Thunderbird Club

[GonePlaid]

ok, rant time....getting kinda fed up with active electronics, I mean they work beautifully on instruments that had them from the get go such as the post 7ender LF stuff....this thing is a dream player...
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I was not at all pleased with the tone from my “active” P through that Ampeg/Hartke rig
yesterday...yes, the rig (and room) is partly to blame but attaining a workable tone should be more straightforward from “pro” grade gear. can’t help but think I’ve been spoiled from playing T-Birds for the past few years.....so, current thinking is....look for a vintage P or.....hmmmm....
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Just a thought from a very warped mind. Take the II, make a 'wrap' for the HS with a 7ender Precision Bass decal and see if anyone notices.

 

[11th Street Kid]

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole today adjusting the pickups on my 2011 Epiphone Thunderbird IV (which I’ve not done before).

I’m generally happy with the set up but felt that the E string was quieter and more dull sounding than the G, which prompted my tinkering (this followed raising my bridge slightly a while back). E string is set at 7/64 and G is at 5/64. The pickups on my T-bird have one screw at the top and two at the bottom, if you raise them up high the screws protrude up out of the covers, rather than the coming up flush together. I found some recommended specs online as a starting point but you just can’t raise them as high as was suggested without it looking like the screws are going to come out. I ended up bringing them back down again but now feel they’re out of whack.

Anyone got any tips for a sensible approach to take to balance things out, I do like to learn to do my own set up work?

 

[Engle]

ok, rant time....getting kinda fed up with active electronics, I mean they work beautifully on instruments that had them from the get go such as the post 7ender LF stuff....this thing is a dream player...
View attachment 4279188

I was not at all pleased with the tone from my “active” P through that Ampeg/Hartke rig
yesterday...yes, the rig (and room) is partly to blame but attaining a workable tone should be more straightforward from “pro” grade gear. can’t help but think I’ve been spoiled from playing T-Birds for the past few years.....so, current thinking is....look for a vintage P or.....hmmmm....
View attachment 4279190

Rather than mod the P, I would just get another body and swap the neck to that.

 

[JIO]

one of the new ones and MIA...priced at about 1700, lots of bass for that money..played and sounded beautiful. the one on your picture kills me everytime you post..one of my favorite from your collection..what's the story on that bass? like a warmouth body with a 7ender neck and borrowed G&L electronics?

It was an '06 CIJ (ash) Fender '51P RI (in hyper mustard) that I bought new in the fall of '06. 1st new bass I bought in many years. (only have bought a few 'new' basses in general) I liked its single-coil pu rawness and tone but after a while hated the exaggerated mustard (originals were amber'd but not like that) My guitarist friend Reid (who I was in bands with) is a hard-core G&L guy owning a number of '80s vintage G&L guitars and an early '80s L1000 bass. I decided to refinish and mod the P with the G&L L2000 system and cut a pg like the '70s Telecaster bass to create a multi-decade homage to Leo's creations. (Leo's Legacy bass) I got the pu's off the G&L website, and went through an authorized G&L dealer in San Mateo to order the 9v pre. I stripped to demon (epoxy) mustard finish which was crazy hard to do. I ended up sending the body through an industrial planer to remove it on the top & back! I routed for the pu's/electronics, binded the body and sprayed a trans-brown (ala '70s Fenders) and cut a parchment pearl pg. My nitro clear-coat developed separation issues so I laboriously removed it a year or two later.

I had Marty Bell (SoCal) do a piano black front and trans brown back/sides and he killed it. I thought about putting the parch-pearl pg on so I finished the hs face in a similar hue. (also to echo the binding) but ended up cutting the blk/wht/blk pg on it. I found the '70 vintage Tele bass decal on eBay (one I always liked) and added that to the mix. It is a Fender after all and the Tele bass was the first Fender RI in '68 even if they didn't sell/promote it as such.

I've been on a strap thing lately - getting specific straps for specific basses. Black leather is ok (what I used to use) but a nice (cheap) woven strap is cool too!

 

[Engle]

Threw my hat in, but seller not shipping. Can't blame him for that, he'll probably sell fast without moving from his living room.





Yup. I'm a big Stones fan and consider myself fairly Stones-educated. That being said, Faraway Eyes (Some Girls) was a low-point to me. That song was... painfully awful. Loved most versions they did of Dead Flowers, especially when sung by Keef. Even Jagger said he preferred it when he sang backs.... or not at all.

Faraway Eyes is pretty much a novelty song for sure. I was thinking of Dear Doctor and Sweet Virginia.

 

[Engle]

Yup.
Even me.




And one thing to keep in mind if you start using pedals, they might (will) react differently to active basses, at least my board does when I use actives on it. Pedals settings might need to be changed. You might like that, or not, of course.



I sticked around until Some Girls and liked their stuff quite sparsely since, but they remain a favorite. I was really into that period with Mick Taylor and even more with Ron Wood. To me, Love you Live is the quintessential live Stones. Not many people like that album.

