Thunderbird Club

[Engle]

Typically, no.

Hot pants, yes. While there isn't a lot of photographic evidence I certainly have had my share of fashion mishaps onstage i.e skirt riding up my leg because the bass is rubbing against it.

If you FF to about 2:45 here you see me catch my boot laces on my other boot, kinda like trying to walk with your pants around your ankles...........D'oh!

That’s awesome! And you didn’t fall

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Sounds about right! It’s funny how upright has changed my approach to electric bass tonally. Especially on roots music gigs, more and more I’m playing electric with a harder attack but with a shorter note envelope. One of my favorite country bass players in Nashville, Becky Hinson has come up to me and said something like, “Even when you play a Thunderbird bass, you make it sound like an upright!” I don’t know about that, but upright has certainly informed my approach to electric on OG country/roots gigs. On those great 50’s-60’s ‘A Team’ country sessions, they typically had Bob Moore on upright, which sounded dark, thumpy and legato , but also had a second electric ‘tick tack’ ebass that was sharper/brighter, very staccato and doubled the upright lines. When I play electric bass on old school stuff, I often try to get a sound that is both of those things at once. Not sure I succeed at it, but Becky Hinson seems to think so and that’s good enough for me
View attachment 4448384

Only thing I have tried like that is “stand by me”. It sounds really good on a bird!

 

[KaraQ]

Hmmmmm.......if this picture works....

The super flat base of the bridge from my Pro 5

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Hmmmmm.......if this picture works....

The super flat base of the bridge from my Pro 5

View attachment 4448691

Mine was the most warped bridge I had personally seen. The lack of a B string screw *from the factory*[1] didn't help, needless to say. And a wrong screw in another hole, in at an angle. Hipshot A for the win!

[1] Not even a hole drilled, IIRC.

 

[GonePlaid]

Mine was the most warped bridge I had personally seen. The lack of a B string screw *from the factory*[1] didn't help, needless to say. And a wrong screw in another hole, in at an angle. Hipshot A for the win!

[1] Not even a hole drilled, IIRC.

Musta been a Friday afternoon bass.

 

[KaraQ]

..... The lack of a B string screw *from the factory*[1] didn't help, needless to say. And a wrong screw in another hole, in at an angle. Hipshot A for the win!

[1] Not even a hole drilled, IIRC.

You mean, something like this?

 

[dukeorock]

Question for those who have the 2021 NR ‘Birds. You happy with em?
Pickups?
Bridge?
Did you change the front strap location to the neck heel, or does it balance fine as-is?
I have an extra Lollar neck pickup and Hipshot replacement bridge if need be, but I like the look of the standard 3 point and am hoping I’ll love the pickups stock

 

[KaraQ]

After a small bit of filing:

Not perfect, but much improved....

ftr - .13 oz. worth of filing

 

[Miles_ONeal]

You mean, something like this?

View attachment 4448707

I'll have to dig through old pics. I don't recall if the bridge had no hole, or if it had one and the body had none. But if that's what you have, that was likely it.

 

[KaraQ]

I'll have to dig through old pics. I don't recall if the bridge had no hole, or if it had one and the body had none. But if that's what you have, that was likely it.

Mine's an '09, first year....no hole in bridge or in the body.
Under normal-ish circumstances, I'd drill both & add an appropriate screw....but my plan is to (eventually, someday ) swap the bridge for Babicz FCH-1 Solorails




Re-installation complete!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Mine's an '09, first year....no hole in bridge or in the body.
Under normal-ish circumstances, I'd drill both & add an appropriate screw....but my plan is to (eventually, someday ) swap the bridge for Babicz FCH-1 Solorails

Re-installation complete!
...

Huzzah! Had to dig through old posts, but found the pics.

You can see how warped the bridge is. No excuse for this.


And to boot, it was very off center!


Like yours, no hole by the B string saddle. And note that wrong screw; it's a flat-head. The taper underneath forced the bridge to expand, contributing to the warpage.


Doweled the holes I needed to worry about for the new bridge, plus the one is all screwed up (no pun intended).

 

[KaraQ]

Huzzah! Had to dig through old posts, but found the pics.

