Thunderbird Club

[Haji]

Hey, don't get me wrong. I got D'Addario XLs (45 - 105) on one of the Birds and it's working well for now. Good sustain and tone. They just don't have enough "in your face" cut/twang for me..

Have you tried Pro Steels? I think that's the brightest strings they make.

 

[PillO]

Picking on you this morning

You know when I bought my first bird in 1980 I'd never heard of "neckdive", and I don't ever remember it doing so although admittedly I never gigged that bass. The first time I ever heard the term was when I joined Talk Bass, equally I'd never heard anyone complain about a bass/guitar being "too heavy", people just got on with it. What the hell has happened to rock and roll!?!?

There was a quote flying around in the UK media a couple of weeks ago from Roger Daltery stating that rock and roll died in 1971, I might not agree but he has a valid point on more than one level.

Oh that bass is too heavy! said the fat tw@t carrying 50lbs of excess weight, GO TO THE GYM OR PLAY THE FVCKING FLUTE!!!! If that winds anyone up, then good, you know what I think of you! So to answer the above "What the hell has happened to rock and roll!?!?" it seems to have turned soft, in need of a firmware upgrade!

Hey... You kids... GET THE HELL OFF MY LAWN.


But (modestly) more seriously. Upgrade to firmware? Added firmware? Reduced software? Perhaps the tech notes would be "added firmware and reduced software in an effort to reduce whining"

Well we're taking a slow drive down the coast to Cardiff this morning stopping halfway down in the camper. Off to see the Stones on Friday night. One thing I can guarantee is I won't hear anyone complaining that their kit is too heavy!

Stones . Mick is a Great Grandfather now isn't he? And still rocking!

Yeah, they don't whine about the weight of their gear. But their roadies might...

 

[PillO]

There was a quote flying around in the UK media a couple of weeks ago from Roger Daltery stating that rock and roll died in 1971, I might not agree but he has a valid point on more than one level.

Probably Daltry was referring to the emergence of the disco era.

I have had a similar thought, but I peg the year around the time grunge died. It seemed like rock disappeared some time in the 90s. But then there is a resurgence recently in straight ahead guitar, bass, drums rock. Maybe rock just took a nap. It is getting on in years. It probably depends on when you started really enjoying music and what genre you end up gravitating toward.

In all, there is probably an ebb and flow in music. Perhaps what happens is that a new sub-genre develops and it gets copied with ever decreasing quality until people get fed up and move on to the next new sub-genre.​

 

[ZachM]

I think guitar/bass/drums rock music will always be around, but its days as the primary music culture (in the USA at least) are done for good. There are still people around making great music in the rock format (and as a metalhead I feel like there's lot of great music being made now) but IMO it will never reach the same heights again that it once did.

 

[ZachM]

Also on a different note, have any of you guys tried Haeussel pickups in your thunderbirds? I just found about them recently and this video sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Instagator]

Also on a different note, have any of you guys tried Haeussel pickups in your thunderbirds? I just found about them recently and this video sounds pretty good to me.

Looks interesting..wonder what the costs are.

 

[GBassNorth]

Probably Daltry was referring to the emergence of the disco era.

I have had a similar thought, but I peg the year around the time grunge died. It seemed like rock disappeared some time in the 90s. But then there is a resurgence recently in straight ahead guitar, bass, drums rock. Maybe rock just took a nap. It is getting on in years. It probably depends on when you started really enjoying music and what genre you end up gravitating toward.

In all, there is probably an ebb and flow in music. Perhaps what happens is that a new sub-genre develops and it gets copied with ever decreasing quality until people get fed up and move on to the next new sub-genre.​

Yeah, I'm pretty much of the same mind. For me, Rock pretty much died when Grunge and Alternative rock dried up and withered on the vine in the late 1990's. Rap and Boy bands and female Auto-pitch solo singers expanded to fill the void. Now days, most kids couldn't begin to name all the instrument playing members of a current band. It's all about the singer(s), and in many cases they don't even need to sing on key, they just need to put on a big stage production with elaborate choreography and stage sets and dozens of dancers in the background all flailing around in unison.

