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Thunderbird Club

#147,242
LetItGrowTone said:
My experience with neck-through guitars is limited to a sample size of one, a Ric. Solid maple neck-through is an idea that sounds good, but this Ric's dead spots are the worst of the five basses I own. And so, I'm now free of my 40 year old infatuation with that idea.

My working theory (good enough for me but with this admittedly limited experience), is that a bolt-on has a greater discontinuity in the properties of the vibrating object right there, and that reduces the whole-object vibration because that energy isn't conducted as fluidly back and forth through that joint. While one could imagine reasons why that might be bad, I don't like dead spots and I'll take this deal, if it's true.

What about those very expensive neck-through basses (with presumably no dead spots)? Maybe they've learned over time, something about the way the grain lays or something, something that Ric has never noticed or won't incorporate (maybe because the bass would then have to *look* like one of those others).

Yes, and I feel better being free to replace the neck too.
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I have noticed the same dead spot on Fender basses and Thunderbirds. My EB-2, the 2001 Thunderbird, the fretless 'Bird, and the FenderBird do not seem to have any. I have not noticed one on the 2013 EB, and the dead spot is minimal to the point that it is sometimes there, sometimes not on the 2015 and the FlamingoBird, a 1991. The Ric I had was completely dead around the seventh fret on the G string. Tweaking it helped, but it didn't go away.

Point being that setup makes a difference, the individual bass makes a difference, but I am not convinced that the way the bass is built matters when it comes to dead spots.
 
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#147,245
LetItGrowTone said:
What I speculated above about the plain maple core of the Ric, and the need to do something about whole-body resonance, is probably the reason for the 9 or 7 alternating plies of dissimilar woods in the core of the Gibson/Epiphone Tbirds. Just guessing that Tbirds are better with regard to dead spots. Is that true?

I think Ric used to have a single ply of different wood down the center, but not anymore.
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yes, your guess is correct in my experience. It is not 100% successful in eliminating dead spots, but my experience is that they can be mostly tweaked out of a Thunderbird. They can be minimized on a Ric, too. Just not as completely. It probably depends on the specific Ric a bit as well.
 
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#147,246
dagrev said:
Personally never a fan of that color. I think I prefer even Sunburst or Antigua.:woot: But I'm not much of a brown family color person, so I know it's just me. Do love the natural brown on your Kubicki-bird. Brown wood I like, just not brownish paints.
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I hear you. Brown, most especially taupe is an acquired taste. I think it's because it is more aligned with the cosmetic and interior design world, whereas most guitar colors are from the automotive world. One way to look at it is that a solid colour brown isn't attempting to look like wood - it's stating itself as brown, like any other colour. Also, brown is an 'earth' colour - commonly found in nature. Most car colors aren't found in nature. (CAR?) :)
 
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#147,247
JIO said:
I hear you. Brown, most especially taupe is an acquired taste. I think it's because it is more aligned with the cosmetic and interior design world, whereas most guitar colors are from the automotive world. One way to look at it is that a solid colour brown isn't attempting to look like wood - it's stating itself as brown, like any other colour. Also, brown is an 'earth' colour - commonly found in nature. Most car colors aren't found in nature. (CAR?) :)
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And how many shades of that are there?
 
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#147,251
Easily my favorite "budget" Fenderbird is the Jackson Kellybird. I picked this up new a few years ago for $189.00. I had a Artech in it but had been planning on popping in one of my Model Gs under a chrome Thunderbird pickup cover. Idle hands.
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#147,252
JIO said:
I hear you. Brown, most especially taupe is an acquired taste. I think it's because it is more aligned with the cosmetic and interior design world, whereas most guitar colors are from the automotive world. One way to look at it is that a solid colour brown isn't attempting to look like wood - it's stating itself as brown, like any other colour. Also, brown is an 'earth' colour - commonly found in nature. Most car colors aren't found in nature. (CAR?) :)
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:thumbsup:

Interestingly enough, my first car was brown. A Plymouth with a beautifully deep and rich brown with subtle metallic gold flake (factory color). Possibly the nicest brown I've ever seen. And with the white vinyl top :)eek:) it looked great--for the time, maybe even now. Chrysler likely had more horriable earth tones and other deigns than anyone over the years. But this one worked. So it can look good in certain contests, even for me. I had that car when I bought my first Thunderbird.
 
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#147,255
dagrev said:
:thumbsup:

Interestingly enough, my first car was brown. A Plymouth with a beautifully deep and rich brown with subtle metallic gold flake (factory color). Possibly the nicest brown I've ever seen. And with the white vinyl top :)eek:) it looked great--for the time, maybe even now. Chrysler likely had more horriable earth tones and other deigns than anyone over the years. But this one worked. So it can look good in certain contests, even for me. I had that car when I bought my first Thunderbird.
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Yes, like any other colour there are good and bad examples. In the late '60s there was a brown we all used to refer to as monkey :poop: brown :D

Brown is also the colour of rust...

672C2D0C-1D49-4828-8276-2B46951B7725_4_5005_c.jpeg


and the future...

FAF970E1-44E8-4DDC-9A6E-9698144318D2.jpeg
 
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#147,256
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#147,257
dagrev said:
Interestingly enough, my first car was brown. A Plymouth with a beautifully deep and rich brown with subtle metallic gold flake (factory color). Possibly the nicest brown I've ever seen. And with the white vinyl top
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'74 Valiant four door, slant 6?

Received Stew-Mac nut files. The Embassy will get a nut dressing and TIJFs.
 
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#147,260
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