they were a bit too polite.. My current one had the Thunderbucker 66 pickups. I'm thinking of swapping them for the 63 set, the 66s are very hot!

 

[dmac1961]

Awesome! Was this the one at The Bass Shop in Seattle?

Yes it is, Chad was great to work with. The hardest part to deal with was the wait on the coast to coast shipping.

 

[bholder]

I was the second owner of Jimi's, with the SSBs. I didn't really like them, they were a bit too polite.. My current one had the Thunderbucker 66 pickups. I'm thinking of swapping them for the 63 set, the 66s are very hot!

I tend to use the active input pad on the amp or interface when playing my 12er with the TB66s - the signal is just that hot (even though it's completely passive).

 

[Gaolee]

Do people come up to you after shows to talk about your Thunderbird? I’m in Austin, TX and I was just curious if it was the same across the country.

I get it all- musicians who talk about the sound and look, women comment on the guitar’s style and they’ve never seen one before, and probably most common is musicians that have, once had, or want one and ask questions.

What kind of comments do you get? Honestly, in the 15 months or so that I’ve had mine, I really think that I’ve had comments after every show. Didn’t get that once with the old retired Ibanez.

Try a fretless Thunderbird. That really gets some comments. Usually from a weird guy you didn't want to talk to very much. So it goes. Thunderbirds are the only bass guitars I ever get comments from non-musicians about. Nobody ever seemed to notice a P, a Ric, or even the EB-2.

 

[BklynKen]

I was the second owner of Jimi's, with the SSBs. I didn't really like them, they were a bit too polite.. My current one had the Thunderbucker 66 pickups. I'm thinking of swapping them for the 63 set, the 66s are very hot!

I don't know a ton about this stuff. Why would pickups being very hot be a problem?

 

[Gaolee]

I knew that. Just had to get a dig in...half of my friends are hearing impaired, especially the drummers. This guy for one:

View attachment 2896165

It looks like the drummer is sitting in front of a pair of folded horn bass cabinets. Note that the bass only needs two cabinets, while the guitars need rows of 'em. And, guitar sound is easier to push.

Of course, putting the bass cabinets right behind the drummer is how to deafen and liquify a drummer.

 

[Dadagoboi]

I was the second owner of Jimi's, with the SSBs. I didn't really like them, they were a bit too polite.. My current one had the Thunderbucker 66 pickups. I'm thinking of swapping them for the 63 set, the 66s are very hot!

When I started 'Project JAEbird' the only vintage Thunderbird pickup clones available that I knew about were Lulls. Too expensive, so I used Duncans. Then I convinced Steve Soar to clone the original pickups from my TBirds and Embassy. 500 or so pickups later and he's still at it.

 

[Dadagoboi]

It looks like the drummer is sitting in front of a pair of folded horn bass cabinets. Note that the bass only needs two cabinets, while the guitars need rows of 'em. And, guitar sound is easier to push.

Of course, putting the bass cabinets right behind the drummer is how to deafen and liquify a drummer.

Looks like Ron was only playing through 3 of his 4 361s that day. There's one behind my brother next to his Marshall Major/SRO 'Rhythm' stack...next to his Plexi/Celestion 'Lead' stack.