The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Bass Zone => Topic started by: Blazer on August 08, 2008, 07:03:46 PM
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I was gonna post this in the Bass zone but seeing how my love of my life isn't a bass I figured that the Outpost cafe would be the best place to post this thread.
My love of my life is a 1989 Squier Stratocaster in Dakota Red, lovingly nicknamed "The Veteran"
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/My%20musical%20instruments/Strat.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/My%20musical%20instruments/Strat2.jpg)
I bought it new in 1991 at my fifteenth birthday to replace a Cheap telecaster knock-off and almost from the get-go began using it as my main guitar. I played it live during junior high and High school performances of my very first band. The first of those performances was filmed, capturing the very first time I used "The Veteran" live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nLNz_elcE8
Throughout the years I kept on modifying "The veteran"replacing the neck a couple of times and experimenting with different pickups and double locking bridges.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/Ikmetgitaar.jpg)
This picture was taken at the final gig I played with a punkband called "the Worst" and shows the guitar with a single Dimarzio DLX humbucker and a Kahler Spyder trem.
Soon afterwards I decided to restore the guitar to Strat-hood and pulled out the humbucker in favor of the normal three single coils set up of a strat and the Kahler was replaced by a Wilkinson vibrato bridge which improved the overal sound greatly.
Our bassplayer sold me the neck of a similar Squier he had and that one has been on it ever since. As evident by the pictures, I put another Humbucker in that's because we need that sound with my current band Slavantas where my use of "The Veteran" inspired our second guitarist Andy, to look for a similar eighties Squier and by working together with me, found one.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/Strat1.jpg)
Andy's Squier, same year as "the Veteran" it's a re-finished arctic white one, we call it "The Rookie"
"The Veteran" has served me well in all those years and I could never live without it. When I die, bury me with "the Veteran" in my arms so I can play it through all eternity.
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Mine is a beat up '75 P (sunburst/maple) that was my first really good bass. I had two decent Fender P's before it - a fretless '80 and a fretted '81 - but that '75 is truly a stunning bass, it's the one that feels like home, and for many years I used nothing else. And I got it for $325...
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Gun pointed I would part with any bass I have, except for the '76 Bird.
It's beaten up, but it's mine and I love it. When I bought it it had several holes in the body, a piece of wood was nailed (!) on as a finger rest, it was previously used in a robin Hood movie as bow (I suppose) but it was brought to life by a local luthier.
I did all my recordings with it, Uwe provided me kindly with a beaten up but working case, and people always love it when I play her. My drummer likes this bass most and so does my singer/guitar player. And I always have an awful lot of nice reactions of the audience afterwards. Even kids coming close to the stage too see if it's a real Gibson.
ow, and she sounds amazing, of course:)
I love her!
Some pics:
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/6.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/4.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_a13985e22ebeb8a2c41c65d789dcef39.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/623293762_l-2.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_fec1961873194e6943acb1e56d42694e.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_dab4d8ed0374f26bd7fb7ba5ab59de7a.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_a9ff0c7b1461830fd2807630be1a5df3.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_83f7825f607170e0b40bd47a93fa3aff.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_72aaffb34a1e65d76a29c4e095ed87b9.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_5dc9e07dbecbdae37de5a99d0108c0ef.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/l_40837e37e2dd7453ca1c86e6bce7a078.jpg)
(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/IMG_1596.jpg)
Well, that's more than enough, I guess;0
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This really is about gear and will be mostly about basses so I'm going to move it.
I have a favorite bass and guitar but nothing I would call a "love of my life" instrument. Something else could always come along and make me happier. :)
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This really is about gear and will be mostly about basses so I'm going to move it.
I have a favorite bass and guitar but nothing I would call a "love of my life" instrument. Something else could always come along and make me happier. :)
I'm afraid I resemble this remark too! Although, I have to say that I'm in love with most of my basses. Just some more than others. Top of the heap right now are the Thunder Jet, the NR rehab, and the LP Signature.
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I would have to say my '76 4001. For several years in the early '90s, I was trying to live the dream with music in a Massachusetts band called Jiggle the Handle. We never made any money, though, so the entire time my workhorse was a Fender Japan '62 Jazz Bass reissue.
