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Thunderbird Club

#19,081
Mosstone said:
I've only had the Cobalts on my Jaguar for about a month, and they're still pretty lively, but I don't play the Jag full time. Just on stuff that calls for flats (but that list is getting longer). The cool thing about the Cobalts is; I can go from "What's Goin' On" or "Something" to "Red Barchetta" and it all sounds right and natural. :thumbsup:
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Agreed! Similar experience- everything came off as "appropriate", as long as I gave it the proper touch/mojo.
 
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#19,082
D.M.N. said:
Yeah, I've got some on order to try out that should be here next week. Didn't end up needing the DeOxit either, just moving the pots worked wonders.
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Just about every used bass I've ever bought has had scratchy pots or dropped signal. Working the pots/jack solves 95% of those problems.
 
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#19,083
Count Bassie said:
Agreed! Similar experience- everything came off as "appropriate", as long as I gave it the proper touch/mojo.
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Yeah, I do alter my technique a bit. Sometimes I mess with the EQ if I really want to nail it, but most of the time, I just back off on my attack when playing '60s/Motown stuff.

I'll have a bridge cover on the P-bass I'm building, and I'll stick some foam in that and see how it goes.
 
#19,084
Mosstone said:
Yeah, I do alter my technique a bit. Sometimes I mess with the EQ if I really want to nail it, but most of the time, I just back off on my attack when playing '60s/Motown stuff.

I'll have a bridge cover on the P-bass I'm building, and I'll stick some foam in that and see how it goes.
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I stuck a small strip of closed cell foam under the strings at the bridge and it was very effective.
 
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#19,085
Andii Syckz said:
Yeh fender rumbles aren't the greatest when it comes to bass tone (it's good for anything that has top end already like fender basses or active circuitry.
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I wouldn't necessarily say that. I've got a rumble 500 head with a TC K212, and it sounds great, but very "vintage" sounding with all the low end. Mind you it's not muddy at all. But you need to tweak the eq. My bass knob never goes past 10:00, but with the high and low mid eq's, you can get a much more full range sound, and stay off the vintage button.
Now if someone plays more Motown, or even reggae stuff, lots of thump, that head would be easy to go to town on.
I think it might be the ultimate 60's/70's class D head.

I can get what I need out of it by playing with the eq, but as a child of the 80's, a GK may be in my future.
Although the TC BH550 appeals to me with the built in TonePrint thing.
 
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#19,087
Mosstone said:
Yeah, I do alter my technique a bit. Sometimes I mess with the EQ if I really want to nail it, but most of the time, I just back off on my attack when playing '60s/Motown stuff.

I'll have a bridge cover on the P-bass I'm building, and I'll stick some foam in that and see how it goes.
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hillerup said:
USA..??? ;)
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Lol...
 
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#19,089
Just been down to the local ABH for some Gibson picks = 3 each H and XH (pushing the boat out with the spending you can tell).

They have a couple of sale EB-3s - the nicest one is black and a mere $A379. Feels very compact compared to the Bird and I was doing my best Trevor Bolder impersonation. Him indoors says 'no', which is probably for the best really, it would be money better spent on the NRBird next year.
 
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#19,090
hillerup said:
Our Queen says live pictures are encouraged... So here are a couple of pictures from my band's performance last saturday...


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Great "bird in the hand" action shots!
Some interesting threads on that Dude/Dudette in the last pic.:D Must be a story behind that outfit!:smug:
 
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#19,093
D.M.N. said:
Well, none of the auto parts stores had what I needed either. So I tried ammonia/water combo. No change. Tried Brasso. Really polished up the side touching the gasket that doesn't have oxidization. Tried Bar Keepers Friend. No change. So now I guess I'll order up some of the Tripoli Rouge, and barring that, I'll probably just opt for new hardware. This is some impressive tarnish/oxidization.
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I can assure you, tripoli rouge on a pedestal mounted buffing wheel for a few minutes will have those things shining bright. The trick is the pedestal mounted buffing wheel. You might be able to rig up a drill motor in a vice to do the same thing but just rubbing by hand may not work. At the very least set it up similar to a shoe shine station and buff the heck out of it with a pro grade shoe shine buffing cloth.
 
