Thunderbird Club

[Chucky Stiletti]

Great question - so many of us here have experimented with different flats. My experience so far...
EB Cobalt Flats - probably the most round wound sound of flats, bold, long lasting, perfect for a TBird.
Chrome flats - bright, high mid focused, not my cup of tea - YMMV, interesting dark grey look.
Roto flats - deep, dark, plenty of thump, very traditional flats sound, very nice on a TBird.
TI Jazz flats - wonderful traditional sound, medium tension, Motown vibe, very nice on a TBird.
La Bella Black Tapes - deep, dark, woody thump, sweet mids, flat string feel, neat look on some birds.

yeah those tapes can almost be made to sound like an upright....really like the tension of the Chromes...what are your thoughts on Deep Talkin Bass?

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

!!!EYE BLEACH!!! I need EYE BLEACH!
Somebody flash me with the sparkley fingers girl!

 

[GonePlaid]

yeah those tapes can almost be made to sound like an upright....really like the tension of the Chromes...what are your thoughts on Deep Talkin Bass?

I put DTB's on the Ibby semi-hollow. Nice upright-y sound.
So far, not overly impressed with the GHS Brite Flats on the EB-0. Not as smooth as Chromes or EBCF's.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Yeah, if the slingshot is your thing, maybe greater problems than neck dive?
View attachment 4005125

man, just as we are signing new members...

 

[PillO]

man, just as we are signing new members...

You don't want to be driving up the price of used T Birds do you?

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Chronological order:
-La Bella DTB: Love the crisp sound of a brand new set (but that's not really what these are about), even the thickest ones. At times, exquisite mids "to die for". But learned from these that I don't like thump, so migrated from 760M - 760FS - LTFF (installed now on another bass. Seem good, thump ok so far). Say again: love 'em, but can't stand thump, myself.
-Dunlop: They sound like the intro solo of Rig Rundown Snarky Puppy (google it). Very nice.
-TIJF: I'm probably addicted to these for the clarity. Low tension? I adapt to that for the sake of the tone (and since I'm a beginner on bass I don't have much technical adaptation to work through).

So, @T-BirdBassist89, do you have a favorite tone sample to share with us?

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

You don't want to be driving up the price of used T Birds do you?

ahh....there is a method to..

 

[T-BirdBassist89]

i appreciate all of the suggestions but i went with trying high tension rotos think that's gonna give my t-bird the sound I'm looking for

 

[GBassNorth]

yeah those tapes can almost be made to sound like an upright....really like the tension of the Chromes...what are your thoughts on Deep Talkin Bass?

Haven't tried them on a bird yet. Really liked a set (I think they were DTBs but not positive) I played on a friends P bass a few years ago. They are on my "Do Try" list with the next bird that needs a string change.

 

[GBassNorth]

i appreciate all of the suggestions but i went with trying high tension rotos think that's gonna give my t-bird the sound I'm looking for

I think you made a good choice there. Very traditional flat sound and they play very nicely with the bird pups.

If you have or get multiple birds try stringing one of them up with Cobalt Flats. They have a very interesting, agressive, complex sound. Very unflat like in their attack, bloom and decay. Still unmistakably a flat but definitely at the far end of the spectrum. Almost a perfect flat for folks that don't normally like flats. Very much worth a try.

 

[GBassNorth]

I'm pretty sure the tapes that are on the '15 are Rotos. I don't remember exactly now, and of course I never write anything down. They were on the Flamingo for a bit and sounded great on it, too. I suspect they are the last strings I'll ever put on the '15, since they don't wear out. The '15 has such powerful magnets in its pickups that tapes can get pretty aggressive on that bass, and then mellow out to Motown thump when you want that sound. They won't ever give you the kind of sound metal guys like, but I don't play that way. At least not for now. Never say never. But I wouldn't use that bass for metal anyway, since it is strung with tapes and probably always will be from now on.

The strings on each bass came about after trying all kinds of things, some more than once because I kinda forget.

