NancyJohnson

[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1488208933' post='3246793'] As a final note, I like the 3-point bridge. It's part of what a Thunderbird is all about. I tried the Hipshot bridge but found it to be an enormous slab of metal which made very little difference to my sound. So it lives in a box now. I like to feel the 3-pointer under the edge of my hand, which is now suitably calloused on the fleshy bit at the base of my pinky. [/quote] Try the Babicz. It's a joy.

Best mate played rudimentary guitar. I knew someone who had a Jedson bass and a WEM Dominator combo I was able to borrow.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1484105999' post='3212735'] Try living and being an entreprenuer there! I'm lucky I still have my sanity and hair. Being informed that there Chinese way of doing things and then seeing sh*t hitting the wall after my advice wasn't heeded has made me less tolerant...not more worldly (and this isn't my first time here). I could go on for hours about why this is the case. Mostly I believe it's the education system - it focuses exclusively on remembering facts and passing tests, not on understanding and problem solving. My niece is 12 and works until 11pm each night on homework (and she has a near photographic memory so never needed to study much in the past). It's a relentless grind for them with no room for personal development and I feel sorry for the poor bastards. The education system produces machines, not thinkers. Still...some, like my inlaws, can't help but think outside the box . In terms of generally working with Chinese, some allowance needs to be made for skill levels not being as high as in western countries and details get overlooked very easily. It's much more efficient to give them an example of what is wanted if so much of what is expected lies in attention to detail. It's then easy to point to the bits that are key to quality. Then they need training time to gain confidence and experience through repetition. As you say they're very eager to please. Once they've got the hang of what is expected, they turn into machines and can work relentlessly and very consistently - (as they are expected to by the education system). As for the topic of IP, it's a source of considerable frustration for myself. Trying to develop proof of concept without the manufacturing partner stealing those ideas is almost impossible to enforce legally. Yes there are confidentiality agreements that can be set up but the courts here generally like to have a pop at western interests on the basis of principle if there is an opportunity. So even if you took a company to court, used Chinese representation and had all the paper work in place, the courts might delay a decision indefinitely. [/quote] Until last September, I worked for a subcontractor deeply embedded within a global-Chinese telecom business. While you want to come across on a forum as understanding and politically correct, sadly I can't on this matter. I found the environment not unlike being beamed onto a Borg cube; a hive mindset where you really only have two choices when working with them; their way or not your way. Pleasant enough to your face (or if you're lucky enough to engage with one of them alone, away from the nest), I found them wholly untrustworthy in business and despite assurances during meetings, they would deny everything and do the opposite of what they'd agreed to do. I won't go into their toilet habits or the constant hawking up and flobbing into plant pots. Oh, sorry. I did.

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1487935516' post='3244282'] Neck dive. Inherently unbalanced design, when you strap it on the headstock decides it wants to touch the floor. [/quote] Nope. Don't get it. Sorry.

A friend if mine had a CD shop around the time Nevermind came out. He was offered boxes of Nevermind by the label as the album tanking and they were looking towards clearing overstocks. Bargain bin filler. Curiously, same thing with Dookie by Green Day.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1487785738' post='3242918'] RnB has always confused me. It doesn't sound like any rhythm and blues I've heard. It seems to be such a wide genre too - so many turns are described as an 'RnB artist" [/quote] It's the whole misappropriation of genres titles. To me, R'n'B is late 40s/50s stuff, like Ray Charles, Bo Diddley and to an extent the white British derivation in bands like The Who and early Rolling Stones. The stuff my parents listened to. TLC and Rhianna are not R'n'B. And don't get me started on Garage.

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1487757265' post='3242412'] The Tokai Thunderbirds are extremely nice well made quality instruments,but they take neck dive to the level of an olympic sport. [/quote] Neck what?

[quote name='Harryburke14' timestamp='1487672008' post='3241618'] I want a thunderbird but after playing an epi one at PMT yesterday I found it hard to get on with given the neck being so long. [/quote] This doesn't really make a lot of sense. At 34", the scale length is comparable/the same as that of a Jazz/Precision. OK, sure the body shape might add to the illusion that the neck keeps going, but it doesn't! Just check Google for photos of Fenderbirds...lots of Thunderbird bodies with Fender necks on them.

Musically, Japan. The early period only, mind. Adolescent Sex/Obscure Alternatives/Quiet Life. More recently, Motion City Soundtrack.

Gibson have had some fairly crazy/unconventional designs historically and there's been plenty of redesign to get a bass from a fundamentally guitar design (Firebird/Thunderbird et al). While I really like the weirdness of the Moderne and Futura (also the original Explorer with the V-shaped split headstock), I honestly don't know how a Moderne or Futura bass would size up...I seem to remember someone building a Futura bass (google confirms this) and its a monstrosity! I suppose the best you could do is check out some old Hamers to see what you can achieve; they seemed to pillage through old Gibson designs and make them their own for a bit.

