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Thunderbird Club

#196,881
bobyoung53 said:
I bought two of those new right when Rickenbacker yanked them out of GC for selling the cases separately, I stupidly sold them both. You can take the shoes off of them if it bothers you, it will get maybe a little noisier but the sound doesn't change, those bridge pickups are powerful little muthas.
No matter what GC tells you that is why they no longer stock them, everyone always complains about Rickenbacker being out for themselves, they were protecting the consumer this time.
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I have owned 4 Ric's. I had a blue, 70's 4001 that was awesome and got stolen. Then a wine red 4001 from the early 80's to replace the stolen one. It was in bad shape and I had a lot of work done to it and a poor re-fret killed it. Then a black 4001 that was nothing special and and early 80's 4003 in some kind of red-yellow-ish burst that I could never get a sound that I liked out of it.

This one has that upper register sustain and zing, like my Thunderbird, that I am drawn to it seems. I have not owned a Fender bass that has that same character.

I am wondering about putting a Hipshot bridge (direct, no mod replacement) on it to allow for more adjustability when setting up. This one I think has a non-original nut on it, which needs some work or replacement.

It is funny how you have the muscle memory for things. I started playing it and it was instantly familiar.
 
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#196,883
PillO said:
Geddy also removed the stock bridge and replaced it with a Badass.
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rush-colour274-jpg.jpg
 
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#196,888
bobyoung53 said:
I was thinking of getting another one and having it converted to fretless with an ebony board and Fender scheme side dots, 3, 5, 7 etc. Got a picture?
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I still haven’t made an ebony nut or finished the board yet, I had a lesson today and I wanted to bring her so I tossed her together.

SIT nickle strings, I do like them very much, I would say the are extremely similar to the EB extra slinkies I have been using, but I can get them maybe a dollar cheaper than the EB’s.

4-A206543-B659-467-B-876-C-9865-E727-FB1-B.jpg
 
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#196,892
WillyW said:
I still haven’t made an ebony nut or finished the board yet, I had a lesson today and I wanted to bring her so I tossed her together.

SIT nickle strings, I do like them very much, I would say the are extremely similar to the EB extra slinkies I have been using, but I can get them maybe a dollar cheaper than the EB’s.

View attachment 4572576
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I think you should change your user name to Fuzzy Bunny Feet.
upload_2022-2-5_19-39-45.png
 
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#196,896
bylar13 said:
I have owned 4 Ric's. I had a blue, 70's 4001 that was awesome and got stolen. Then a wine red 4001 from the early 80's to replace the stolen one. It was in bad shape and I had a lot of work done to it and a poor re-fret killed it. Then a black 4001 that was nothing special and and early 80's 4003 in some kind of red-yellow-ish burst that I could never get a sound that I liked out of it.

This one has that upper register sustain and zing, like my Thunderbird, that I am drawn to it seems. I have not owned a Fender bass that has that same character.

I am wondering about putting a Hipshot bridge (direct, no mod replacement) on it to allow for more adjustability when setting up. This one I think has a non-original nut on it, which needs some work or replacement.

It is funny how you have the muscle memory for things. I started playing it and it was instantly familiar.
Click to expand...

Once you set those bridges you can forget about them unless you change to a drastically different string. They're a bit of a pain but nowhere near as bad as people make them out to be, but this from a guy who likes tiltomatics and bar bridges. :roflmao:
I owned a '78 azureglo 4001 years ago (blue)
 
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#196,897
JJR58 said:
Not sure I can get any more random then this.
On second guess, I can. :roflmao:

View attachment 4572594
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I am a huge Jeff Beck fan.

There was a documentary on him I saw perhaps two years ago. Fascinating guy and to his credit is always looking for under-appreciated musicians he can take on tour. In this case, note Rhonda Smith; fantastic bass player. The show I saw with her, she had several bass solos and killed it.

The dude must have little hearing left; he doesn't use in ears and the stage is LOUD. We were few rows back (10-15) and all the sound we heard was coming from stage, not the PA.

 
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#196,899
WillyW said:
I still haven’t made an ebony nut or finished the board yet, I had a lesson today and I wanted to bring her so I tossed her together.

SIT nickle strings, I do like them very much, I would say the are extremely similar to the EB extra slinkies I have been using, but I can get them maybe a dollar cheaper than the EB’s.

View attachment 4572576
Click to expand...
Engle said:
You are probably right. I could be wrong, I often am:D
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I'm no Geddy Lee expert but I thought I read that or heard that somewhere or other.
 
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