When I think about who to blame for our current lack of traditional rock and roll, I think of Paula Abdul for mainstreaming specific choreography moves that every singer incessantly follows these days, and Madonna (or possibly Michael Jackson) for popularizing the McDonalds drive through microphone headset so both hands could be free to perform signature crotch grabs, and Britney Spears for proving that Auto-pitch can compensate for a complete lack of talent. And don't forget the producers of The Back Street Boys band that brainwashed an entire generation of young music goers into thinking that a combination of tired overused Paula Abdul moves with the McDonalds headset and Auto-pitch talent compensation was cool as long as the boys were dreamy looking and there weren't any band members in sight. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture.

Just give me a straight up 3 to 6 piece Rock and Roll band with a good solid beat, nice guitar licks, a smooth bass groove and maybe some keys or horns along with a lead singer and back up singers that actually play some of those instruments and I'm a happy camper. YMMV

 

[GBassNorth]

Also on a different note, have any of you guys tried Haeussel pickups in your thunderbirds? I just found about them recently and this video sounds pretty good to me.

Sounds very nice, but exactly like my Eppi VP with the stock strings. Wonder what the pups cost?

 

[PillO]

I think guitar/bass/drums rock music will always be around, but its days as the primary music culture (in the USA at least) are done for good. There are still people around making great music in the rock format (and as a metalhead I feel like there's lot of great music being made now) but IMO it will never reach the same heights again that it once did.

I neither agree not disagree. A lot of great music (however you wish to define it) comes along in each era. There is also plenty or terrible music. Over time, the terrible is forgotten and we feel nostalgia for that "classic" music. In the late 60s and early 70s, it wasn't all Who and Led Zeppelin (anyone care to remember the Captain and Tenille?), there was plenty of (what Geddy calls) "empty calories" on the radio. No different from today.

 

[PillO]

Also on a different note, have any of you guys tried Haeussel pickups in your thunderbirds? I just found about them recently and this video sounds pretty good to me.

Looks interesting..wonder what the costs are.

Sounds very nice, but exactly like my Eppi VP with the stock strings. Wonder what the pups cost?

I had a brief look at the website. They have pickups for P and J and everything else is "coming soon". Prices seem to be in line with what you would pay for SD etc.

 

[TBird1958]

I dig these guys...…… No auto-tune, no lip sync, no BS.
People can still play these days.

 

[PillO]

Yeah, I'm pretty much of the same mind. For me, Rock pretty much died when Grunge and Alternative rock dried up and withered on the vine in the late 1990's. Rap and Boy bands and female Auto-pitch solo singers expanded to fill the void. Now days, most kids couldn't begin to name all the instrument playing members of a current band. It's all about the singer(s), and in many cases they don't even need to sing on key, they just need to put on a big stage production with elaborate choreography and stage sets and dozens of dancers in the background all flailing around in unison.

When I think about who to blame for our current lack of traditional rock and roll, I think of Paula Abdul for mainstreaming specific choreography moves that every singer incessantly follows these days, and Madonna (or possibly Michael Jackson) for popularizing the McDonalds drive through microphone headset so both hands could be free to perform signature crotch grabs, and Britney Spears for proving that Auto-pitch can compensate for a complete lack of talent. And don't forget the producers of The Back Street Boys band that brainwashed an entire generation of young music goers into thinking that a combination of tired overused Paula Abdul moves with the McDonalds headset and Auto-pitch talent compensation was cool as long as the boys were dreamy looking and there weren't any band members in sight. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture.

Just give me a straight up 3 to 6 piece Rock and Roll band with a good solid beat, nice guitar licks, a smooth bass groove and maybe some keys or horns along with a lead singer and back up singers that actually play some of those instruments and I'm a happy camper. YMMV

Yeah, you and I appear to be similar in musical eras.

I will add a few points.

Many pop acts (and some rock acts) are all about the show. Many like to see the show and that is fine. Some of those acts in addition to dancing around are wearing a headset and NOT singing (don't make me post the video from SNL). But some of them also have good songs as evidenced by great covers by rock bands. But like all things - there are plenty of "empty calories" there.

