Thunderbird Club

[GBassNorth]

A serious question (I know, here of all places).

Most national holidays celebrating the formation of a country are called either Independence (sometimes with a from) or the Country's name Day. Properly, the US holiday is Independence Day. But the vast majority of Americans call it 4th of July.

So, why is it that Americans:
1. Prefer to call your celebration of nationhood after a date rather Independence, and
2. Americans like to use the least logical system for dates (month, day, year) but refer to Independence Day as 4th of July (the logical order)?

You did get me thinking with those questions (well a margarita and some spare time helped).

Off the top of my head I can't recall any other holiday celebrated in the US that is referred to by the date. I think all are referred to by the event being celebrated (Christmas, Thanksgiving, D-Day, VE-Day, Easter, New Years, Columbus Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day...). We sometimes call it Independence Day, but more often than not it's called the 4th of July. We have 4th of July parades and celebrations and picnics and fireworks and even special sales.

I did all my public schooling in the 1960's and 1970's. Even back then we didn't really dwell too much on the Revolutionary War or what led up to it, how long it lasted, major battles, numbers of casualties on each side, aliances with other countries, or how we managed the transition to self governance afterwards.

Generally speaking, history lessons at the K-12 Levels in US public schools were a joke 50 years ago and I suspect are even more so now. College level courses are probably ok but very few degrees require them so the vast majority of undergraduates and up really don't learn much about that topic.

Kind of sad really, not sure how good other countries do on teaching history but ours is sorely lacking. I'd bet a fair number of people in this club can recite more about the history of the Thunderbird bass than the American Revolution.

 

[RedVee]

A1: Public school systems likely bear some blame. (I likely have more teachers in my family than anyone here.)

A2: Are you trying to start another war?

I have a truck load of teachers in the fam as well. All on Dads side.
Wife & daughter, some kids of my cousins, and 3 or 4 of my cousins.
2 Uncles, plus a few of Dads cousins.
Grandfather and 1 or two of his cousins,
Great Grandmother. The starting point. I have a little correspondence in the records about the dim view the Dept of Ed took of her daring to work after marriage.

Edit: 5 Generations and not missing one.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

You did get me thinking with those questions (well a margarita and some spare time helped).

Off the top of my head I can't recall any other holiday celebrated in the US that is referred to by the date. I think all are referred to by the event being celebrated (Christmas, Thanksgiving, D-Day, VE-Day, Easter, New Years, Columbus Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day...). We sometimes call it Independence Day, but more often than not it's called the 4th of July. We have 4th of July parades and celebrations and picnics and fireworks and even special sales.

I did all my public schooling in the 1960's and 1970's. Even back then we didn't really dwell too much on the Revolutionary War or what led up to it, how long it lasted, major battles, numbers of casualties on each side, aliances with other countries, or how we managed the transition to self governance afterwards.

I guess that depends on where you went to school. In both Texas and Georgia through the 60s and early 70s, we *did* learn about a lot of that stuff. We even learned some of the mistreatment of native Americans. Not all of it. And while we did learn about slavery and mistreatment of black people (and others, such as Asians during the gold rush), there was stuff left out. Most of my teachers were decent to great. Most. I had a black teacher for history in 8th grade. Dude was pretty radical for that time in a small Georgia city. I learned quite a bit more black history than was in the book.

Generally speaking, history lessons at the K-12 Levels in US public schools were a joke 50 years ago and I suspect are even more so now. College level courses are probably ok but very few degrees require them so the vast majority of undergraduates and up really don't learn much about that topic.

Hmmm. I had to take at least two history courses (I dropped out, so not sure what I needed beyond what I got). I had incredible teachers for those.

Kind of sad really, not sure how good other countries do on teaching history but ours is sorely lacking. I'd bet a fair number of people in this club can recite more about the history of the Thunderbird bass than the American Revolution.

