Part 1- LEO FENDER and the BASS
Part 2- my advice on buying a BASS
Part 3- EBAY WARNING!
Part 4- SCALE of BASSES
Part 5- Some of my BASSES .. updated OFTEN!
THE ELECTRIC BASS GUITAR...Is a new instrument, sure its 50 yrs old now but in the music world that's pretty new, most other instruments have been around a lot longer, LEO FENDERS vision to create an affordable electric guitar, no frills,as opposed to other fancier guitars, started some of the greatest guitars in history.. made HIS way!
it also gave him an idea, to make a BASS in the same format as his guitars, same body style, a FRETTED NECK BOARD to give the player the most precise notes {hence the name precision bass} electric pickups to amplify. Its hard to imagine the impact of LEO'S idea because the bass guitar is so common, BECAUSE OF HIM! it simply didn't exist before.
The bass was part of the violin, cello, viola family, you know, the UPRIGHT BASS!
the only standard BASS there was for over 200
YEARS! excluding homemade "washtub" basses,
whatever kind of music you played, country, classical, jazz .. blues.. YOU HAD TO USE THE ANCIENT UPRIGHT BASS, the same kind MOZART and all the symphonies used since the 1700's it wasn't questioned, and as beautiful and great sounding as they are, it didn't leave BASSISTS much room for options because THAT'S ALL THERE WAS!!
almost ALL of the other instruments including guitar had several different versions, formats, the bass was limited to a few sizes, that was until LEO FENDER got that crazy idea.
WOW! so we see the impact on the music world that the electric bass had.. and still does.
Now don't get me wrong, nowaday's those imported jobs can be pretty good for the money, but if you can AFFORD something a little better
than I say go for a better bass, you'd be surprised what $100 more will get you, and lets face it no matter how good it is...it's the name brands that have resale value.
When I started playing I had the advantage of a time when guitars were a lot less expensive,$300 could get you a good one $500 an excellent one and $900 could get you a hand made ALEMBIC!
WARNING!
EBAY WARNING!
I like ebay, I got a few good deals on there, BUT if you can't recognize a fake bass or crook trying to sell one you could be in trouble, go there and witness the grandeur of all the "RARE" guitars for sale,
I've seen more "rare" guitars & fender basses on auction then there has been production for the entire history of the instrument, it seems at any given time you can see at least 3 or more 50's era p- basses, of course they are all completely original WITH an original tweed case!
do you know how many artists are on waiting lists to get their hands on something so valuable?, how many top notch guitar stores have world wide searches for such items? where have they all been hiding the last 50 yrs?
"I opened up a secret closet in my old house... AND THERE IT WAS!!"
"I found it in my attic, I guess no one knew it was up there!"
wow! they'd been so scarce until ebay, now they're coming out of the wood work.
So, give me a frickin' break.. PLEASE don't blow a ton of money on ANYTHING on ebay, unless its from a reputable music store that can prove its authenticity, and accepts paypal or some other legit payment method,
that way when you get a "vintage 73" and its a japanese reproduction that's been
left out side for a week to simulate ageing, you can get your money back.
Did you ever wonder why there's HUNDREDS of "vintage" fenders on auction, all convieniently weathered looking and yet only a few gibsons and gretsches?
is it because there were more fenders sold than the other brands? NO! IT'S BECAUSE YOU CAN'T FAKE AN OLD GIBSON OR GRETSCH! they have glued in necks, stamped serial numbers and pearl inlays, fenders can be dis assembled in minutes,
everybody and their brother made copies, of every year made, they have "stickers" for I.D. and serial numbers, penciled and store bought stamps for dates, any neer' do well can fabricate a phony, even fender themselves are making "relic" models, all beat up and vintage looking.
