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Thunderbird Club

#121,401
PillO said:
I had no problem with RS66. But the cobalt flats were like trying to play a cheese grater.
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For years I steered way clear of Cobalt flats for that very reason!

I had a very bad experience with Cobalt rounds, which have absolutely positively the most aggressive surface roughness I've ever encountered on any bass string. No joke, 200 grit sandpaper would feel smoother. I had the rounds on one of my basses for less than an hour and they left a pile of brass shavings at the nut just from tuning. Slides were suicidal on the fingers and visible damage was being done on the frets in very short order so I ripped them off. Because of all that I swore I'd never try Cobalts again.

Then the Cobalt flats started getting rave reviews here, so I crossed my fingers and tried a set on my VP. Loved them! Gorgeous sound and silky smooth!

PillO - stupid question but I gotta ask since I experienced exactly what you did when I tried their rounds - are you sure you tried the flats? I have two sets of flats and both are dead smooth, as a flatwound should be. Again no joke, I still keep the Cobalt rounds around and now use them as nut files for fine tuning the grooves in metal, plastic and bone nuts. They do a good job for that.
 
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#121,403
dagrev said:
You're making me want to try more strings, for the first time in my life.;););)

I wonder what the Cobalt Rounds would sound like? I really like Fender Pure Nickles on a '62 Jazz. Full and thick, solid mids with a light, not harsh top-end--not dull at all. Haven't tried any other fender rounds since DA seems to be making them. I hate DA nickle plated rounds and figured the Fender version would be similarly honky and bland sounding.
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Do yourself a favor and steer clear of the Cobalt Rounds! They will eat your bass and your fingers alive! Super rough surface, nasty things.
 
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#121,404
GonePlaid said:
Here's my first deployment: USS Yorktown, now a museum in Charleston, SC, USA. BTW, what kinda tone do you get outta the cheese grater?[I know I'm gonna regret asking]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Isn't that ship a modified Essex class hull from WWII?
 
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#121,405
Just a quick repost from many moons ago on this thread...

A quick two part bass safety hack for those of you with hanging basses residing in a seismic area.
IMG_2191.JPG

Part one - I use Hercules hangers because they have an easy to deal with automatic captive lockdown system but any hanger with a captive strap to keep the bass from easily falling out would work.

Part two - cheap guitar (not bass) gig bags allow the headstock to protrude enough for hanger access, and protect the basses from damage as they rock back and forth possibly hitting each other or the wall. They also act as a nice dust cover for the majority of the bass. Also easy to slip on and off without taking the bass off the hanger.

The hack worked really well in our recent SoCal quakes.
 
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#121,406
TBird1958 said:
Isn't that ship a modified Essex class hull from WWII?
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USS Essex(class ship) was CV-9*, Yorktown is CV-10, so second of class(10 ships). Her keel was laid as the Bon Homme Richard, but when Yorktown CV-5 was sunk at Midway, her name was changed. She was modified with the angled deck in 1955. Intrepid, CV-11 is in NYC, and Hornet, CV-12 is in Alameda.<EDIT>Somewhat interesting side note: I got off Yorktown in July, 66. Never thought much about her after that until she became a museum.
37 years later, I was able to take my 'bitter half', who I didn't meet until 70, and my daughter, born in 77, aboard "my old boat". After having described some of its 'features', I was able to show them around. Kinda cool.
*scrapped
 
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#121,408
fasterpussycat said:
We just stood around trying not to look at him until he packed up his snare and cymbals. Singer said she nearly cried she was so shocked. Only last week he was going on about the songs being great, the energy, the musicianship, the fact he's allowed to play what he wants, blah blah, this is so great!
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Jaysis... now that is lousy.
 
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#121,409
GBassNorth said:
PillO - stupid question but I gotta ask since I experienced exactly what you did when I tried their rounds - are you sure you tried the flats? I have two sets of flats and both are dead smooth, as a flatwound should be. Again no joke, I still keep the Cobalt rounds around and now use them as nut files for fine tuning the grooves in metal, plastic and bone nuts. They do a good job for that.
Click to expand...

There are no stupid questions! But there are inquisitive idiots... ;)

Yes, they were the cobalt flats. I tried them because of al the rave reviews. As near as I can work out, in tuning, the ribbons open ever so slightly and that caused the effect. I tried for several weeks but I always ended up with sore fingers (fretting and plucking hands). I replaced them with chromes and those were fine. But after trying those, I decided that I am not a flats player.
 
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#121,410
GonePlaid said:
Just get in line for the(coming)Epiphone RI, NR, VP, Thunderbird II/IV in yer choice of Sunburst, Pelham Blue, Kerry/Inverness Green, Dark Cherry, Walnut, or White.:smug::hyper:
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If this bass does indeed end up being produced and they put a PJ pickup set up on it instead of T-Bird pups, I will be one unhappy camper. :atoz:
 
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#121,411
fasterpussycat said:
That's the consensus. We had an audition and two 3 hour sessions and I never felt entirely personally comfortable with him, but thought it was simply a matter of getting to know him better. Was fun to play with though. Last night his drumming was really weird and lacking in energy and we presume he was planning to walk out all along for whatever reason and just waiting to pick his moment. No great inconvenience for me as I live nearby, but our singer is 2 hours away, so massive frustration/pain in the arse for her.
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I am not so much saying I like this as saying it is good that you didn't have far to go to get home. That guy really is a jackass to do that if your singer had a 2 hour commute each way. He really does need a good blowing up.
 
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#121,416
PillO said:
There are no stupid questions! But there are inquisitive idiots... ;)

Yes, they were the cobalt flats. I tried them because of al the rave reviews. As near as I can work out, in tuning, the ribbons open ever so slightly and that caused the effect. I tried for several weeks but I always ended up with sore fingers (fretting and plucking hands). I replaced them with chromes and those were fine. But after trying those, I decided that I am not a flats player.
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The cobalts are indeed grippier than the LaBellas. I’m not sure why. I just looked at both, and while both appear to have opened up under tension, the LaBellas feel like glass.

Freaky. I thought maybe because they are fairly new. :thumbsdown:

But not a hindrance to me.
 
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#121,419
PillO said:
There are no stupid questions! But there are inquisitive idiots... ;)

Yes, they were the cobalt flats. I tried them because of al the rave reviews. As near as I can work out, in tuning, the ribbons open ever so slightly and that caused the effect. I tried for several weeks but I always ended up with sore fingers (fretting and plucking hands). I replaced them with chromes and those were fine. But after trying those, I decided that I am not a flats player.
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Makes sense.
If you don't kink before you cut, the outer windings can relax and gap on you. That would indeed create a lot of very sharp edges. I haven't had that happen yet, even when using 34" Cobalt flats on a 32" bass, but I was concerned it could happen. Could also be that you got a defective set from the factory with loose windings.
Here's a pic of Cobalt flats on my Gibby Memphis...
IMG_3042.JPG


And here's a pic of Roto Swing flats on my Gibby SG...
IMG_3043.JPG

Both are Short Scale basses and the pics were taken at roughly the same angle with the same lighting. You can see how much smoother the Cobalts look vs the Rotos. Neither one is rough to the touch but the Cobalts feel much slicker.
 
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#121,420
PillO said:
I see a sub in that picture also.

I don't know what it is like in USN or RN, but in RCN, submariners are... weird.
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I always thought the Batfish was the coolest name around, and then I hot to work with a former officer of that boat- who couldn’t talk too much about it.
I think it takes a “weird” kind of person to spend much time deployed on a sub. Then again, weird is one of my favorite compliments.
 
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