Thunderbird Club

[MCF]

Thank you. I have actually joined your insanity a couple of years ago, when I got my Gibson Thunderbird. Unfortunately and for some unknown reason I sold it but as you can see, I could not live without a brid so I got that Orville

Your home must be on their migration path. Congrats on being chosen again.

 

[StephnG]

I somehow missed this until today. Sad news. He brought lots of enjoyment to the adolescent me. As I know he did to many of you.
RIP Mort Drucker

Yup,
I missed this too & didn't realize MAD was still going All these years & about to shut down, nobody tells me anything LOL
Well I as well was raised on this stuff & have MANY happy memories tied to it, especially when the "Penguins" would crack me with wooden pointers & confiscate my Mags, usually my brother would have to come pick me up for my "reprimand" (in either an AMX or a Javelin since he worked for an AMC dealer at the time!!) thus giving them to back to him & we would laugh about it on the way home (since he was source of the them in the first place!) I would get my Mags back thus making them "A right of passage"
And the "cycle" would continue!!

Ah the good ole days, doesn't get much better than Mad Mags & Javs

 

[Thumper]

I was watching the Mar 5 2020 rerun of Colbert last night featuring Keith Urban, who played a new song. When the music started, of course, the camera was locked on Keith. But my attention was immediately caught by the glorious bass tone, authoritative, deep, with a slight growl. Then I thought it only sounded so good cause he was locked in so tightly with the drummer. Then I thought, no, that's a GREAT tone. They finally showed the bassist.

No surprise, he was playing a Gibson Thunderbird. It was a brown burst, white pickguard and black PUPs and hardware. Man, I love the tone of that 'bird! It wasn't a mid-range growl, more of a low low-mid. I want to cop that tone.....

 

[GonePlaid]

I was watching the Mar 5 2020 rerun of Colbert last night featuring Keith Urban, who played a new song. When the music started, of course, the camera was locked on Keith. But my attention was immediately caught by the glorious bass tone, authoritative, deep, with a slight growl. Then I thought it only sounded so good cause he was locked in so tightly with the drummer. Then I thought, no, that's a GREAT tone. They finally showed the bassist.

No surprise, he was playing a Gibson Thunderbird. It was a brown burst, white pickguard and black PUPs and hardware. Man, I love the tone of that 'bird! It wasn't a mid-range growl, more of a low low-mid. I want to cop that tone.....

THUNDERBIRDS play country!!??
ETA: Found it on YT. Obviously the director and camera operator haven't read the rules about not showing the bass player. Great sound.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Here's the link.
You're right, thanks.

 

[MCF]

Yup,
I missed this too & didn't realize MAD was still going All theses years & about to shut down, nobody tells me anything LOL
Well I as well was raised on this stuff & have MANY happy memories tied to it, especially when the "Penguins" would crack me with wooden pointers & confiscate my Mags, usually my brother would have to come pick me up for my "reprimand" (in either an AMX or a Javelin since he worked for an AMC dealer at the time!!) thus giving them to back to him & we would laugh about it on the way home (since he was source of the them in the first place!) I would get my Mags back thus making them "A right of passage"
And the "cycle" would continue!!

Ah the good ole days, doesn't get much better than Mad Mags & Javs

I have a vivid memory of Dad bringing me one when I was in the hospital at 9 having my tonsils removed.

 

[GonePlaid]

Here's the link.
You're right, thanks.

Keith Urban has a THUNDERBIRD tat on his left forearm! Cool.
Addendum: he also has Nicole Kidman.Cool-er

 

[MCF]

I was watching the Mar 5 2020 rerun of Colbert last night featuring Keith Urban, who played a new song. When the music started, of course, the camera was locked on Keith. But my attention was immediately caught by the glorious bass tone, authoritative, deep, with a slight growl. Then I thought it only sounded so good cause he was locked in so tightly with the drummer. Then I thought, no, that's a GREAT tone. They finally showed the bassist.

