Thunderbird Club

[kat888]

Tried Grolsch washers but my roo-skin DSL straps are too thick. 'What's that Skip? You're tired of holding up this bass and need to go and defuse a nuclear bomb?'

 

[Stevis]

It might just be my bass and whatever happened to it before I got it. I may break down and take it to somebody who really knows how to set up a bass guitar instead of futzing with it any more. Maybe.

The coil tapping is just one of the tricks these have. It's a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I need to learn more of these mystical tricks, of which you speak. For most of my life, I have played a Fender Precision (a single split pup, one volume and one tone knob). So, I only needed to channel my inner Dee Dee Ramone (including the ability to count to 4).

+1 on the safety first tips. My "cat-like" reflexes were able to avert two potentially catastrophic strap failures on my P-bass this summer. It was a new strap and I had a false sense of confidence because the leather was still stiff on the end pieces - lesson learned. Schaller stuff is great.

 

[Gaolee]

More like 'Thunderbird straps' and 'Les Paul straps'. We call 'fenders' 'bumpers' here...

Or 7enders.

Full disclosure - I have a Precision and like it very much. It's ergos aren't right for how I like to play, so I don't play it that much. It's the only 7ender in the flock. Four Gibsons and two Epiphones tell you what I really like. Plus the one that's in the works with Lowe parts. That will be the Precision that gets played when it's built. Whenever I get around to it. I'm slow and have too many projects.

 

[Haji]

I've been blessed with never owning a Bumper. Never found one I had to have.

 

[kat888]

For the Americans not familiar with Skippy...

 

[Gaolee]

I've been blessed with never owning a Bumper. Never found one I had to have.

Also known as a mud flap.

 

[Count Bassie]

View attachment 948404
Aha, I'll give them a cross off the imaginary list.

The Nephew swears by the washer things.

I use a washer over the strap button at the top button position, and just leave the strap on in the case. I use a Dunlop for the rear strap button position, it sticks out but I don't seem to get pokies from that one.

 

[tombowlus]

I use them there on my pesrsonal basses and about 80% of customers'. Dunlops in the same place, too.

No complaints.

Greatly prefer Dunlops, myself, but I've never had an issue with the rear-mounted strap button location on my '91.

 

[EdO.]

I've been blessed with never owning a Bumper. Never found one I had to have.

I haven't owned anything Fender-ish since the late 70's. Until last Saturday... Always thought the '51 Telecaster style was a cool look and vibe, thought if I could find one with the exact look I wanted I'd give it a go. One jumped up on Fleabay last week, bidding wasn't too strong so I jumped in and ended up winning the bid at $229.50 which I thought was worth it. Squier Mike Dirnt P, white with red tort, love the look and plays surprisingly well. Won't displace my 'Birds but will get some stage time next couple of weekends.

 

[Christine]

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(not in gold obv)

They look OK to me or at least I would have thought so, is the pointy bit supposed to point downwards perhaps?

Bumpers Sounds like a rabbit off Watership down!

 

[Gaolee]

I haven't owned anything Fender-ish since the late 70's. Until last Saturday... Always thought the '51 Telecaster style was a cool look and vibe, thought if I could find one with the exact look I wanted I'd give it a go. One jumped up on Fleabay last week, bidding wasn't too strong so I jumped in and ended up winning the bid at $229.50 which I thought was worth it. Squier Mike Dirnt P, white with red tort, love the look and plays surprisingly well. Won't displace my 'Birds but will get some stage time next couple of weekends.

View attachment 948575

Just get rid of that awful pickguard. Tort causes bacon to taste like tuna casserole with potato chips on top and no peppers. It causes your dog to run off with your best friend. It causes your significant other to decide you aren't so significant after all. It makes you sit through all parts of your least favorite opera, which, if your are a reasonable human, all operas. This is truth. You need mother of toilet seat on that thing! Or black at the least.

The real good thing is using it on miscreants when they misbehave. My P has a reeeealy bad attitude and beats up the neighbor's guitar if it gets out unsupervised. On stage, it wallops singer in the back of the head on a regular basis. It's got a soothing voice in spite of all that. Go figure. The 'Birds snarl at 'em but don't do physical harm. Much better.

 

[Christine]

Just one Queen here!

I don't know why but that reminds me of my amazing ability to get it "wrong" and don't take this the wrong way, no personal reference implied

Back in the early 70s living in north Wales there wasn't much of a music scene so I used to get myself down to London as often as I could to see or play in bands, it was a great time in my life. The downside was it was bloody expensive travelling, so I used to always be on the look out for cheap ways of getting down there. One day in the local newspaper I saw an advert for a bus trip to the Crufts dog show (re-note the "no personal reference implied" comment above ). So I phone them up and book my place and on the great day I catch this bus from the depot in a neighbouring town carrying a six pack of beer and my Jazz with no intention of visiting Crufts. So sat on the back seat and a few beers down the road I'm looking at the back of a girls head halfway down the bus; she had the most beautiful long blond hair from behind but she never turned round and for some reason I didn't see her get on so I didn't see her face. Anyway a couple more beers and I pluck up the courage to go and sit beside her (as you do), so I get up and stagger down the aisle of the bus and swing myself next to this girl. Down I plonk my arse and turn round with a smile on my face to look at her only to find it was an Afghan hound

