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Thunderbird Club

#98,463
Chucky Stiletti said:
seemed like the de-facto standard for country back in the day along with those boat anchor Ovations...
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LOL - I think I recall seeing that. I also recall seeing some Danos in the country scene back in the '70s.

Now that would be an eye opener, a short scale Dano Longhorn loaded with TB Humbuckers. Heck it would probably vibrate itself to pieces during the first song. :roflmao:
 
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#98,464
GBassNorth said:
Yeah, I've found there is a noticeable difference especially to the player. Not so sure the average audience member would hear a difference in a typical rock mix in a loud bar with lots of drinks flowing. Then again, half of the average audience members in that setting don't know the difference between a guitar and a bass anyway. :roflmao:
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But if we love our tone, we play and perform better! Just saying :)

I always thought a Microfrets would be a cool country bass. Funky and odd. Glen Campbell and Carl Perkins rocked em in the’70’s as well as their bands.T-40’s are one of the greatest, most versatile and underrated basses ever, but I sold mine due to the weight. Didn’t even think I care about weight, but a two hour set is torture with those things! For one of my bands, The Eskimo Brothers (classic country, rockabilly and old school rock and roll), I’ve been super lucky in that they are cool with whatever I bring, though the BL seems partial to my Cataldo NR41, Gibson T Bird with Cobalts or my Gretsch Spectrasonic w/ flats, in that order
 
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#98,465
GBassNorth said:
Sound wise, I'm sure I could make that work great, probably even better than the Starcaster. Unfortunately, Thunderbird pups in place of Gen 1 Precision single coil or the Gen 2 split coil would be a dead give away. I could possibly pull it off with a Blacktop P bass, which I think had Humbuckers but that's a bit of an odd ball P bass and not well known. Remember, I want this to be a sleeper. Nothing about it (other than the sound) should say Thunderbird in any way.
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Telecaster Bass ?
 
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#98,466
dukeorock said:
View attachment 3239564 View attachment 3239565 Been absent a minute...no way can I backtrack through nearly 500 posts since my last visit :)

I told you all about this one superfan who seems keen on giving me basses. He’s already given me a pristine walnut Ric 4003 and a ‘67 Hofner Beatle Bass. Apparently for Christmas, he just pulled the trigger on this 1971 EB3L. I don’t know a ton about these basses, but those slotted headstocks are just so cool to me...any thoughts?
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Need a sub? :D
 
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#98,469
GBassNorth said:
All this talk of non TBird basses modded or built to deliver the TBird sound got me thinking a bit (and acting quite impulsively).

...Yada yada yada...

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!
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Cool song. I will have to explore that band more.
 
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#98,470
JimmyM said:
IMHO it makes zero difference.


These make WAY more of a difference. But I've played one, and honestly, being semi-hollow, I think the differences are less pronounced than they would be if it was totally hollow. I think you'll dig it.
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Comparing my Midtown and Jack Casady, the Midtown is much more like a solid body than the JC. But I think the big difference in the JC is the pickup; I am fairly certain that it is where 85% of the magic is.
 
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#98,471
GBassNorth said:
Sound wise, I'm sure I could make that work great, probably even better than the Starcaster. Unfortunately, Thunderbird pups in place of Gen 1 Precision single coil or the Gen 2 split coil would be a dead give away. I could possibly pull it off with a Blacktop P bass, which I think had Humbuckers but that's a bit of an odd ball P bass and not well known. Remember, I want this to be a sleeper. Nothing about it (other than the sound) should say Thunderbird in any way.
Click to expand...
You are kind of heading into the 7ender Dimension territory... That might the the way to achieve the goal. But it won't be nearly as much fun.
 
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#98,472
dukeorock said:
View attachment 3239564 View attachment 3239565 Been absent a minute...no way can I backtrack through nearly 500 posts since my last visit :)

I told you all about this one superfan who seems keen on giving me basses. He’s already given me a pristine walnut Ric 4003 and a ‘67 Hofner Beatle Bass. Apparently for Christmas, he just pulled the trigger on this 1971 EB3L. I don’t know a ton about these basses, but those slotted headstocks are just so cool to me...any thoughts?
Click to expand...
1) Congrats!
2) Don’t let it fall off a stand
3) My 67 EBO has that bridge. It was tilting forward on the studs, so I made a block of mahogany to fit between the bridge and the body and bolted the bridge down with Allen head bolts. I can’t easily adjust the string height, but I never change the strings...
 
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#98,473
GBassNorth said:
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!
Click to expand...

I played a couple before I bought my Casady. A Fender neck bolted onto a semi-hollow body just didn't feel right to me and I was surprised at how heavy they were.
 
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#98,475
dukeorock said:
Dude, I’m just too uneasy getting such nice stuff for free. I just let him get what he likes. So far, so good! The fan in question is a big fan of my T Birds. In fact, because he loves my main one, he just bought a similar one for Jackie Newhouse (Stevie Ray Vaughn’s original bass player). For what he spent on the EB3L, I’d probably rather commission Carlo, or maybe even the right Gibson Ripper. I’m not really jonesing for anything other than that at the moment. My Gibson T Bird with the Lollars and my Cataldo are seeing the most action live, but I record with all of my basses. Never know which one will work best on any given track!
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I'm sure there are places that would be happy to store some of those for you, for a small consideration like usage. It's a service we provide around here.

It is a little odd, but if he was only sending you bass guitars, it would be a little creepy. He isn't doing that, from the sounds of things. I guess he just has a lot of money and buying bass guitars to give away makes him happy. So enjoy it!
 
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#98,479
dukeorock said:
View attachment 3239564 View attachment 3239565 Been absent a minute...no way can I backtrack through nearly 500 posts since my last visit :)

I told you all about this one superfan who seems keen on giving me basses. He’s already given me a pristine walnut Ric 4003 and a ‘67 Hofner Beatle Bass. Apparently for Christmas, he just pulled the trigger on this 1971 EB3L. I don’t know a ton about these basses, but those slotted headstocks are just so cool to me...any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Dayum that’s one helluva fan!
Personally not a fan of slotted headstocks but I seem to be in the minority with that one.
Still very nice!
 
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