You can see how warped the bridge is. No excuse for this.
View attachment 4448740

And to boot, it was very off center!
View attachment 4448739

Like yours, no hole by the B string saddle. And note that wrong screw; it's a flat-head. The taper underneath forced the bridge to expand, contributing to the warpage.
View attachment 4448736

Doweled the holes I needed to worry about for the new bridge, plus the one is all screwed up (no pun intended).
View attachment 4448738

Wow, that is pretty bad!
Mine wasn't warped like that (and it's almost dead center), but just had way too much of a gap between it and the body.

I could probably work on it more to get a better fit but - meh. It's pretty good now, so I’ll probably leave it 'til I get bored, or until I replace it.

 

[Butcherboy]

I was really into MtH when they first hit. Before I knew who they were I bought this LP for the MC Escher cover-art alone. Overend Watts's white II and Martin Turner from Wishbone Ash were what got me interested in T-birds. When I saw WA in the early '70s he rocked a brown-burst IV. Note MT's upgraded bridge on his white bird.



View attachment 4448174 View attachment 4448167

…white bird on TV…

 

[JJR58]

Question for those who have the 2021 NR ‘Birds. You happy with em?
Pickups?
Bridge?
Did you change the front strap location to the neck heel, or does it balance fine as-is?
I have an extra Lollar neck pickup and Hipshot replacement bridge if need be, but I like the look of the standard 3 point and am hoping I’ll love the pickups stock

V did a demo not long ago.
Maybe she’ll repost it for you.

 

[Bassmike62]

I thought this would be more popular.
View attachment 4448230

Never seen that one, but my daughter gave me Motorhead's rhum at XMAS last year. It's in taste like what the band was in sound...

 

[Goatrope]

Question for those who have the 2021 NR ‘Birds. You happy with em?
Pickups?
Bridge?
Did you change the front strap location to the neck heel, or does it balance fine as-is?
I have an extra Lollar neck pickup and Hipshot replacement bridge if need be, but I like the look of the standard 3 point and am hoping I’ll love the pickups stock

Happy. I had thought I’d have to swap the pups to Lollars, and the bridge to Babicz, but didn’t need to. I did add a front strap button at the heel of the neck to get it to hang in my preferred position, which is about 2 O’clock. Before and after below…

 

[GBassNorth]

Hmmmmm.......if this picture works....

The super flat base of the bridge from my Pro 5

View attachment 4448691

Yikes! That’s warped big time.

After a small bit of filing:

View attachment 4448709


Not perfect, but much improved....

View attachment 4448710




ftr - .13 oz. worth of filing

Much better!

Mine's an '09, first year....no hole in bridge or in the body.
Under normal-ish circumstances, I'd drill both & add an appropriate screw....but my plan is to (eventually, someday ) swap the bridge for Babicz FCH-1 Solorails




Re-installation complete!

View attachment 4448735

That B string tension on the bass side of the bridge with no screw to hold it down looks like a pretty big design flaw. Hopefully it won’t torque your newly flattened bridge out of shape again. Solorails would look great on that bass with all the exposed center block laminations.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Yikes! That’s warped big time.
...
That B string tension on the bass side of the bridge with no screw to hold it down looks like a pretty big design flaw. Hopefully it won’t torque your newly flattened bridge out of shape again. Solorails would look great on that bass with all the exposed center block laminations.

That was my thought when I first got mine. It helped me understand why some people had a less than stellar opinion of Epiphone. Thankfully I'd already been quite happy with my IV.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Mine's an '09, first year....no hole in bridge or in the body.

Mnie was an April '09. No hole in bridge, but one in body. Say what? It made me think someone expected that bridge to have 5 holes (a completely reasonable expectation).

 

[TBird1958]

Question for those who have the 2021 NR ‘Birds. You happy with em?
Pickups?
Bridge?
Did you change the front strap location to the neck heel, or does it balance fine as-is?
I have an extra Lollar neck pickup and Hipshot replacement bridge if need be, but I like the look of the standard 3 point and am hoping I’ll love the pickups stock

Mark,

I changed the position of the tone knob and the jack, otherwise it's stock, even still has the Gibson strings on it. Through my rig the stock pickups sound great, very full and balanced, plenty of bass, lo mids and mids and I can get a nice clank with a pick. No trouble with the bridge either, I think what you'll find to be different will be the neck as it's bigger than a Reverse - but not uncomfortable.

Shameless hussy that I am............

If go in about 3:25 or so you won't have to listen to much of my pedestrian playing.