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Thunderbird Club

#81,921
GonePlaid said:
I played sax in h.s. and in the Navy,always liked horn groups: Chicago, BS&T, Chase, 10 Wheel Drive, Isis(all girl horn group-pre terrorist Isis)EWF, Tower of Power, etc.
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Being from Oakland TOP play around this area often. That horn section will blow the roof off any venue. Rocco is among my top three favorite players. That boy can motor!!!
 
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#81,923
Dr_Feelgoood212 said:
There are two responses that shoulda been lined up for that:
a) You're gonna make me clean up my own rig.... while I make more of a bloody mess because I should be going to the ER

or

b) What... you don't put blood, sweat, and tears into your music?
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I get paid extra for bleeding on stage. It's in the contract.
 
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#81,924
Dr_Feelgoood212 said:
I have a weird correlation between stitches and the number three... when I was 3 years old I had three stitches in my lip... In grade 3 I got 3 stitches in my thumb... I'm waiting for the third time.
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I have lots of stitches. They are all in my head. There were other things that probably should have been sewn up, but I had other priorities at the time. There may be some kind of moral in there somewhere, but I don't know what it is.
 
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#81,926
GBassNorth said:
When I first saw Chicago, I didn't even know who they were, never really paid any attention to that kind of music. It was May or June of 1973. I was living in the mountains above Boulder Colorado and going to high school in Nederland while casually dating a girl named Gina. She asked me if I wanted to come over to her ranch for dinner. Food was the second most important thing to me at that age, so I said sure.

Got off the school bus with her at the entrance to the ranch, Caribou Ranch, and a black limo picked us up and drove us back to the house, I'm thinkin this limo ride is so cool, her dad must be in the mafia! We got out of the limo and she introduced me to her dad named Jim. Dinner wasn't going to be served for a couple more hours so she asked if I wanted to fool around for a while. Will at that age that was the first most important thing to me, so I said sure.

We went to one of the buildings that wasn't too close to the house and started making out when music started playing. Gina asked if I liked the song, it was called "Just You and Me". I told her it was a bit sappy but sounded ok for that kind of music. She took me by the hand and said, let's go see how sappy it is. I followed and as we came around the side of the building there was an outdoor stage and a band just playing away with no audience. We stood in front of the stage and listened to them play a couple more songs and when they took a break she told Cetera, "my boyfriend thinks you guys sound sappy". Of course now I'm looking for a tree to hide behind before these 6 or 7 guys kick my ass. Cetera replied back, "you need a new boyfriend" and we all laughed. Gina and I got up on stage and danced around while they played a couple more songs.

Turned out that her father was James William Guercio, manager of the band Chicago and I think also with The Beach Boys at the time. The songs they were playing hadn't been released yet but were going to be on their Chicago VI album. They said they were practicing for an upcoming TV show, which I think was a Dick Clark Special called Chicago in the Rockies.

A couple weeks later school was out for summer and I moved to San Jose California. Gina and I only had the one date but it was a cool one.
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Good story bro!
 
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#81,929
veebass said:
Sound check yesterday. I wear shorts at sound checks and play a TBird.
View attachment 3022273
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veebass said:
Did I mention today how much I like my Epi Vintage Pro? Surprisingly responsive to how hard you play it. They really got it right with these pickups IMO. Such a good bass!
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That’s the Vintage Pro in the pic ?

It certainly looks the part. Glad that sounds the part as well.
 
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#81,932
veebass said:
Yes, Geoff, it's the Vintage Pro. It has been used at every gig since I got it!
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Vee - what strings are you sing on it right now? Have you tried any other string sets on it?

I'm lovin my Ebony VP as well. Overall the bass is very solid, but there's magic in those pups! The stock strings sounded great but had a bit too much zing at the top end for my taste. Tried DR Silver Stars (silver Black Beauties) but they tamed the bass too much. Running Cobalt flats right now and they sound great. Have a set of Roto 77 nickel rounds I'll try on it next. Just waiting until I get my hearing back before I change out the strings again.
 
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#81,934
GBassNorth said:
Vee - what strings are you sing on it right now? Have you tried any other string sets on it?

I'm lovin my Ebony VP as well. Overall the bass is very solid, but there's magic in those pups! The stock strings sounded great but had a bit too much zing at the top end for my taste. Tried DR Silver Stars (silver Black Beauties) but they tamed the bass too much. Running Cobalt flats right now and they sound great. Have a set of Roto 77 nickel rounds I'll try on it next. Just waiting until I get my hearing back before I change out the strings again.
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I ditched the strings that came with the bass pretty much straight away- too noisy and toppy for me. I put my usual Fender Pure Nickels Rounds (7150M) on it and I LOVE it. Just enough zing.
They have seem some sweaty acton on the bass and still sound and feel good.b Very under rated strings IMHO.

If they fail to sound good on a particular bass, I usually have resorted to Roto Nickels, although I have gone off them recently. The last few sets I have bought sounded rubbish to me.
 
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#81,935
I had an interesting experience last Saturday. I had to attend some compulsory training for the charity I’m a member of. I attended with one of our singers.
As we entered the room one of the trainers came over and said ‘I know you two, you’re from the Rendu’s ‘. We said yep, she points to the singer and said ‘you sing’ and then to me and said ‘ and you play an instrument’.
Not bad seeing wd worked out it was over a year since she saw us.

My first time being recognised outside the actual playing situation.
 
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#81,938
veebass said:
I like guits with 'buckers!
I have got him looking at HSS strats now at least. I couldn't get him interested in a LP.
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Not sure what it is but I am always drawn to a Humbucker sound vs a single coil on both guitars and basses. As opposed to the HSS Strat, try to talk him into a Blacktop Strat. I have one and it runs circles around my HSS and SSS Strats. They're probably discontinued now but used Blacktops are still very obtainable and affordable here in the states (around $400). The thing he'll like vs an LP is the vintage Strat neck and Alder body, not to mention the familiar Strat shape and feel.

The magic is in the super hot Humbuckers and unique 5 way switch that solos, splits and combines the coils of the two Humbuckers as follows...
1. Full bridge Humbucker
2. Outside bridge single coil plus outside neck single coil
3. Both Humbuckers full on
4. Inside bridge single coil plus inside neck single coil
5. Full neck Humbucker

The other big difference is you actually get a tone knob dedicated to each pickup. That combined with the switching options gives you fantastic tone shaping. This beast can pull off a good LP sound as well as a Telecaster sound and everything in between. Here's a review of one...

Mine is black on black with a maple fretboard, here's a pic...
IMG_2530.JPG
 
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#81,939
veebass said:
I ditched the strings that came with the bass pretty much straight away- too noisy and toppy for me. I put my usual Fender Pure Nickels Rounds (7150M) on it and I LOVE it. Just enough zing.
They have seem some sweaty acton on the bass and still sound and feel good.b Very under rated strings IMHO.

If they fail to sound good on a particular bass, I usually have resorted to Roto Nickels, although I have gone off them recently. The last few sets I have bought sounded rubbish to me.
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Our tone tastes sound very similar. You've talked me into trying the Fender strings! I now have a set on order. Thx!
 
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