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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
-
- Tags
- club thunderbird
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,234
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
It's a belated Thunderbird Thursday here in the GBass household. The BaCH ("Epoch Firebird") arrived a day late, but it was worth the wait! New family Photo...
Needless to say, I'm beyond very satisfied with the line up. Each one has very much its own flavor and feel. I'm especially surprised with the BaCH since I had assumed I'd need to replace the pup like most others have done, but it's very sweet as is. It's strong in the lows and low mids but not boomy. I think I'll try some Roto Solo stainless steel pressure wound strings on it, hopefully to enhance the top end and reduce finger noise a bit.
From left to right...
Roto Stainless Solo pressure wound strings (or maybe some bass burners)
Fender 7150 nickel rounds
Optima Gold coated rounds
Roto Flat wounds (this will be the bass that I use to try to get better at pick playing)
La Bella Black tapes
Needless to say, I'm beyond very satisfied with the line up. Each one has very much its own flavor and feel. I'm especially surprised with the BaCH since I had assumed I'd need to replace the pup like most others have done, but it's very sweet as is. It's strong in the lows and low mids but not boomy. I think I'll try some Roto Solo stainless steel pressure wound strings on it, hopefully to enhance the top end and reduce finger noise a bit.
From left to right...
Roto Stainless Solo pressure wound strings (or maybe some bass burners)
Fender 7150 nickel rounds
Optima Gold coated rounds
Roto Flat wounds (this will be the bass that I use to try to get better at pick playing)
La Bella Black tapes
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,234
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
Fair enough.Hey now! I said lefty Jazz neck........You don't need one of those!
LOL - fortunately (for me) I was all on it a few minutes before the link was posted otherwise I'm sure she'd have a different home. But I'd have been just about as happy if it had been your home, I know there is much love for all things Bird related under your roof.
I've only had her for a couple of hours so I'm not even technically in the honeymoon phase yet, I'm still walking down the isle. But so far all I can say is, wow! I don't think it's hardly ever been played, not a scratch or scuff on it.
I did go into buyers remorse panic for a brief second when I opened the case and saw the strings were nearly 1/2" off the neck. Turned out the truss rod had been fully loosened and the bridge was way up off the body. Two full turns of the truss screw to the right gave it a nice back bow, then dropping the bridge nearly all the way down and bringing the strings up to pitch allowed me to get down to about 3/32" clear at the the 12th fret on the open E. Intonation was way off, so I set that as well.
Plays beautifully now, we'll see if the settings hold, may need to tweak it a bit more tomorrow. It's definitely more along the sound line of my modern Gibby TBird but a bit more on both the top and bottom end. Much more polite than my VP or that Greco beast. The right hand sweet spot on this one is directly over the pup vs the Greco which is anywhere from the 15th fret to just off the bridge. I haven't had a strap on it yet to see how it balances but I will say when seated it's a longer reach to the G tuner than my VP. It's not a longer bass it's just where the bass body rests on my right thigh when seated.
If I decide to off it you'll be the first to know, but don't hold your breath, I think she's a solid keeper.
godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
- 9,057
- 38,405
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
That black one may have been mine at one point, that's one of my pickguards on it, I had two black ones "the twins" I called them. Sold one off kept the other, I still have the one black and two others. That Artech pickup is very nice sounding, not as much grit as a 60's pup but it has the highs and mids.
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Deserves more than a "Like!"
The original Bach/Artec pickup was fine. I think a lot of us just wanted to install the Bird pickups to make it more along the lines of the original. I used to have a couple extra floarting around here (one that our Queen sent me years ago) but I think I gave them to Roger a couple years ago.
LOL - it's a small world.
So I guess that explains the TBird logo on the guard. Looks like it had a strap pin on the heel at one time, just a hole now. This one also has what I'd call a bit of an uneven finish job on the back, doesn't look like a refin, looks more like a factory blem. I think I read somewhere there were only 10 black single pup models made, so this may very well have been yours (you're not gettin it back now).
I think Veronica had a black one also...
I like the stock pup so far but might put a chrome can on it to complete the retro look. And I'll need to put a strap pin back in the heel hole so the paint won't chip out on me. Other than that she's good to go. Also came with a hard case but it doesn't say BaCH anywhere on it and it's not specifically cut out for this specific body shape so I assume it's just a generic after market case.
Ha! Very cool. What amazes me that you parted with one....
godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
- 9,057
- 38,405
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,234
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
I really should have kept that bass, it was sweet as ^&%$ with a single Lull. (Kicks self in butt one more time)
At least I still have the old Subie, it's slow and ugly but I love it!
Well, since I didn't get it, permit me to offer a suggestion for the strap pin hole:
That's somebody that just kinda fell off the face of the earth. I miss the old guy, wonder what he's up to these days.
Welcome back!I believe the technical term for that collection is "NOICE".
Has the thought “all these years.....” crossed your mind yet?
