The Last Bass Outpost

... is drawing me to the Dark Side ...  

Alas, Christmas was not without sin for me! The fact that three of Edith's initial presents were Fender bass books was a harbinger of things to come in hindsight, but they were nice enough books (eg by Tony Bacon et al) and I was not cautious enough. So after I'm done unwrapping she quips: "You really didn't think you'd only get a couple of books, did you?!" Says it, leaves and comes back dragging with her what looked suspiciously like a gift wrapped bass case which revealed a beautiful American Standard 2010 Jazz Bass in fashionable Candy Cola (bit like CAR but darker and deeper, not as garish, actually pretty much a Christmas red):



That isn't a pic of mine, but it gives an idea though the luster of the real thing is much more stunning. So here I stand, forever tarnished with my now 4th   Fender bass (the other three: MIJ Sting, MIM Vintage Jazz, MIA early eighties RI Vintage Series 62 Precision).

Seriously, the bass is beautiful with all those fine single coil nuances that I always liked about a Jazz Bass. The workmanship is flawless and I like - purists stop reading now -  the very gentle modernizing they did with the satin neck fin, the lightweight tuners and the High Mass Vintage bridge with neck-thru or toploader function (if only they had added the correct 7/64 hex key for the intonation adjustment screw among the abundance of case candy).

Case is fancy too:

Kicking off one of our sensible discussions here ...

Is this a storm in a tea cup or something more fundamental? None of the quotes I read of what people within the State Department think of politicians in other countries struck me as particularly shocking. Some are true, some funny, some are superficial, some say more about the person who holds the particular opinion and some are plain wrong. The whole gamut of human judgements and misjudgements. I don't see US foreign policy coming to an end with it.

The other question is more difficult to me: Should Wikileaks and newspapers be allowed to publish/print all of this? Does the balance always go in favor of informing the public, do I really need to know what, say, the US Secretary of State confidentially thinks about, say, the Russian Prime Minister? It might be embarrassing for Hillary, yes, and insulting to Dmitry, but would my freedom of information really be challenged if I didn't know?  It's not like Wikileaks has uncovered some grand evil scheme we should all know about, basically the stuff that has now come out is educated gossip, in parts entertaining, but hardly of vital neccessity for political transparency and democratic control.

Or am I missing something?

Uwe

I know Yoko is making money off it and she split The Beatles as well as bearing some responsibility for Pearl Harbor in a roundabout way (she could have certainly sunk a few battleships with her voice),  but ... I still bought it. And like it.

I always thought the original mix of Woman syrupy, this I like:



Those more austere mixes really bring out what a gifted (and accurate) singer he was:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc-sCo9yfZ8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOLWrtfxJRI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hKSXqefccg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4C5_JQtkrc&feature=related


Health warning: You also hear Yoko more distinctly too, though I never found her voice anything less than, errm, distinct even at lesser volumes ... Alas, he must have loved her a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcuosQ7xi5g&feature=related

For some reason this was never a topic here, but according to the news all of them should be rescued in a little while, everything is running super-smooth, more than a dozen are already out.

When I was in Chile early this year I was surprised (having before only been to Cuba and Brazil) how much they lived up to their reputation as "the Prussians of Latin America", scarcely an exuberant people, very down to earth and matter of fact. But I guess they will be exuberant today and that is great. Some news can even make you feel good in this day and age.

Uwe 

Here's a set from the sixties up for auction in Germany, flat wound and short scale.

http://cgi.ebay.de/Satz-GIBSON-flatwound-Bass-Saiten-60-er-Jahren-/190450585393?pt=Gitarren&hash=item2c57bd4f31








I'm posting this because I found the gauges interesting, the seller states:

1. G Nr. 0051 0,044 inch
2. D Nr. 0052 0,057 inch
3. A Nr. 0053 0,075 inch
4. E Nr. 0054 0,107 inch

The difference between a very heavy E and comparatively light A is quite remarkable. I had no idea. Does indicate that volume and feel of E string compared to the others was seen as an issue to be compensated even then.

For your pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqTPqzo5ZI&feature=player_embedded





The Eno/Eddie Jobson replacement being this (by Roxy Standards at least) young lass here, Fräulein Anna Phoebe



who came across like Lara Croft (the pig tail!), Rick Wakeman/Keith Emerson (the grand keyboard moves, "look I can even play one-handed and make dramatic gestures in the air with my other hand!"), Vanessa Mae (the violin hottie image "I'm so sexy even my violin bow stiffens!") and Suzi Quatro (the cat suit) all rolled into one. She acted like she thought that she was pretty much the star, but didn't want to get beat up in the dressing room for it. Nice violin playing (had the Jobson parts down pat), Eno-type "white noise" synth- and even Moog monophone soloing though.

http://www.roxyrama.com/classic/cgi-bin/2010/cginews.cgi?record=25

http://www.annaphoebe.com/


Surprisingly, their set was totally seventies-heavy, only two or three eighties tracks (I remember More than this and Jealeous Guy) and one Ferry solo number (his Canned Heat rework "Let's stick together" as one of the encores). The current line up of two guitarists (Manzanera leaving much room and soloing to the barely out of his teens second guitarist who might have been Paul Thompson's son), one bass player (forgot his name, no Gustafson he was, but (st)able), two drummers (Paul Thompson being replaced by Andy Newmark for health reasons), two keyboarders (the violin chick playing keyboards when she was not throwing shapes with the violin), Ferry, Mackay and four black backing vocalists can create quite a (controlled) racket on stage. Ferry was in fine non-voice and looked the old lounge lizard aged gracefully, Mackay has the stage demeanor of an 80-year old and Manzanera is the elder statesman of tasteful, yet still quirky guitardom. (He's been David Gilmour's rhythm guitarist for the last few years and when offered to take a solo in Gilmour's band as well said: "People pay money to see you solo in this band, not me!" and declined.)

We've often speculated here what wood our Epis are made of. The official blurb claims things like "korina" on, say, an Explorer, but we all see clearly that our Explorers are veneered.

Gibson has started something new - a site where you can ask Henry J and Jim Rosenberg (head of Epi) questions - and I found this here interesting:

http://4henry.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/444-please-be-honest/

This guy's enraged question:

"Why do you State the Body Material as "Korina" on the Epiphone when it's clearly not. Will you at least tell us what it is really made of.
Is it Alder? Also I really would like to know why you state it's Korina wood and base it on the real think. Why not just state it's Alder or whatever it's made of with a Korina Finish. Isn't their Liablity Concerns? I'd like to know really what I bought because it's not what you say it is and not what I thought I was buying and not what was stated that I was buying. I feel like I was conned and lyed too although I know the old saying is true but I was thinking it's made in Korea and China maybe they got a ****-load of the stuff cheep and are passing it on."

was answered as follows:

"Hi,

Thanks for the post. To my knowledge, the wood we are using on the "1958" Korina V's and Explorers is Korina (white limba). The body is multiple pieces with a veneer over the top and back. If you're not happy with your Epiphone and assuming you purchased it "new" recently, I would encourage you to contact the retailer you purchased it from or contact our Customer Service department at 1-800-4GIBSON.

Thanks again,
Jim Epi"

Makes sense to me and is confirmed by what my luthier said about my Explorer which was veneered (prior to the fungus treatment) as well but has Korina (pieces) underneath. I don't have issues with multi composite bodies. As long as the glue holds that is!