Thunderbird Club

[TBird1958]

Interesting! How's the tone? Every DR I've tried was too laid-back for me in tone.

I've been meaning to do this over in a dress when I put a fresh set on......Boy Drag, '89 with Lull pickups, Tortex .73 pick, DR Hellborg strings.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Since we're among friends here, yes, brilliant analogy.

Do you prefer the neck pickup (over the bridge pickup) on TBird? Strongly?

careful who you side with on that one.....

 

[GBassNorth]

Since we're among friends here, yes, brilliant analogy.

Do you prefer the neck pickup (over the bridge pickup) on TBird? Strongly?

I favor the neck pup on all my basses, including my Thunderbirds. On the TBirds I normally have the neck pup at about 75% on and then I'll dial in a little bit of the bridge pup if needed for more note definition. My tone knob us usually at or below 50%.

This gives me the darker deeper tone that I'm typically after. I'm more a a pocket player than a showman, perfectly happy driving a solid bass line supporting the song vs jumping out front and competing with the guitars.

If I'm doing solo work or chords and harmonics on the thunderbird I have a tendency to do just the opposite. Bridge at 75% for clarity then bump the neck pup up a bit from zero to thicken things up a tad.

The neat thing about the TBird pups and placement is that both the neck and bridge are very similar flavors, one is just a little brighter and the other is just a little thicker in sound. On a Jazz bass I hear smooth and rich at the neck but nothing like it at the bridge.

 

[PillO]

careful who you side with on that one.....
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There is one guy there I don't recognize. Some doofus with long hair and a lumberjack shirt. Must be some kind of hoser. Eh.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

The neat thing about the TBird pups and placement is that both the neck and bridge are very similar flavors, one is just a little brighter and the other is just a little thicker in sound. On a Jazz bass I hear smooth and rich at the neck but nothing like it at the bridge.

Thank you.
*
Info:

Compared to a 64 TBird (based on this photo with a yardstick laying on it, provided by a member here), the pickups are spread a little on the Embassy Pro, based on measuring mine. Neck about 1/4" farther forward, bridge about 1/2" farther back.

*
On the current TBird Pro the bridge pickup is also about 1/2" back.
Photo is JAEBird (which I took to be "correct" when I set this up), Embassy Pro, TBird Pro, J with 60's spacing:

 

[LetItGrowTone]

careful who you side with on that one.....

Yes, yes. But with regard to the burp specifically, I won't be forgetting that analogy.
*
The Ric bridge pickup (located between a J (60's spacing) and a P), has a bit of it. But not a burp, I'd say it has an aura of bombast. Anyone else feel that?

EDIT:
It looks like the difference in location between a '60s TBird and a current Epiphone TBird Pro is about as large as the difference between J '60s location and J 70's location, which is noticeable. Hmm...
I never lined up a current Gibson like this.
EDIT: The current Gibson pickups are spread even further. The bridge pickup is intermediate between the others, and the neck pickup is the farthest forward.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Yes, yes. But with regard to the burp specifically, I won't be forgetting that analogy.
*
The Ric bridge pickup (located between a J (60's spacing) and a P), has a bit of it. But not a burp, I'd say it has an aura of bombast. Anyone else feel that?

hmmm... somewhat unrealistic of an analogy for a kazoo is not much more than a toy where like the tone or not, to make a soloed bridge pup on a J workable requires more than just basic chops..imho

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Analogy works for me because the kazoo sounds unserious. Speaking of the burp specifically.

 

[Gaolee]

If we were all the same, I would be different as a matter of principle.

Meaning that you would conform, just to be ornery.

 

[MCF]

Prolly the first time ever mentioned in TBird Club.

And excellent!

 

[Gaolee]

There is one guy there I don't recognize. Some doofus with long hair and a lumberjack shirt. Must be some kind of hoser. Eh.

I dunno. I hear he likes Thunderbirds these days. He must be OK.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Since we're among friends here, yes, brilliant analogy.

Do you prefer the neck pickup (over the bridge pickup) on TBird? Strongly?

A number of us do. I do most of the time.

 

[MCF]

Although I've heard of it, I can't say I've actually seen that movie. I'll have to give it a try.

One of the few tolerable Streisand films (JMO). Madeline Kahn was always great. I saw that movie on one of my first dates.

 

[MCF]

Kentucky is just waiting for your return! I'll even throw a welcome home party if you come back!

He’s lived there before. How do people there feel about Native California refugees?

 

[MCF]

Hello! I was digging through specs in Thunderbirds, which is something I hadn't paid much attention to. I went from a Thunderbird goth to a Thunderbird Pro V recently. One thing I wasn't a fan of in my goth was the huge neck. I also play J basses so they always seemed big in comparison. When I bought the Pro V I didn't check the neck specs but was very positively surprised to see that, even though the nut width is big because it is a 5 string, it is comparatively smaller than I expected it to be based on my goth. The flatness of the slimtaper neck is my favorite aspect of my Pro V.
I play mostly metal, funk, psychedelic rock and math rock, and I feel shorter spacing gives me a lot more speed when playing, which is important for these genres.
Most of you have the more "traditional" 1.73" neck, it seems. Aside from the anatomy (big hands, big neck) argument, what other advantages do you feel this girthy neck brings to the table?

The 1.73 nuts are only on the Epi bolt-ons. Epi VPs, Pros, CPs have 1.5 nuts, as do Gibsons. On the three bolt-ons that I have, I’ve become used to them even though I have small hands. In fact, I don’t really notice the difference after a second or two. They’re nice necks. Not as fast as my Gibson 1.5 or the neck on my Peavy Foundation, but very nice none the less.

 

[PillO]

...just to be ornery.

You aren't surprised are you?

 

[Gaolee]

You aren't surprised are you?

I am always surprised.

 

[GonePlaid]

The 1.73 nuts are only on the Epi bolt-ons. Epi VPs, Pros, CPs have 1.5 nuts, as do Gibsons. On the three bolt-ons that I have, I’ve become used to them even though I have small hands. In fact, I don’t really notice the difference after a second or two. They’re nice necks. Not as fast as my Gibson 1.5 or the neck on my Peavy Foundation, but very nice none the less.

It's ~1/8". Much as I love my 1 1/2" TBird, I think I could learn to ignore that difference.

 

[BklynKen]

The 1.73 nuts are only on the Epi bolt-ons. Epi VPs, Pros, CPs have 1.5 nuts, as do Gibsons. On the three bolt-ons that I have, I’ve become used to them even though I have small hands. In fact, I don’t really notice the difference after a second or two. They’re nice necks. Not as fast as my Gibson 1.5 or the neck on my Peavy Foundation, but very nice none the less.

How do you find the thicker neck on your NR compared to your 2015 Gibson? Are those the only two Gibsons you have?

 

[MCF]

How do you find the thicker neck on your NR compared to your 2015 Gibson? Are those the only two Gibsons you have?

Don’t think about it. I’ve decided to be neck agnostic, so I am. And that works for me. Once I get lost in the song, I concentrate on it. And yep, I only have two Gibson’s (for now anyway). There will be more, just taking a break from GAS for awhile.

BTW, just saw that Tom Seaver passed away. Sad day for baseball fans, New York in particular.