All this talk of non TBird basses modded or built to deliver the TBird sound got me thinking a bit (and acting quite impulsively).
The guys I play with want to branch out to the current country rock, country western and classic southern rock genre. I said to myself, wouldn't it be cool to have something that visually fit perfect in a country western setting, something that would look perfectly at home in Buck Owens hands, but still sounded like (or close) to a bird. Something that a sound man or other band members aren't even going to suspect, a TBird sleeper, essentially a TBird cloaked in a country western disguise!
Hollow body would be a step too far. But maybe a semi hollow. Gotta be a Fender variant if it's gonna fool people. But must be able to house TBird type Humbuckers without looking like it's been modded.
Bingo...
Fender Starcaster in 3TSB
View attachment 3239282
...looks the part and with the right pups might even sound the part.
Things working against me:
1) the maple neck (possible brighter tone and more prounounced attack)
2) semi hollow body (possible woody more upright less TB tone)
3) maple Top and back (possible brighter tone)
4) short scale (possible enhanced bottom end)
Sounds like a fun challenge. Found a nice used one on line for peanuts, picking it up tomorrow. Will spend about a month with it to see if it's a keeper and worth modding with some TB type pups and pots. Should be a fun experiment, if all goes as planned I'll unveil it to my band mates after the new year. Won't even mention the mods (they'll never see it in its original configuration) so it should be a true sleeper.
Here's a cool video of one in stock form in a mix...
...and at about 2:50 into the clip the bassist switches to a Thunderbird. May have all been dubbed in but I can't tell much difference in the sound, which leads me to believe I can probably pull this off with the right mods.
Such fun!