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1487673683' post='3241646'] it's not like Gibson are going out of their way to advertise or promote the new EB Bass. Although a couple of people are sat with it, it's not mentioned in the Gibson USA 2017 New Model Year video. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1aIPdOdXdI"]https://www.youtube....h?v=v1aIPdOdXdI[/url] [/quote] I'm not one for dissing on anyone's ability, we all have to start somewhere, but for the love of god couldn't Gibson have gotten someone/anyone [i]better [/i]or perhaps more[i] adept [/i]than Noah Sierota (from Echosmith) to play that EB? It doesn't actually look to bad in that clip. Christ on a bike. Fender = Geddy Lee, Yamaha = Billy Sheehan, MusicMan = John Myung. I could go on. They could have flown me and Neeph over. At least we've been buying and playing their instruments for a while.

While I favour Thunderbirds, Gibson really missed a trick limiting them to (primarily) sunburst, black or ivory finishes, or the odd walnut or cherry ones (let's not talk about the gold monstrosity), especially considering the variety on the six string front. I have a mate who owns a Yamoto Thunderbird in sapphire blue and it is gorgeous. Look, while there's some lacklustre basses in this year's range, it's not like you can't pick up a Gibson bass; there's always availability. So 2018. What would I like to see? In the unlikely event that the 20/20 will reappear(!), then a faithful Thunderbird II reissue, using the nitro 60s custom colour palette. Two part bridge, oversized headstock, chrome. F*ck it, relic it if necessary. What do I know?

Incidentally, while we're on the subject of Beans, there's a band who gig around Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire called Pensevor, both the guitarists play TBs. Well, when I say both of them, the guitarist favours a TB1000 (the Gibson 335 shaped one) and the bass player uses something that has a Travis Bean neck, bridge, pickups and controls in the right place, it's got the serial number stamped into the headstock, but the body shape is all wrong and the horns are too long and thick. I spoke to her about it once and she was a bit dumb to it, really didn't want to talk about it or know what it's history was.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1487584202' post='3240840'] Perhaps as an initial payout...yes. However, as dannybuoy says, the fact that they last a loooong time, makes them cheaper in the long run. [/quote] Anyone got a decent set that's only been on a bit that they're getting shot of? Precision length. I'm actually quite tempted, bit for the price. I could be converted to the dark side. I've just put a fresh set of Nanowebs on my P. It'll be a few months.

Yikes. Why so expensive?

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1487343277' post='3239167'] They are FLATS !!!....they are not meant to sound like rounds. They are meant as an alternative. [/quote] It's amazing isn't it that despite 50 or 60 years of string innovation, coatings, wraps, hex/circular cores, freezing them, boiling them, groundwinding them (and so on), the battlefield really just still comes down to flats vs. rounds. You know, I'm generally interested in putting a set on my Precision if only to try and calm down the toppy frequency. A test if you will.

[quote name='Shaggy' timestamp='1487410987' post='3239545'] A certain Mr Wyman also a player of these of course.... [/quote] You know, his were custom build short scales.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1487357277' post='3239322'] Also there are some Chinese knock offs that are supposed to sound pretty close: http://www.eyguitarmusic.com/Thunderbird-Bass-Pickup-Vintage-Style-for-GibsonChromeNickel_p_2287.html I have a set waiting to go into a bass when I get the time. [/quote] Somebody on the LBO made an off the cuff remark about how, 'wouldn't it be funny if these pickups were the same ones as those going into the new Epiphones and it was all a lark on Gibsons part to get pickups tested and review the opinions made by vintage Thunderbird owners'.

Oh, my music collection is peppered with stuff that generally draws a blank. Shudder To Think Millicent Friendly Summercamp Sugarbomb Tsar The Trachtenburg Fanily Slideshow Players Taxiride Straw Powder The Drills The Penfifteen Club The JTG Implosion Cider Hot One Farewell Continental Bleu The Major Labels ...want any more?

Many moons ago, my first bass had flats on it. When I broke a G-string, the local guitar place only had rounds so being the poor lad that I was, I just bought a round G. I spent the next few weeks playing almost exclusively that string in awe of its zingy characteristics. With this in mind, I never played flats after those strings came off. Why would I want my bass to sound like it had year old rounds on it?

Thank you! You're really too kind!

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1482327848' post='3199604'] Why does BC not have a 'LIKE' button already?!? [/quote] I've raised this previously! It was switched off in late 2011. Under 200 people voted on it and I think one post mentioned there were 19,000 members at that point and only 21% of the 200 votes wanted a like button. No idea how many members here now, six years later. Here's a linky: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/160616-vote-on-the-basschat-reputation-system/page__st__240

Sometimes I kind of have these ideas in my head that just seem to make sense to me and when I try to quantify things, it doesn't really come out right. It's a curse. Let's assume the tonal range of my bass is represented on a scale 1-10, with 1 being the bass side and 10 being treble/full open. If I roll the tone back halfway, theoretically I should just be hearing a range of 1-5 (with the lower frequencies intact), yes? Now then, is it possible that the tone will alter (or bleed) across the entire frequency range, thus rather than above 1-5, I would get 3-5? Hopefully, this makes some sense...I fully understand about treble cut, but the bass previously sounded less robust when I rolled off the tone.