Haji
Supporting Member
I guess it's safe to call that your Patented Ten Cent Set Up now!
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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- club thunderbird
Yep, that bass is pretty well "Dimed". 
Mini - see my "Dime" set up above. If you can get in this ballpark with your Epi it should play PLENTY loud and deep.
If I still had it I would, it's been sold for a few weeks now. What tuning do you have yours in?
hillerup
There are basses, and there are Thunderbirds!
Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how it holds up, and if it can be modded for better... Otherwise it's ok - it was cheap, and will most likely make for a cool wall adornment and to noodle around with at home.
hillerup
There are basses, and there are Thunderbirds!
Ok you asked for it. Here's pictures of my bird held in playing position that give a good feel for my setup...
Dime pinned under E string at 12th fret with no strings depressed...
Leading edge (or PU side) of bridge at about 1/4" off body...
E string depressed at fret closest to neck PU does not allow a dime to slide underneath neck PU...
E string depressed at fret closest to neck PU pins dime at bridge PU...
Again, all these pictures were taken with the bass held in playing position (not laying flat on a table).
Wow! That is really low action!!!
Don't the strings make indents/marks on the pickups with that low action, and there's no string buzz?
Nope, zero fret buzz when played moderately hard, very little even with lots of digging in. So far no contact with the pups, been set up that way for almost a year of playing now and you can see how fresh the pup covers look.
I think I'd need it a bit higher than that. I'm a real aggressive player and I had it in drop b
Yeah, drop B would make a big difference as would low tension strings. I'm not sure what strings these are but I think they're Chromes. I play fairly aggressive but strictly finger style vs slap or pic and am usually hovering over the neck PU vs down around the bridge like a lot of Bird players.
The Greco's are in my rick right now, but with the babicz on the way the fresher sheen of the greco's may be aesthetically more pleasing in conjunction with the chrome bridge. Tone comes first though!
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So interesting fact about my goth bird. I haven't done much to the neck other than sand the headstock face down to factory finish & a bit more. But the nut: so here's the big thing. the fretboard width at the nut is 1 47/64 or 1.73" or 44.05 mm. Anywho, the string spacing in the nut is 1.375 overall, which would be 0.4583~" between each string. Now i'm really wondering why it's so difficult for me to play this bass when i jump from my precisions...the strings on this bird feel miles apart but the spacing is narrower than my white pbass that has 1.5 overall spacing 
. I'm really confused about it. For the Goth bird owners, does the spacing feel wider than your other narrow birds like blackbird or Limited edition white/tv silver birds?
It'd be great to know, cause i'm really pondering if epiphone didn't cut the right spacing into this one to begin with (although for me it's hard to correct a factory error)
. I'm really confused about it. For the Goth bird owners, does the spacing feel wider than your other narrow birds like blackbird or Limited edition white/tv silver birds? It'd be great to know, cause i'm really pondering if epiphone didn't cut the right spacing into this one to begin with (although for me it's hard to correct a factory error)
Haji
Supporting Member
You may just be sensitive to neck width at the nut. My brother (Dan Knowlton here on TB) can play just about any scale length and it has no effect. However, he can tell instantly if the nut width of any particular bass will work for him, and he's way more particular about string spacing than I am...and a hell of a lot better player than I am, too. My only saving grace is that my band does mostly originals. and he plays mostly at church so it's basically a cover gig. 
GBassNorth, doesn't having the pickups up that high cause them to interfere with string vibration? You don't get that "chorus-like" sounding, warbling tone from string pull?
You certainly can on many basses and its something I listen for when doing my set ups. In this particular case I'm not picking up any chorus effect or noticeable reduction in sustain. Give it a try on yours. Assuming your action is as low as you normally like it just raise your pickups up to the point where you can hold a dime in between the pickup and the E string when you fret on the last fret. It made a pretty big difference on my Bird.
Yep! And if the dime set up is too rich for your tastes try the nickel set up! Its what I use on my SG basses.
You may just be sensitive to neck width at the nut. My brother (Dan Knowlton here on TB) can play just about any scale length and it has no effect. However, he can tell instantly if the nut width of any particular bass will work for him, and he's way more particular about string spacing than I am...and a hell of a lot better player than I am, too. My only saving grace is that my band does mostly originals. and he plays mostly at church so it's basically a cover gig.
Well all my other basses play fairly similar to it. they're all 34" scale length but the neck width at the nut feels the same as my precision (maybe a bit fatter) but its really the spacing thats throwing me off cause it feels like the strings are spaced miles apart & my other basses are fairly close together. So yeah im swapping the original nut out & going to shave the neck down.
hillerup
There are basses, and there are Thunderbirds!
I was wondering how much neck relief do you have on your bird with that low action?
Not much at all. I'd have to measure it but if I had to guess I'd say its about half the thickness of a dime between the bottom of the string and the top of the 12th fret if you fret the string at both the first and last fret.
I will admit, out of all my basses, my TBird and for some crazy reason my Bronco bass hold the lowest action with very little if any seasonal fuss. I have Alembic basses that cost 10 times what I paid for my Bird that I can't get this low without constant adjustments. In the year I've had the bird its pretty much been a set it and forget it instrument. The neck is rock solid. How the $75 Bronco does it I haven't a clue but its the second one I've owned and the other was just as solid.