NEVER buy anything from a guy that only takes checks or money orders! even if he has a great rating, if you get robbed, you deserve it. {I did}
watch out for vintage P- or JAZZ bass necks, they are the easiest thing in the world to fake, here is a pic off ebay of a FENDER headstock decal,{its not a "vintage" decal but you can find them also} HEY look at that! the decal made it on to a HONDO neck, pencil or stamp in a vintage date on the necks base and .... there you have it. NOW I have peronally put these on licensed necks, BUT I didn't try pawning them as original either! an honest seller will tell you it's a repo decal.
wow! there sure
are a LOT of "vintage necks" out there, where did the rest of the bass
go?
other things to
watch out for 1. KRAMER
basses are not
the same as TRAVIS BEAN
basses, kramers have a V shape head stock, beans have a T headstock, {just
like a handle} also, beans necks are ALL aluminum, kramers usually had a wood,
aluminum mixed neck, I seen LOTS of kramers being pawned off as beans.They are both pretty cool, but BEANS are much more rare. 2.
HOFNER
Beatle basses, they
made those all the way into the 70's there is always someone selling a
"rare" 63' when its a much later model you can tell by the
pickups, pick guard, control panel, heel, what era its from, also there are MANY rip
off's, MULTIVOX
made a close version that can be altered to look a lot like one in a picture.
{check out trevino music enterprise web site for hofner I.D. info} 3. ANY FENDER
guitar that does not have FENDER decal's and serial numbers, unless the seller
actually states that the neck, body is of non FENDER origins, like KUBICKI,
WARMOUTH, etc.. 4. ANY GIBSON
or FENDER "custom
shop" models that do not specify its from the custom
shop, ALL of those guitars have decals or engravings stating they
are "custom" there is always some asshole saying his guitar is from
the custom shop "but some how made it out without the custom shop
sticker, be careful! i seen custom shop decals being auctioned" This is especially
a great tale when its about a GIBSON KALAMAZOO guitar, "Its one
of the last KALAMAZOO'S out of the factory when they shut down, they were
in such a hurry that they forgot to mark it".. Yea, that's
it. I can just see a bunch of workers running out of the factory
clutching suitcases stuffed with body's and necks falling out. 5. "LAWSUIT"
GUITARS they are damn
cool! but make sure you know that's what it is, IBANEZ, UNIVOX,
TOKAI, made some of the best copies of nearly every popular brand there
is, I own a IBANEZ telecaster custom, It's really looks like a fender,
I almost bought a univox 4001 copy, neck thru,
horseshoe pickups.. all there. they have
collecting value on their own, but they ain't the originals, so watch
out, you know what they say, "caviar
empty" 6. KAWAI'S
are not ALEMBIC, I've had 2 kawai's and 1 alembic, kawai the
Japanese piano co. made very nice guitars and basses once, the basses look similar to a STANLEY CLARK model or even a JAYDEE bass, again I have seen KAWAI'S sold as "licensed or made by alembic" way below is a pic of a KAWAI f2-b.
7.
GIBSON
"deuce" is not a collectable! its
crap! all GIBSON guitar and basses have a serial no. stamped on the
back of the head stock, if the guitar has a big number "2"or it say's "second"
all alone above
the serial no. that means its been Rejected!!
and was not, sold as a retail instrument, some time's it's just
a bad finish, or a knot in the wood that showed thru, no big deal, BUT! sometimes the neck was set at a bad angle
or warped and is beyond repair or the body dimensions are wrong, guitar won't
stay tuned etc..
the factory sells these rejects at a discount, a lot of times with out hardware, someone get's a hold of one of these, puts tuners & pickups on it and then try's to sell it as a custom shop guitar or frontline item,
don't be fooled, I've seen beautiful flame top "les pauls" on auction, and after 10 paragraphs of the jackass bragging about how great and "rare" it is he'll mention the "2" on the headstock...
"that
means its a rare model" or "that means its
custom" or the ever lovin' " I contacted Gibson and they
have no record of the instrument being made, it must
have slipped thru quality control"
well that's enough of my sarcasm .. I think you get my point, sooner or later we all get taken on that auction stuff, just try not to walk into too big a disaster
here is the scale lengths according to the ALEMBIC guitar company.
