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Thunderbird Club

#187,001
PillO said:
I really should have gone to see them in the 80s. It was in Toronto that Halford dropped the Harley on himself.*

It sounds like there is still bad blood amoungst them. As much as they can get along for a show, a tour might be difficult. On the other hand, GnR have been holding things together since the "Hell Freezes Over" tour. Money goes a long way to repairing a fractured relationship I guess.

Unfortunately Tipton's playing days are over as a result of Parkinson's Disease.


* not a euphemism. He came out on stage on a Harley and dropped it.
Click to expand...
 
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#187,002
Mvf said:
Actually we were in sort of a war with Germany, in the end of 1944. It was a part of the peace agreement made with Sovjet. We had to chase out all the German troups, that were stationed mainly in Lappland in the north of Finland.
But you are right, Germany supplied us some weapons and military help, especially during the beginning of what we call ”the continuing war” (1941-1944).
During the winter war, (Nov 30.1939-March 13.1940), when Sovjet attacked us, we got help from many countries, also the USA. The Stalin had thought he can take Finland in 2 months, but our troups gave Stalin a real fight, and we managed to keep our freedom, and did not end up in the CCCP, as happened to for example the Baltic States. But we lost quite a lot of area to Sovjet.
After this we lived in peace until summer 1941. We had no good choises, and we knew that we will be drawn into war again, so we teamed up with the Germans, sort of choose the least bad out of many bad things. And then Finland attacked Sovjet att the same time as Germany started their operation Barbarossa. We hoped to get back all the lost areas, that we’ve lost after the winter war.
The outcome was as we know, so we once again lost, and had to give up even more land. But most importans, we kept our independence.
Click to expand...

It's so easy to judge someone else's story. The Finns did an amazing job of surviving against two huge opponents. Growing up, if I heard about Finland in the war at all, he coverage was at best neutral, if not accusatory. Same with France; they caught a lot of flack for capitulating, but what good would having Paris bombed to rubble have done. And below the surface, the French did a *lot* under captivity to hurt the Germans. There's more than one way to fight a war.

I award both countries the Golden Thunderbird Award.
 
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#187,006
:hyper::hyper::hyper:
My beloved Phase 90 is back from it's vacation in California at Chuck's Phaser Rehab Ranch! According to him it might have had something of a drinking problem.:D Thanks Chuck!
A41qMoJvtFSBTt1ZuTrffpFB5HvWacgSSf3ysLkeqae-iW2HVg1KyZ7YShlx80wa4vxT86w=w994-h1324-no?authuser=0.jpg


Can't wait to try it out later tonight!!
 
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#187,007
GBassNorth said:
The “Bling on a Budget” build is still moving forward with parts acquisitions. The body, neck, bridge and some hardware have all been sourced and delivered. The tuners will be purchased today and next will be the pups. At this point I can say that the $1000 all in challenge is going to be almost impossible to meet. I’m finding scant useable used gear to purchase and a lot of the new parts are noticeably more expensive and harder to find in stock than they were just a few years ago. If I weren’t going with the Bling theme and if I was focused solely on cost it wouldn’t be much of a problem at all.

Once all the parts are in I’ll post a pic of it in pieces and maybe some progress pics along the way.

That brings me to the current challenge - pickups. Options range from ridiculously expensive to bargain basement. But this is the heart of the bass and it has to sound as good as it looks. I’d like to try something new or uncommon in the club so others can see how that option works vs other more well known options, but I like to not throw my money down the drain. So, Thunder buckers, Lulls, Lollars, Barts, EMG, China Buckers and Gibby/Eppi and Greco pups are all out since we have plenty of examples of how well those work. What options does that leave? Criteria - must fit within the std bird center block, must sound decent, must have or be capable of wearing gold covers and trim rings, would like to keep the total pup cost below $350 for a pair. Any ideas? About the only thing I can find that fits the bill is Josh Parkin pups, anyone here ever heard or tried his pickups?
Click to expand...

I always forget these exist. I don't think anyone here has tried them yet?? Not lending itself to the gold hardware part tho.

PU-21264-Eric Custom Alnico 5 Rod,Thundbird Bass Pickup,Brid


PillO said:
I really should have gone to see them in the 80s. It was in Toronto that Halford dropped the Harley on himself.*

It sounds like there is still bad blood amoungst them. As much as they can get along for a show, a tour might be difficult. On the other hand, GnR have been holding things together since the "Hell Freezes Over" tour. Money goes a long way to repairing a fractured relationship I guess.

Unfortunately Tipton's playing days are over as a result of Parkinson's Disease.


* not a euphemism. He came out on stage on a Harley and dropped it.
Click to expand...

I saw them in Louisville KY on the Point of Entry tour. He couldn't keep the bike running so he sort of coasted it onto stage.
 
