Thunderbird Club

[Band Mom]

You may have to file the string slots in the nut a little wider, in order to get a proper action in the first few fret positions. But I wouldn't do that straight away. First string it with BEAD and see if you can get used to it for about a month or so. If you think you're going to stick with the BEAD, then file the grooves in the top nut to the desired string widths. There is no way back... You're going to have to replace the nut if you're switching back to EADG.

Good point. And none of these basses are what I would consider "standard" TBs and are a tad rare one way or another, so non-reversible gives me pause. Maybe follow whomever made the suggestion to switch the Epi VP as it should be relatively easy to pick up another for gigging purposes down the road.

 

[Gaolee]

Good point. And none of these basses are what I would consider "standard" TBs and are a tad rare one way or another, so non-reversible gives me pause. Maybe follow whomever made the suggestion to switch the Epi VP as it should be relatively easy to pick up another for gigging purposes down the road.

Plus, N+1. You have found the solution.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Good point. And none of these basses are what I would consider "standard" TBs and are a tad rare one way or another, so non-reversible gives me pause. Maybe follow whomever made the suggestion to switch the Epi VP as it should be relatively easy to pick up another for gigging purposes down the road.

Or just swap in a different nut and save the old one.

 

[Engle]

Miatas are pretty cool. I had an 89 Eunos Roadster which felt like riding a small (500cc) bike. 32 miles to the gallon..
what year was yours?

My wife and I thought it would be cool to have a Miata until we drove one. Nice car, but we didn’t know weather to look under or over the top of the windshield frame

 

[Gaolee]

I drove a Miata a few times. Nice car, but having had a Triumph TR-2 and an MGB, and having driven a number of other, similar roadsters and a mid-60s Mini Cooper that was a barely street equipped former SCCA race car, the Miata just wasn't the real thing. It was somehow too civilized, too well behaved, and too docile. It was just too competent in all ways to be the real thing, and it's handling was not a resultant vector produced by at least one tire mostly off the ground at any given time over the smallest bumps. It didn't try to shake out fillings, blur vision, or leak anything randomly on your shoe. There were no holes in the floor. It had roll-up windows fer chrissakes! It might as well have been a sedan.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

My wife and I thought it would be cool to have a Miata until we drove one. Nice car, but we didn’t know weather to look under or over the top of the windshield frame

All small sports cars are like that. I had to push the seat forward a bit and lean it back for it to make sense. I'm 5'11". Much taller and it would not have worked for me.

 

[Engle]

You may have to file the string slots in the nut a little wider, in order to get a proper action in the first few fret positions. But I wouldn't do that straight away. First string it with BEAD and see if you can get used to it for about a month or so. If you think you're going to stick with the BEAD, then file the grooves in the top nut to the desired string widths. There is no way back... You're going to have to replace the nut if you're switching back to EADG.

Be aware that you might break the nut when you try forcing that B string into the E string sized slot.
I would recommend learning how to make a nut, or at least how to fit it and file the slots if you work from a pre-made one.

 

[Engle]

All small sports cars are like that. I had to push the seat forward a bit and lean it back for it to make sense. I'm 5'11". Much taller and it would not have worked for me.

We bought an RX-7

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

My wife and I thought it would be cool to have a Miata until we drove one. Nice car, but we didn’t know weather to look under or over the top of the windshield frame

you and your wife must be over 6'1" tall (or you didn't st up the seat properly) cause they are surprisingly roomy. An important aspect of the design philosophy used the Japanese credo "Jinba ittai" which translates to "rider and horse in one body" so you kinda "wear" a Miata. That said, the early ones (never drove a post 92 model) were pretty much toys. Not very practical in that there's really no trunk space and the gearing is such that at 70 or more miles an hour consistently (as on a long highway road trip) the little 4 revs at about 6 grand and the drone gets really loud and tiring. They are perfect second cars to tool around the beach and hilly backroads.

