Thunderbird Club

[JJR58]

Regarding thread content, as a club member here I'd say we have very open minds, unfortunately that means sometimes our brains fall out.

Mine were barely stuffed in my head before i came here. Now i've just come completely unglued.
Better use something a bit more stronger then Elmer's. That stuff is useless.

 

[GBassNorth]

Mine were barely stuffed in my head before i came here. Now i've just come completely unglued.
Better use something a bit more stronger then Elmer's. That stuff is useless.

My brains are held in with Crazy Glue (that explains a lot!)

 

[Band Mom]

Thunderbird related:

I returned the TB '76 back to GC. I took it to my tech, and not only did it need a refret, it had some serious electronics issues, which I'm guessing is why the bass ended up in GC's inventory to begin with, rather than on Reverb or something.

Not to be deterred, I'm chasing another one right now that hopefully will choose me this time. While the first '76 had some issues, I really liked my time with it, and I just have to have one in my life now.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

My brains are held in with Crazy Glue (that explains a lot!)

my brain ends at the medulla oblongata so no need for any type of glue..

 

[ejaggers]

Need Help TB Club......

Who can make me some pickup rings for a Epi Bird IV?

057912

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Need Help TB Club......

Who can make me some pickup rings for a Epi Bird IV?

View attachment 3247829
057912

If the holes are of the original dimension (please disregard this if they are not) Steve Soar at Thunderbucker Ranch has these..

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

NOICE!
Citroen 2cv? Roughly 1954?

good eye!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

is this still the Thunderbird club?

we pretty much run without adult supervision until TBird1958 says something...
p.s. Cool book BTW.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

If the holes are of the original dimension (please disregard this if they are not) Steve Soar at Thunderbucker Ranch has these..

The Epi bolt on routes are wider than Gibson’s and neck-thrus.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

good eye!

Thanks

 

[Dadagoboi]

Need Help TB Club......

Who can make me some pickup rings for a Epi Bird IV?

View attachment 3247829
057912

If the holes are of the original dimension (please disregard this if they are not) Steve Soar at Thunderbucker Ranch has these..

They're not. Making custom rings would cost more than those pickups are worth IMO.

 

[Markamb1]

we pretty much run without adult supervision until TBird1958 says something...
p.s. Cool book BTW.

Yeah big part of why I like this thread. I’ve been very turned off by other threads dogmatic rigidness “stay on topic” “don’t make fun of people” “don’t make silly faces or it’ll get stuck like that” on topic, off topic, is it thoughtful or funny? Whatever I’m in. They’d all be more active if they were. Instead of being historical records. Blahhh

This is its own mini forum.

 

[Engle]

Speaking of making faces and crazy people, I was at rehearsal with the reggae band a few weeks ago and the drummer was apparently making faces at the (female) keyboard player.
She yelled to me “break from your white male solidarity and tell Mark to stop bugging me!”
I thought she was joking and laughed, but it turns out I was wrong....
She later sent the drummer a long email complaining about that and him exposing his belly when he was taking off his hoodie. Said he was doing it on purpose to make her uncomfortable

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I did a bunch of that stuff many years ago in high school. Much of the knowledge is lost t the sands of time. Absolutely correct. Interesting that many/most people think that running a tube amp without a load poses a danger to the tubes. In fact it is the output transformer, which is one of the more expensive components (more so than the power tubes).

Unless you're running rare, NOS power tubes. But yeah, a hefty OT will cost you. It generally takes a *really* beefy OT to survive while tubes go. There are much easier ways to melt power tubes; that's what poor biasing and high screen currents are for.

 

[Engle]

Thunderbird shaped object alert:
Bass guitar, 4 string, Unique body | eBay

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Speaking of making faces and crazy people, I was at rehearsal with the reggae band a few weeks ago and the drummer was apparently making faces at the (female) keyboard player.
She yelled to me “break from your white male solidarity and tell Mark to stop bugging me!”
I thought she was joking and laughed, but it turns out I was wrong....
She later sent the drummer a long email complaining about that and him exposing his belly when he was taking off his hoodie. Said he was doing it on purpose to make her uncomfortable

yikes!!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

yeah, Miles' post reads confusing and this happens often when this is discussed..
a "high" load is actually a "light" (approaching an open) load.
a "low" load is actually a "heavy" (approaching a short) load.
Part of the confusion IMHO stems from the fact that loads began to get categorized this way when low Z (SS) circuitry became prominent and folks would refer to loads from an Amperage (not Voltage) perspective.
It always surprised me that tube amp manufacturers did not make provision for a short at the output jack when no speaker was hooked up, one (the short) that would be placed in series with the speaker when it was hooked up...could have saved users loads of grief..

I started working with tube gear at the age of 12 or 13, in the mid 60s. Everything I can recalkl reading referred to the load by the impedance, so low means smaller numbers (approaching a short) and high means bigger numbers (at least moseying toward an open).

 

[Engle]

yikes!!

She’s gone after more drama happened.
My daughter says when you hear the words “white male solidarity” it’s best to back away slowly from the radical feminist you have encountered.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

because the output transformer transforms the high Z of the tubes to the low Z of the speaker, when unloaded the voltages on the primary (tube) side of said transformer will reach VERY high voltage levels that will breakdown the insulation rating of the windings causing them to short.

It's called flyback effect, after the high voltage "flyback transformer" that raised pedestrian voltages of a a few hundred volts to roughly a thousand volts per diagonal inch of TV screen. A 13" TV would need 13kV, a 25" would need 25kV, etc. That's for the old CRT type TVs.

Also, if you never had the joy of chunking a large, dead CRT into a pit to watch and hear it die, you missed out.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

And here only 70 years after the development of the transistor, designers are starting to think about running tube amps without load (Ampeg PF-20T and 50T). Only takes a few decades for the designers to work out how to save users from easy errrors...

Actually, quite a few of us (individual and boutique builders and techs) were doing it a long time ago. But the big players didn't want the extra cost, the extra liability[1], or both.

[1] If they tell us it's protected and the protection fails- or we do something dumb- they're afraid of being sued.