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Thunderbird Club

#182,241
Goatrope said:
View attachment 4356263 View attachment 4356264

The TBird has landed!

Man, what a cool one. It’s off the operating table and now resting comfortably in recovery. :hyper:

This was my first time doing a setup on a 3-point. Pretty intuitive, and certainly functional. It’s no Babicz, but does the job.

I actually ordered through GC last week, after talking to SW and not getting a warm fuzzy. Order with GC was conditional upon the box being sealed from Gibson. I didn’t want anyone from GC monkeying around with it.

So I got it today, and it wasn’t set up at all, other than being tuned. I admit I was scared when I saw that mile-high action. But I got everything dialed down, nominally, to where my Reverse sits, in terms of relief and string height. Then I had to fix the intonation, which was super flat. But all fine now.

Sounds very good. I think I’ll leave the pups as they are. Real meaty and clear.

Fit and Finish is excellent save for the bottom side of the neck, beneath the edge of the first three frets. Kinda rough there. Have to work to see it. I can feel the edge of the fretboard is much sharper than my Reverse, which is rounded and glassy smooth.

Neck is definitely wider in the hand, but still comfy. Quite a bit of neck dive, which I’ve got zero with my Reverse. I’ll have to see how it plays live before it’s an official complaint. :thumbsup:

I need a few gigs on it to really know her, but I’m off until the 14th so…. I’ll abuse her at home for a while.
Click to expand...

Congrats. The standard controls setup on this one.
Is anyone keeping count?
 
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#182,244
The cover band played at a block party this evening. The audience was bigger than I expected. About 25 or so people at the peak, which is far better than three kids and a dog. I played the '01 through the Carvin combo and extension cabinet. It still has Black Beauties on it, and it sounded and felt astoundingly good. Maybe it was the amp, maybe it was the air, maybe it was being outside. Who knows. Whatever it was, the sound was fantastic and it managed to cut through and sit in the mix perfectly at the same time. Who needs a P?
 
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#182,246
BklynKen said:
Looks great! Have you tried raising the pickups closer to the strings? That'll add some aggression.
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Yes, the pups are about as high as they go. And not a bad sound, and there is some aggression, specially when digging in. But also easier to get a ”polite” sound, so the 1990 is more versatile, whereas the Orville is a real rock thunder machine.
And neither has any neck dive:smug:
 
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#182,247
BklynKen said:
Also, try setting the neck pickup on full and the bridge pickup rolled off a little. A lot of us seem to find that is a sweet spot for tone.
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You are right, that’s one of my favoured settings too:)
But normally I use only the neck full, and bridge off. But sometimes, depending on, I dial in the neck to 7 or 8 (you can clearly hear the sweet spot when turning up the neck volume).
Tone I normally cut off a little.
I have to look into the strings too, it now has a very old set of DR High Beams (that’s what the guy who sold it to me thought) on it, I’ll change them too when/if I swap 3-point to the Hipshot.
 
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#182,248
dagrev said:
Spent some time this evening with both of these. I played the white VP for a while first, then got the '06. As much as I rave about the VPs and their tone, the Gibson is just superb to play. It just feels so much better than either VP, which are great playing instruments themselves.

(I also have no idea why my pics end up a little blurry after posting here. They look great in my pics but after copying then end up not very clear.)

View attachment 4356558
Click to expand...
Feel the same about my 1990 compared to the Orville. The gibson feels just so right in your hand and plays almost itself
 
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#182,250
GBassNorth said:
Those are awesome! I think I’m gonna have to get me one of them thangs. I guess the trick is finding one for sale. Any leads let me know.
Click to expand...

I mentioned in my prior post that my Studio V and my Short Scale are both for sale. ;)

"I could sell the Studio V and the Short Scale since they rarely get played but the other 3 are forever basses."


I need to net $1,200 for the Short Scale, $1,500 for the Studio V.
 
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#182,251
GonePlaid said:
There are at least 2 people on here who could build you one.:smug: And one for me, too.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I think I’ve got a local guy as well. If I do it.

Engle said:
Yep, a NR short scale, set neck and all mahogany. I’d copy the neck shape and body thickness of my 68 EBO.
Click to expand...

yep, all mahogany and I’m thinking one pup, controls V T plug all in a line.
 
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#182,254
Gaolee said:
The cover band played at a block party this evening. The audience was bigger than I expected. About 25 or so people at the peak, which is far better than three kids and a dog. I played the '01 through the Carvin combo and extension cabinet. It still has Black Beauties on it, and it sounded and felt astoundingly good. Maybe it was the amp, maybe it was the air, maybe it was being outside. Who knows. Whatever it was, the sound was fantastic and it managed to cut through and sit in the mix perfectly at the same time. Who needs a P?
Click to expand...
Quote of the day early on. (Which is very different from who needs to P? One little word makes all the difference.) Come t think of it. Be back in a minute.)


Back now. I love playing my Ps (sounds a bit odd...), and glad I don't have to choose, but if I did, a Thunderbird would be the last bass standing.
 
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#182,255
Mvf said:
I have to look into the strings too, it now has a very old set of DR High Beams (that’s what the guy who sold it to me thought) on it, I’ll change them too when/if I swap 3-point to the Hipshot.
Click to expand...
Ah. Every set of DR strings I've tried has been way too polite-sounding for my taste. What do you have on the Orville? It's no secret that I love the SIT Power Steel, but I think any aggressive stainless steel string works really well with the TB+.
 
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#182,258
Larry V said:
I mentioned in my prior post that my Studio V and my Short Scale are both for sale. ;)

"I could sell the Studio V and the Short Scale since they rarely get played but the other 3 are forever basses."


I need to net $1,200 for the Short Scale, $1,500 for the Studio V.
Click to expand...
FYI to the group. That's very fair for the short scale even adding shipping. They are rare and someone here ought to have it.
 
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#182,259
MCF said:
FYI to the group. That's very fair for the short scale even adding shipping. They are rare and someone here ought to have it.
Click to expand...

Thank you. :)

BTW, my Studio V is also very rare and is in pristine condition and sounds incredibly thunderous. It is a 10 pounder though and that's why when I need to drop into C and B territory, I choose to use my Classic Pro strung BEAD. It is a really cool collectible bass but my collecting days are coming to an end. I may regret that someday but for now, that's what I feel like doing though I'm not desperate to sell.
 
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