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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
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- club thunderbird
hillerup
There are basses, and there are Thunderbirds!
Yeah, I have a severely damaged Yamaha acoustic guitar and I think I'll take that as a prototype.
So yesterday I bought some two part epoxy and glued in the two bridge ferrels. Packaging said twenty minutes and 24 hours so I weighted four hours amd started putting parts on. Strung it up with some old but hardly used GHS Boomers and tuned her up.DAMN!
This has some boom! She needs a good setup though and I have to run up to GC for some knobs because the ones that were on it were hidious.
A nes PG is needed and will be ordered soon, I am way behind on the pickguard, knobs and a setup and she will be ready for her debut.
Did you make some pictures? I wonder how much you'd need to have a good fix. Do the nut inserts have holes in them or did you glue them by contact? Read that Epis' are prone to loosen over time.
How much Epoxy? Not so much- enough to get in to any nooks/crannies, and marry up to the surfaces it contacts.
Hadn't commented because I'm distracted as a weasel in a henhouse at home (doing a conversion in part of our house, making our basement live-able, and kind if in a sweat to get it finished)... But I scarred up the inserts for a 3-pt bridge on an Epi EB-0 to reset them with Epoxy once upon a time- they had pulled out like yours. Even if you don't scarify them I'm pretty sure you're alright.
Oo do we get house pictures too?
I have done several remodels including our own home last summer. Always interested to see what you are doing
There not out yet, not even close, but my Classic is a keeper and just from a design standpoint it seems obvious that they'll loosen over the years compared to the Gibson's. Always good to know what to do just in case.
About the basement: Is this where your first photo with the Trace Elliot was made? If so will you brighten it up or leave it dark? I liked the cave-ish vibe from the photo.
Thanks for the interest- yeah I'll throw in a pic or two, though it's been such a pile that so far I haven't taken too many. I will though, as it's an interesting time for all of us here at the House Bassie, and ought to be recorded.
Yep, same space. Looks somewhat different now, though lighting is the same lowering effect. But it's above the street- it's an interesting house. I'll throw in an outside shot too, it'll explain the full windows at the front wall!
Hope to maximize light, we'll be adding some stylish cieling fixtures. My youngest daughter is into design and architecture, so no doubt we'll be adding a jet-set aspect to the stone-rubble mill house vibe...
Glad those inserts didn't pull out, nice work pre-empting an issue.
Oh man, I love that Pelham blue!
This posting of pix from a cell phone is a very slow process just now! But here's a start... we have a faux "living room" with a kitchenette at this point. Note the large window back side of the tree there- that's the side of the basement that's above the street.
Running water is upstairs or at the washing machine hoses. We'll live with it until we finish the upstairs trim, a few chores that'll make it a tight, finally-finished space, and then we'll super-ize the basement. It'll be rough living for awhile, but nothing refugees from Syria would sneeze at. That's not really to be funny... but I think it'll be good for my daughters to live on the rough side awhile. We're warm, have food and dry places to sleep, a couple nice pets and enough to do in our lives that there's little room for complaints.
You know, it's not just an hourly wage and homework- it's an adventure! I'll plug in some more pix when it's handy.
![WP_20151228_09_49_50_Pro[1].jpg](https://www.talkbass.com/attachments/wp_20151228_09_49_50_pro-1-jpg.760444/ "WP_20151228_09_49_50_Pro[1].jpg")
Running water is upstairs or at the washing machine hoses. We'll live with it until we finish the upstairs trim, a few chores that'll make it a tight, finally-finished space, and then we'll super-ize the basement. It'll be rough living for awhile, but nothing refugees from Syria would sneeze at. That's not really to be funny... but I think it'll be good for my daughters to live on the rough side awhile. We're warm, have food and dry places to sleep, a couple nice pets and enough to do in our lives that there's little room for complaints.
You know, it's not just an hourly wage and homework- it's an adventure! I'll plug in some more pix when it's handy.
- Jul 1, 2005
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- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
These are as close to an acoustic Thunderbird as I need to get:
32" ThundaCoustic I with '64 ThunderBird pickup.
34" ThundaCoustic II with a ThunderBucker MAX.
ThundaCoustic I in action.
32" ThundaCoustic I with '64 ThunderBird pickup.
34" ThundaCoustic II with a ThunderBucker MAX.
ThundaCoustic I in action.
These are as close to an acoustic Thunderbird as I need to get:
32" ThundaCoustic I with '64 ThunderBird pickup.
34" ThundaCoustic II with a ThunderBucker MAX.
ThundaCoustic I in action.
The top one is really, really nice looking. Got any soundclips?
How do you bend the sides? Steam? Cooking? My grandfather used to cook wood that he wanted to bend, but the surface got rough by that after drying, don't know if it would react differently to steam. Do I have to plan some extra milimeters and sand it down after bending?
btw how much does your friend take for a handwired pup?
- Jul 1, 2005
- 4,291
- 21,932
- 79
- Disclosures
- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
I cheat, when possible I mod an existing product. I don't have any sound clips but they sound like TBirds depending on amplification.
Thundacoustic I is a $100 Chinese acoustic I had for around 5 years before I did the mod. It has a great neck and is 5" deep so it also has a good acoustic sound. I changed the wood piezo bridge to get the action as low as I like and added the passive pickup and a plate for the V and T.
Thundacoustic II was Stu Hamm's personal Washburn, cost me $600. I didn't like the piezo sound so I added the ThunderBucker and passive electronics on a piece of pickguard material, It has two jacks, one for piezo and one for the ThunderBucker. It can be unmodded back to original configuration with no telltale marks or holes.
ThunderBuckers are around $170 delivered from thunderbuckerranch.com Nickel or chrome cover, your choice of hotness, Rings and plastic spacers to original Gibson spec are also available, including correct #2 mounting screws.
Did you refinish it? That bass looks better than 90% AEBs I've seen so far. If not were can I get that Chinabass?
Does he ship to the EU? I guess if I get my project going his pups would be a good choice.
- Jul 1, 2005
- 4,291
- 21,932
- 79
- Disclosures
- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
Did you refinish it? That bass looks better than 90% AEBs I've seen so far. If not were can I get that Chinabass?
It's a "Grand". I paid $20 for it with gig bag as a throw in with another bass. That's the original finish. I've been tempted to buy one of the $90 delivered China AEBs on Ebay and convert it for a drummer friend of mine who's looking for an AEB.
Does he ship to the EU? I guess if I get my project going his pups would be a good choice.
Steve has shipped ThunderBuckers to every continent but Antarctica. Each pickup is engraved with its model/serial number and has its specs entered in his log book. He'll wind to your spec. I'd recommend the "63N"
RIP Lemmy. Lived HARD, Played HARD!
Yep, and I stopped being so sad- he did it right! That's not sad at all. That rocks.