All is not lost. There are still great rock bands out there making some great music. Just don't go looking for it on commercial radio.

 

[PillO]

I dig these guys...…… No auto-tune, no lip sync, no BS.
People can still play these days.

Another Led Zep rip off just like Greta Van Fleet or Rival Sons

I like this. Much like the aforementioned, guitar, bass drums making music. If this is the era of Led Zep rip offs, I am in heaven!

 

[Gaolee]

This will sound silly, but most of my gigs are slap style upright, so here’s my favorite combo on my bass...

E- Spiro Weich
A- Jargar Dolce (both are somewhat flexible steels)
D&G- Lenzner unwrapped gut strings

Sounds like a decent combination to me. I put a set of Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Slaps on mine. The E and A are wound synthetic and the D and G are gut. They have a good thud pizz and thwack nicely. The also sound great bowed. I had a full synthetic set on the bass for a long time, but decided to try the hybrid set when the old set started getting tired. My guess is that I change strings about 10% as often as you do. I don't remember when I put the current set on the bass, but it still sounds great. I do actually oil the strings every so often, and there's a little tag sticking off the D just above where F is on the fingerboard. I'm so used to that as a landmark that I'm not sure what I would do if the strings were new and didn't have that for me to look at. Yeah, it's a crutch, but I like crutches every now and then.

 

[Gaolee]

I should go ask on the DB side

That will be good for a few laughs. Like everyone else, I tried using weedwackers, but didn't like the way they sounded.

 

[GBassNorth]

I dig these guys...…… No auto-tune, no lip sync, no BS.
People can still play these days.

Very cool! Chuck Berry meets Led Zeppelin. Its Rock and Roll, and I like it!

 

[dukeorock]

Sounds like a decent combination to me. I put a set of Pirastro Evah Pirazzi Slaps on mine. The E and A are wound synthetic and the D and G are gut. They have a good thud pizz and thwack nicely. The also sound great bowed. I had a full synthetic set on the bass for a long time, but decided to try the hybrid set when the old set started getting tired. My guess is that I change strings about 10% as often as you do. I don't remember when I put the current set on the bass, but it still sounds great. I do actually oil the strings every so often, and there's a little tag sticking off the D just above where F is on the fingerboard. I'm so used to that as a landmark that I'm not sure what I would do if the strings were new and didn't have that for me to look at. Yeah, it's a crutch, but I like crutches every now and then.

I’ve had a set of Pirastro Slaps. Good strings and reasonably priced if I remember right. Every upright is just so different, it’s hard to say what will work best on each one, you know? I usually have to change strings 2-3 times a year. They desperately need changed now and I have a new set, but I’m trying to milk every last bit of life out of em! I think I paid $340 for the last set, which hurts

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I neither agree not disagree. A lot of great music (however you wish to define it) comes along in each era. There is also plenty or terrible music. Over time, the terrible is forgotten and we feel nostalgia for that "classic" music. In the late 60s and early 70s, it wasn't all Who and Led Zeppelin (anyone care to remember the Captain and Tenille?), there was plenty of (what Geddy calls) "empty calories" on the radio. No different from today.

Interesting you mention Geddy Lee. He was on a radio interview the other day and he attributes the death of traditional Rock to shows like American Idol, says there are no talent scouts in the industry anymore hence no collective band efforts get seen or signed.

 

[Gaolee]

I think guitar/bass/drums rock music will always be around, but its days as the primary music culture (in the USA at least) are done for good. There are still people around making great music in the rock format (and as a metalhead I feel like there's lot of great music being made now) but IMO it will never reach the same heights again that it once did.

Big band jazz hasn't gone away, either. Keep that in mind. Rock and roll pushed it aside in the 1950s and early 1960s. Jazz will never vanish, and neither will rock music.

 

[Gaolee]

I dig these guys...…… No auto-tune, no lip sync, no BS.
People can still play these days.

I like their simplicity, too. The drummer has no rack toms. It doesn't look like there's much in the way of processing on the guitar or bass, either. Just their skills. I had not heard of these guys before. Thanks for posting this.