And yet I've had basses that were too long, way to "tight" feeling for me, STANLEY CLARK & BILL WYMAN both play short scale basses, and NO ONE questions their authority! It just depends on what you want.
I've had a lot of instruments and these are simply the best all around! whoever made this neck was a genius! I've got the action LOW on this bass. THIS ONES A WINNER! and you can find one too!
I added EMG pickups, any one looking into a
bass can afford one, you can get a mexican
u.s.a or japanese model depending on what you want to spend, many top end basses copy this design, some with beautiful exotic woods but you can't beat the
original. Between this model and the JAZZ bass,
you wouldn't have to play anything else, at one time they were the only
choices.
these basses are made to be PLAYED! they have a thinner neck radius and
are good for playing with a pick, beautiful
hardwoods, and lots of polish have went into these no-frills
working basses, ebony fret board, humbuckers, brass nut, stereo inputs,
glued in neck, CARVEN'S are a lot less expensive than the competition and are mail order only, check out their web site
MUSIC MAN.."STING RAY" another great LEO FENDER design,
these are not CHEAP! this is a mid 90's bass, they have had MANY changes over the years..the pre ernie ball..the transition ernie ball..and then ernie ball's you see today.
find a pre Ernie ball model and
you've really got a winner!! TRANSITION ERA MUSIC MAN..In my opinion, the older stingray basses were far better than the new ones, lighter.. slimer neck.. better electronics.. better bridge.. better woods..the diff between the 2 basses I had is like night and day, other than the name they aren't even close! But like I said..that's just my opinion.
YAMAHA BB1200... These have got to be some of the finest basses out of JAPAN, and in all honesty one of the finest basses period!! there are several models in the BB line, some bolt on's some neck thru like this one, the workmanship on this bass is fantastic, it's heavy and solid as a tank. My YAMAHA has been modified to the max! with added BARTOLINI pickup at the neck.. DIMARZIO PBASS in the center..and another BARTOLINI at the bridge, plus switches to turn on {or off} mix and split coil every aspect imaginable! also added was a BADASS bridge and SCHALLER tuners..all gold YEAH BABY! As you may know these suckers command a high price even used, but as alway's if you look hard enough, you can find a great bargin {I think I put out $300 for this on EBAY} was it worth it? I can't tell you how nice these basses are.. MICHAEL ANTHONY of VAN HALEN plays one, and he kicks ass! that's good enough for me.
Old KUBICKI.. at least thats what JIM at advanced guitar {las vegas} has concluded, I've had this about 10 yrs now and it seems too all add up, it has an X- FACTOR body, MR KUBICKI made his basses in SANTA BARBARA CA. and it just so happens thats where I picked this up..
I got this at a pawn
shop for $250, less than the cost of the pickups, and it plays better than any other bass I own, Its hard to explain the
feel of a neck thru vs. bolt on, the best way
I can describe it is that neck thru has a brighter tone, more sustain, feels very smooth. BUT a bad neck thru is REALLY BAD, and there's nothing you can do about it, if a bolt on neck is not living up to your expectations, then you can take it off, shimmy it, get a different neck, what ever, JACKSON...well, I think
most of you have seen one of these at sometime in your life,
it was easily one of the most sought after bass in the ''HEAVY METAL -GLAM ROCK''
era,
custom made in the USA its a glorified p-bass, much heavier, thru neck,
pretty paint, cost a stinking' fortune... If I remember!! but is very solid
and well made,
don't be fooled by its looks! It'll out play those other
fancy Californian hand made basses, ebony fret board, active pickups, and can take a beating!!! Neck
thru, or bolt on models, I don't assume they'll go out of style ... even
though my choice of paint color might!!, this one is metallic bubblegum pink.
