T-Bay

.....what I like? Just reading the Jaco thread has got me pondering one of the questions I often spend time thinking about - why does some music appeal over other styles/ bands/ songs? It’s a subject I have wondered about for years. When I hear some songs I get an almost drug like rush and others do nothing or even make me feel quite negative (I’m looking at you Coldplay). What is it about some combinations of sounds and voices have that ability when others don’t? I don’t suppose it’s something that can be answered but it fascinates me.

I work on the grounds that if it’s free expect it to be value for money, if it’s decent then it’s a bonus. They are mixed but it usually only takes a couple of minutes to spot the decent ones. I use bigbasstabs and most are ok and a decent number are very good.

Feel free.....

I don’t understand why the balance point is such an issue for a lot of makers, it’s a fairly simple thing to calculate after all. I messed about with ways of improving the balance on the scrap EB0 I refurbished, even small changes can make massive differences. My Gibson T-bird has no issues at all. This one will be lighter in the body but that should be countered by the lack of head. The headless tuner/ bridge also shifts the weight that way so it isn’t one of my worries (plenty of other things are!).

I would imagine it could be tricky to keep that in tune.

My favourite at the moment:

Another 60% here but I have to admit I have never been one to particularly follow people in bands I don’t listen to so thought that was an ok score for me.

Yup too good to be true- http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/117113/ibanez-mall avoid this guys, sad as I almost want to believe I can get an SR premium for £159 :-(

I would imagine the vast majority of basses (and a lot of other instruments) are owned by people who have no clue. They fancy having a go, buy something, play for a week and give up and it lives in the cupboard until they get around to flogging it on and the cycle repeats. I wonder what proportion of basses, especially at the cheap end of the market, actually get played on a regular basis.

It’s obvious to us but a lot of people aren’t clued up on them. They just have one and have probably bought it second hand so are fairly clueless. I was on the lookout for a backup to my Gibson a few months back and the number of ads that didn’t show the critical parts or mention the model name shows most owners don’t really know what they have beyond it’s a ‘Thunderbird’.

I have seen this a few times now. Whether it is ignorance or an attempt at fraud is difficult to gauge but the end is the same.

Always interesting to read others experiences though.

Thanks, it was a very useful read. I am starting from scratch as opposed to a donor bit the process will be similar if a bit more involved. So far I have a neck, headless system and pair of pick ups on the way. After putting up a wanted ad last night I was nosing around The for sale sections when I saw a pair of pickups come up for trade only for a pedal I had going spare. What are the odds of that? I am still unsure what I will do exactly, as with most of these things I guess it will evolve over time. At the moment I have three trains of thought- 1, a straight copy of the thunderbird, probably with a bit more rollover at the edge like my studio model, 2, similar but with heavily chamfered wings to take a bit of weight out but keep it looking normal, 3, skeleton the wings with big cut outs - I like this idea but not sure how stable the wood would be so feel this could be a bit risky.

Possibly but I haven’t seen it, a link would be cool if anyone can find it.

I hadn’t spotted that one. Doesn’t look bad.

I have been bouncing ideas around for a while for a headless Thunderbird and have finally bitten the bullet and started ordering stuff. I don’t have the tools to make a neck so I have ordered a Jazz style neck off eBay which will eventually have the head chopped off. A headless bridge and end plate is also on its way. I have found a local wood yard that does decent blanks and have fired off an email to them. A wanted ad has gone up for some thunderbird pick ups but if the worst happens I will buy some decent ones from the states. As soon as bits arrive and work starts I will get some pics up. It will be a slow process as life is pretty busy at it is but I am in no rush.

Perfect! I have been told a few times about a proper old school timber merchant ‘along the A5’ but never managed to track its exact location before. Atherstone is only a few miles away so dead easy to take a trip and find what I need! Thanks everyone!

A lot of that is Eroku (not sure on the spelling) which is not good for you when the dust is created, had loads of warnings about it at work after people did just what you mention. Would be fine with a decent mask I suppose. But it’s a heavy and dense timber.

I am in Tamworth and yes it’s for the headless build, so we are talking thunderbird body size.

He said it was password issues on another thread so guess he was logged in for ages and just forgot the password.

Just getting the itch to do a build so am trying to source all the bits I need. Does anyone know of good suppliers for wood blanks suitable for a body? After considering loads of fancy woods I have decided just to go for something light and paint it after.

Which component though? Could be a bargain or scrapper. How much will someone punt on it to find out I wonder.

Yup, I just imagine the conversation ‘hi son, we have cleared all that rubbish for you and got £20’ the reply is probably less publishable on a family forum.

It is just a matter of practice, you will get to the point you can relax and stuff that caused cramp due to digging in before will become easy. What I find now is that I really dig in when playing live (been playing 13 months, gigging 11months) so need to allow for that when doing the sound check. It’s best to relax as far as you can and let the amp do the work, but that said it’s fun to explore the tone in your fingers!