Thunderbird Club

[JIO]

Not sure what your point is. They are obviously very different animals in nearly every regard. Off the top of my head, the only design feature I can think of that both basses have in common is the number of strings. It still stands though that the sound of these two instruments is remarkably similar.

I have no idea if Fender set out to build a Thunderbird, although I kind of doubt it, I've never seen it marketed that way. I suspect it's more likely that they set out to do a quick and dirty update of their old 1960's Telecaster with a newer design pup up against the neck like the old ones and another pup at the bridge (hence modern player). The fact that it very closely approximates the sound of a Thunderbird is almost certainly coincidental, but is also a fact as best I can tell and offers an interesting option for those that might want the thunderbird sound in a Fender body.

I guess just noting the differences - can't imagine Fender trying to copy a T-bird. I think your take on it being an easy 70's Tele with another pu upgrade is more like it. Here's a cool (custom?) take on it from another thread -

View attachment 2026913
or my T2K Mk II with G&L MFD pu's & preamp -

 

[GBassNorth]

I guess just noting the differences - can't imagine Fender trying to copy a T-bird. I think your take on it being an easy 70's Tele with another pu upgrade is more like it. Here's a cool (custom?) take on it from another thread -

View attachment 2026913
or my T2K Mk II with G&L MFD pu's & preamp -
View attachment 3572040

Both very nice!

 

[fasterpussycat]

Thanks! I assume you went for the higher impedance pickups?

Yes, the 9Ks.

 

[JIO]

Both very nice!

Thanks! Yah - no info on the pewter P, but I dig the pg reference to 70's Tele guitars w/buckers - nicely done. Those guitars have been recently revisited with their Ventana line.

 

[Muchdoge]

Quick question my epi tbird pro has a very noticeable hiss just wondering if that is normal with the active electronics that come in them.

 

[GBassNorth]

Quick question my epi tbird pro has a very noticeable hiss just wondering if that is normal with the active electronics that come in them.

I don't have an Eppi Pro, but I wouldn't expect a pronounced hiss to be normal. If you haven't already done so, try a different instrument cable (shorter is better) from your bass directly to your amp (no pedals in between). If you have an active bass, try changing the battery. If neither of those work it might be a grounding issue, but that's typically more of a hum than a hiss.

 

[RedVee]

The words are wrong.

It's a long way to the shop if you want a sausage roll!

I do love a good ol’ Aussie sausage roll! With tomato sauce, of course

It's always better with a big snarling Thunderbird, a pick, no toys in the chain and a GK.

Well done! Keyboard during the bagpipe bit I guess. I was bemused by the trombones playing the bagpipes but in the Tom Jones/John Farnham version.

 

[RedVee]

Well that was an interesting experiment. Here's the findings...

Neck Pickup - volume setting full on, tone set at zero
Both basses sound virtually identical on the open E, A, and D strings with the Gibby slightly brighter on the G string. Tele volume is very linear from 0 to 10, no effect on tone and much louder than the Gibby in every setting until the Gibby volume hits 10. At that point the Gibby jumps up over the Tele in volume and the Gibby tone becomes noticeably brighter (even with tone knob still set on zero). The max tone setting on the Tele was about equivalent to the 8 tone setting on the TBird.

Bridge Pickup - volume setting full on, tone set at zero
Again both basses sound virtually identical on the open E, A, and D strings with the Gibby still slightly brighter on the G string. On this Pickup the Tele is much louder in every setting but the Gibby gets closer at max volume. The max tone setting on the Tele was about equivalent to the 8 setting on the Gibby.

Conclusions
If you normally play a modern Gibson TBird on a tone setting of 8 or less and play either Pickup on a volume of about 8 or 9 you'll likely find the TBird indistinguishable from the Tele MP. If you play the TBird at any of the lower volume settings it will sound thin as compared to the much beefier Tele at the same setting. The TBird is capable of going slightly brighter than the Tele If you max out the birds tone knob but it's not as much of a difference as you'd expect. Where the TBird starts to differentiate itself from the Tele is when you turn the volume of the bird past 9 to the max. It's then that the TBird throws away any linearity and makes a noticeable mid and upper mid tone bump and perceived volume increase as well.

In other words, To get the most balls to the wall sound out of your bird just max only one of the two volume knobs (more likely the neck) the tone knob and other volume knob really won't help or hurt much where ever they are set. In nearly every other setting the Tele MP matches or bests the TBird.

So there you have it, the Fender Telecaster Modern Player is pretty much a mocking bird capable of delivering nearly all of the TBird greatness, except in a bulkier, less sleek and more clunky kind of way. Get one if you want to retain your TBird sound roots but visually look like every other bass lemming out there.

Thanks for posting. I just go all out on neck vol, between 8-9 on bridge. Tone anywhere from about 5 to full on.

US retailing is better than just about any other and so it has dominated globally. Starbucks (despite everyone's complaints about it) are everywhere...

I have never entered a Starbucks.

Cool! I find my VP is loudest with neck on full and bridge on about 8. That usually where I keep it and I adjust the tone somewhere between 5-10.
I also vary my right hand position according to the tune.

Yeah, normal Gibson here but same same.

 

[gidbass]

Gig night! And whats better than one gig night, is two! We are playing tonight and tomorrow night, I'm stoked. We have a sit in singer as ours wasn't able to do either gig, but he's a cool dude and really good. It's going to be a great time.

The thunderbird gets the call again, and gets some bling to wear.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and we have a friend who was supposed to go to this gig and she is a breast cancer survivor. She can't make it now because she just had her appendix removed, but she's going to be at the gig in spirit!

My wife had a vinyl sticker maker, and I asked her to make me a sticker...

View attachment 3569114

I figured, in for a penny, in for a pound so I bought a new gig shirt...

