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Thunderbird Club

#137,745
PillO said:
Somebody thought "What are the ugliest strings I can put on this bass?" thinking that would help get it sold. I suppose it might just to get it out of the hands of such an abuser.
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LOL - my wife looked over my shoulder when I was viewing the ad and her comment was, "Why in the hell would anybody string their bass up with yarn!"
 
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#137,751
Bassmike62 said:
Finally !
It took almost a year, but I'm finally reactivating membership #513 with today's acquisition, a 2008 Gibson Thunderbird w/hardcase. She has seen quite a lot of action and she needs a bit of love, but she is overall in good shape. I played through an SVT/810 Ampeg rig at the seller's rehearsal space and later with my Traynor DNB115 combo while hamming it up at my brother's house and she sounds beautiful ! I'll order a pickguard to replace the yellowing one she's sporting right now, as well as a Hipshot Bass XTender and I'll pick-up new knobs, the cap is missing on one of the volume knobs. It's only my second used bass (the other one was a white Epi TBird Classic Pro IV, what a coinkidink...), but this one has the warhorse look and feel and hopefully some mojo !

I have to go to bed, but it'll be a while before I fall asleep... :)

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I wouldn't change out the yellowing pickguard. That's where all the good tone is coming from. That's SCIENCE!!! :smug:
 
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#137,752
Bassmike62 said:
I'm curious... what's the TBird holy grail ?
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1964. Mic drop!
(It has the PU ring on the bridge PU now.)
 
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#137,754
GBassNorth said:
Funny how that works. Back in the late 1990's brick and mortar and mom and pop shops had relatively high prices, pawn shops and classified ads were bargain territory if you could separate the good stuff from the junk. Then eBay hit and there were bargain prices on everything. Fast forward about ten years and eBay evolved more in the direction of on line retailers where bargains are harder to find, still there but not in the numbers they were before. Then Reverb came out and once again, lots of good bargains. Now about 8 years or so into Reverb and the bargains are getting harder to find. Craigslist has remained fairly constant but can be sketchy to deal on. TB classified and Guitar Center have been fairly constant as well, bargains to be found fairly often. I wonder where the next big bargain location will be?
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Pawn shops around here in the very late 70s through 80s were never places for good deals. Anything that wasn't junk fit for a 12 yr old was out of sight. I stopped visiting them. Mostly have junk for beginners.
 
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#137,755
godofthunder59 said:
View attachment 3645470 View attachment 3645471 View attachment 3645472 View attachment 3645473 I've been naughty, bought myself a little present. It's a 1965 Epiphone Newport, I got it for a good price. It has a cracked headstock that I am sorting out but is complete and in good shape.
The headstock repair had two completely unnecessary screws, I have removed them and filled the holes. I can't wait to get it back together and play it.
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Sounds like a good score, Scott. Interested to hear your take on how it sounds once you get it finished up and had some playing time on it.
 
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#137,756
Attended a what was essentially a musician's party last night. Three bands each did a 5 song set and then a jam. As usual I was a bit apprehensive when the other bass players pulled out their axes...an active Lakeland jazz and a some kind of beautiful six string custom soap bar bass. Turns out the other bassists were a bit fascinated by the thunderbird's stage presence and were very complimentary. I think we may have a convert or two. :bassist:
 
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#137,757
gaffster said:
Attended a what was essentially a musician's party last night. Three bands each did a 5 song set and then a jam. As usual I was a bit apprehensive when the other bass players pulled out their axes...an active Lakeland jazz and a some kind of beautiful six string custom soap bar bass. Turns out the other bassists were a bit fascinated by the thunderbird's stage presence and were very complimentary. I think we may have a convert or two. :bassist:
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Yeah. People don't like them(rumors, reputation, etc.)'til they hear or play one. Then it's "Oops!These things are goood!" The Pbass player at the Sunday jam played my NR and afterwards said if I ever wanna sell it.....(love at first pluck)
 
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#137,759
gaffster said:
Attended a what was essentially a musician's party last night. Three bands each did a 5 song set and then a jam. As usual I was a bit apprehensive when the other bass players pulled out their axes...an active Lakeland jazz and a some kind of beautiful six string custom soap bar bass. Turns out the other bassists were a bit fascinated by the thunderbird's stage presence and were very complimentary. I think we may have a convert or two. :bassist:
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i have yet to hear anything less than complimentary about my bass except for the occasional “I couldn’t hear you!”
Thankfully our newer crop of soundfolk don’t tend to bury the bass.
 
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