Thunderbird Club

[GBassNorth]

You should be loosening your strings to adjust the truss anyway to save the threads on it. I like to flex the neck a bit too at the same time so they don't get put under any pressure while adjusting

^This!
The tinker toy wheel is my favorite truss rod design. But if you go that route, be sure to spend the extra money to buy the best one you can find. I've had cheap ones where the wheel material is too soft and the holes started elongating (stay away from pot metal and aluminum). Also make sure the body cutout is actually wide enough to allow access to the next wheel hole as the wheel is turned (PITA if you turn the wheel as far as you can without hitting the body with the tool but the next hole isn't rotated around far enough to slip the tool in and continue to turn if needed.

 

[theFixer]

So maybe you can tell I'm bored senseless!

Hows about this for a starting point?

1, Through neck, plain quarter sawn Mahogany, possibly some Walnut stripes as per the Gibson but I'm not sure, maybe Beech or Maple might work better with a darkish finish?
2, Figured quarter sawn Mahogany wings vee jointed into the body
3, Rocklite Ebony fretboard, inlaid with something, blocks, dragons eyes or dragons? Will keep that open for now
4, Trussrod, I've been talking with @JJR58 about this and he suggests a spokewheel adjustment at the heel of the neck rather than a nut in the headstock. It cleans up the headstock and leaves more wood in that weak area.
5, Body shape: Rather than the usual flat body layout we have a heavily curved one, the back of the bass still has the same look but the back of the centre is hollowed out and the wings are angled back and hollowed along their length. The idea is that the body will be lighter as well as sit over the hip. The front of the body will have the centre slightly curved but the wings will be more so, curving backward into your body to give more comfort for your right arm. This then leaves quite a thin bass with a very sinuous neck blending into it
6, Bridge, maybe Hipshot's D type or maybe the Warwick 2 piece
7, Tuners, clover leaf Ultralites or Resolites
8, Pickups, Hmmm, I'm thinking Nordsrand dual coil soapbars or similar, everything I have heard about them seems fantastic, they do some preamps too that I'm going to look into
9, Finish, nitro obviously, colour, we'll see but at least one will have to be red

Lots of details to sort but how does that sound?

1) check

2) check

3) check

4) Though I agree with the thinking behind the flywheel... I personally have no interest in a trussrod that adjusts anywhere but at the headstock. I've never had an instrument with a heel-end TR adjustment, that I could set up as I like.

5) The back of the center is hollowed out??? It's becoming clearer, that you are not building this one for me. Removing perfectly good wood for the sake of weight reduction? Pass. In my book... if it's under 10 pounds, shut up & play it. Anything over 10 pounds... well... how much do you like playing it? Also... I'm down with rounding off the body edges, but I personally wouldn't be too interested in all the contouring you're considering. Won't the removal of all that body weight, increase the likelihood of neck-dive?

6) Between those 2 bridges, I prefer the more traditional look of the HipShot D.

7) I'm down with clovers. UltraLites are best for headstock weight.

8) Ok... imagine you're trying to set me up with a friend of yours. "She's tall, thin, and very attractive. She has a bubbly personality & smile that lights up the room! Oh... and she craves rotting human flesh". That's what just happened when you started talking about pre amps & such. No active electronics for this dirty ol' bastard. I'm anxious to hear what comes outa those Mojo Tones yer gonna put in the LP twins

9) check

 

[dmac1961]

What do you (or anyone else) think of the curved body idea? A bit like this

View attachment 3090891

Kinda reminds me of this:

 

[GBassNorth]

?....Incidentally, always wondered if Warwick ran into infringement issues with with Spector when they released the Streamer model..

That's a really loaded question. If you want to start a $hit storm pose that question to the Spector club! Likewise pose it to the Warwick club! Then stand wayyy back and watch the fireworks. There's some really bad blood between the two companies.

Personally I love both brands but there are many in each club that would rather die than touch one of the other basses. Emotions run strong on the issue.

 

[theFixer]

Not something more elongated like a stretched out version of this (stolen from internet)

View attachment 3090871

Forgive me for saying so... but both of these dragon pics are well beneath the level of class and sophistication that your beautiful, custom hand-built instruments deserve. IMO... both of these would be more at home on the bicep of some 22 year old @sshole bouncer at some schitty bar.

