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Thunderbird Club

#141,601
FlyingPigSound said:
Me and my drummer exchanging non verbal communication...
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That strap length is what I am looking for. Plus, your drummer's kit looks like the little Questlove kit that I play when there's not much room. It's a fantastic little kit and sounds far bigger than it is.
 
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#141,602
Miles_ONeal said:
And accoutrements.

Speaking of which, what's your favorite strap width for a THUNDERBIRD ?
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my two Bird straps....3" custom made in SC swede to the left and a 2" Onori to the right which I use with my 2013 as well.....no neck dive with the 3" and a little with the 2"....for whatever it's worth, don't really mind a little neck dive..
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#141,603
Gaolee said:
That strap length is what I am looking for. Plus, your drummer's kit looks like the little Questlove kit that I play when there's not much room. It's a fantastic little kit and sounds far bigger than it is.
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Thanks. The Breakbeats kit is great...the newer ones are much better than the older ones too. Change the heads and make a few mods to the snare, and it's killer. We use the Glyn Johns three-mic technique, and we're happy
 
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#141,605
Chucky Stiletti said:
Entwistle wore his pretty high..
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I'm certianly no Entwistle, I wear my bird lower than he did (and slightly off to the side), typically belt buckle near the center of the upper horn, bass tilted to about 1:00 or 2:00 and lower edge of the lower horn around mid thigh.

Levys straps work good for me on their longest setting. I'm about 6 foot tall with proportional arms and large meathook hands. 3" straps are the max for me, in leather with or without padding as long as they don't dig into the side of my neck. 2" straps are the min. for me, in cloth but with a non slip backing.

I find wide grippy straps to be too much of a good thing. Within minutes of putting one on its mangled my shirt, bunching it up, untucking it, pulling the shirt neck way to the side and just looking generally sloppy. So for me, if it's 3" wide the back better be smooth or slippery.
 
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#141,607
Miles_ONeal said:
And accoutrements.

Speaking of which, what's your favorite strap width for a THUNDERBIRD ?
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About 3" or so and padded. I do have the strap I spoke of pages ago that is 3.5-4 and not padded, yet very comfortable with a heavy bass. I don't use that one often enough. I need to through that in the gig bag.
 
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#141,613
LetItGrowTone said:
@GBassNorth, it's a lot of questions. But if you're comfortable with *mechanical* resonance you're in good shape because there's a nice analogy between mechanical and electrical resonance, and your intuition with regard to mechanical resonance should serve you.

Familiar with the intro level mass-spring model, right? The mass stores a variable amount of gravitational potential energy - more when it's high, less when it's low - and the spring stores a variable amount of energy proportional to how much it is stretched (can't remember exactly what this is called, but it is also a form of potential energy). Then, as the mass oscillates up and down, the mass and the spring are exchanging this energy between them, taking turns storing it. If there is no resistance to the motion (in an idealized model), it will continue oscillating like that. But every real world system has some resistance, and this will eventually absorb the available energy and the system will stop.

L
L is the symbol for inductance. Can't remember why.
If current is passing through a wire, a magnetic field forms around the wire. There's energy in this **magnetic** field, so the space around the wire can be seen as a storage space for that energy. And inductance, L, is proportional to how much energy can be stored. And just as the mass when raised (gaining gravitational potential energy) gains a potential to do *work*, that magnetic field around the wire can be made to do work. If you want to, you can "feel" this in your intuition, like a rock in your hand.
(To make a long story shorter, this energy can be concentrated if the wire is formed into a coil, and this coil can store more energy if it has certain materials like iron inside or nearby.)

C
C is the symbol for capacitance.
If two conductors have a potential difference (a voltage) between them, then an **electric** field is formed between them, and energy is stored in this field. And just as above, *work* can be done by this energy. More energy can be stored if the conductors are close together and have more surface area, thus "plates" with an insulator between them.

R
Resistance. It is present in all conductors (that are relevant here). It dissipates those energies described above, converting it into heat. If collected, heat can do work, but in cases relevant here it is just dissipated into the air. The wire in the pickup has this resistance.

Analogy with the mass-spring problem:
--The 1) mass and the 2) spring exchange their energy between them (oscillating), and any 3) resistance (present in all real systems) eventually damps the oscillation as the energy is lost.
--The 1) magnetic field around the wire, and the 2) electric field in the capacitor exchange their energy between them (oscillating), and the 3) resistance in the wire dissipates the energy, damping the oscillation.

More:
--The mass and spring will oscillate at some frequency determined by the mass and the spring constant.
--The inductor and capacitor will also oscillate at some frequency determined by their amount of inductance, L, and capacitance, C.

Oh, there's more of course. Is this kind of stuff what you were wanting?
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:thumbsup:This is very helpful in following the conversations and understanding the "mechanics" behind the actions. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

The other half that's equally important, or for some people maybe even more important is knowing which values equate to what outcome and what practical application it has. For instance, how does a Pickup with low L compare in sound to a Pickup with high L? And is there a common Pickup out there that serves as a good example of low or high L?

Said another way, L may be largely driven by the overwound vs underwound design of a given Pickup. Where a vintage Gibson mudbucker which is overwound has a deep thick overly saturated sound compared to an underwound Lindy Fralin Jazz Pickup which has a crisp, clear, clean sound. Disclaimer - This is just an example I pulled out of thin air and may or may not be true, it's just to make a point.

I find your and Chuckys posts educational and enlightening but many times I end up scratching my head at what I'm supposed to do with the information. I doubt many here in the club have a burning desire to design and build pickups or other electronic gear. But a lot of us occasionally mod our basses with new pups or switches or pots or caps. So writing in terms of of a user vs a designer is particularly helpful.

Keep the technical posts coming, I love em and we all learn something in the process that we might be able to apply to our TBirds!:thumbsup:
 
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#141,615
MCF said:
Nice! My ‘07 Limited Edition Custom Shop in PB has a darkish board. The ‘10 Goth with BBS is medium dark. I think it just depends on what batch they were using at the time.
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To clarify, I was referring to Embassies, all the black ones I've seen had the lighter color fretboard.
 
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#141,616
MCF said:
Mine too. Their 4 inchers cure any dive, real or imagined. I have them on four birds.
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Each of mine has a 'dedicated' strap that stays with it. THUNDERBIRD:2" D'Addario w/ratchet locks and a sliding gel pad; LPB2/5: 3" leather/denim[opposite sides]; Ibanez semi-hollow: 2" merino wool; Squire VM Jag SS: 3" unknown material
 
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