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Messages - stiles72

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211
Gibson Basses / Differences with TB+ Pickups
« on: March 28, 2010, 01:15:57 PM »
I'm curious as to the differences between the TB+ pickups. These are from my 2002 Blackbird &  2007 IV and they appear to have slightly differnet builds. The Blackbird has an extra piece on the bottom side of the magnet, and it has more of a smooth "polyurethane" type substance that it is sealed in. Is this exclusive to the Blackbirds, or just a difference common to all TB+ pups from that time?  Does anyone know what the #'s on the bottom indicate?



212
Gibson Basses / Re: BaCHbird
« on: March 26, 2010, 12:06:07 PM »
I'm really jonesing for a Cherry NR but just can't decide on 1 pickup or 2 ???  I like the simplified look of the single pickup, and it could easily transform into this

but I really liked the 2 pickup tone Rob got in his video demo.  Decisions decisions decisions!

213
Gibson Basses / Re: For the man who has everything Gibson.......
« on: March 23, 2010, 04:39:34 PM »
I thought of getting one of these just so my little Gibson THOR amp could have a big brother  ;)

214
Gibson Basses / Re: BaCHbird
« on: March 19, 2010, 01:44:33 PM »
Anyone have any photos of their new birds in action on stage?  :)

215
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: Thunderbird Tone Control Mod Question
« on: March 19, 2010, 11:08:41 AM »
Quote from: the mojo hobo on March 18, 2010, 04:10:35 AM
Sorry, I misread your question. Instead of "The left lug of each volume pot goes to the output, and a wire goes from the middle lug of the middle pot to the tone control pot" it would be "The left lug of each volume pot goes to the output, and a wire goes from the middle lug of the first (neck pickup) pot to the tone control pot"

Just finished - and yes it works - neck tone rolled off, bridge unaffected.  Thanks for the help!  While I was at it, I swapped the stock 223 capacitor with a 473 that came from (I think) an old Epiphone P-bass so that it would be the same value as the Blackbird. Wow, what a difference. The neck pup now sounds much warmer and rounder than before. Now I'm going to have to go and do this mod to my 5 string!

216
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: Thunderbird Tone Control Mod Question
« on: March 19, 2010, 10:29:37 AM »
I bought the Blackbird off Ebay back in '04, and it had the original sales slip dated May '02 from Musicians Friend in the case. It was originally sold to a lady in Pennsylvania for (Gassppp) $699. According to another receipt in the case - it was taken to an authorized Gibson repair shop a month later and the strap buttons were moved,  the old holes filled, and the tone controls were modded like a Les Paul. This is the bass where I got the crazy idea to move my strap buttons even further away from the heel and further towards the back fin to give it even more of an "upright" stance. One of the best sounding basses I've ever had - both plugged in and acoustically. Another interesting thing about it - it appears to only have a 3 ply neck. On one of the other forums the subjuct of Gibson using a 3 vs 9 ply neck on painted models came up and mine has it. Enough paint has worn off the back of the neck that you can see there is no walnut in the neck. Just mahogany. The pups also seem more robust and a bit louder than my IV. Not sure if they really are different, or just a result of the tone control mods.




217
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: Thunderbird Tone Control Mod Question
« on: March 18, 2010, 06:08:48 AM »
Thanks - I'll give that a shot

218
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: Thunderbird Tone Control Mod Question
« on: March 17, 2010, 10:01:49 AM »
Is there a way to wire it so that only the neck pickup is affected by the tone control?

219
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Re: Thunderbird Tone Control Mod Question
« on: March 17, 2010, 06:32:12 AM »
Just took a look inside both,  and the Blackbird has chicklet shaped capacitors that are a light orange in color - not green - and they say 473K  100M: on them.  The pots say EP086 500K 9936.   

In the Thunderbird IV, the pots just say Gibson and the capacitor is about the size of a sewing push pin, is mustard goldish in color, and says 223.

Could I simply disconnect the two brown wires on the first post of the bridge pickup volume knob (middle pot), and tie them together - then run a seperate wire from that post directly to the output jack? Essentially bypassing the tone pot for the bridge pickup? It wouldnt have a threeway switch right now - but would that work?


220
Gibson Basses / Re: Once you go black... - My Epi Tbird!
« on: March 14, 2010, 10:56:07 AM »
Looks good!  My Blackbird was modded with a threeway selector and tone controls, and I usually run both pups together, but with the neck tone rolled all the way down.

221
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Thunderbird Tone Control Mod Question
« on: March 13, 2010, 01:28:08 PM »
When I got my Gibson Blackbird bass, it was allready modded and set up like a Les Paul with 2 vol,  2 tones, and 3 way switch.  90% of the time, I run it with both pickups engaged and the tone knob rolled off on the neck pickup. 

I also have a stock Gibson Thunderbird IV, and would like to mod it's controls to achieve the same result as the Balckbird - but without drilling any new holes for extra pots/switches.  My idea is to have the first knob be the tone control for the neck pickup - followed by the three way switch - then a master volume which would affect anything coming from the 3 way switch. The bridge pickup would have no tone roll off - and would just be wired "hot" all the time.

One thing also to note - the capacitor in my Thunderbird IV is the stock small orange one. The ones in the Blackbird look like Green Chicklet gum. I know that's not a very technical description - but thought I'd mention it.

Can anyone show me a simple diagram of how I would wire this?

222
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Traynor YBA 200-2
« on: March 12, 2010, 02:47:52 AM »
Nice Amp!  I'd like to get a hold of one of those to do an A/B with the V4BH...

223
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: March 10, 2010, 05:42:36 PM »
No roadies - I wish!  Another local guy kept adding 15's to his rig,  and so it became a mini "arms race" for a while between him and me. A friendly competition of sorts.  ;)   Most of the time I would just use 2 of them because they wouldn't all fit onstage. Yes - they are SVT-3 Pros loaded into SVT-CL housings. When I got the first one, I didn't have enough cash to get a 2-Pro or a CL, so I opted for what I could afford and figured I'd dress it up a bit. I actually dont run them as loud as the look - I'm pretty sensible about my stage volume   :mrgreen:

224
Bass Amps & Effects / Re: Let's see your rig!
« on: March 09, 2010, 11:24:16 AM »
Hi there - new to this forum but have posted some of these before on the TB site:

Home Practice Rig:


Small Shows:


Medium Sized Bars:


Big Dumb Rock Shows - old photo. Don't use the SR's anymore except for some studio work and have sold some of them off.



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