For some reason I was recalling your Tapes as being La Bella blacks but I might have you mixed up with someone else.
If it helps, the La Bella Tapes (which I love the feel and sound of) have purple Silks at the headstock. IIRC the Roto Tapes (which I hate the feel and sound of) have red silks.

 

[MCF]

I really like the sound, feel and tension of the D'Addario Chromes.

I’ve yet to try Chromes on a Tbird. I’ve got a 4 year old set on my main Pbass and they’re wonderful on it with just stock MIM PUPs. The ‘15 still has the Cobalt Flats. I need another Thunderbird to dedicate to Chromes.

 

[BklynKen]

Does anyone know if Gibson uses the same volume/tone knobs on the Les Paul and Thunderbird? I'm looking at getting different ones, but as I learned with the 0-11 one I have on now, the splined part inside the knob of the genuine Gibson doesn't come down to the skirt area, where my 0-11 ones do, so they'll sit higher off the body. I'd prefer them to fit like the genuine Gibson ones. Many don't show the underside. Something something upskirt.....

Oh, got off track. You hardly ever see ones listed for the Thunderbird, but lots for the Les Paul.

 

[MCF]

this has probably been asked before but what kind of TBird is that Marshall? never seen one with that finish and those pickups..

It’s the ‘09 Epi Silverburst Limited Edition Custom Shop. Unsung Factory, Korea. It’s said those PUPS are actually guitar PUPs that Epi used in the fancy covers. They are great sounding to my ears; nice low end. The bird was passed to me by one of our members who offered it up after I went bonkers over it when I saw a pic of it. It’s now in its forever family. I’m hoping to add siblings in White, Ebony, TV Silver and Red. I have the ‘07 Pelham Blue one that is equally wonderful, but has the more traditional looking Epi PUPs.

 

[MCF]

You'll eventually get every brand/type mentioned, you know.
I suggest that you point to a favorite THUNDERBIRD recording that sounds the way you want. Then you might get more specific answers.

For example, my favorite THUNDERBIRD tone is Wishbone Ash - Pilgrimage - The Pilgrim (all of it, but check the very strong repeating part starting at about 3:00). I think I asked about it and was told that it's neck pickup.
It sounds like rounds with the tone way down, but if you ask here somebody here might KNOW. Right?

EDIT: Ok, can't resist naming my favorite, TIJF. But it doesn't necessarily help you! (I'm not a Tbird expert and not even a real bassist, see?)

Not sure if we talked about this before, but any excuse to praise my main man Martin. The studio version is his Ric that got stolen. The Live Dates version is the broken Thunderbird he got from Overend, fixed, and fell in love with. Neck PUP only. I’ve always assumed he used Rotos on it.

 

[MCF]

View attachment 4005298

I really hope no one here has a seizure issue.

 

[MCF]

Haven't tried them on a bird yet. Really liked a set (I think they were DTBs but not positive) I played on a friends P bass a few years ago. They are on my "Do Try" list with the next bird that needs a string change.

Just get another bird.

 

[MCF]

i appreciate all of the suggestions but i went with trying high tension rotos think that's gonna give my t-bird the sound I'm looking for

We’ll patiently wait for you thoughts.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

It’s the ‘09 Epi Silverburst Limited Edition Custom Shop. Unsung Factory, Korea. It’s said those PUPS are actually guitar PUPs that Epi used in the fancy covers. They are great sounding to my ears; nice low end. The bird was passed to me by one of our members who offered it up after I went bonkers over it when I saw a pic of it. It’s now in its forever family. I’m hoping to add siblings in White, Ebony, TV Silver and Red. I have the ‘07 Pelham Blue one that is equally wonderful, but has the more traditional looking Epi PUPs.

so it’s an Eppi? if so, didn’t know they had a custom shop..

 

[LetItGrowTone]

The studio version is his Ric that got stolen.

Oh, I was afraid I'd get embarrassed like this, but thank you very much!

The Live Dates version is the broken Thunderbird he got from Overend, fixed, and fell in love with. Neck PUP only.

Yes, it must have been you who told me. I put both of those and one other in a Spotify playlist to study them. Thanks.