Thunderbird Club

[Nocturnal]

I really like the colour of the red Sixx bass. At that price I might hold off, but it's cool! Too bad it doesn't have the original PG. I would have done the same as you and just replaced it and put the original away. I have the Schecter Sixx as well and, honestly, absolutely love it! Yup, it's heavier, it's in the plain old matte black, but its sounds great and built solid. I've been using it for our bands last bit of recording and the guys in the band say they really like the tone from it and the old trusty 800RB. It's a great bass and a total keeper for me.

I need to compare the Schecter and the Spector to see how they sound head-to-head. They have similar EMG setups so it will be interesting to see what the different EQs do to them.

 

[dagrev]

IIRC, Gibson serial numbers in the 60s are notoriously inaccurate, as they would reuse parts of the range in different years.

Yes indeed. I think Gibson likely is the worst offender as far as weird, inconsistent and even reused serial numbers. Often they can't untangle the secret code!

My '76 is either a 1976 or Jan 2002!

 

[dagrev]

You convinced me not to be a and put these on my Thunderbird. I love them on my two cheap modded Glarrys and two Ibbys.

Well you got me thinking about tapes and I just ordered a set of LaBellas myself for my '06. Darn you!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

LOL - if I played a turd with strings I’m sure I’d draw a crowd….
…of flies!

bar flies…

 

[wolfkeller]

OMG - I’m a righty and I love the look of that!
So is the toggle a kill, or a series/parallel, or a coil split, or just there to make stupid people ask questions?

Lol, its a kill. I have this thing about dead silence from instruments when the song is done. Being a vol bass, flip the switch to shut it up lol

 

[RedVee]

Lol, its a kill. I have this thing about dead silence from instruments when the song is done. Being a vol bass, flip the switch to shut it up lol

I thought it may be a “Producer Switch”

 

[MCF]

LOL - “From the moment I set it in my lap I experienced that neck dive that Thunderbirds are so famous for”

So in other words, he NEVER strapped it on with a bass strap while standing. He’s just spewing his bias and preconceived opinions. In fact he goes on to say, “Gibson, why do you hate bass players so much” which I read as a general comment on Gibsons entire bass line up, not just specifically the one model he held.

Just for S&Gs I pulled out my NR BaCH and yep she’s a diver when I set it in my lap, unless I rest my right forearm on the body (like I do with all my basses). Then I pulled out my Reverse Tbirds, same neck dive in lap story, but none of them dive while strapped on. So I figured, must be the lower bout cutout location that rests on your thigh, maybe it’s better on a FSO. So I pulled out some Jazz and P and Tele basses, and every single one of them neck dives in my lap just as much as my birds.

I will agree with him on fit and finish - a $2000 bass shouldn’t have glaring F&F issues like fret sprout, raised frets, obvious paint blems etc. Don’t know if the one he tried had those issues, and if it did, if thats common across the model, or if its just one bad one or possibly Blem stock being sold on the store floor. Folks that have bought these can chime in, but I don’t recall hearing horror stories about bad frets, bowed necks, and the like from the users here.

Set up is a whole different story and shouldn’t be lumped in with defects or workmanship or quality control, it’s a personal thing. When I get a new bass that’s set up nicely for me right out of the box, I think cool that saves me some time. But when it comes with the action too high or the pups too low, etc. I just pull out the tools and get it to where I want it, no big deal.

My ‘21 NR is perfect. Fretwork is top notch.

 

[PillO]

First cover, maybe many will come, but I seriously need to improve my left and right hands a lot

As long as you only have trouble with your left and right hands, you are doing pretty well...

 

[dagrev]

@PillO How is the hand recovery progressing along? Able to play Mountain Jam all the way through by now?

In case you want to play along and not have to dig it out.

 

[Gaolee]

Yes indeed. I think Gibson likely is the worst offender as far as weird, inconsistent and even reused serial numbers. Often they can't untangle the secret code!

My '76 is either a 1976 or Jan 2002!

My EB-2 is completely mysterious that way. Every explanation of serial numbers comes up with a different idea for what year it is. I call it a '68, just because it ought to be a '68. When I got it, the salesman told me it was a '65. Not a chance, since it has a later, intonable bridge and is an EB-2D from the factory. So, it's a late '67 at the earliest. It has cloverleaf tuners, so it's a '69 at the latest, more or less. Except Gibson kept using those off and on for a while longer and put Y tuners on some in '69. So, who knows. The more I try to figure it out, the more of a failure that is.