View attachment 3569115

Totally stoked to play! I wish she could attend but we'll make sure to get some picks and hopefully video.

I'll report back Sunday after both gigs!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend planned!

Ok, sorry for the late reply.

Fridays gig was fun! Our sit in singer was great and the new songs we learned went over well. It was a very small crowd, but still a good time.

Saturday gig was even better! Same sit in singer. More people this night and it was at a distillery that we like playing at. The problem, it was outside... The temperature was in the low 50's when we started, which is fine however by the 3rd song the temp had dropped so quickly that there was a healthy layer of condensation on everything!

Note to self: Add microfiber towels to gig bag!

The thunderbird slayed at both gigs! Dang thing is so much fun to play...

At the 2nd gig a friend of the band, who use to play bass for them, was asking me about my VP. "The tone is so fat and thick...what is that bass?" <proceed to have same conversation about weight, comfort and balance all thunderbird folks have... >

I just run the neck and tone 100% with the bridge off and run cobalt flats on it. We are all IEM's so I just use a Tech21 Bass Fly Rig to add a bit of hair to it.

Anyways, still trying to hunt down some pictures....

Hope everyone is having a great week!

 

[dagrev]

Coffee. Chains only as a last resort. Home brew....

I refuse to spend that much on designer coffee that the cool kids carry around. I love what I make at home as well as any place I've bought coffee, and didn't feel assaulted at checkout. Yeah, I'm cranky that way. No offense to those who love the stuff I don't. Freedom of thought and choice is a wonderful thing!

 

[dagrev]

I think there may be an 'AHEM' in there somewhere.

Yeah I'm thinking that was a clever way to get a two in one on that post!

 

[dagrev]

Ok, sorry for the late reply.

Fridays gig was fun! Our sit in singer was great and the new songs we learned went over well. It was a very small crowd, but still a good time.

Saturday gig was even better! Same sit in singer. More people this night and it was at a distillery that we like playing at. The problem, it was outside... The temperature was in the low 50's when we started, which is fine however by the 3rd song the temp had dropped so quickly that there was a healthy layer of condensation on everything!

Note to self: Add microfiber towels to gig bag!

The thunderbird slayed at both gigs! Dang thing is so much fun to play...

At the 2nd gig a friend of the band, who use to play bass for them, was asking me about my VP. "The tone is so fat and thick...what is that bass?" <proceed to have same conversation about weight, comfort and balance all thunderbird folks have... >

I just run the neck and tone 100% with the bridge off and run cobalt flats on it. We are all IEM's so I just use a Tech21 Bass Fly Rig to add a bit of hair to it.

Anyways, still trying to hunt down some pictures....

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Nice report! Glad it went well.

We really have to stop bragging on the virtues of Thunderbirds. Word is going to get out and everyone will be playing them.
We must explain how heavy they are and that the neck dive is almost unbearable.

 

[PillO]

Quick question my epi tbird pro has a very noticeable hiss just wondering if that is normal with the active electronics that come in them.

I don't have an Eppi Pro, but I wouldn't expect a pronounced hiss to be normal. If you haven't already done so, try a different instrument cable (shorter is better) from your bass directly to your amp (no pedals in between). If you have an active bass, try changing the battery. If neither of those work it might be a grounding issue, but that's typically more of a hum than a hiss.

My Pro-V has developed a hiss. It was always there but it has become somewhat louder (or I just notice it and get annoyed by it more), but not so bad as to make it unplayable. But it is one of the reasons that I have been looking at changing the electronics (and burning the old ones in accordance with the dictats of Kat).

I don't have a correct answer, but my suspicion is that it is primarily the cheap pre-amp that causes it. And of course, it is gooped so that you can't troubleshoot it. I'm not sure that the pickups are great and in fact, I suspect that the addition of a preamp was probably to try to cover for weak p/u.

 

[PillO]

Yeah I'm thinking that was a clever way to get a two in one on that post!

It was a twofer. Usually you have to pay extra for that.

 

[PillO]

Wuzzat?

The BEST gin going
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Hendrick's Gin - Wikipedia

 

[Dadagoboi]

I refuse to spend that much on designer coffee that the cool kids carry around. I love what I make at home as well as any place I've bought coffee, and didn't feel assaulted at checkout. Yeah, I'm cranky that way. No offense to those who love the stuff I don't. Freedom of thought and choice is a wonderful thing!

Nothing but straight double espresso for me.

The coffee making equivalent of a 1964 ThunderBird II. 1983 Olympia Cremina

My shop machine. 1972 Mini Gaggia, 220V 'open boiler'. During and after restoration.

ThunderBird Twosday

 

[GonePlaid]

The BEST gin going
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Hendrick's Gin - Wikipedia

OK. Not being a gin fan, I was unaware of it.

 

[BklynKen]

Nothing but straight double espresso for me.

The coffee making equivalent of a 1964 ThunderBird II. 1983 Olympia Cremina

My shop machine. 1972 Mini Gaggia, 220V 'open boiler'. During and after restoration.

ThunderBird Twosday

Has the steam wand on the Olympia ever seen use?

 

[Engle]

Thanks man. This thread gave me good info. I Will defenitly try some different strings first. And then would look for some pickup options. So what is the biggest difference going from active to passive?

Active eliminates the interaction when you blend the pickups.
On a passive 2 pickup bass, when both are on full, there’s phase cancellation and the output is usually lower than the neck pickup by itself.
Passive also have interaction between the volume and tone, so the tone will vary depending on the volume and vice/versa.

Active basically behaves more like you think it should, but you get used to working with those interactions in a passive bass.

Or you just remove the bridge pickup on your passive bass...

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Yes, the 9Ks.

Thank you.