Late last year, I bought a late 1980's, left handed Tokai TB 48 Thunderbird. Usually, left handed stuff costs a bit more than the right handed version; most lefty players are very familiar with the "Lefty Surcharge". This one, however, was listed on Reverb for a fair bit less than a righty usually goes for. Should have been a red light, but... I'm a sucker for T-Birds; and, this one filled the "Long Scale Bolt-Neck Bass" Spot in my herd; and the price was... impossible to resist. Plus, the thing looked flawless - other than a teeny, tiny chip on the lower bout - where just about every bass ever made, winds up with a ding. Nothing else - in 40+ years. Should have been another red light, but... well, we all know about GAS...
So, I got it, and... it was/is a beautiful bass. Wasn't sure what kind of flats I wanted on it, so I just gave the set-up a cursory check; tuned it up - emphasis on the "TUNE" - and turned to other things around my 92 y/o house that really needed attention. So, the Tokai sat on a stand for a while.
Forward to a couple of weeks ago: I decided to put a set of Optima 4099RL "Chromes" on it. I like the midrange-focused, low tension (for flats) Dogal R44s on my Gibson T-Bird; on my Kramer 450B Lumie, these Optima's sound and feel very similar. All 3 of these basses are plenty "Old School" thumpy already - even with rounds; so... flats with less low end, more mids and highs were the ticket... All was well, until I tried to intonate the Tokai. Normally, I don't pay a lot of attention to this, for a couple of reasons. One, I have several basses that don't lend themselves to being as intonated as is the norm nowadays. And, way back in the '60s - early '70s when I learned to play, and was in a band, most bass players I knew just... didn't bother. If you never got near the 12th fret... why bother? I play for fun, now; and I play pretty much what I played back then. But, I felt that I should at least hit the intonation a lick, since it was hooked up to my Peterson Strobo-Flip Tuner, anyway. But...
I was surprised to find that I couldn't intonate it - at all. With the G string saddle cranked as far back as it would go, it was getting... sorta close, but that was it. There was no way in Hades that the E, A, & D strings would get anywhere close - unless the saddles were off the back of the bridge. Upon further investigation, I found that the bridge was mounted - at the factory - about 5/8" too far forward. So, it was NEVER intonated - it's entire life. And, apparently nobody cared, and nobody ever tried to fix it - for 40+ years...
So, it is currently disassembled, with the neck, bridge, and control cavity cover off (need some slack in the ground wire; the bridge will be moving). The existing screw holes will be plugged, and painted over; new holes will be drilled 5/8" behind the existing ones; the bridge and the neck (with it's factory sandpaper shim) will go back on; and the TB 48 will get set up; tuned up; and intonated for the first time in it's existence. One curious thing, though...
After looking at the whole mess, and taking some measurements, I realized that - if the bridge was one with the mounting holes in the front? The holes would have been in just the right spot - and there never would have been a problem, at all. Maybe somebody just... looked at the wrong bridge? Or, is this one the "wrong" bridge for this bass...?
So, I got it, and... it was/is a beautiful bass. Wasn't sure what kind of flats I wanted on it, so I just gave the set-up a cursory check; tuned it up - emphasis on the "TUNE" - and turned to other things around my 92 y/o house that really needed attention. So, the Tokai sat on a stand for a while.
Forward to a couple of weeks ago: I decided to put a set of Optima 4099RL "Chromes" on it. I like the midrange-focused, low tension (for flats) Dogal R44s on my Gibson T-Bird; on my Kramer 450B Lumie, these Optima's sound and feel very similar. All 3 of these basses are plenty "Old School" thumpy already - even with rounds; so... flats with less low end, more mids and highs were the ticket... All was well, until I tried to intonate the Tokai. Normally, I don't pay a lot of attention to this, for a couple of reasons. One, I have several basses that don't lend themselves to being as intonated as is the norm nowadays. And, way back in the '60s - early '70s when I learned to play, and was in a band, most bass players I knew just... didn't bother. If you never got near the 12th fret... why bother? I play for fun, now; and I play pretty much what I played back then. But, I felt that I should at least hit the intonation a lick, since it was hooked up to my Peterson Strobo-Flip Tuner, anyway. But...
I was surprised to find that I couldn't intonate it - at all. With the G string saddle cranked as far back as it would go, it was getting... sorta close, but that was it. There was no way in Hades that the E, A, & D strings would get anywhere close - unless the saddles were off the back of the bridge. Upon further investigation, I found that the bridge was mounted - at the factory - about 5/8" too far forward. So, it was NEVER intonated - it's entire life. And, apparently nobody cared, and nobody ever tried to fix it - for 40+ years...
So, it is currently disassembled, with the neck, bridge, and control cavity cover off (need some slack in the ground wire; the bridge will be moving). The existing screw holes will be plugged, and painted over; new holes will be drilled 5/8" behind the existing ones; the bridge and the neck (with it's factory sandpaper shim) will go back on; and the TB 48 will get set up; tuned up; and intonated for the first time in it's existence. One curious thing, though...
After looking at the whole mess, and taking some measurements, I realized that - if the bridge was one with the mounting holes in the front? The holes would have been in just the right spot - and there never would have been a problem, at all. Maybe somebody just... looked at the wrong bridge? Or, is this one the "wrong" bridge for this bass...?
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