Thunderbird Club

[vdub75]

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.

yeah well, I use an svt II preamp set pretty dirty, I use a nobel odr-1 overdrive for addtional dirt and I want the fuzz to Sound like the world is coming to an end, really kinda "broken" tone where the notes break apart. with Settings like These my thunderbucker equipped bird works a hundred times better than the casady.... the casady is up for sale (Germany only) as I use the P in one and the bird in the other band now..... and yes my "mexican bumper" works great for punkish hard rock like I do.

 

[Korladis]

yeah well, I use an svt II preamp set pretty dirty, I use a nobel odr-1 overdrive for addtional dirt and I want the fuzz to Sound like the world is coming to an end, really kinda "broken" tone where the notes break apart. with Settings like These my thunderbucker equipped bird works a hundred times better than the casady.... the casady is up for sale (Germany only) as I use the P in one and the bird in the other band now..... and yes my "mexican bumper" works great for punkish hard rock like I do.

That's kinda what I use the Swollen Pickle for, the "world coming to an end" tone.

 

[vdub75]

I'll get a wooly mammoth clone from a Buddy for cheeeeeeep so I'll try that one first

I can't wait to complete my parallel "octave up thru geetar preamp thru rotomachine" Setup for more "I f*ck this whole universe up"

here's my board plan. I will use:

TC Polytune 2
"Pumpernickel Comp" (Germany diy kit)
Radial BigShot Tonebone (2 effects Loops)
DIY (custom made) 1 channel looper with blend to blend the octave Signal with the dry Signal
Behringer US600 for octave up
Joyo Orange Juice for "Guitar Signal preamping"
maybe a roto machine or a delay between oct. and guitar preamp
Nobels ODR-1 Overdrive
Wooly Mammoth Fuzz
Ampeg SVT IIP Preamp
GK Backline 600 as a power amp
1x15 neo kappalite equipped ampeg B-series Cab

 

[EdO.]

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.

Gaolee, you're killing me man! Haven't laughed that hard at a post here in some time, good one. Actually the red tort is what sets it off for me, kind of a visual satire thing (if that makes any sense - probably not). Mother of Toilet Seat? You're killing me man.

 

[marko57]

All my basses have them as well. I have two straps for the Thunderbirds as the front strap gets the lock put on opposite direction as normal do the strap isn't twisted. Anyone else do this?

Yes, I do as well. An added note, I have Schallers on all my straps/basses and would highly endorse them with just one minor thing. Mind your nuts! I mean the washer and nut that holds the strap lock on the strap. Over time, they may loosen and pop off! Had this happen at a gig, second set, first song, rocking out and felt the strap separate from the bass luckily I caught it, foot up on the wedge, TBird resting on thigh and finished the song! Make periodical checking/tightening a habit, other than that, Schallers all the way!

 

[Mike A]

All my basses have them as well. I have two straps for the Thunderbirds as the front strap gets the lock put on opposite direction as normal do the strap isn't twisted. Anyone else do this?

Yep! Exactly what I do. I have one Thunderbird reverse strap and one for the Non Reverse and other basses. Schallers on all.

 

[hillerup]

Yes, I do as well. An added note, I have Schallers on all my straps/basses and would highly endorse them with just one minor thing. Mind your nuts! I mean the washer and nut that holds the strap lock on the strap. Over time, they may loosen and pop off! Had this happen at a gig, second set, first song, rocking out and felt the strap separate from the bass luckily I caught it, foot up and wedge, TBird resting on thigh and finished the song! Make periodical checking/tightening a habit, other than that, Schallers all the way!

Yep! Exactly what I do. I have one Thunderbird reverse strap and one for the Non Reverse and other basses. Schallers on all.

I too use Schallers on everything... Have you guys noted, that Schaller has changed the size of the buttons/strap mount in later years?

It seems that the current ones have a mismatch with the older ones - In a way so that the old strap mount fits both old and new strap buttons, whereas the new strap mount doesn't with the older strap buttons - Pretty annoying...!

 

[Mike A]

I too use Schallers on everything... Have you guys noted, that Schaller has changed the size of the buttons/strap mount in later years?

It seems that the current ones have a mismatch with the older ones - In a way so that the old strap mount fits both old and new strap buttons, whereas the new strap mount doesn't with the older strap buttons - Pretty annoying...!

I haven't noticed, but it's probably because I've only bought the button parts in the last few years and keep using the same old "stirrups." StewMac has Grover branded buttons, fyi.

 

[hillerup]

I haven't noticed, but it's probably because I've only bought the button parts in the last few years and keep using the same old "stirrups." StewMac has Grover branded buttons, fyi.

It seems that the newer buttons/strap mount have a sligtly narrower shaft, and therefore don't fit with the older buttons.

 

[Larry V]

I just got a FB notification of the "Memory" variety. Today marks the 3 year anniversary of me buying my first bass and amp. An Ibanez SR 300 DX with a Crate practice amp. I should've kept it... it was my only 24 fret bass.

 

[marko57]

I too use Schallers on everything... Have you guys noted, that Schaller has changed the size of the buttons/strap mount in later years?

It seems that the current ones have a mismatch with the older ones - In a way so that the old strap mount fits both old and new strap buttons, whereas the new strap mount doesn't with the older strap buttons - Pretty annoying...!