No clue on that one.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I have a truck load of teachers in the fam as well. All on Dads side.
Wife & daughter, some kids of my cousins, and 3 or 4 of my cousins.
2 Uncles, plus a few of Dads cousins.
Grandfather and 1 or two of his cousins,
Great Grandmother. The starting point. I have a little correspondence in the records about the dim view the Dept of Ed took of her daring to work after marriage.

Edit: 5 Generations and not missing one.

Nice!

None in my recent lineage except Dad, who was a chemistry professor at UTEP (TWC) and then Augusta College. A couple of cousins are teachers. I've done a fair bit of teaching (tech, church, etc.), tutoring of friends and fam (math, English, history, etc.), and more. Sharon homeschooled our kids until early HS, with me diving in where needed.

 

[dagrev]

I have a truck load of teachers in the fam as well. All on Dads side.
Wife & daughter, some kids of my cousins, and 3 or 4 of my cousins.
2 Uncles, plus a few of Dads cousins.
Grandfather and 1 or two of his cousins,
Great Grandmother. The starting point. I have a little correspondence in the records about the dim view the Dept of Ed took of her daring to work after marriage.

Edit: 5 Generations and not missing one.

I've got eight, with one in higher Ed. A couple retired at this point. The second most common and more closely related is engineering.

 

[RedVee]

Speaking of American history, we watched the filmed stage show “Hamilton” last night. I enjoyed the show, I’d never heard of him before the show (one daughter plays the soundtrack a lot).
Seeing the show was cool.

 

[Border]

Good evening and happy Independence Day to my Thunderbird loving sisters and brothers. I am glad to be off the road after a long drive back from Portland. I greatly appreciated the good wishes and the suggestion about Thunder Road. I did not get a chance to visit it, but hope to when I return in a few weeks to bring my wife home after her extended visit. Just ordered a couple sets of strings for my Thunderbird. A set of GHS Balanced Nickels, and EB Cobalt Flats. The GHS sound great on my Jazz, the EBs on my Jack Casady. Still debating which to try on my Bird. Have a great evening everyone. Stay safe, stay well.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Good evening and happy Independence Day to my Thunderbird loving sisters and brothers. I am glad to be off the road after a long drive back from Portland. I greatly appreciated the good wishes and the suggestion about Thunder Road. I did not get a chance to visit it, but hope to when I return in a few weeks to bring my wife home after her extended visit. Just ordered a couple sets of strings for my Thunderbird. A set of GHS Balanced Nickels, and EB Cobalt Flats. The GHS sound great on my Jazz, the EBs on my Jack Casady. Still debating which to try on my Bird. Have a great evening everyone. Stay safe, stay well.

Welcome back! I love EB CFs on my birds.

 

[Gaolee]

A serious question (I know, here of all places).

Most national holidays celebrating the formation of a country are called either Independence (sometimes with a from) or the Country's name Day. Properly, the US holiday is Independence Day. But the vast majority of Americans call it 4th of July.

So, why is it that Americans:
1. Prefer to call your celebration of nationhood after a date rather Independence, and
2. Americans like to use the least logical system for dates (month, day, year) but refer to Independence Day as 4th of July (the logical order)?

Because we are like that about everything. Haven't you noticed?

 

[Gaolee]

Good evening and happy Independence Day to my Thunderbird loving sisters and brothers. I am glad to be off the road after a long drive back from Portland. I greatly appreciated the good wishes and the suggestion about Thunder Road. I did not get a chance to visit it, but hope to when I return in a few weeks to bring my wife home after her extended visit. Just ordered a couple sets of strings for my Thunderbird. A set of GHS Balanced Nickels, and EB Cobalt Flats. The GHS sound great on my Jazz, the EBs on my Jack Casady. Still debating which to try on my Bird. Have a great evening everyone. Stay safe, stay well.

Here is another thumbs up for Cobalt Flats on Thunderbirds.

 

[Iristone]

To be fair, in China we also call our national day "1st of October" sometimes. I think it's the difference between a long, official name and a short, colloquial name, just like we call Gibson's dual-coil noise-cancelling pickup a "humbucker".