 

[Larry V]

you and your wife must be oLikever 6'1" tall (or you didn't st up the seat properly) cause they are surprisingly roomy. An important aspect of the design philosophy used the Japanese credo "Jinba ittai" which translates to "rider and horse in one body" so you kinda "wear" a Miata. That said, the early ones (never drove a post 92 model) were pretty much toys. Not very practical in that there's really no trunk space and the gearing is such that at 70 or more miles an hour consistently (as on a long highway road trip) the little 4 revs at about 6 grand and the drone gets really loud and tiring. They are perfect second cars to tool around the beach and hilly backroads.

Wow! That's terrible. 3 speed? No OD?

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Be aware that you might break the nut when you try forcing that B string into the E string sized slot.
I would recommend learning how to make a nut, or at least how to fit it and file the slots if you work from a pre-made one.

I restrung my BaCh BEAD originally. It came with a hollow black plastic nut that "gave" to the thickness of the B string. Something tells me it was not intentional but it worked.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Wow! That's terrible. 3 speed? No OD?

5 speed overdrive. maybe not 6k but definitely over 5k. That car always reminded me of a 4 wheeled 500cc Japanese bike. Pretty close performance.

 

[Larry V]

5 speed overdrive. maybe not 6k but definitely over 5k. That car always reminded me of a 4 wheeled 500cc Japanese bike. Pretty close performance.

That's still terrible.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

That's still terrible.

Like I said, not really a highway car. Again I'm talking about my 89 (first year) with the little 1.6L engine.
I'm sure a 2018 is a completely different animal..

 

[Miles_ONeal]

you and your wife must be over 6'1" tall (or you didn't st up the seat properly) cause they are surprisingly roomy. An important aspect of the design philosophy used the Japanese credo "Jinba ittai" which translates to "rider and horse in one body" so you kinda "wear" a Miata. That said, the early ones (never drove a post 92 model) were pretty much toys. Not very practical in that there's really no trunk space and the gearing is such that at 70 or more miles an hour consistently (as on a long highway road trip) the little 4 revs at about 6 grand and the drone gets really loud and tiring. They are perfect second cars to tool around the beach and hilly backroads.

They never had a ton of trunk space but the first model was hilarious. I only had my bike at that point and had to go shopping one day in torrential rain. I borrowed my friend's Miata; I got way more groceries and books in the passenger area than in the trunk!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Like I said, not really a highway car. Again I'm talking about my 89 (first year) with the little 1.6L engine.
I'm sure a 2018 is a completely different animal..

The Miata has always (OK, haven't checked in five years) had a close ratio shifter, and the "overdrive" or 6 is no such thing. So it has plenty of acceleration, but it isn't meant for high speed in stock form. My 2001 did fine on the 80MPH toll road, but the revs were up there. I don't recall where up there, but the gas mileage was worse than usual.

 

[Larry V]

Like I said, not really a highway car. Again I'm talking about my 89 (first year) with the little 1.6L engine.
I'm sure a 2018 is a completely different animal..

I found this online in a Miata Forum:

19 mph for each 1,000 rpm for a 5 speed

No mention of model year or tire/wheel sizes... not really enough info to know if it's a good ratio.

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[Basvarken]

Be aware that you might break the nut when you try forcing that B string into the E string sized slot.

I don't think that is very likely to happen. Unless the nut is made of clay

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I found this online in a Miata Forum:

19 mph for each 1,000 rpm for a 5 speed

No mention of model year or tire/wheel sizes... not really enough info to know if it's a good ratio.

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it's been years but that sounds about right(maybe it was 4k and not 5 but VERY loud nevertheless), never did 95 mph (5000RPM) in that car. can it even go that fast without rattling into a bunch of little pieces?
Also, mine was a Eunos Roadster somehow imported to the US from Japan, not a US Miata..

 

[PillO]

Yeah, I'm leaning towards Golden Boy or the 2015 Oddball, mainly because I have plans for the other basses, and it leaves at least one bass as extraneous. Of course, I could bypass the BEAD thing entirely and just pick up a 5-er down the road. Hmm.....

Don't torture yourself. Do both.