Me, either, Jeff. And me, too. Then again, Roadkills-R-Us has always gotten along with dead stuff. Especially dead corporate georaffes.
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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Me, either, Jeff. And me, too. Then again, Roadkills-R-Us has always gotten along with dead stuff. Especially dead corporate georaffes.
Yeah, plus God knows what import-and other-fees.
Just an update on the JetStar in Phoenix. The guy doesn't ship-and I'm not driving to AZ. Oh, well, LSTYD-as usual.
Plus a mandatory 14-day quarantine because they can't find its nostril to test it for covid.
@Nocturnal-thanks for the info. A little too far for me to drive since he won't ship.
Today was the day I wanted to get the VP dialed in. I decided those DA Pro Steels were dead, or garbage, or both. I had a fresh set of 45 - 105 Nickels I added to a SW order some weeks ago on a whim, just to check the brand out. So I figured I’d put them on, if they don’t work it’ll be on to something else. I removed the old strings, polished the frets, cleaned the FB and opened the new strings. I was attending a wedding via Zoom while I was doing this, so I wasn’t paying real close attention as I was installing the strings. Got ‘en on, tuned to pitch and what the heck? A taper point sits on the fret. Really? I’d never come across strings that tapered like that on the fretboard.
So I’m pissed. And I’m not putting those Pro Steels back on. I really want to play this bird with fresh strings. So I check and see GC is open. I wait until the wedding wraps up and venture out into the world, mask and all. I figured a fresh set of Slinkys will sound good, at feast for a little while. I get to GC and they only have sets of 45 -100. Not my usual gauge, but they’ll have to do.
Anyway, I got them installed, did the intonation dance, straightened the neck a bit, set the string height and got to play for a bit. Wow. This VP sounds amazing. Like Turner on Ballad of the Beacon from the Live Dates album when he started playing the bird he got from Overend.
I ordered knobs the other day; one of the volume knobs is missing the silver reflector. They should be here by Thursday.
The nickels I was going to try on a whim? These. As far as I’m concerned, they’re worthless.
So I’m pissed. And I’m not putting those Pro Steels back on. I really want to play this bird with fresh strings. So I check and see GC is open. I wait until the wedding wraps up and venture out into the world, mask and all. I figured a fresh set of Slinkys will sound good, at feast for a little while. I get to GC and they only have sets of 45 -100. Not my usual gauge, but they’ll have to do.
Anyway, I got them installed, did the intonation dance, straightened the neck a bit, set the string height and got to play for a bit. Wow. This VP sounds amazing. Like Turner on Ballad of the Beacon from the Live Dates album when he started playing the bird he got from Overend.
I ordered knobs the other day; one of the volume knobs is missing the silver reflector. They should be here by Thursday.
The nickels I was going to try on a whim? These. As far as I’m concerned, they’re worthless.
Did you notice they're short scale(or so the package says)? Prolly designed for an EB-0/3.
Yeah. After the fact. And the order was clearly for the long scale ones. Funny thing is, the G and D string were long enough to reach on the VP with two 1/2 wraps and the A and E had to be trimmed down. Next time, I’ll pay closer attention to what I’m doing.
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,236
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
I knew you'd find something you liked! Sucks it was so hard. I'd send those back to SW.
Bummer he won't ship. He lives on the other side of town, but might be able to work something out to pick it up and ship it. Wouldn't be able to get over there until late in the weeks tho. PM me if you want to discuss.
You can try swaying. I appreciate all the advice and perspective. I'm open minded, but can still get locked in at times. I have some sets of DA EXLs that came on basses and I'm certainly not opposed to putting a set on to see how they work. Shoot, as cheap as they are, I hope they do. I also have a set of EC CFs. They sounded really good on the first VP. Don't really care for how they feel, but if they are the trick, I can easily get over that. I hesitated trying them thus far because the Gibson has something on the top end (upper mids I think), that sticks out and I can't pinpoint which frequency range it might be in, and was afraid the CFs wold make that worse, being a little bright. Kind of like the TIs I first tried. But now that I'm fooling with the tone knob and EQ I might be able to get either of those to work. I found the EB CFs kind of similar in tone to GHS Pressurewounds, which are made from Alloy52. I'm open to advice and correction, so sway away!
Maybe. I'll likely give them another shot. TIs do sound great on the '76!Short story, TI's not for you.
Cool pic. As always.
I'm so glad you are pleased with the tone! Also glad after all my hype you didn't say, "This thing sucks!" Awfully close to the 60s tone--W/O dropping some serious money, even for replacement PUs. And I've mentioned before that most of the strings I have tried sounded really good, even Fender flats, but some were in the amazing category. Don't be afraid to try some more string options to see which one matches the best with the bass and your tonal objectives.
If I play one of these, will my neck do what this guy's is doing? That would be an unexpected bonus.
That's so bizarre. But they're Brite!
