1964 Thunderbird at Norman's

[Dave W]

[gearHed289]

Sounds great. Nice to see a bass demo with flats and no slapping. Really good playing as well. Beautiful bass.

[Pilgrim]

Great sound, and I really liked his playing on that short blues demo he added. 

I agree, those felt mutes must have been replaced. The muting was aggressive enough that I can't believe the felt was very old - it would have packed down more and let the notes sound a bit longer.  (Yes, it was too muted.)

[uwe]

How anyone could retain those intonation ruining felt mutes (on a bass already handicapped intonation-wise by unfortunate bridge placement) is beyond me. My '64 has flat wounds too (D'Addario Chromes) and I like that tone, but the felt mutes had to go first thing.

Playing (i) muted (ii) flats with (iii) fingers (and not a pick) also seems a little too much cherry pie for me! He might as well have added a (iv) cushion over the fretboard and (v) hung a blanket over the speakers for his Mufflebird sound. 

[Basvarken]

I do think the headstock has been repaired, because it is finished black on the backside? And it seems to be a bit more shiny than the rest of the bass?

[godofthunder]

 Beautiful bass, I have a set or original mutes,  I have no intention of installing them 

[TBird1958]

 He's a good player and thankfully did not slap on that bass, not my idea of tone tho, I would want to hear it with some Steel round like DR or SIT. I wondered about the dark finish on the back and neck as well, neck repair? 

[uwe]

I dunno about you guys, but I can hear even by his demo playing that the intonation is way off.

And one look at the bridge saddles all the way upfront tells you all you need to know.

[ilan]

This bass was designed with flatwounds and mutes and IMHO that's how it should be demo'ed. I also don't like that 50s and 60s P basses are being demo'ed with clanky fresh rounds, and sound just like any random off-the-shelf Fender.

FWIW, I love the tone of this 'bird.

[Highlander]

And one look at the bridge saddles all the way upfront tells you all you need to know.

Time for a Badbird Bridge to wing its way over...?

[bobyoung]

I think that thing sounds great.

[Dave W]

This bass was designed with flatwounds and mutes and IMHO that's how it should be demo'ed. I also don't like that 50s and 60s P basses are being demo'ed with clanky fresh rounds, and sound just like any random off-the-shelf Fender.

FWIW, I love the tone of this 'bird.

At least it should be demo'ed that way by a vintage dealer like Norman's. As Norman's former demo guy would say, play authentic! 

[Chris P.]

And yesterday this one came by:

[uwe]

This bass was designed with flatwounds and mutes and IMHO that's how it should be demo'ed. I also don't like that 50s and 60s P basses are being demo'ed with clanky fresh rounds, and sound just like any random off-the-shelf Fender.

FWIW, I love the tone of this 'bird.

I'm sorry, my bad, I didn't know that a mispositioned bridge, steel rope-thick flats and intonation-defying as well as overtone-killing mutes were at the core of the TBird design! I always thought it might have something to do with a maho body, long scale, neck-thru construction and Ray Dietrich having a hand in the overall look, but hey what do I know! 

Man, how JAE devalued his Fender when he first strung it with roundwound Rotos! He should have better left it alone. And let's go back and rerecord all of Chris Squire's bass parts with a Ric properly equipped with company flats (4001s were "designed that way" after all) - more authentic really. 

Nostalgia is an affliction. I have flats on a lot of my basses and that's fine, but not to slavishly emulate some assumed authenticity, but for their sound characteristics.

Next thing we know, the guys demoing these basses have to wear original 50ies or 60ies Levi's jeans too - the full package. Bring out yer artefacts!

[4stringer77]

Flats sound good on birds and Rics. McCartney is one obvious example. Felix also strung his T bird with flats and probably so did George Chambers. People like different things, no reason to get strung out.