(Has opinion. will travel)

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

That's a really loaded question. If you want to start a $hit storm pose that question to the Spector club! Likewise pose it to the Warwick club! Then stand wayyy back and watch the fireworks. There's some really bad blood between the two companies.

Personally I love both brands but there are many in each club that would rather die than touch one of the other basses. Emotions run strong on the issue.

I can imagine, thanks for your post. When I get bored...

 

[theFixer]

What do you (or anyone else) think of the curved body idea? A bit like this

View attachment 3090891

Looks like something you'd want to be sure to put away before company arrives

 

[JJR58]

Looks like something you'd want to be sure to put away before company arrives

"Guaranteed to break the ice at parties".

 

[Gaolee]

Ah well it was worth a thought and it cheered me up for an hour or so

And I shot it down, of course, being a thoroughly awful person. When you got it, you got to use it, y'know.

 

[Christine]

1) check

2) check

3) check

4) Though I agree with the thinking behind the flywheel... I personally have no interest in a trussrod that adjusts anywhere but at the headstock. I've never had an instrument with a heel-end TR adjustment, that I could set up as I like.

5) The back of the center is hollowed out??? It's becoming clearer, that you are not building this one for me. Removing perfectly good wood for the sake of weight reduction? Pass. In my book... if it's under 10 pounds, shut up & play it. Anything over 10 pounds... well... how much do you like playing it? Also... I'm down with rounding off the body edges, but I personally wouldn't be too interested in all the contouring you're considering. Won't the removal of all that body weight, increase the likelihood of neck-dive?

6) Between those 2 bridges, I prefer the more traditional look of the HipShot D.

7) I'm down with clovers. UltraLites are best for headstock weight.

8) Ok... imagine you're trying to set me up with a friend of yours. "She's tall, thin, and very attractive. She has a bubbly personality & smile that lights up the room! Oh... and she craves rotting human flesh". That's what just happened when you started talking about pre amps & such. No active electronics for this dirty ol' bastard. I'm anxious to hear what comes outa those Mojo Tones yer gonna put in the LP twins

9) check

Neck dive is the issue, I was sort of hoping that repositioning the rear strap lock higher up might relieve that a little, someone mentioned it a few weeks ago here?

My ideal bass tone is, and this needs a little imagination: It's the tone you get in your nightmares when the you're tied to a post and the devil and all his little helper things are coming to get you. So that's a massive, deep rumbley, growly, rattley, and fvcking frightening groan that chills your blood and shakes your bones and sends your cones out of the window. My thoughts are that with a switchable passive/active set up I might be able to get close to that if I need it as well as getting a brighter poppier sound. I don't know really what I'm going to do about pups. I do know that Mojo are a pain when it comes to ordering, only on the first of the month, really? I do struggle with that, if I have a day out on that day his order books fill up for the month? Options are Chinabuckers or Lulls at about £500 a pop Invalid Link Removed it puts a massive chunk on the finished price

 

[JJR58]

Neck dive is the issue, I was sort of hoping that repositioning the rear strap lock higher up might relieve that a little, someone mentioned it a few weeks ago here?

My ideal bass tone is, and this needs a little imagination: It's the tone you get in your nightmares when the you're tied to a post and the devil and all his little helper things are coming to get you. So that's a massive, deep rumbley, growly, rattley, and fvcking frightening groan that chills your blood and shakes your bones and sends your cones out of the window. My thoughts are that with a switchable passive/active set up I might be able to get close to that if I need it as well as getting a brighter poppier sound. I don't know really what I'm going to do about pups. I do know that Mojo are a pain when it comes to ordering, only on the first of the month, really? I do struggle with that, if I have a day out on that day his order books fill up for the month? Options are Chinabuckers or Lulls at about £500 a pop Invalid Link Removed it puts a massive chunk on the finished price

I'm sure this has been brought up before. Any chance of one of us sending them to you. That whole gift thing, to avoid shipping/tariffs?

 

[Christine]

Forgive me for saying so... but both of these dragon pics are well beneath the level of class and sophistication that your beautiful, custom hand-built instruments deserve. IMO... both of these would be more at home on the bicep of some 22 year old @sshole bouncer at some schitty bar.