For me it’s Get Yer YaYas Out. They kind of lost me after SomeGirls, but I actually really enjoyed the (recent?) Latin America Tour documentary.

 

[JIO]

 

[Bassmike62]

For me it’s Get Yer YaYas Out. They kind of lost me after SomeGirls, but I actually really enjoyed the (recent?) Latin America Tour documentary.

Didn't see that one, will look it up.

Musically, Punk squeezed good stuff out of them... dance, not so much. All IMO of course.

(country-wise, I also liked Country Honk)

 

[Bassmike62]

They were a totally different band back then, certainly their most creative area.
Not a fan, but Brian Jones has to get his share of credits for that, which he never got, for good or bad.

 

[Gaolee]

Like this?

Exactly like that.

 

[MCF]

For me it’s Get Yer YaYas Out. They kind of lost me after SomeGirls, but I actually really enjoyed the (recent?) Latin America Tour documentary.

“Don’t want me trousers to fall off now, do you?”

 

[KaraQ]

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole today adjusting the pickups on my 2011 Epiphone Thunderbird IV (which I’ve not done before).

I’m generally happy with the set up but felt that the E string was quieter and more dull sounding than the G, which prompted my tinkering (this followed raising my bridge slightly a while back). E string is set at 7/64 and G is at 5/64. The pickups on my T-bird have one screw at the top and two at the bottom, if you raise them up high the screws protrude up out of the covers, rather than the coming up flush together. I found some recommended specs online as a starting point but you just can’t raise them as high as was suggested without it looking like the screws are going to come out. I ended up bringing them back down again but now feel they’re out of whack.

Anyone got any tips for a sensible approach to take to balance things out, I do like to learn to do my own set up work?

Sounds kinda like you may need to replace or add to foam/rubber underneath the pickup, or add a spacer.

I've had to do that to some of my Thunderbirds, the foam/rubber/whatever that stuff is gets compressed into shape over time, and won't push the pickups up further.

I bought some similar material from Home DePot for my CP, the original stuff was bad. The extra has come in handy for several other basses

 

[Gaolee]

Like this. Joe Kwon is the best!

That's not quite what I had in mind, but it works too.

Those guys really put on a show!

 

[11th Street Kid]

Sounds kinda like you may need to replace or add to foam/rubber underneath the pickup, or add a spacer.

I've had to do that to some of my Thunderbirds, the foam/rubber/whatever that stuff is gets compressed into shape over time, and won't push the pickups up further.

I bought some similar material from Home DePot for my CP, the original stuff was bad. The extra has come in handy for several other basses

That could well be the case, the pickups do actually move up and down, it’s just that the screws protrude above the hole when they’re raised which doesn’t look great.

 

[Gaolee]

I followed the Stones from the beginning (I initially liked them more than the Beatles until Rubber Soul/Revolver/Sgt Peppers LHCB) to Sympathy For The Devil. After that a song/occasional LP (Sticky Fingers/Some Girls) but I had moved on to other favorite bands. The thing about the Stones is they have been going for so long they have a number of different followers from each decade. Maybe not so much anymore - mostly nostalgia shows.

It's amazing to me how many young people, especially young women, love the Beatles these days.

 

[KaraQ]

That could well be the case, the pickups do actually move up and down, it’s just that the screws protrude above the hole when they’re raised which doesn’t look great.

That foam-stuff is supposed to keep the pickup pushed against the screws (to a certain point), if you want the pickups close to the strings (like me ), you may need to add a spacer of some sort - I tend to add to the old rubber, or replace with new.

My Pro 5 had bits of broken wood paint stir-sticks underneath when I got it

 

[MCF]

That's not quite what I had in mind, but it works too.

Those guys really put on a show!

I love them. Highly recommended. A lot of fun every time we see them.

 

[TBird1958]

Bass of the week for our own @JIO on Notreble Nice!

Bass of the Week: Gildaxe Devil Magnum

 

[JIO]

It's amazing to me how many young people, especially young women, love the Beatles these days.

Doesn't surprise me in the least. I grew to really like the Beatles on a family vacation as a young teen. As I said, I was a big Rolling Stones (pre "Stones") fan and yet I heard but liked Beatles songs on the radio also. We were on vacation in the west staying with friends of my dads in Colorado Springs (ex- WWII pilot like my dad) and they all went off for the day allowing me to stay behind listening to their teen daughters LP collection, which was filled with all the older (older than '66) Beatles LPs. I played one after the other in oder and "got" why they were a phenom. My fave from the "Yesterday and Today" LP's was this song (they show it as being on Revolver... but...), which was also the lead/intro song of The Beatles TV cartoon show which I watched. Think about how dominate "teen"music was on "media" then; The Beatles cartoon show, The Monkees, The Partridge Family, Shindig, Hullaballoo, Where The Action Is, Ready Steady Go (I'm sure I'm leaving a couple out) - today?...

 

[Bassmike62]

Bass of the week for our own @JIO on Notreble Nice!

Bass of the Week: Gildaxe Devil Magnum

Congrats @JIO !