• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Thunderbird Club

#127,222
Kriegs said:
Over the course of 35 years playing, I've toured across this country from one extreme to the other: hot, cold, humid, dry, etc. In each city, we take out our instruments, tune, level check, play, pack 'em back up and never once think/ worry about truss rod, string height, pickup height or other set up type adjustments.

Do folks have these issues with their house and cars warping in the weather too?

"Can't make it to the party this weekend, I have to adjust the trusses in the attic."

"Sorry, I'll be late for work today, my car sat in the cold all night and I have to wait for the wheel bearings to acclimate to the daytime temps before I can drive the vehicle."

I guess I'll never understand ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...
As far as instruments go, I guess a lot of it is your personal level of tolerance (or intolerance) with your set up or potential damage to your bass.

When I was outdoor gigging and traveling overnight to gigs I had specific instruments I'd use. Typically not thick gloss finishes (which are prone to stress cracking under extreme temperature swings) and typically lower cost or easier to replace instruments. I saved the nicer stuff for indoor or studio out and back same day trips.

A bass transported in your air conditioned or heated car should be just fine. However, one left in a parked car in 100 degree heat at 90+ percent humidity for hours, then played at an indoor air conditioned gig, then left in the same car parked over night in 65 degree weather is gonna need some attention if you expect to have super low action.

Super cold ultra dry weather can be just as much of an issue on some basses. I've personally seen some serious finish cracking on thick gloss finishes when the bass was left in a sub freezing car overnight then brought into a nicely heated barn for a winter afternoon event.

as always, YMMV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MCF, Miles_ONeal, GonePlaid and 4 others
#127,225
gidbass said:
So, here is how it looks.

Should I file down the top of it so that only 1/2 the string sits in there? It seems like i should....
Click to expand...

Only if you want to - as long as the slots do not pinch the strings it's purely cosmetic. After all the talk here about nut's, I went though a number of my basses checking for their correct slot height and ended up lowering the slots on a few of them. A few were already spot-on, and getting the others in-line wasn't that difficult. I did a few at a time, and will continue until they have all been checked. The adjustments weren't major and so not dramatically different feeling - just correct now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fasterpussycat, MCF, Engle and 6 others
#127,226
Kriegs said:
I am referring to instruments, amps, PA gear, etc. all traveling in trailers without environmental controls. There is simply no time for getting to the venue and waiting for your gear to 'acclimate'.

I'm talking about slabs of wood and metal here. If we were talking about thin walled, acoustic instruments, I'd concede the point... however, we're not.
Click to expand...
I'll stick with my comments in post #127222. No where was I referencing roof trusses, wheel bearings, PA gear, amps or specifically acoustic instruments. And no where did I mention anything about waiting for gear to acclimate. Those are all your thoughts and topics and you can deal with them as you wish.:cool:

My comment stands on its own...
GBassNorth said:
?...
A bass transported in your air conditioned or heated car should be just fine. However, one left in a parked car in 100 degree heat at 90+ percent humidity for hours, then played at an indoor air conditioned gig, then left in the same car parked over night in 65 degree weather is gonna need some attention if you expect to have super low action.
...YMMV
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:You do bring up an excellent point however - if you have to wait much beyond load in and set up to do tuning and sound check you probably have the wrong instrument. If you're spending time on truss adjustments and resetting your action, you're wasting time and might need a different instrument or a string action setting that's more forgiving in those situations.

:roflmao:Or we could all do what the Pros do and hire a roadie and instrument tech to do all that stuff for us ahead of time so all we have to do is walk on stage and pick up the already plugged in, sound checked, tuned bass from the rack. And if we're really important, we can even stand on stage between songs while a hunched over guitar tech hurriedly scampers across the stage to strap a plugged in dropped tuned bass on us just in time to start the next song. LOL - we should all be that lucky.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RedVee, MCF, Engle and 8 others
#127,228
RedVee said:
Wazzthat ?
Click to expand...
it's a 78 Gretsch Committee Bass that's gone through a lot of changes...
this is what it looked like new..
upload_2019-9-11_9-16-37.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: dieselman, RedVee, Nocturnal and 7 others
#127,231
GBassNorth said:
:thumbsup:You do bring up an excellent point however - if you have to wait much beyond load in and set up to do tuning and sound check you probably have the wrong instrument. If you're spending time on truss adjustments and resetting your action, you're wasting time and might need a different instrument or a string action setting that's more forgiving in those situations.

