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Thunderbird Club

#16,421
Larry V said:
I went through this with my youngest son, David. I bought him a Tama Imperialstar Acoustic Kit and it was great for him to learn on but we were prisoners to his drumming.

Might I suggest an electronic drum kit... headphones or an amp(turned down) sure has made living with a drummer more tolerable. Craigslist is just full of electronic drum kits often for much less than acoustic drums but it's important to know what you're buying as some of the entry level stuff is junk. Simmons, Alesis come to mind for the lower end stuff and Roland for the higher end.

Here's a couple of pics of my boy's setup.

View attachment 892522 View attachment 892523

The cool thing about having a kit built onto a tubular frame is that it can be adjusted to the size of the drummer. As my boy grows, I'll just adjust his kit for his longer reach.
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That's a pretty nice kit, your boy has... :)
 
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#16,423
hillerup said:
That's a pretty nice kit, your boy has... :)
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...and he rocks the heck out of it! I'll post a vid of my boys jamming together today at their music school. He's actually using the Tama Imperialstar kit that I bought him years ago. When I got him the Rolands, I gave the music school a great deal on them and now they're the main drums in the practice space which benefits everyone.
 
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#16,426
My brother is a bass player now, but back in the 90's he was a drummer. We got to play in front of about 750 people together, with Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars on the skinnystring shortneck thing. As you might imagine, Bob can play a little bit. To this day, that is my most favorite musical memory. playing with family is special.
 
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#16,427
So it begins, the new project. This will become this!
 

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#16,428
Haji said:
My brother is a bass player now, but back in the 90's he was a drummer. We got to play in front of about 750 people together, with Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars on the skinnystring shortneck thing. As you might imagine, Bob can play a little bit. To this day, that is my most favorite musical memory. playing with family is special.
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That sounds like a blast. I'm always a little intimidated playing with my son or his friends, because he's making a living playing jazz trumpet in LA these days. I'm making a living with a day job for a reason. :roflmao:

It still means a lot. We played together for my dad right before he passed away - my son on trumpet and me on upright bass. I'm going to treasure that forever.
 
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#16,435
DerekW said:
I've got a Dillion T-bird, and I keep thinking I want to trade the pickups, because I want to chrome it out, but they sound great! Might look for chrome covers to fit instead.
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If it ain't broken - Don't fix it...

Chrome covers would look great and leave money for other stuff... :)
 
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#16,439
vdub75 said:
Can anybody tell me whats so Special about those Greco Bird II's or what it the Magic about their pickups? (besides the damn good Looks)
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A few of us here have them and love them. I was lucky enough to pick this 1977 model up about twelve months ago.
Yes the looks are great, as you can see.
335ebg3.jpg


What is really special to me is the sound of them and the ease of use. I have always been partial to P Basses for the usable tone for rock and the simplicity of layout for use while gigging.
These things sound to me like a P Bass on steroids. More of everything without getting at all muddy. I always play with my tone pot wide open. I often jokingly describe it as my best sounding P bass.
Also sustains like a monster.
Others describe them as an angry piano and I can certainly hear that.
I am not sure how they compare to the Greco TB IVs as I don't have one. Hopefully that will be rectified at some stage.
A few other points. They are built like tanks. A well built tank at that. MIJ built from a period of very high quality production. They are set neck not neck through. The neck on mine appears to be three piece and is bullet straight after almost 40 years. I think the neck is maple as I can see flaming through the finish. No annoying heal rise or fretboard dead spots, so common in Fenders. The neck width is wider than a Gibson TBird, about 42mm at the nut and it feels identical to the mid width P Bass necks I am used to. I like the fact that they come with a tailpiece (keeps the bridge all locked down tight and looks great) and being single pickup they are very easy to use live.

It is a very different sounding and feeling bass to my Gibson TBird IV, which I also love.

All in all the Greco is a perfect bass for me. A P Bass killer with added benefit of the superior looks of a TBird. I play rock and these things excel there.
 
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#16,440
Pelham Bleu said:
I don't think I've posted in this club yet. Here's my Epi-bird (namesake bass :p) upgraded w/Lollar pups and Hipshot Supertone bridge. Currently strung up with DR Hi Beams. Great midrange clean tone from this axe and does fuzz/OD well.


View attachment 892622
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Lovely bass, your post slipped by all too quickly (we are a very chatty bunch here) I wanted to make sure and ask you if you'd like to be added to the club if you're not already on the list.
 
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