Thunderbird is go

[T-Bay]

Just had a first proper play with and am ‘chuffed to bits’ as some would say. It still needs a tiny bit of adjustment but only to perfect string height relative to each other and no more than 0.8mm anywhere. It sounds fantastic. I love the T bird sound so that’s no surprise but you only know for sure once you play it. I am playing a short set at the weekend but next proper gig is the 18th and will take it for that for sure. Weight wise it’s not as bad as I first thought, very similar to the genuine Gibson.

[SpondonBassed]

Good news!

Have you fitted light, intermediate or heavy gauge  strings?

[T-Bay]

They are an old set of roto 66s so a bit dead tbh, they are a 40-100 set.

[SpondonBassed]

1 hour ago, T-Bay said:

They are an old set of roto 66s so a bit dead tbh, they are a 40-100 set.

Not bad then if you are getting a full on tone from medium/lightweights.

[T-Bay]

[T-Bay]

The pick guard is in my hands at last! It was placed in vat one of my etching mix which takes off an even layer of material from everywhere that isn’t painted. The red colour is just nail varnish (resistant to all the chemicals used but easy to remove with acetone after).

After two hours in the mix it was ready for stage two, buuuuuuutttt........ the ally I used must have been rolled and of poor quality as the first process has removed the even layer but left a finish or beautiful streaks/ lines. The plan was to then add other chemicals which etch in a much more random way (and can be seeded to create low spots where required) but I decided I liked it so much I didn’t bother doing the second stage. I have put a coat of lacquer on the protect it and then promptly forgot to take a pic of the finished item!

The panic is our band name in case anyone is wondering.