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New embassy (and also thunderbird) bass, Classic style!


tommorichards

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 05/01/2018 at 17:34, goingdownslow said:

Oops... was getting a bit of buzzing on the headstock on certain notes, turned out to be a loose tuner, bit of superglue on the shaft cured it.

Thunderbird 2.jpg

I'll be having a Black one when they finally land, though t he sunburst looks better in your photo than it does in the official pics.

What make are the Machine heads?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I got a sunburst one, and its very nice, all things considered. Well put together, plays nicely etc etc. 

The plastic spacer underneath the bridge pickup is a bit crap, but thats a being picky I guess. 

The neck is markedly chunkier than my '84 Thunderbird. Thats not a bad thing, just different.

The pickups sound OK. Not as brutal as the '84, but they are chrome, which makes a world of difference...:0)

It looks nice. Thats the thing really. It looks like a proper T bird with the tailpiece, big headstock, lollipop tuners and all.

So all in all, really nice bass. Slightly lacking in soul, but hopefully it will acquire some along the way, and to be fair that is a very personal reflection. I've only ever bought one other brand new bass in almost forty years, so the new thing is quite....erm...new to me.

 

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2 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

Well, I got a sunburst one, and its very nice, all things considered. Well put together, plays nicely etc etc. 

The plastic spacer underneath the bridge pickup is a bit crap, but thats a being picky I guess. 

The neck is markedly chunkier than my '84 Thunderbird. Thats not a bad thing, just different.

The pickups sound OK. Not as brutal as the '84, but they are chrome, which makes a world of difference...:0)

It looks nice. Thats the thing really. It looks like a proper T bird with the tailpiece, big headstock, lollipop tuners and all.

So all in all, really nice bass. Slightly lacking in soul, but hopefully it will acquire some along the way, and to be fair that is a very personal reflection. I've only ever bought one other brand new bass in almost forty years, so the new thing is quite....erm...new to me.

 

Were they making Thunderbirds in 1984? What pickups does it have?

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2 hours ago, W1_Pro said:

IIRC the serial number dates it to'84 unless I'm going utterly senile. It's a white one with black hardware. I bought it off a chap in late 1987. We did the exchange in the cafe at John Henrys. Very rock n'roll I thought....

It'll have been new that year. Gibson never produced the Thunderbird again after 79 until 87.

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8 hours ago, karlfer said:

Desperately trying not to. Can I use "no height adjustment on bridge" to convince myself to walk away?

Not if you own nut slotting files or know anyone who does.

Here's how a guitar's tunamatic bridge's saddles can be individually adjusted for height - I expect it'll be similar for bass saddles.

http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Hardware_Installation/Are_you_supposed_to_slot_Tune-o-matic_bridge_saddles.html

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37 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Not if you own nut slotting files or know anyone who does.

Here's how a guitar's tunamatic bridge's saddles can be individually adjusted for height - I expect it'll be similar for bass saddles.

http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Hardware_Installation/Are_you_supposed_to_slot_Tune-o-matic_bridge_saddles.html

Not helping the "walk away" thing are you Mr Pickguard :biggrin:

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2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Surely if the bass has been made properly the radius of the bridge will match the radius of the fingerboard, so not having each saddle individually adjustable for height is unnecessary?

I've certainly never had to attack the saddles on a bass where they're not individually adjustable for height, but the option is there.

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17 hours ago, karlfer said:

You know the drill Ben, we're waiting!

45a456f9-c3e7-4b57-b720-cc78edcd50fe.jpg

Well, I won't be able to play amplified until the weekend, but I did have a brief play unplugged last night. And...

I wasn't blown away if I'm honest. My first thought was actually to send it back. But I persevered and it actually plays very nicely (apart from those wretched factory strings). The narrow nut was a concern but it's a nice deep neck so actually feels very comfortable.

Some minor sloppy painting on the headstock - which incidentally is absolutely MASSIVE - seriously, no pictures I've seen can convey just what a monster this headstock is! It's really something.

Another annoyance is the use of round head screws on the pickups - they really protrude and I imagine they would be quite effective fingernail rippers, a problem Entwistle reported back in the day, so at least it's period correct!

The bass also felt a bit odd ergonomically but this is to be expected and something that can be adjusted to.

So, the jury's out until I can play it properly amplified.

 

The headstock is massive.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

 

Well, I won't be able to play amplified until the weekend, but I did have a brief play unplugged last night. And...

I wasn't blown away if I'm honest. My first thought was actually to send it back. But I persevered and it actually plays very nicely (apart from those wretched factory strings). The narrow nut was a concern but it's a nice deep neck so actually feels very comfortable.

Some minor sloppy painting on the headstock - which incidentally is absolutely MASSIVE - seriously, no pictures I've seen can convey just what a monster this headstock is! It's really something.

Another annoyance is the use of round head screws on the pickups - they really protrude and I imagine they would be quite effective fingernail rippers, a problem Entwistle reported back in the day, so at least it's period correct!

The bass also felt a bit odd ergonomically but this is to be expected and something that can be adjusted to.

So, the jury's out until I can play it properly amplified.

 

The headstock is massive.

 

 

Thus far, I'm finding mine difficult to warm to.  Sounds sort of...clanky? Not like a Gibson. Or not like a Gibson that I've heard, I should say.

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