I quit the band and pretty much quit playing music in 1995 to pursue a new dream - I moved to Berkeley, CA to go to grad school at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, and I spent the next eight years studying to become a Buddhist minister. But when both my parents passed away, I moved back to Mass. to take care of my affairs, and also hooked up with my old band-mates. At around the same time, on a routine stop to Cambridge Music, I saw this in the window:
(http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1026/rickenbacker_window.jpg)
I fell in love - I always wanted a Rickenbacker, having been hugely influenced by Roger Glover, Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, and Lemmy Kilmister, so I snagged it for around $800 (unthinkable now?!!) I used it a lot in the studio and onstage a lot that summer:
(http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6695/rehearsalmar27garyandharryic0.jpg)(http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7328/harryhowl7qx.jpg)(http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1820/ricthumbpos1ax.jpg)
It's actually not the first instrument I bought during my musical resurgence - that would be the Alembic Exploiter:
(http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/7672/alembrickla8.jpg)
But I just sold the Exploiter this past week - I've done some recordings with it that I love, but I don't have the emotional attachment with the Exploiter that I do with the 4001. Also, my future wife was with me the day I found the Ric, maybe that has something to do with it. Even though it has its problems, I don't see myself parting with it. I don't play it all the time either, but between the appearance, sound, playability, and the fact that it is an instrument that I aspired to my whole musical life but never though I would ever actually hold in my hands, I periodically go back to it for musical inspiration, so this is the one instrument I have that could qualify as the "love of my life" instrument.
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I'm too much of a whore to have just one. :mrgreen:
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I'm too much of a whore to have just one. :mrgreen:
Ditto.
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(http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/7672/alembrickla8.jpg)
that's a beautiful Ric!
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I had one for almost 20 years that I swore I'd have forever. Life and age caught up with me. I found that playing it was killing me, no matter how much I loved the sound. I had to give it up. I put it in a closet for a year. Money problems came, and I made the decision to sell. It wasn't easy, but it was the right thing to do. It wasn't being played, which I thought was wrong, so I found a good home for it, and it was heard in public again. Since then, I've found other basses that spoke to me. You learn to move on. There's a lot of very cool instruments out there. At this point, the Holy Crap bass (my experiment gone horribly right) and the Bettie Page have filled the void with no regrets on my part.
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You must be talking about the Embassy.
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You would be correct. Everyone here probably knows it, but it was one of Tom Petersson's. It also belonged to Jon Brandt at one point. When I bought it, there were 4 Embassies hanging on the wall. Only one spoke to me. It took me over 3 years to get that bass. The lesson is - when the time comes, let it go. It's not the Holy Grail.
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It's not the Holy Grail.
This is so true. It's wood and metal and plastic. There's always another bass that will fill the hole left behind.
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For sure! The only bass I wish I still had, and just for the memories it evokes, is my 62 (or 63, can't remember now!) jazz bass. Oh to be 16 again! I sold it in 75 when I got married. How stupid was that!
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/drbassman/Fender%20Pics/63jazzbass1.jpg)
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For sure! The only bass I wish I still had, and just for the memories it evokes, is my 62 (or 63, can't remember now!) jazz bass. Oh to be 16 again! I sold it in 75 when I got married. How stupid was that!
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/drbassman/Fender%20Pics/63jazzbass1.jpg)
Tsk tsk Bill, sold it when you got married a sad precedent has been set, must have taken years to undo. I Love 'em all but I'd grab my '69 NR Thunderbird if the house was burning. My main bass since '78 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/69TBnewtailpiece001.jpg)
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Hell I have two hands I'd grab my Jim Lea bass to (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/100_2074.jpg)
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i have nothing like that but my son does. he bought a squier strat the first year they came out. 83 or 84? he only had it a couple months when a friend of his brother broke into our house and stole it. we were able to track it down to a music store on the other side of town where the guy had traded it for some pedals. it's really a fabulous guitar that originally was white but has yellowed nicely with age. everyone who has played it wants it so that must say something. still has a very old misfits sticker on it as well. ;D
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Tsk tsk Bill, sold it when you got married a sad precedent has been set, must have taken years to undo. I Love 'em all but I'd grab my '69 NR Thunderbird if the house was burning. My main bass since '78
The really sad part is I got rid of the wife too! At least I ended up with a better one a few years later!!! :mrgreen:
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but I'd grab my '69 NR Thunderbird if the house was burning. My main bass since '78
There's a reason I can relate to. I do not have only one favorite at the moment. But if the house sets on fire I probably would take ehhhh,......... Chris's 4005 as I would feel very embarresed if I'd lost someone else's bass this way. Runner up is my own '73 4001.
(http://blaat.net/bass/rrf/ma010-body-board-1-800.jpg)
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Mine is my 74 (erm.. thanks Ilan) Fender Jazz. Got it when I was 15. Had it for 29 years now.
I agree with all of the comments about always being able to find another bass. There is plenty out there and many speak to me but if I lost this one it would leave a pretty hollow feeling in my life.
Just the personal Mojo alone means a lot to me.
I've been with it longer than my wife. She calls her "That blonde" or "the other woman".
For me other basses are made to fill the few holes this bass cant and to provide fun and a different perspective on things.