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#187,008
dagrev said:
:hyper::hyper::hyper:
My beloved Phase 90 is back from it's vacation in California at Chuck's Phaser Rehab Ranch! According to him it might have had something of a drinking problem.:D Thanks Chuck!
View attachment 4421481

Can't wait to try it out later tonight!!
Click to expand...
sweeeet! love that pedal, tested it with the band on the slappy part on Kravitz’s “Fly Away”….sounded perfect…..Rock on D!:bassist:
 
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#187,009
dagrev said:
:hyper::hyper::hyper:
My beloved Phase 90 is back from it's vacation in California at Chuck's Phaser Rehab Ranch! According to him it might have had something of a drinking problem.:D Thanks Chuck!
View attachment 4421481

Can't wait to try it out later tonight!!
Click to expand...
@Chucky Stiletti so, what was wrong with it. I recall the picture on the bench. It looked like there was one component that was scorched.
 
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#187,014
PillO said:
Thanks. I thought it looked scorched there. Didn't know it was a burned trace underneath.

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...
the part you mentioned is the trim for the low freq oscillator (LFO) circled in blue...the oxidized trace is the supply feed with the red X.....
upload_2021-9-29_18-36-8.png


At first, I saw discoloration of the traces and thought some liquid may have been dropped on the pedal....then, after dagrev mentioned the sponges used back then as PCB spacers (since the PCBs float and are not screwed down to the case) it dawned on me those deteriorate over time leaving a sticky caustic residue that will basically eat through the trace. After a good cleaning and a couple of trace jumpers......thx for your interest btw..



7e5919be-068b-47f0-a300-c07eb61eef35-jpeg.4416399

upload_2021-9-29_18-47-44.png
 
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#187,015
Chucky Stiletti said:
https://youtube.com/shorts/jZgnfyDhqh8?feature=share
Click to expand...
Sounds fantastic! I set it about 10:00 (can sound odd more than that), and almost always use it on slow songs where I kind of play slow and the phasing adds some flavor to notes as they ring out. It just adds a nice texture to notes. A few faster songs get it as well. Can sound good by itself when subtle. I've tried a few other phasers--some with plenty of knobs to tweak, but in a live mix this one just stands out in a way others don't.
Thanks again Chuck!
 
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#187,016
GBassNorth said:
The “Bling on a Budget” build is still moving forward with parts acquisitions. The body, neck, bridge and some hardware have all been sourced and delivered. The tuners will be purchased today and next will be the pups. At this point I can say that the $1000 all in challenge is going to be almost impossible to meet. I’m finding scant useable used gear to purchase and a lot of the new parts are noticeably more expensive and harder to find in stock than they were just a few years ago. If I weren’t going with the Bling theme and if I was focused solely on cost it wouldn’t be much of a problem at all.

Once all the parts are in I’ll post a pic of it in pieces and maybe some progress pics along the way.

That brings me to the current challenge - pickups. Options range from ridiculously expensive to bargain basement. But this is the heart of the bass and it has to sound as good as it looks. I’d like to try something new or uncommon in the club so others can see how that option works vs other more well known options, but I like to not throw my money down the drain. So, Thunder buckers, Lulls, Lollars, Barts, EMG, China Buckers and Gibby/Eppi and Greco pups are all out since we have plenty of examples of how well those work. What options does that leave? Criteria - must fit within the std bird center block, must sound decent, must have or be capable of wearing gold covers and trim rings, would like to keep the total pup cost below $350 for a pair. Any ideas? About the only thing I can find that fits the bill is Josh Parkin pups, anyone here ever heard or tried his pickups?
Click to expand...



If I'd had to buy pickups for my Classic Pro/Whitebird, I would've been pushing $1100-ish, depending on the pickups. And that was what, a year ago? Almost? I'm sure prices, & especially shipping have gone up since then :nailbiting:
 
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#187,019
We have a gig Saturday night at a local VFW. Plenty of room, so it's gonna be THUNDERBIRD time.:hyper:
Hadda use the SS Epi EB-0 the past coupla days. Felt weird. Not bad, just sorta wrong.
Addendum: It occurs to me that I should prolly woodshed a little to reacquaint myself with the longer scale.

Nah.
 
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#187,020
Andii Syckz said:
Damn that looks good! Whats the tape on the 400rb head & is that a footswitch button in place of the boost input
Click to expand...
I dislike pedals on the floor so at one stage had my spectracomp hard wired to the face of the head.
I never used the 3 contour buttons so removed the switch actuators (in the off position) to make room for the compressor.
Have recently decided to use it velcro'd to the top of the rack case, so the gaffa tape just hides the original holes.
the footswitch operates an Ibanez mini chorus which is mounted inside. Controls preset to my favourite setting..
The beauty of the GK boost circuit is that it defaults to ON if nothing is plugged into the socket, so just disconnected said socket and used the hole for chorus footswitch.
Screenshot_20210930-101612_Messenger.jpg
 
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