(Has opinion. will travel)

I thought something like that would be OK cut from white MOP and Abalone, it would only be an inch high and quite detailed at that size. But yes I think that is a tattoo design but it was just a quick find to save me drawing one

 

[Gaolee]

My ideal bass tone is, and this needs a little imagination: It's the tone you get in your nightmares when the you're tied to a post and the devil and all his little helper things are coming to get you. So that's a massive, deep rumbley, growly, rattley, and fvcking frightening groan that chills your blood and shakes your bones and sends your cones out of the window.

In other words, a sound with shiny black, some spikey blue and blue-green, and electric blue edges. Yep, that's the sound alright. Especially when you have a woofer that looks like this in your bass stack:

Everyone needs a rotary woofer.

 

[Gaolee]

I'm sure this has been brought up before. Any chance of one of us sending them to you. That whole gift thing, to avoid shipping/tariffs?

I suspect that most of us would be happy to do that.

 

[theFixer]

Neck dive is the issue, I was sort of hoping that repositioning the rear strap lock higher up might relieve that a little, someone mentioned it a few weeks ago here?

My ideal bass tone is, and this needs a little imagination: It's the tone you get in your nightmares when the you're tied to a post and the devil and all his little helper things are coming to get you. So that's a massive, deep rumbley, growly, rattley, and fvcking frightening groan that chills your blood and shakes your bones and sends your cones out of the window. My thoughts are that with a switchable passive/active set up I might be able to get close to that if I need it as well as getting a brighter poppier sound. I don't know really what I'm going to do about pups. I do know that Mojo are a pain when it comes to ordering, only on the first of the month, really? I do struggle with that, if I have a day out on that day his order books fill up for the month? Options are Chinabuckers or Lulls at about £500 a pop Invalid Link Removed it puts a massive chunk on the finished price

If they perform well, Mojo ordering issue could be skirted by ordering ahead & keeping a couple sets in reserve...

 

[GBassNorth]

That's quite a bit different to what I'm envisaging, they seem to have kept the body thickness just bent it for ergenomics. What I'l thinking is to use the curve to reduce a bit of weight by making the centre (end of the neck) thinner and a little thinner on the wings. With the Tbird design it isn't much work at all, most of the curve can be created by angling the vee joint a little so the wings naturally kick back, the rest can be planed to shape in about 5 minutes.

I think given the reception though it probably is a non starter for a tbird given they usually are played low and the neck high. Ah well it was worth a thought and it cheered me up for an hour or so

Word to the wise - be very careful thinning the wings out much more than they allready are. Full size CTS pots just fit in the cavity height wise. If the cavity is made shallower by further reduction of wing thickness you might need to go to physically smaller or low profile pots. Stacked type pots for blend applications would be a real problem. I ran into this issue when I tried to put stacked coil switch pots in my stock Goth bass. Ended up having to hog out about half the wood thickness to fit the stacked pots in. Not a great solution in the long run.

 

[theFixer]

I thought something like that would be OK cut from white MOP and Abalone, it would only be an inch high and quite detailed at that size. But yes I think that is a tattoo design but it was just a quick find to save me drawing one

I'm not dissin' the whole idea of a dragon. I'm just sayin'... ya know... like... both of these are cool... but only ONE of them belongs on the Rolls:

 

[Christine]

Word to the wise - be very careful thinning the wings out much more than they allready are. Full size CTS pots just fit in the cavity height wise. If the cavity is made shallower by further reduction of wing thickness you might need to go to physically smaller or low profile pots. Stacked type pots for blend applications would be a real problem. I ran into this issue when I tried to put stacked coil switch pots in my stock Goth bass. Ended up having to hog out about half the wood thickness to fit the stacked pots in. Not a great solution in the long run.

My plan was to use short reach pots and rout the cavity thin and long then epoxy a 1.5mm copper plate to it to give it the strength and also act as shielding. I reckoned it could have saved about 3mm on the thickness but it won't be happening now anyway as it seems to be a bad idea

 

[Christine]

I'm not dissin' the whole idea of a dragon. I'm just sayin'... ya know... like... both of these are cool... but only ONE of them belongs on the Rolls:

View attachment 3091089

View attachment 3091090

When you order a bass from me you can choose your very own design or lack of one

 

[theFixer]

When you order a bass from me you can choose your very own design or lack of one

YYYESSSSSSSSS!!!

When my time comes, you'll find I'm not into baubles, spangles, or "Hey! Look at me's"... but I'll be counting on you to "Welsh" all over it!

BTW... what's the Welsh word for "Custom"?