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Jazz/72jazz722.jpg)
(http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t253/Freuds_cat/Jazz/72jazz724.jpg)
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I would have to say my '76 4001. For several years in the early '90s, I was trying to live the dream with music in a Massachusetts band called Jiggle the Handle. We never made any money, though, so the entire time my workhorse was a Fender Japan '62 Jazz Bass reissue.
I remember that band, I don't think I ever saw you guys though, but that is a memorable name and your band got around if I remember right, I'm from Millbury, very close to Worcester. I was in school at the time and didn't get out very much.
I got very sick during the mid 90's and sold the love of my life which was a 68 Candy Apple Red P bass with a 66 J neck on it. I owned it for 18 years and was my primary bass all that time. I had a fretless neck on it for a while, but went back to the J neck. It was originally a rosewood fretless.
I have several basses now and go back and forth over which is my favorite, among them a mapleglo 79 4001, a black 72 fretless P bass and a sunburst 2007 Gibson Thunderbird. I also have a 72 jetglo 4001FL but I don't play it often and a 69 EB-3, they'll have thier tu=imes though I'm sure.
I actually think my SVT's are the real loves of my life though. I can change basses and really become attached to them but can't change amps, I think it's something to do with bandmembers on fill in gigs automatically thinking you are going to be the loudest thing on earth and scowling before you even play a note. :mrgreen: Seriously though, it's the sound.
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Here's a picture of me with "the Veteran" prior to hitting the stage with the Punk band "The Worst" for our 2004 Christmas performance. I guess the look in my eyes says everything.
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e22/guitarman91/funtoom19.jpg)
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These are the only true loves of my life...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v631/pamlicojack/SL370638.jpg)
But if I had to choose one bass, I suppose it would be my 1980 Ripper. My 78 'P and my 81 'J are both wonderful and I've had the J for nearly 20 years, but I can't imagine either of them being more versatile and sounding better than the Ripper...
(http://b1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/00937/15/81/937201851_l.jpg)
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My answer SHOULD be my '53 Gibson EB....but it's my white Epi V bass!
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Been my number one since 1978 - No other bass, can do what it can do, for me.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/RD34.jpg)
This is quickly becoming my next go to passive bass- This bass just gets better & better.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/kimapaul.jpg)
Funny it's like the story of the Blue Bird Of Happiness, you look for happiness everywhere else, when it's been right under your nose this whole time. GAS is dangerous.
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I love the tobacco burst on that LP John. Very nice looking bass.
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Thanks.
I feel so guilty about how much I like that bass. A lot of people bash them or disregard them totally because they are guitar bodied basses.
When I First got it, It felt uncomfortable to play, because of he carved top and slightly chunky neck. Once my luthier set it up, it plays & sounds amazing, a very versatile bass and I love having the three way pickup selector. What I have discovered about this bass is that the same qualities that make the LP a great guitar, transfer well to the bass. A great passive warm tone that has huge balls, that cuts through the mix with huge sustain. It's been everything I want in a passive bass that my RD lacks.
The other reason I feel guilty is I favor it over my 68 Non reverse, Fenderbird and my even my new Blueshawk. When recording I try various basses for various parts and the LP wins 90% of the time over the previous basses.
I'm not sure I like the Blueshawk just yet as it's tone is the total opposite, a thin single coil sound vs the balls out high out put of the LP.
My third bass would be my EB-0 project bass. I don't use it a lot, but nothing sounds or can do what a mudbucker can.
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Lefty 4001CS, one of only 4 made.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v383/iamthebassman/csnew.jpg)
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Well, we Dutch people have a history setting German buildings at fire. Like Marinus van der Lubbe did at the Reichstag. I could set Uwe's office on fire and take the blue Nonrev?
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Lefty 4001CS, one of only 4 made.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v383/iamthebassman/csnew.jpg)
Verrry Coool & gorgeous Naples yellow! :o
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I have to say that I'm in love with most of my basses. Just some more than others. Top of the heap right now are the Thunder Jet, the NR rehab, and the LP Signature.
I feel the same way. I have a number of basses, and I tend to like the one I have in my hands.
But only one of them has been mine for 41 years...my old '63 P. It doesn't sound "freakin' amazing" or anything like that, but it's light, has nice action, and I'm very sentimentally attached to it.
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/Electric%20Basses/P3120045.jpg)
And here are the loves of my life, about 18 months ago...
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/Xmas05forparents.jpg)
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Beautiful bass and daughters:)
I like the combination of gold, tort, rosewood and chrome!
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Hmm... a toss up between this one...
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2352/2452469412_02fc5a254e_m.jpg)
and this one...
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3034/2738883050_c8399bc773_m.jpg)
and the sunburst one second from the right here...
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3220/2619658550_a9dbb54de3_m.jpg)
Yeah, that's more than one. But I have a T-shirt that nails it. It says "Love one woman, many basses".
jte
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My tee says it just the other way around.