Waterstone V8 Thunderbird

[dadagoboi]

Looking good, Scott.  If it's any consolation you're close to having a playable bass!  That Korean Hamer would have been a good alternative.

Tom, that's a Schaller 471, same model used on TP's aluminum 12ers.  Saddles come unnotched.  You can get by with a little wider spacing when you use it for a 8er.

[godofthunder]

 Yeah I am going to have to file the saddles to get things in line.

Polishing a turd - LOL! What's the bridge pickup Scott? Looks like the DiMarzio D Activator X pups I have on my Hamer 12. Nice bridge! Octave/fundamental strings look kind of widely spaced though.

[gearHed289]

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the Schaller bridges. Had the 8 string model on my first 8 - a Warmoth/Mighty Mite creation I put together. I thought about putting one on my Ric 8, but then a guy on the Ric forum did a very small run of drop-in 8 saddle replacement bridges. Expensive, but it looks stock and I just needed to have my tech notch the saddles for me.

[dadagoboi]

That's a great solution for the Rick, Tom.

Here's why I like the Schaller:


It's possible to get the height of the octave string more in line with the top of the root string so you can strum more evenly across both, not plowing thru the octave on the way to the root.  I think I get a cleaner, more sustained sound than if the octave is farther below the root, especially for chords...of course I have to make sure I'm wearing my tinfoil hat at a matching slant.

[godofthunder]

 Carlo you are sooooooooooooo right I should have had you build me a 8 string NR!

[Dave W]

Just for you, Scott.

[Highlander]

Ah yes... plumbing the depths... 

Scott... Carlo... never too late to start...

[mc2NY]

Starting to have a bit of buyers remorse....................truss rod stuck in either direction. E and G string not as loud as A and D, pickups don't cover the span of the strings.  The string trees don't hold the strings down they keep popping off. Upon taking it apart it looks to have been built by a 8th grader with a  coping saw. Sigh............................... I expected better.

Ah, yes. Sounds like a Waterstone!!

Now you know why Petersson has all the hardware and electronics replaced, despite "endorsing" the brand and getting paid. Hamer never paid him for all the years he bought his custom-made ones they did....which pretty much laid the groundwork on root-octave basses. Even some of those early single-truss ones eventually went bad after being beat to crap on the road...but all the dual-truss ones are still alive.

Shame about the truss rod on the Waterstone but single truss rods on import 8/10/12 string basses is a crap shoot. Have you tried loosening up all the strings, pressing down on the middle of the neck with it across your legs to relieve any tension and then tweaking the truss nut? That will usually get you a bit more life out of it, if its really tightened down and the neck is still bowed.

[planetgaffnet]

In the defence of Waterstone, I've got a series 1 TP12 and it's pretty rock solid.  34" scale and its never needed a tweak. 

My only problem as such is that I've never really been able to use it in a band...it's just never really fit in with anything I do and I'm kind of loathed to simply throw money at creating a dream rig for it.  Consequently it hardly ever gets used.  Shame.
P

[godofthunder]

 Early on was able to free the truss rod, it was clogged with paint. I actually wired up the Model G today and it sounds F'ng huge! Model Gs are not to particular about string spacing, The E and G strings are plenty loud! Anyone got a schematic for two humbuckers wired v/v/t ?

[dadagoboi]

Anyone got a schematic for two humbuckers wired v/v/t ?

http://161589.homepagemodules.de/file.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffiles.homepagemodules.de%2Fb161589%2Ff2t29p70n2.pdf&r=&content=RE%3A+Cadfaels+kleine+Schaltplan-Sammlung+f%26uuml%3Br+passive+E-B%26auml%3Bsse+
450 pages of bass wiring diagrams, Page 117 is '63 Thunderbird IV.  Index is at beginning of PDF...you will be amazed!

[Highlander]

Good Grief...!  What a monster...

[godofthunder]

 Thanks Carlo! Got it all wired up on the first try! The Model G really shines in this bass, BIG sound and even string response. The X2N is probably a little narrow for the bridge position, the G string is a little weak but no matter I plan on using the Model G for the most part so that should mask any deficiencies the X2N has in string coverage. It took a while and Waterstone has big ones to ask what they do for these basses. Mine ended up costing me $589 because they swapped it out for a damaged Mod bird. The V8 sells for $789  No way this bass is worth that. In the end though I got a pretty cool unique 8 string Thunderbird.

[godofthunder]

  Thanks Dave it worked great!

Just for you, Scott.

[mc2NY]

Ok so here we go! I had the day off today (sort of) got a little shop time in. From the beginning this bass as been major dissapointment and  pain in the A#@. Any how I routed for the new pickups and got them installed new Schaller bridge (thanks Carlo!) CTS pots, new string tree. Also one of my pgs. I still need to replace the tuners. I hope to have it wired up in the next week or so.

Those are my fave 8-string bridges ever!! And the Model G and X2N were the standard passive PUPs of choice on all the 70s-80s Hamer 8- and 12vers....BIG passive sound without the harsh octave sizzle like on the later active EMG setups they used. Looks a LOT better!!

The MOT Waterstone Petersson's model I bought was the ONLY axe I've ever shipped back to a seller...out of probable 300+ instruments. Pretty much all the same complaints as your TBird 8...plus a very slight stress crack starting at the nut. And the one I got came from a name player who had used it, briefly, for some recording and then had his guitar tech unload it.

And yeah...Baz HAS done a couple TBird 12vers.