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Thunderbird Club

#135,845
BklynKen said:
Jeez, I adjust my truss rod at least a couple of times a year. Maybe because I like my action at Entwistle lows.
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I almost never adjust anything. The action is what it is whenever I play. It's close enough, and that's good enough for my prehistoric fingers.
 
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#135,846
Shinbone said:
Can I join? I picked up this Epi as an inexpensive backup and I'm liking it way more than I thought I would. Mods so far:
  • Added additional strap buttons to compensate for neck dive.
  • Removed the truss rod cover because it was warped. The headstock looked plain without it so I put an eagle inlay sticker on it.
  • Didn't like the white pickguard. Intended to replace it with black but discovered that the wood underneath looks really nice, so going with no pickguard.
  • Did not like the 3-point bridge. Replaced it with a hipshot supertone.
  • Put on a hipshot extender because I do that with all of my basses.
  • Replaced the knobs with jazz bass knobs.
Thinking about changing the pickups. They're ok but not great. Any suggestions?
View attachment 3620317
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They are a bit different size than other Thunderbird pickups. There are lots of great T-bird pickups out there, but you may have to do a bit of body modification to get them to work. I don't know because I never changed the pickups on my bolt-on Thunderbird. It's its own thing, and I like it for what it is. Moving the strap button to the neck heel is the key to getting it to balance, as you discovered. Mine has an aluminum or pot-metal neck plate, and I just drilled right through it to put the neck heel strap button on the bass.

For what it's worth, my first Thunderbird was a bolt-on Epiphone. I gave it to my son after a year or two, and missed it. Now, even though I have several Gibsons and other somewhat fancier Thunderbirds, I still have a bolt-on that I got to replace the one I let go. It doesn't get played that much, but it is perfect for what it does when that's appropriate.
 
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#135,848
GonePlaid said:
?....I forgot to post this yestiddy:
View attachment 3620823
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Chucky Stiletti said:
yeah, me too...
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Dereliction of duty here as well...
IMG_1900.JPG


TBird1958 said:
But, uummmmm playing it could show off a lot more than I should!
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As the old saying goes .... Cello players have no secrets. ;)
 
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#135,849
JIO said:
That's what diagnostic machines are for... :rolleyes:
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My son's girlfriend has a fancy car that freaked out. There's all kinds of controls that go through the ECU. It started to malfunction in all kinds of bizarre ways. Mechanics cannot get it to do what it was doing with her driving the car. The diagnostic machinery cannot figure it out, either. Oh, well.
 
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#135,852
Gaolee said:
My son's girlfriend has a fancy car that freaked out. There's all kinds of controls that go through the ECU. It started to malfunction in all kinds of bizarre ways. Mechanics cannot get it to do what it was doing with her driving the car. The diagnostic machinery cannot figure it out, either. Oh, well.
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Is there an electronic version of the Italian Tuneup?
 
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#135,855
GonePlaid said:
Just a quick update on my new gigmobile: got it last Wednesday, drove it 2 days and it took a :poop:. They're diagnosing the problem. Meanwhile, I've been without it 3x as long as I've had it.:mad: No clue when I'll get it back. Thankfully, it's under warranty. Unfortunately, it's not under my @$$.
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Yikes! Hopefully it’s good once you get it back
 
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#135,856
Kriegs said:
Nice case ;) How's it holding up to gigging?
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Doing well! I put a ding in it and fixed it with a small square of Gorilla Tape. You could patch a submarine with the stuff...
Case is great, for me it's a better way to go than a gig bag. And my SansAmp Fly Rig fits in the pocket like it was made for it. Handy...
 
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#135,859
gaffster said:
I dropped some SSB-4's soap bars in my Korean epi-bird. They are fairly mild, but less muddy than the epi's and they dropped right in, being a bit smaller than the epi's . A couple of rings would make them look better, I think.
I put some tape wounds on it and brought it to audition for a "steely dan" tribute band because it was the brightest, funkiest bass I had. They were surprised some dude with a t-bird showed up and seemed to dig it but they waited way too long to callback so I learned "peg" and "hey 19" for nothing, LOL. By the time they called back I was busy, but then they bugged me for a few months, LOL.
I did a tab for hey 19 here:
Steely Dan - Hey Nineteen (Bass)

Here is a dude I watched b4 buying them...
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They shouldn’t be surprised to see a Tbird. My band is learning this tune:
 
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#135,860
Gaolee said:
My son's girlfriend has a fancy car that freaked out. There's all kinds of controls that go through the ECU. It started to malfunction in all kinds of bizarre ways. Mechanics cannot get it to do what it was doing with her driving the car. The diagnostic machinery cannot figure it out, either. Oh, well.
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Sometimes you have to disconnect the battery for 10 minutes. Reboot the car.
Can’t wait for driverless cars!
 
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