No surprise, he was playing a Gibson Thunderbird. It was a brown burst, white pickguard and black PUPs and hardware. Man, I love the tone of that 'bird! It wasn't a mid-range growl, more of a low low-mid. I want to cop that tone.....

I’ll search that out.

 

[MCF]

 

[MCF]

New tool day. Three basses had loose jacks. Bought this cool little tool. $13. Fixed all three in two minutes. No hassle, no worries about scratches or turning the jack innards and breaking a wire.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

@GonePlaid and myself swear on Cobalt flats, good luck with that one.

A couple of people swear at them, but I love them. They don’t do the angry piano nearly as well as RS66s, but while it’s a cool sound, it’s not something I’m usually needing. Cobalts have low end for days and solid mids.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

The pickups and the two piece bridge are the big reason for the difference in tone. I've gone on at length about how much I love the Vintage Pro Thunderbirds, I bought three. that should tell you something.

It was one of the main reasons I bought my VP, Scott!

 

[Brain Fog]

Only weird thing is that this double album has sides 1 and 4 on one record and 2 and 3 on the other.

With all the old guys following this thread, I can't believe nobody answered your implied question.

The reason the sides are like that is because of record changers. Y'know, those players that can hold a stack of records above the platter and drop them down one by one as each side is finished. This way, you can play sides 1 and 2 automatically, then flip them over and play sides 3 and 4.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Tension is the only problem i had with Chromes. Loved the tone, and i so agree. They do get better with age.

My only real issue was the length of the silks. With stock Epi bridges, that put 1-2 string silks on the saddles. Hipshots solved that. It wasn’t an issue on the VP.
I originally thought I couldn't quite intonate the Cobalt E with the stock VP bridge but after lowering that side of the bridge more, it’s fine.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

With all the old guys following this thread, I can't believe nobody answered your implied question.

The reason the sides are like that is because of record changers. Y'know, those players that can hold a stack of records above the platter and drop them down one by one as each side is finished. This way, you can play sides 1 and 2 automatically, then flip them over and play sides 3 and 4.

Some one said that, just phrased it differently.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I somehow missed this until today. Sad news. He brought lots of enjoyment to the adolescent me. As I know he did to many of you.
RIP Mort Drucker

Crap. He was the best.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Here is another new tune.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Another winner!!!

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Then I thought, no, that's a GREAT tone.
...
Gibson Thunderbird ... black PUPs

First I had to accept that my favorite bass tones were solid state, for example Carl Radle with Eric Clapton, JPJ Ramble On, David Hood with Traffic. Had no idea that it wasn't tubes. Had to accept it. My avatar is a part of the Acoustic 360 schematic.

You posted a great tone and I heard it and thought to myself, yeah, that has to be solid state.

And then... something I had already been thinking about recently... I noticed you said "black pups" and googled it and saw that at least the stock pickups on a Gibson Thunderbird these days have ceramic magnets.

My Glarry J (about $80) continues to compete (not stuck in a closet yet) against the more expensive basses I've accumulated (all of them with alnico pickups), and I'm preparing myself to accept that it's the ceramic pickups. This is a little disturbing.

My favorite pickups for 6-string electric were Dimarzio Super Distortion (at the bridge of a Les Paul), and they were ceramic. Totally addicted to them and never could switch.

That's all I'll say for now.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

DR is generally a good choice for thunderbirds, because DR has an especially long winding length. Which is needed, after the tail piece and the long headstocks.

Cobalts have plenty of length. The RS66s come in a long version (LS?). You’d need that.

 

[Engle]

New tool day. Three basses had loose jacks. Bought this cool little tool. $13. Fixed all three in two minutes. No hassle, no worries about scratches or turning the jack innards and breaking a wire.
View attachment 3782392
View attachment 3782393

That’s great! I bet that it would cost me about $30 in now that I can’t cross the border - gonna have to hold off.