 

[JIO]

I don't know why but that reminds me of my amazing ability to get it "wrong" and don't take this the wrong way, no personal reference implied

Back in the early 70s living in north Wales there wasn't much of a music scene so I used to get myself down to London as often as I could to see or play in bands, it was a great time in my life. The downside was it was bloody expensive travelling, so I used to always be on the look out for cheap ways of getting down there. One day in the local newspaper I saw an advert for a bus trip to the Crufts dog show (re-note the "no personal reference implied" comment above ). So I phone them up and book my place and on the great day I catch this bus from the depot in a neighbouring town carrying a six pack of beer and my Jazz with no intention of visiting Crufts. So sat on the back seat and a few beers down the road I'm looking at the back of a girls head halfway down the bus; she had the most beautiful long blond hair from behind but she never turned round and for some reason I didn't see her get on so I didn't see her face. Anyway a couple more beers and I pluck up the courage to go and sit beside her (as you do), so I get up and stagger down the aisle of the bus and swing myself next to this girl. Down I plonk my arse and turn round with a smile on my face to look at her only to find it was an Afghan hound

…and so I asked, "how's life?" - to which the hound replied "ruff!"

 

[hillerup]

I've been blessed with never owning a Bumper. Never found one I had to have.

The Blacktop Precision and Duff Mackagan Signature Jazz Bass Specials are nice ones, though and the only ones I wouldn't mind owning (already have the Blacktop)....

 

[hillerup]

I don't know why but that reminds me of my amazing ability to get it "wrong" and don't take this the wrong way, no personal reference implied

Back in the early 70s living in north Wales there wasn't much of a music scene so I used to get myself down to London as often as I could to see or play in bands, it was a great time in my life. The downside was it was bloody expensive travelling, so I used to always be on the look out for cheap ways of getting down there. One day in the local newspaper I saw an advert for a bus trip to the Crufts dog show (re-note the "no personal reference implied" comment above ). So I phone them up and book my place and on the great day I catch this bus from the depot in a neighbouring town carrying a six pack of beer and my Jazz with no intention of visiting Crufts. So sat on the back seat and a few beers down the road I'm looking at the back of a girls head halfway down the bus; she had the most beautiful long blond hair from behind but she never turned round and for some reason I didn't see her get on so I didn't see her face. Anyway a couple more beers and I pluck up the courage to go and sit beside her (as you do), so I get up and stagger down the aisle of the bus and swing myself next to this girl. Down I plonk my arse and turn round with a smile on my face to look at her only to find it was an Afghan hound

Best story of the day!

 

[kat888]

I had the use of a J fretless for a year - we didnt get on very well, sounded gutless next to the Ric.

 

[vdub75]

lately been thinkin about pickin up a babicz Bridge for the nonreverse, anybody recomment it? I think the 2015's came stock with it, right? only in black, might prefer nickel to match the thunderbuckers

 

[Larry V]

I've been blessed with never owning a Bumper. Never found one I had to have.

If I stumbled across a minty American made Precision at a bargain price, I'd jump on it just for the experience. Kind of like I did with the Gibson SG Bass, if it didn't work out, I'd put her up for sale. No harm, no foul.

 

[Korladis]

well the classic Pro is just a much closer representation of a true thunderbird for a fraction of the cost of the gibson name. They sound quite good because they are loaded with the genuine tb+ pickups from a gibson bird. & in regards of dirt tone, it is what i play but all my basses have clear definition (i'm surrounded by 7ender copies & some gibson gear - mostly guitars but the grabber bass, my thunderbirds, & also my rickenbacker copy bass) But those are all clear, the only one that isn't is the epiphone goth. Hence why i'm looking at new pickups

I've tried Gibsons and honestly I like the necks on the neck-through Epiphones better.

I get this- the source of your signal chain is clean and well defined, dirt comes in down the chain. If my Sixx pups end up letting me down I'll either get TB+ or DiMarzio Model Oneses...

I usually have just the dirt from my amp. So it's last. But if I use a fuzz pedal as well, it's one of the first few things in my signal chain.

I guess it's just insecurity because most people buy into the Fender world and they're worried in case they got it wrong so they like to kick a lot of crap Gibson's way

I think part of it is that the bass market often seems to be less of a priority for Gibson. I like the basses, but I'm not fond of the company at all, at least under current management.

... and don't forget, if you want to be taken *seriously* don't buy a Gibson, Epiphone, especially not a Ric or (if you have pretensions to being a real bass player) a Squier.

Often seems that way. I seem to only play basses that get disdain from most of TB. Rickenbackers, a T-bird, and a Peavey. Oh, and an ABG.

Have occasional notions of acquiring a chorus pedal then after 5 minutes it all wears off. When would I ever use it/why would I mess with a Thunderbird and natural valve amp overdrive?