Haven't noticed that, I have some older straps that I setup with Schallers back in the 80's but for SOME reason, those straps appear to have ummm, SHRUNK over the years? So I have been setting up new straps with new Schallers over the coarse of the past 3 years, they seem to work ok with the old buttons still on the basses, at least I haven't encountered an issue with them... yet? I would like to see Schaller make the threaded section of the strap lock taller/longer. It's a bugger to get a new leather strap fitted on the lock and then put the washer and nut on it, probably the main reason why they tend to loosen as time goes on.

 

[Dadagoboi]

I use the Allparts version of the Schaller locks, although I have some originals. Schaller's patent is expired.

Nickel Strap Lock System | Allparts.com

Excellent quality and available in 4 finishes.

Using the button at the heel requires drilling so it will take a full size neck screw. The head of the screw also has to be ground to fit in the button. Slight PITA but worth it.

 

[Gaolee]

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

View attachment 948711

I first got to know those on a 2013 EB. Then I put one on the '91 Thunderbird and have yet another one on the 2015. I like them very much. They are not cheap, but they are straight forward to set up and are rock solid once you get them where you want them to be.

 

[Gaolee]

I haven't noticed, but it's probably because I've only bought the button parts in the last few years and keep using the same old "stirrups." StewMac has Grover branded buttons, fyi.

Good to know. One other thing I have noticed is that the screw that comes with Schallers is slightly smaller than the OEM screw on Thunderbirds. I did the piece of wood in the hole to shrink the hole trick on the Bird that got Schallers.

 

[Showdown]

I've posted this pic of my '64 T-bird before here, but as I changed strings today, I for the 1st time looked at the nuts string spacing. The nut is the 1964 factory issue. Carlo.., does your early 60's birds have similar string spacing at the nut? Odd I never noticed, and after playing it like this since '78, I'm not likely to want to.., er, adjust it. In case it isn't obvious, the E, A and D are evenly spaced, with a bit wider spacing for the G. Ideally the A & D would shift abit to the G side. I chalk it up for the time it was made.

I don't know about the '60s, but they definitely had QC issues in '70s. I bought a '76 Thunderbird new (still have it), and being young I didn't really notice for several years the nut was off the edge of the neck on the G strings side about 1/16", in other words it had slid sideways leaving a gap on the E side and off the edge on the G side. It was glued in that way. I suspect they didn't let whatever glue they used dry before stringing it up, since the strings put a slight pull in that direction so it slid, then dried.

I had my repair guy reset it to the proper position. It was well cut, just not positioned right.

 

[JIO]

I don't know about the '60s, but they definitely had QC issues in '70s. I bought a '76 Thunderbird new (still have it), and being young I didn't really notice for several years the nut was off the edge of the neck on the G strings side about 1/16", in other words it had slid sideways leaving a gap on the E side and off the edge on the G side. It was glued in that way. I suspect they didn't let whatever glue they used dry before stringing it up, since the strings put a slight pull in that direction so it slid, then dried.

I had my repair guy reset it to the proper position. It was well cut, just not positioned right.

In retrospect, at the end of the day - it didn't stop either one of us from rocking it! (a sober perspective on the obsessing of minor details)

 

[Showdown]

In retrospect, at the end of the day - it didn't stop either one of us from rocking it! (a sober perspective on the obsessing of minor details)

True, it played just fine. I learned to play on that bass and played it for years that way. Once I saw it though I couldn't unsee it, if you know what I mean.

 

[Nocturnal]

Good to know. One other thing I have noticed is that the screw that comes with Schallers is slightly smaller than the OEM screw on Thunderbirds. I did the piece of wood in the hole to shrink the hole trick on the Bird that got Schallers.

I had to fix the strap screw hole on my Spector Bird this weekend. The Schallers that were installed popped out even tho I added toothpicks in the screw holes. I re-drilled and glued a small dowel in the path the screw would follow. Seems rock solid at the moment. I figured there must have been a size difference between the Spector and Schaller screws and the smaller screw just wouldn't hold for long.

 

[GBassNorth]

I use Schaller locks on all my basses. However, I rarely use the Schaller supplied screw since it's always smaller than the stock strap button screw and will eventually pull out or bend. I just drill out the hole on the Schaller button to fit the stock guitar screw shaft and then chuck the shaft end of my stock screw into my hand drill and grind the head down a bit so the stock screw head fits into the Schaller button recess. You can use a grinding stone or sandpaper if you want but I find that just a quick touch of the head against a concrete patio is enough to reduce the head diameter adequately.

I also find that many of my leather straps are too thick for the nut to get a good bite of threads on the Schaller saddle. To solve that problem I take the strap out back onto the concrete patio along with a ball peen hammer and give the leather a few hard whacks where the strap lock will be mounted. This temporarily compresses the leather enough to get at least three good threads through the nut. Also remember it's critical to position the open end of the Schaller saddle such that it faces straight up while the bass is in the playing position. Once you get everything where you want it just put a drop of clear fingernail polish on the threads protruding from the nut, that will keep it from ever getting loose on its own.

 

[ctmullins]

Thanks @GBassNorth , for reminding me why I prefer the Dunlop system.