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Thunderbird Club

#18,161
TBird1958 said:
After a rainy morning the sun came out and I snapped a quickie of my '77, it doesn't like having it's pic taken........If you look at the headstock you'll see it's real color. I hadn't been playing it much of late as it had some off-brand strings on it that needed replacing, last week it got a fresh set of DR Stainless 45-105, I'd forgotten what big, clanky mofo this thing is!

1472857266_zpszjhbw5en.jpg
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I always love your car and axe pics! Basses and cars are my two favorite hobbies, one of these days I'm gonna have to do a combined photo shoot. Until then I'm just gonna lust over yours.
 
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#18,163
GBassNorth said:
Hey Back,
I know you've been a club member for a while but I didn't know you had a 4X. Welcome to the Spector contingent of the TBird clan! I think Klondike has one as well. Here's my Spector Rex5 Pro...
REX1.jpg

Spector makes fine basses and are an excellent tribute to the almighty Thunderbird. I wouldn't part with either one of them.
Rock hard, play good and have fun!
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Nice looking Rex! I actually just got the 4x. I a/b'ed it against a Rex 4. Its funny, I know how great the Rex is as a neck through and multiple other quality advances, but I couldn't get over how comfortable the 4x felt to me compared. And so, into the stable it goes.
 
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#18,164
backtobass said:
Nice looking Rex! I actually just got the 4x. I a/b'ed it against a Rex 4. Its funny, I know how great the Rex is as a neck through and multiple other quality advances, but I couldn't get over how comfortable the 4x felt to me compared. And so, into the stable it goes.
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You really can't go wrong with any Spector they're all just different flavors of greatness. Over the last couple of years I've also come to the same conclusion about Gibson basses. Doesn't matter if it's the EB or the SG or the Thunderbird or the Midtown or the LP, they're all great basses each in their own way.
 
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#18,165
GBassNorth said:
You really can't go wrong with any Spector they're all just different flavors of greatness. Over the last couple of years I've also come to the same conclusion about Gibson basses. Doesn't matter if it's the EB or the SG or the Thunderbird or the Midtown or the LP, they're all great basses each in their own way.
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Yep a tool for a particular job. I am always blown away by how good Gibson basses sound in rock music. The little LP Double Cut I picked up for a song is so strong and present in a straight up rock context. It also absolutely nails the "Night Moves" and "Let Her Cry" tones.
I might put up a NBD thread on it in the general forum.
 
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#18,166
takeout said:
All right, T-Bird Hive Mind - do any of the aftermarket T-Bird pickup folks do versions with black covers? I'd like to try getting a little more zing than the TB-Pluses in my Epi Classic are currently giving me. And I like the blacked-out hardware/pickup combo.
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Lollars in black chrome. I got them because, based on sound samples available at the time (2 years ago), they seemed like the best copy of the Non-reverse thunderbird sound. I couldn't be happier. the black chrome looks great on my Jaguar:

*the pickup rings and spacer under the bridge ring, I actually bought from thunderbucker ranch ; )
p1013916-jpg.jpg
 
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#18,167
Dadagoboi said:
Looks like there may not be enough wire coming off the coils to easily resolder them. Definitely not impossible but not fun either.

EY seems to have pretty good customer service. Maybe they'll send you a pair that they know are in phase. That way you won't have to experiment to find a phased pair if they only send you one. No reason you should have to go thru that.
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Isn't the big problem here, that two neck pickups are being used instead of a neck/bridge combination of pickups?

As I understand this whole phase/out-of-phase issue would have been avoided if a bridge pickup had been used in the setup, as it would most likely be wired out-of-phase to the neck pickup from the factory...
 
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#18,172
hillerup said:
I think it's safe to assume you think the 3-point SUCKS, then..? ;)

I like it, though....
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I can't see anything wrong with it either other than it's different, not born of the perfect Fender image. Jeez if it's that much of a problem Hipshot and Babicz do easy fit alternatives in the "on body" Fender mould, lets face it a very popular Fender mod is to replace the bridge (that crap bit of bent steel! :roflmao:), hence the huge number of replacement bridges available. Some people are just very small minded
 
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#18,174
Toptube said:
Lollars in black chrome. I got them because, based on sound samples available at the time (2 years ago), they seemed like the best copy of the Non-reverse thunderbird sound. I couldn't be happier. the black chrome looks great on my Jaguar:

*the pickup rings and spacer under the bridge ring, I actually bought from thunderbucker ranch ; )
p1013916-jpg.jpg
Click to expand...
That's a nice looking bass, I love matching headstocks on red guitars, I painted the head on my Fender the other week. I bet that sounds great with the buckers in, certainly looks fantastic
 
#18,179
hillerup said:
Isn't the big problem here, that two neck pickups are being used instead of a neck/bridge combination of pickups?

As I understand this whole phase/out-of-phase issue would have been avoided if a bridge pickup had been used in the setup, as it would most likely be wired out-of-phase to the neck pickup from the factory...
Click to expand...

Nope, they're all supposed to be phased the same. About 10 years ago I got a set of Duncan Antiquity Jazz pups . After about five hours of fruitless soldering and desoldering I called customer service. The reply was "Oh, we must have wired them out of phase" like it was no big deal and I should have known.

Mistakes do get made.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!
 
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