My main sound is actually pretty simple. Just my bass into my overdriven amp. That's what my sound is the vast majority of the time. I do occasionally like switching on effects, though. The one I use most commonly is a wah pedal for accentuating fills. Lately I've been getting some use out of an EHX Ravish Sitar pedal, though.

I have a Pedaltrain board, although I have no idea which model. I run a Pedaltrain Volto for live use and a One Spot for rehearsals. Signal goes G30 receiver, TCE Polytune, Zoom MS60B that's only a compressor because it's a pain in the butt to use multiple sounds live on it. Last is an MXR M85 Bass Distortion.

The Volto means I only run one cable from the board to the head. One power cable for the head, two cables for the cabs, and I'm ready to go.

I tend to use just overdrive. Has to have a lot of mids. Distortion/fuzz has to be even more grindy to cut through. And turning the fuzz all the way up isn't generally a good way to go, in my experience.

I also have a pedaltrain board. I use a voodoo labs power supply.

I feel like if you have the skills and the need for many pedals then why not, there comes a point where it can get to weird at times though. Being a punk/metal bassist I usually rock a danelectro grilled cheese and that's all. Really gives me the kind of bite and aggressiveness I want for solos and fills

I think some of my bandmates probably think I have too many effects. I'm looking at downsizing though, to go down to just having one more versatile fuzz pedal rather than both the EHX Bass Big Muff and the Way Huge Swollen Pickle.

Had a"bad" experience yesterday. Been rehearsing with my stoner/blues band and we talked about getting the band Sound more "brutal" and fuzzy and dirty. I turned up everything a bit, had some Feedback issues with the casady. When I stepped on the muff, all was over... welcome to Feedback City...

poopie! I really love that bass but it doesn't seem to work well with much drive/fuzz.

But, the good Thing is... I got some chromes on the way, the nonreverse has a "Job" again. YAY!

My basses all feedback when fuzzes are on and I'm not playing a note.

With fuzz pedals I often find that crunchier settings are found towards the low end of the "fuzz/drive/sustain" knob.

I had a ton of fun dialingin distortion on the MXR M85...and as soon as I got it in the band context it just disappeared under a high gain guitar tone and a 4X12 cabinet. I ended up dialing the distortion WAY back, so now it's like an OD with a bad attitude. That pedal is wild; MXR makes great stuff.

There are a few things I still want. I've decided that multi-effect units like the MS60B are too hard to program for live use, so I wanna get some separate effects: the MXR bass chorus and the TCE Bass Compressor. Compressors to me are set em and forget em, so the dinky footprint of that pedal is cool. I'm fascinated by the Tone Print technology; it's kinda mind blowing how it works.

I don't use a compressor. My amp does that for me in both the pre and power section (tube overdrive) so there's no need for any more compression.

I've often wondered how chorus might sound with my stuff, but with the reverb and sitar pedals, it would probably be kinda redundant. The latter is a very complicated pedal, too. I imagine a multi-effects unit would be even more complicated.

I find that in a band mix a gnarly, grindy overdrive usually works better than full-on distortion. The only fuzz tones that I find work in a band setting are really hideous sounding on their own due to being so middy.

I fancy a new tuner for home use, I have a Korg GA40 which works well enough but it seems to have got a little temperamental, sometimes it read the tone sometimes it doesn't. I quite like the idea of a clip on one, are they any good and if so what would you recommend?

I use the Boss TU-3 these days. It works really well, especially for my BEAD tuned basses.

Hopefully not committing heresy, but here goes... I wanna use my TBird more than I do now in a classic & alt rock context and I'm toying with the ideas of changing the pick-ups of my Epi Classic Pro IV (Gibson pick-ups). I love the way it sounds, but it doesn't always fit well in bands I've been playing with lately.

So... watcha guys using ?

Thunderbuckers in my Epiphone now. Just got them installed.

I've been blessed with never owning a Bumper. Never found one I had to have.

If I wanted a Fender type bass, I'd get a nice old G&L. Maybe an L1000 or an L1500. Like a Fender, but IMO, better.

Just get rid of that awful pickguard. Tort causes bacon to taste like tuna casserole with potato chips on top and no peppers. It causes your dog to run off with your best friend. It causes your significant other to decide you aren't so significant after all. It makes you sit through all parts of your least favorite opera, which, if your are a reasonable human, all operas. This is truth. You need mother of toilet seat on that thing! Or black at the least.

The real good thing is using it on miscreants when they misbehave. My P has a reeeealy bad attitude and beats up the neighbor's guitar if it gets out unsupervised. On stage, it wallops singer in the back of the head on a regular basis. It's got a soothing voice in spite of all that. Go figure. The 'Birds snarl at 'em but don't do physical harm. Much better.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who hates tort.

Not a big fan of mother of toilet seat either. For me if the pickguard is going to be fancy, I want it to be either made of metal, or a full graphic of some kind. If it's not a complete picture, and it's plastic, I want it to be a solid color or with a very simple design. Weirdly specific tastes, I guess.

 

[Korladis]

Anyone got a set of pickup rings and spacers for Thunderbuckers that they're not using?