 

[JIO]

I haven’t tried it yet, but heard that it’s relatively easy to swap the bottom pot on an Alpha stacked pot. They are apparently held together with a pair of small metal tabs. CTS pots look like they’d be more problematic to swap out but you might be able to open one up enough to alter the conductive surface of the disk. Keep us posted, I might need to do the same on the BlingBird stacked pots.

I heard back from an email I sent to KA - he can't help me as the two types of pu are 'not compatible'. (less winds in a lip-stick than a P or J pu, so not as high output) I'm still going to see if I can figure something out messing with the stacked pot. Another possible solution is stereo/2 inputs - one for each pu with a splitter that individually boosts the lipstick pu.

If nothing addresses it maybe I'll end up cutting a new pg and doing 2 lipsticks and a Dano harness like my Coral Deluxe bass. (I've got another lipstick pu)

 

[JIO]

Fun Monday tb trivia -


Thunderbird Club members hold 10 out of the top 20 "Liked" tb members.

GonePaid - #3
Gaolee - #4
JIO - #5
JimmyM (honorary member) - #6
JJR58 - #10
PillO - #12
Tbird1958 - #15
Chucky Stiletti - #19
Bklynken - #20

Give the lady in the pink hat a cupie doll!

 

[JIO]

bar flies…

 

[GBassNorth]

My ‘21 NR is perfect. Fretwork is top notch.

Figured as much. I think the reviewer was just overwhelmed with negative bias and it ended up clouding his judgement.

 

[JIO]

Figured as much. I think the reviewer was just overwhelmed with negative bias and it ended up clouding his judgement.

...or he played a late Friday bird. (it happens) I'll agree that he repeated some general T-bird bias, but I'll give him the benefit of doubt as his other assessments were spot-on.

 

[GBassNorth]

Status update on the BlingBird…

shielding complete, planned on using conductive paint because it looks more factory, but my 10 year old can of paint went bad so had to use copper shielding tape. Works just as good…

did a bunch of the soldering and installed the pots, just need to solder in the pups, ground wire and output jack…probably tomorrow….(the black tape is temporary, to keep dust and debris out of the pots during construction, it’ll come off when done)

started laying out the rings by eyeball, was getting dark so I’ll do all the alignment work and drilling when I have good light. Also set the pup wire lengths allowing slack for removal and trouble shooting (hate it when there’s not enough slack to lift a pup out of its route and set it aside without having to unsolder wires)…

same thing at the other end, gotta get those pup wires to the right length for proper wire management and future repair work…

 

[dagrev]

My EB-2 is completely mysterious that way. Every explanation of serial numbers comes up with a different idea for what year it is. I call it a '68, just because it ought to be a '68. When I got it, the salesman told me it was a '65. Not a chance, since it has a later, intonable bridge and is an EB-2D from the factory. So, it's a late '67 at the earliest. It has cloverleaf tuners, so it's a '69 at the latest, more or less. Except Gibson kept using those off and on for a while longer and put Y tuners on some in '69. So, who knows. The more I try to figure it out, the more of a failure that is.

That's really bizarre, albeit not entirely surprising. One might be tempted to think someone brought their pet chimp in and it did serial numbers on a somewhat regular basis.

 

[Bent77]

Still calling it the ThunderPimp...

 

[Bent77]

Fun Monday tb trivia -


Thunderbird Club members hold 10 out of the top 20 "Liked" tb members.

GonePaid - #3
Gaolee - #4
JIO - #5
JimmyM (honorary member) - #6
JJR58 - #10
PillO - #12
Tbird1958 - #15
Chucky Stiletti - #19
Bklynken - #20

Give the lady in the pink hat a cupie doll!

View attachment 4547255

This place is a culture into itself, and I always attributed that to how the club is guided by her highness

 

[dagrev]

Status update on the BlingBird…

shielding complete, planned on using conductive paint because it looks more factory, but my 10 year old can of paint went bad so had to use copper shielding tape. Works just as good…
View attachment 4547272

did a bunch of the soldering and installed the pots, just need to solder in the pups, ground wire and output jack…probably tomorrow….(the black tape is temporary, to keep dust and debris out of the pots during construction, it’ll come off when done)
View attachment 4547273

started laying out the rings by eyeball, was getting dark so I’ll do all the alignment work and drilling when I have good light. Also set the pup wire lengths allowing slack for removal and trouble shooting (hate it when there’s not enough slack to lift a pup out of its route and set it aside without having to unsolder wires)…
View attachment 4547274

same thing at the other end, gotta get those pup wires to the right length for proper wire management and future repair work…
View attachment 4547275

The excitement is building.

Please don't have any tortpaper around that you're thinking about.