HOFNER guitar company and their 500/1 bass made famous by PAUL Mc CARTNEY,
FRET-LESS... it
is as it says! almost all basses can be bought in a fret less model,
they are a little more tricky to play but have a really unique sound...
a lot of jazz players use these, they don't have the ''snap'' of
a fretted instrument, but some swear by them, ''TONY
FRANKLIN'' { the FIRM and BLUE MURDER }and JACO have really shown that this
form of bass can be used in any type of music. This bass is a "KAWAI" and made of zebra wood.
the two extra strings make a big difference in what you can play, many more chords and piccolo style fingering can be done very easy, the string
arrangement is B-E-A-D-G-C.
it sounds and looks more complicated than what it is, the biggest problem is getting used to the massive fret board and string spacing. this bass is a PENDRAGON and made of exotic woods, zebra wood, koa, purple heart and birds eye maple fretboard and pickup covers, its got grover tuners, kahler bridge, and rybski pickups,the gentelman that built the bass told me they had a heck of a time getting these custom pickups to match the preamp but it paid off, this is the best sounding bass I ever heard.
1983 G&L SB2..got this beauty off a cool cat on EBAY" {he took the pic} its an early model built like a tank and sounds SUPERB!! incredible harmonics and tone, and with passive pickups, nice thick neck, g&l's are fantastic basses and are the last project that LEO FENDER and his pal GEORGE FULLERTON did together,they are the best of all of their basses, and this one actually has GEORGE'S initials signed in the neck pocket!! WOW! a piece of bass history.
SCALE... the length from the bridge to the nut {I think ?} Its going to be hard to choose what you think is the "correct" scale for a bass, in most cases your not going to have a choice! unless your having the bass made to your specifications,
some of the hand made and exotic bass companies will give you a choice, but the standard factory basses are going to be what ever the standard is for that model,
There are lots of reasons for playing different length necks, it just depends on what your comfortable with, for me its long scale, but only because my 1st 2 basses were short scale, and
I wanted to get used to the longer neck,
* some of these pictures are backwards, none of them are left handed basses*
FENDER PRECISION BASS... {p-bass} neck is bolted to the body, maple,
or rosewood, fret board, chrome hardware and simple bridge, if your going to buy a bass
and keep it a life time, this is the one!
CARVEN... HEAVY- DUTY...{older model}
why? cause they were made the way LEO intended them to be made, some actually disputed MR. FENDERS methods of guitar making..CAN YOU IMAGINE? and he left the CO. to start his last and some say greatest guitars.. G&L.
I get a lot of people telling me Im wrong, they say they like the baseball bat neck on the new ones, and the 2 piece neck/head stock, and the skimpy cut down bridge, and the added control for all that "1 pickup" and the crappy new maple wood and satin finish, and the truss rod adjust at the bottom instead of the headstock, I even have guy's telling me the new ones are better cause' they have matching headstock paint? ??!!??
I have a lot of great sounding basses, but you have to make them sound good, this one you plug in and go!
some companies make one type better than the other.
THIS SECTION IS DEDICATED TO
3 lost legends.. BEATLES first bassist STUART SUTCLIFF with his Mighty HOFNER 500/5 bass with JOHN..and his legendary 325 ric, and GEORGE with a "resonet futurama"
My particular HOFNER bass is a 1965 model, and seems to have a bridge off a different bass, they have a ancient short scale neck and a horrible high action, because you can't slide the acoustic style bridge any further up than the pickup, the bass is so primitive its COOL! the little toy like machine heads NEVER go out of tune and the neck has never needed
adjusting! even with round wound strings.
even at the outrageous price these basses are going for,{in the 60's people got them because they were inexpensive} they always have a loyal following, if you can afford to try something different pick one up, be warned! they are VERY fragile, you can't beat them up or play slap on them, its acoustic construction is like the violins HOFNER originally made, so if you want a modern playing bass I suggest something else.
SIX STRING, very expensive, at least compared to a regular bass, the pickups, bridge, strings, neck, tuners, all have to be made custom for these so its harder going to the store to get
parts,
