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Thunderbird Club

#12,321
hillerup said:
I do think the Rick's do stand out as well, though...
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Maybe so, but when I was playing one, it didn't draw attention like a Thunderbird does. The only instrument that draws attention like a 'Bird is the upright. I must be an attention hound in front of an audience, since I play Thunderbirds and an upright, and I wear a shiny polyester shirt on stage. The next logical step would be heels and a dress, but we only have one Queen. Any openings for a princess? :roflmao:
 
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#12,324
Gaolee said:
Maybe so, but when I was playing one, it didn't draw attention like a Thunderbird does. The only instrument that draws attention like a 'Bird is the upright. I must be an attention hound in front of an audience, since I play Thunderbirds and an upright, and I wear a shiny polyester shirt on stage. The next logical step would be heels and a dress, but we only have one Queen. Any openings for a princess? :roflmao:
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I think the Rick attracts more attention from other bassplayers than from girls... To the girls it probably looks a bit like a 7ender, but the bassplayers will notice it right away - If not for the sky-high price, then at least for their distictive sound...

I used to have a 4001 back in the late 70's and 80's when I played in a punk band, and it did attract a fair bit of attention from fellow bassplayers back then - The usual comment went something like "You have a real Rickenbacker?! Since it was back in the good old "lawsuit" era, copies were fairly common then... :)
 
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#12,325
hillerup said:
I think the Rick attracts more attention from other bassplayers than from girls... To the girls it probably looks a bit like a 7ender, but the bassplayers will notice it right away - If not for the sky-high price, then at least for their distictive sound...

I used to have a 4001 back in the late 70's and 80's when I played in a punk band, and it did attract a fair bit of attention from fellow bassplayers back then - The usual comment went something like "You have a real Rickenbacker?! Since it was back in the good old "lawsuit" era, copies were fairly common then... :)
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Yes, when I break out the 4003, which I did last week, even guitarists comment. They aren't common around here.
T Birds just about always get comments. So do RDs.
The black ES335 bass does get attention for the looks as well as the sound. First time I used it a guy came up and said, "Wow that sounds like a Thunderbird!".
Only Fender I have ever got comments from the ladies about is an Antigua FSR Jazz that I have. Looks great under stage lights.
 
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#12,327
hillerup said:
Well, it's no wonder, really.... Fender's come by the gazillions and have used that same old tired design for 65 years, and Squire G&L Lakland and Sadowsky are basically "just" copies of that design, so there's nothing new to get excited about there either (however good they may be).

The Thunderbird you don't see that often, and it really does stand out in the sea of bland 7ender and 7ender lokalikes...

I do think the Rick's do stand out as well, though...
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I don't know about you but in the last several years I've started seeing Tbirds more and more, which, like Fender have also used the same design since the '60s.
 
#12,329
winterburn69 said:
I don't know about you but in the last several years I've started seeing Tbirds more and more, which, like Fender have also used the same design since the '60s.
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Fender is using the design for P Basses from the 50s.
I am seeing a lot more TBirds lately than I used to around here. Mostly they are Epis.
At an open mike I go to there are four other bassists which visit from time to time who have TBirds- all Epis. Two standard vintage sunburst bolt ons, a silverburst and a neck through active one. None of those guys own a Fender.
Gibson TBirds have always been reasonably uncommon here and still are. I only personally know one other bass player with one. They have always been pretty expensive and the propaganda has probably affected sales as well, I suspect.
I tried to find a 60s TBird for sale in Australia a couple of years ago. Only found one and the guy wasn't selling. Ended up buying a beautiful 56 P.
Even back in the 70s and 80s you didn't see many TBirds in Australia and I suspect a lot of what you did see were MIJ. I since found out the guy in Rose Tattoo had Grecos, not sure if he had Gibsons as well.
Biggest bass related regret is not buying a black Bicentennial Bird that was available locally about 10 years ago. It was between that and a 73 Telecaster Bass that had been owned by the guy from The Church and featured in the clip of Under The Milky Way.
Love that Telecaster Bass so I don't regret buying it, but I should have bought both.
 
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#12,331
My main squeezes before i went T-Bird Crazy were a pair of MIJ 7ender J@zz Bass Specials (ala Duff McKagan). In fact i dusted them off recently because my old (try to follow this, ready?) Guns'N'Roses/Stone Temple Pilots/Velvet Revolver Tribute was supposed to be reforming. But that went south doe to the "usual reasons"...
My Birds get lots of compliments from players and "civilians" alike.

And my 1981 Rickenbacker 4001S doesn't leave the house anymore... Because too many local players joked about it possibly "disappearing" at a gig. Better safe than stupid, right?
 
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#12,333
I keep looking in the Epi Tbird pond for used (and cheap (well, "economical") T Birds;
Apart from price... why would i choose a bolt-on Epi ThunderBird?
My Nephew has a Epi Classic Tbird, neck though, in the sunbursty wood colour - showing all the different woods through the neck. It is seriously gorgeous. He also has a "Legacy" (I think it's called?) Tbird, he thinks it is a renamed, cheaper, Epiphone but he is really not sure. Anyone know anything about that one? I'm wondering if it would it be worth discussing a purchase with him. I must admit I didnt paay it much attention when he brought them out... I was all over 'the glamour' of the pair.
 
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#12,335
Dude... We just finished a Wed nite jam at a bar in Westport.MA, and we did Ziggy Stardust!! And we nailed it. I've wanted to.play that song for YEARS!! And we did it. It's not that I'm so elated, it's that it was my thank-you that I got to say. Might sound stupid or useless, but I got to do it. And I played it on my Thunderbird bass. Somehing is right with the world.
 
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#12,337
winterburn69 said:
I don't know about you but in the last several years I've started seeing Tbirds more and more, which, like Fender have also used the same design since the '60s.
Click to expand...

Yes, Thunderbirds are becoming more apparent in the music scene, but nowhere near as plentyful as 7enders.

And yes, Thunderbirds go way back to 1963 - But have had several changes along the way, like the NR's. Also they've been in and out of production several times, which the 7enders haven't...
 
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#12,339
You wanna see Bumpers? Come to Nashville. I CANNOT believe the number of vintage basses here and yet the prices stay ridiculously high. You'd think there would be more variety in a town called Music City. There are TBirds here but many of them are Goths (including one of mine) and everything else is a little bit rare. Seeing one in a live situation is rare enough that they tend to draw a lot of attention. My first gig I played with my current band I brought Chocolate Love as a backup. The Bird was the one that got the comments.
 
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