:roflmao:Or we could all do what the Pros do and hire a roadie and instrument tech to do all that stuff for us ahead of time so all we have to do is walk on stage and pick up the already plugged in, sound checked, tuned bass from the rack. And if we're really important, we can even stand on stage between songs while a hunched over guitar tech hurriedly scampers across the stage to strap a plugged in dropped tuned bass on us just in time to start the next song. LOL - we should all be that lucky.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. I think I no longer have a desire for more gear. I just want a roadie. RAS - Roadie Acquisition Syndrome.*


*Probably an ahem in there somewhere. And if not, one should at least be assumed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RedVee, MCF, Engle and 7 others
#127,232
Kriegs said:
Over the course of 35 years playing, I've toured across this country from one extreme to the other: hot, cold, humid, dry, etc. In each city, we take out our instruments, tune, level check, play, pack 'em back up and never once think/ worry about truss rod, string height, pickup height or other set up type adjustments.

Do folks have these issues with their house and cars warping in the weather too?

"Can't make it to the party this weekend, I have to adjust the trusses in the attic."

"Sorry, I'll be late for work today, my car sat in the cold all night and I have to wait for the wheel bearings to acclimate to the daytime temps before I can drive the vehicle."

I guess I'll never understand ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...
yeah...when do you get time to practice?...:laugh:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Engle, Miles_ONeal, GonePlaid and 3 others
#127,233
Cardinal Fang said:
String height:
measure and adjust each string to 6/64 at 12th fret.

Neck action (or whatever it's called):
Capo on 1st fret, fret at 17th, make sure I can get a credit card or driver's license between the fret and string at whatever fret is in between those two points, I don't recall at the moment...

Not real scientific at all but I think we're talking about the same thing. The bottom line is that it's stable and plays well until the env changes.

Maybe 6/64 is unreasonable for this bass, I don't know what the 'official' Gibson spec is (or where to find it). That might clear this all up pretty quick.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
That helps.

Unfortunately all my basses (except my VP) and all my tools are upstairs and I can't make that trek up there with my mangled foot right now. But I can reference a previous post about some setup work I did on one of my TBirds a few years ago. It's about the lowest action I've been able to get on any of my birds and it's held up in varying temp and humidity settings for several years now. It's seen playing time in temps as low as 60 degrees and into the high 90's with humidity ranging from 20% to about 70% and has never needed anything more than tuning adjustments.

Sorry I don't have a Nikki Sixx to compare it to but it should at least give you an idea of what can potentially be done as far as stable low action goes...
GBassNorth said:
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...
View attachment 2442680
View attachment 2442681
Leading edge (or PU side) of bridge at about 1/4" off body...
View attachment 2442682
E string depressed at fret closest to neck PU does not allow a dime to slide underneath neck PU...
View attachment 2442683
E string depressed at fret closest to neck PU pins dime at bridge PU...
View attachment 2442684
Again, all these pictures were taken with the bass held in playing position (not laying flat on a table).
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: RedVee, MCF, Dr_Feelgoood212 and 4 others
#127,236
GBassNorth said:
That helps.

Unfortunately all my basses (except my VP) and all my tools are upstairs and I can't make that trek up there with my mangled foot right now. But I can reference a previous post about some setup work I did on one of my TBirds a few years ago. It's about the lowest action I've been able to get on any of my birds and it's held up in varying temp and humidity settings for several years now. It's seen playing time in temps as low as 60 degrees and into the high 90's with humidity ranging from 20% to about 70% and has never needed anything more than tuning adjustments.

Sorry I don't have a Nikki Sixx to compare it to but it should at least give you an idea of what can potentially be done as far ad stable low action goes...
Click to expand...

I'm able to maintain stupid low action on both my Birds.
The recent past heat and humidity weren't all that terrible to the basses this year.
Two of the four needed a slight adjustment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RedVee, MCF, Miles_ONeal and 6 others
#127,238
GBassNorth said:
I'll stick with my comments in post #127222. No where was I referencing roof trusses, wheel bearings, PA gear, amps or specifically acoustic instruments. And no where did I mention anything about waiting for gear to acclimate. T
Click to expand...
No, you didn't ;)

But I wasn't speaking about you in this case :) I was referring to folks, in general, obsessing over a 1/64" difference in string height and not being able to play their instrument because of said difference. And about folks, in general, obsessing over acclimating their instruments before playing.

Not poking at anyone in this thread or any person specifically, in fact. Just my musings about the concept and my experience of going decades of playing all over and never having experienced what those folks are so worried about :thumbsup:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Inky13, Engle, PillO and 5 others

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back