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Thunderbird Club

#162,342
BklynKen said:
You could transport those pickups on your trains.

Any idea how the sound/tone differed?
Click to expand...

Those pickups haven't been in a bass for more than a decade, that was a LOT of drinking ago...........:laugh:
 
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#162,344
GBassNorth said:
Nice Jazz.
Checking is one of those odd things to me. I have a white 1968 P bass with honest player wear thru the finish in a couple of spots, yellowing on all exposed surfaces, shrinkage of the pickguard and a fair amount of checking. But I also have a 1974 Mustang Guitar in Burst finish that has very little player wear, no obvious discoloration, no shrinkage on the guard, and no noticable checking. No checking on my 1977 Greco Thunderbird either. Why one has checking and the others don't seems odd to me. None have been refinished, FWIW the P bass is always stored in its case as was the TBird but the Mustang is always stored on a hanger.
Click to expand...
My EB2 has no checking. Actually none of my instruments do with the exception of the piano. That was UV damage from being by a sunny window. Maybe checking is more about sun damage than age.
 
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#162,345
KaraQ said:
Well, got bad-ish news about the SQ Greco - apparently, it got some minor damage from shipping, and they sent it back to the shipper, who looked into fixing it. But apparently he decided to not go that route & sent me a full refund instead.

I feel like I should be :crying:
But he did do the refund unprompted, so...:thumbsdown: :sorry:

:(
Click to expand...
AARGH! I wanted to know what those were all about. But at least you now have the money for another Thunderbird.
 
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#162,347
GBassNorth said:
Not sure how that price stacks up for birds in your area, but the player wear looks honest and might be indicative of a good playing bass. Sometimes the pristine case queen basses are just that because they lack playing hours and just don't have the sound or feel of a better playing bass.

Note worthy:
Looks all original and heavily played but not abused. The bridge screws are nice and neat, not torn up so it hasn't had many needs for height adjustments, probably a very stable neck. The back of the upper horn has had the clear coat worn off, no real signs of abrasion so maybe someone who played it shirtless? The headstock doesn't looked like it's been banged up. The wear into the wood on the front looks like player wear not damage from abuse. Missing Center cap on tone pot. Great case if you're into gigging and need a durable transport. All in all, a very nice bass If the price is right.
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The 1991 and 2001 have similar wear on the center block. I suspect it is a pick that did that. I usually play with fingers and my thumb tends to float, so the 2015, which I got when it was about six months old and barely played, has no scars like that.
 
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#162,349
PillO said:
Sure who do want to have owned it? Axl or Izzy Stradlin? Maybe one of the roadies? Even better, I could have it as a gift from Alice Cooper to Slash...
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Jaco gave it to them. It has a new neck, but it is the same bass. You can tell by the picture of Jaco holding it before it was refinished.
 
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#162,352
dagrev said:
Sure it's the taper and not that they are getting tough on the fingers? It's OK to admit. It's the first step in recovery...and you can join the special club and can use the secret sign!

I've played about everything GHS has made but not those. I know even among GHS fans they get hardly any love and disappoint most GHS fans. I understand they tend to feel a little grabby like the D'Addario's ground wound. I do love GHS Precision Flats. Going a little brighter would be Pressurewounds. Not sure about the lengths off the top of my head, however.
Click to expand...
:laugh: No. I still love the EBCF's on my 'Bird and LPB2/5. I'd put them on the EB-0 but they're ~36" to the taper so I'd really be into the 'meat' of the string to put 'em on the shorty.
I went ahead and ordered the GHS SS Brite Flats. We'll see........
 
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#162,354
TBird1958 said:
I don't have pictures of the later versions, they're lost in the miasma of Photobucket but most of them are a twin coil design. This shot is one taken from my '89, here it's been potted into an N.O.S. '76 pup cover......Oh, and model trains!

View attachment 3989763
Click to expand...
The '91 pickups are completely different. They look like somebody poured epoxy into the cover and left a wire sticking out. There is nothing but an epoxy surface behind the cover. Meaning the back. I did not remove the covers.
 
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#162,355
BklynKen said:
I hear you on that one. :) Thing is, I bet the differences are really minimal with equalization at the amp, and strings.
Click to expand...
I didn't hear a whole lot of useful difference between the '91 and '01. Gibson seems to have been pretty good at doing different things but getting the same result.
 
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#162,356
Outdoor gigs starting to pickup for this crew...stoked..
F19BB924-9EF5-4FAD-8688-686F3330EC6E.jpeg
 
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#162,358
Help needed...

I was trying to track down the source of some hum on my Goth bass and Decided to go through the grounding which was pretty sloppy (clearly not stock) and I noticed something that has me scratching my head.

The tone pot is currently wired up with a common ground across all three pot bodies, no problem there. But the tone cap is wired from the tone pot CENTER lug to the pot body. The right lug is a common ground to the output jack ring. I could swear when I've worked on passive vol/Vol/tone basses the cap was wired to the RIGHT lug and the output jack ring was connected to the center lug grounding wires.

I've searched on line and as luck would have it, I found different Thunderbird schematics that show it different ways.

Is there a correct way?
 
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#162,359
GBassNorth said:
Help needed...

I was trying to track down the source of some hum on my Goth bass and Decided to go through the grounding which was pretty sloppy (clearly not stock) and I noticed something that has me scratching my head.

The tone pot is currently wired up with a common ground across all three pot bodies, no problem there. But the tone cap is wired from the tone pot CENTER lug to the pot body. The right lug is a common ground to the output jack ring. I could swear when I've worked on passive vol/Vol/tone basses the cap was wired to the RIGHT lug and the output jack ring was connected to the center lug grounding wires.

I've searched on line and as luck would have it, I found different Thunderbird schematics that show it different ways.

Is there a correct way?
Click to expand...
The one that works?o_O
 
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#162,360
GBassNorth said:
Help needed...

I was trying to track down the source of some hum on my Goth bass and Decided to go through the grounding which was pretty sloppy (clearly not stock) and I noticed something that has me scratching my head.

The tone pot is currently wired up with a common ground across all three pot bodies, no problem there. But the tone cap is wired from the tone pot CENTER lug to the pot body. The right lug is a common ground to the output jack ring. I could swear when I've worked on passive vol/Vol/tone basses the cap was wired to the RIGHT lug and the output jack ring was connected to the center lug grounding wires.

I've searched on line and as luck would have it, I found different Thunderbird schematics that show it different ways.

Is there a correct way?
Click to expand...

I found the same thing when looking for wiring diagrams. Doesn't help that both of the other v/v/t Thunderbirds I have are wired different :banghead:

With the first iteration of wiring for the GBP, I wired the cap to the outer/right lug; I don't know if that was causing my issues or not, but I'm wiring it to the center this time around, see what happens :nailbiting:


Edit: went back & reviewed some of the pics I took, and even though the wiring is different in some ways, both of the bolt-on 'birds have the cap wired to the center lug
 
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