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Thunderbird Club

#188,501
Mvf said:
Well, I might have done a stupid thing. I just sold a Thunderbird…:rollno:

I have been so happy with my 1990 Thunderbird, and have not played my Orville 1991 at all, since I got the Gibson last summer. So I just sold the Orville to a young guy, who said he will use it in his punk band. I am happy the Orville will come in use again, it sure is a nice bass, plays good and sounds good, but the Gibson is just a little better, in every way. It is lighter, about 1 kg difference, the neck is a smoother and slightly thinner. The sound is a little different, to me both sound as good, and especially in the mix you do not hear any big difference. The Orville was louder though.

I had plans to replace the bridge with a Hipshot, and in fact ordered one, but then due to some problems with the delivery, it was returned to the sender, and I cancelled the order. The 3-point works just fine for me, now when I got it "tuned in". And looks better too:). The strings it came with are still on, do not know the brand, but they play quite nice.

Here are some pics of my current number one, Gibson TB 1990.

View attachment 4449964 View attachment 4449965 View attachment 4449966 View attachment 4449967 View attachment 4449968 View attachment 4449969 View attachment 4449970 View attachment 4449971 View attachment 4449972 View attachment 4449973
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Looks like you have some beeswing in the grain of that one. Beautiful!
 
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#188,502
dagrev said:
Ever had a Sr Moment while playing, Sr or not? I was to start a song along with the drummer. He started playing. I was a little unsure of the beat or time for a second. Completely lost what I was to do. My mind went blank. :confused: Nothing. Couldn't recall the the flow of the song. Knew the chords and thought I'll start playing and it'll come to me. Nope. :rollno:The longer is noodled the more I panicked. :eek: What I was playing was the wrong feel/groove. I should have just stopped but the guitar player started playing something. We eventually got there. I told them afterwards what happened and everyone was very kind. I told them that was my black hole into. I start and suck everyone around me into it. And it was so simple.
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I’ve blanked like that. Stop the song, apologize, take a moment to collect your thoughts and get your brain out of panic mode.

Its amazing how much information our brains process every day. Don’t be too hard on yourself or others when these things happen.
 
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#188,504
dagrev said:
I too have found my way back to Rotos--on some basses. (After avoiding them because of all the internet trauma drama, which turns out to be more hysteria common on the interwebs.) Used them years ago on the '64 Thunderbird and '55 Pbass. I tried them again on both and think there are better options for what I want on those basses, but I do have the 66s on on VP and the '76 and they sound great. The '64 really love Infeld Superalloys. The '06 has some SIT Powersteels on the recommendation of @BklynKen and I'm liking them so far. They seem to have a little more heft or thickness to them than Rotos.
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I use DR Sunbeams on my TF fretless and will use La Bella DTB on certain basses too. I think I have Blue Steels on my reverse T-Bird with Lull pickups but I'd like to try Rotos on it.
 
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#188,505
dagrev said:
Oh I faked it alright! Sounded like I was trying out some kind of jazz intro for the song..... Other than the musicians no one noticed when I asked or commented on it.
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One thing I've always noticed and have relied on especially at jams is that the guitar player or someone will almost always try his instrument before the song starts and will always play the I in the key, like a quick E if the song is in E. A very disciplined player will sometimes not do this and I hate asking what the key is. :laugh:
 
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#188,506
GonePlaid said:
There was a night that I was about to sing a song I've done hundreds of times. We started the intro and when it was time for me to sing(crickets). Total brain fart. Hadda turn to the drummer "what're the first words?" He tol' me then I was good. Otherwise, we'd still be playing that intro. And that was ~6 months ago.
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I like to sing and am fairly good but hate learning lyrics, laziness. Curse of my life, music has always come easily to me but it made me lazy.
 
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#188,507
bobyoung53 said:
I like to sing and am fairly good but hate learning lyrics, laziness. Curse of my life, music has always come easily to me but it made me lazy.
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Case in point: When I was a kid I was a pretty good trumpet player but was not very good at reading because the songs were so simple I'd learn them by ear and would be able to play them without really needing the music. The school decided I had talent and got me me a private teacher who also though i was pretty good but again laziness got the best of me. He gave me a fairly complicated piece of music to learn for my "show" in front of the whole band. Of course I didn't practice it and completely blew it in front of the whole band (7th grade) It was one of the most embarrassing hours (3 minutes maybe? :laugh:) in my life, I wanted to crawl under the stage. I was really getting into guitar at that point though anyway but wish I had tried instead of fluffing off WORK.
 
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#188,508
bobyoung53 said:
I like to sing and am fairly good but hate learning lyrics, laziness. Curse of my life, music has always come easily to me but it made me lazy.
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One of the songs I sing-at pretty much every gig-is "Old Time R&R". I hafta have the lyrics in front of me. Yet I can do "Mack the Knife" any time with no lyric sheet. I just don't have the recall I did back when I was playing 6 nites/week.
 
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#188,509
GonePlaid said:
One of the songs I sing-at pretty much every gig-is "Old Time R&R". I hafta have the lyrics in front of me. Yet I can do "Mack the Knife" any time with no lyric sheet. I just don't have the recall I did back when I was playing 6 nites/week.
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True. Nothing like constant repetition. I really miss playing full time.
 
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#188,512
Pyramid Gold

38917-A5-D-01-DD-4-CB7-8-C9-D-3-B52-ED794681.jpg
 
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#188,513
dagrev said:
Looks to be in fantastic shape! I know what you mean abuot how Gibson's feel. My '06 is simply superb and feels as good as anything I've ever played.

What strings are you using? Red could be older Rotos or Infelds and no doubt a few more.
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Not sure about the strings, they where on when I bought the bass, the seller did not know or remember either. So a mystery to me….

But it feels and sounds just super. Just played her for about 3 hours, 22 songs, at band rehearsal. We have a gig coming up next saturday.
 
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#188,519
Mvf said:
Well, I might have done a stupid thing. I just sold a Thunderbird…:rollno:

I have been so happy with my 1990 Thunderbird, and have not played my Orville 1991 at all, since I got the Gibson last summer. So I just sold the Orville to a young guy, who said he will use it in his punk band. I am happy the Orville will come in use again, it sure is a nice bass, plays good and sounds good, but the Gibson is just a little better, in every way. It is lighter, about 1 kg difference, the neck is a smoother and slightly thinner. The sound is a little different, to me both sound as good, and especially in the mix you do not hear any big difference. The Orville was louder though.

I had plans to replace the bridge with a Hipshot, and in fact ordered one, but then due to some problems with the delivery, it was returned to the sender, and I cancelled the order. The 3-point works just fine for me, now when I got it "tuned in". And looks better too:). The strings it came with are still on, do not know the brand, but they play quite nice.

Here are some pics of my current number one, Gibson TB 1990.

View attachment 4449964 View attachment 4449965 View attachment 4449966 View attachment 4449967 View attachment 4449968 View attachment 4449969 View attachment 4449970 View attachment 4449971 View attachment 4449972 View attachment 4449973
Click to expand...

Gotta say, that's gorgeous! If you didn't need the other one, it sounds like it already chose a worthy successor. Sharing Thunderbird love is never stupid.
 
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