 

[Nocturnal]

Be sure to post a pic of your BaCH in the nude. I'd love to see what the wood looks like on these.

My friend and neighbor completely rebuilt his Bach into something amazing!! You can see the naked wood in his project pics.

Arts and crafts time! (bass refinishing project) - MUFF WIGGLER

Speaking of American history, we watched the filmed stage show “Hamilton” last night. I enjoyed the show, I’d never heard of him before the show (one daughter plays the soundtrack a lot).
Seeing the show was cool.

We watched it last night as well. I thought it was good but I can imagine its much better in person.

 

[bassgtarman]

First gig with the Epi Vintage Pro. A small (maybe 18 people) cookout at the guitarist’s house. Also, first gig period since August (our singer had a baby and we were just getting geared up to start gigging when everything shut down). Also, I believe, my first gig in shorts!

 

[Mvf]

Independence from daylight!

That too... But actually from Russia in 1917.

 

[GBassNorth]

My friend and neighbor completely rebuilt his Bach into something amazing!! You can see the naked wood in his project pics.

Arts and crafts time! (bass refinishing project) - MUFF WIGGLER

That really is an amazing rebuild! Thanks for sharing. (Although I gotta admit I was a bit hesitant to click on a link that took me to a site called Muff Wiggler).

I didn't realize it was capped in maple and has a maple neck as well. I like black guitars and basses so I won't be refinishing mine anytime soon but there's some great tips and tricks noted in the write up for those that might go that route.

The more I play mine the more I think I'll probably replace the pup in with something else. But I'll try some different string options first. I have Black Beauties on it now, which sound better than the DA XL Nickel rounds that were on it before. I'll probably buy some Cobalt flats to try on it next.

Question for the club members here - if I wanted ultra deep and dark sounding flats what should I go with? And if I wanted to go in the opposite direction with bright articulate rounds, what string would be best?

 

[KaraQ]

That really is an amazing rebuild! Thanks for sharing. (Although I gotta admit I was a bit hesitant to click on a link that took me to a site called Muff Wiggler).

I didn't realize it was capped in maple and has a maple neck as well. I like black guitars and basses so I won't be refinishing mine anytime soon but there's some great tips and tricks noted in the write up for those that might go that route.

The more I play mine the more I think I'll probably replace the pup in with something else. But I'll try some different string options first. I have Black Beauties on it now, which sound better than the DA XL Nickel rounds that were on it before. I'll probably buy some Cobalt flats to try on it next.

Question for the club members here - if I wanted ultra deep and dark sounding flats what should I go with? And if I wanted to go in the opposite direction with bright articulate rounds, what string would be best?

I don't really have anything good to compare them to, and I'm sure they'd sound different on your Thunderbird than on my Epiphones, but I love the way Rotosound 77 flats sound.

 

[PillO]

(Although I gotta admit I was a bit hesitant to click on a link that took me to a site called Muff Wiggler)

It does sound rather like a parasitic infection...

Of course I say the same about the Melville classic - Moby Dick

 

[PillO]

I don't really have anything good to compare them to, and I'm sure they'd sound different on your Thunderbird than on my Epiphones, but I love the way Rotosound 77 flats sound.

If I were to try flats again, I think I would opt for RS 77s rather than cobalt flats. But these days, I am more curious about tapes on my bird.

 

[Mike.C.]

First gig with the Epi Vintage Pro. A small (maybe 18 people) cookout at the guitarist’s house. Also, first gig period since August (our singer had a baby and we were just getting geared up to start gigging when everything shut down). Also, I believe, my first gig in shorts!

Glad you got out to play, and sported the VP. Say, is that the Psycho house tatted on your guitarist’s leg?

 

[GonePlaid]

Happy 4th to you and all you US TB:ers. Here in Finland we celebrate independence 6th of December.

May I assume there aren't a lot of outdoor picnics?