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#19,094
Count Bassie said:
Found this little booger laying on the floor at work a week or so ago. The plasterers thought he (I guess he?...) was dead, but a little prodding got him into my hat.

I even ventured to pet him a bit with a finger, but that got him hissing, bearing his little needle-teeth at me and squeaking so I laid off! I kept turning the hat so he'd be facing away from me while he was squeaking and scanning around for his antagonist- when they use their sonar it actually "hits" you. It's a little disconcerting to have a small, very high-pitched beam of sound create a physical impression on your throat! I didn't want his anger shooting at me, it was a little too much like getting "bit", in a way.

I ended up naming him "Cootie", for his bad temper. I left my hat in the building ( Belcourt Castle in Newport, RI), near an entrance to the attic, so he could go back to mom and dad, wife and kids, his buddies, whatever he had there. The next morning my hat was empty, so I figure he's good. Here he is, Cootie the Thunder Bat:

View attachment 955061 View attachment 955062
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Cute little critter, but I'm not so sure I'd be wearing that hat again. The buggers can carry some nasty lice.
 
#19,096
Mosstone said:
Hey, we use the metric system! Our soft drinks come in 2 liter bottles and.... um.... uhhh...
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LOL - living in the USA but owning three Porsches, a Fiat and a Dodge means I have a wonderful assortment of both metric and "regular" (did that for Kat) tools. The funny thing is that metric tools are so much easier to use. I mean what's the next size down from an 11/16" socket vs the next size down from a 10mm socket? It's the darn conversion between the two measuring systems that's a royal PITA.
 
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#19,097
GBassNorth said:
LOL - living in the USA but owning three Porsches, a Fiat and a Dodge means I have a wonderful assortment of both metric and "regular" (did that for Kat) tools. The funny thing is that metric tools are so much easier to use. I mean what's the next size down from an 11/16" socket vs the next size down from a 10mm socket? It's the darn conversion between the two measuring systems that's a royal PITA.
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I agree. Any base 10 system is naturally easier than base 12 (we have ten fingers after all).
 
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#19,098
Ok, I'm all caught up in the thread again. Not getting my notices when the thread updates is really pissing me off. One day and it's four pages of posts in this Chatty Cathy club.

Spent most of the day today chasing a stupid electrical issue on my modded Jaguar Short Scale bass. Strangest thing I've ever seen. If you tighten the screws down on the control plate you loose the signal. Figured I must have had a bad connection going to the output Jack. So I re-soldered every stinkin connection on the entire preamp just to make sure. Nope, didn't fix it, tighten the control plate down, no sound from either pickup. Back any of the three control plate screws off by about a full turn and bingo, works fine.

Put a new output Jack in, same problem. Thought maybe something is grounding out against the conductive paint in the control cavity, so I lined the cavity with electrical tape, same problem. The preamp in the bass consists of three different circuit boards, figured maybe one of them is somehow being stressed or torqued when I tighten the cover. So I clamped the control plate in a vice with everything wired up to the bass and it plays just fine regardless of how hard I push on the circuit boards or twist the plate.

Ok, that narrowed down to something about the way the preamp fits in the control cavity, maybe a bad wire or a wire getting pinched. So I re-routed all the wires, problem is still there! In frustration I wrapped a couple of layers of electric tape around the entire preamp assembly. Problem solved!

Why? I don't know! who cares? and I don't give a damn! It works and sounds darn good (for a Fender). I'm just gonna play it and shut up, if it breaks down I'll be parting out a nice Jaguar minus a John East preamp that's been smashed to pieces with a hammer. I guess if I had a short scale TBird I wouldn't be messing with the Jag in the first place.:woot:

Hmmmm, where can I find a SS Bird and are they any good?:cautious:
 
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