The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: Blazer on June 18, 2009, 07:34:59 AM
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I found this picture on Talkbass.
(http://home.earthlink.net/~mc2/images/TBirdII_OverendWattsFullWeb.jpg)
Overend Watts' (Mott The Hoople's bassist with the coolest stage name) old Tbird from the 60s-70s videos....and that's NOT a Gibson Custom Shop "relic" job
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High time for a refin! :mrgreen:
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I love damaged basses, I love one pick up Birds and I love that colour! Wow!
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No thanks. Abuse is still abuse. Even if someone famous did it.
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Id bet that was frozen & heated a few times! It aint normal or right.
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If memory serves correct, Overend gave Martin Turner a Thunderbird, and the rest is history. If you look at any early Wishbone Ash photos, he's playing a Fender.
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great bass, love this very distressed look.
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It's not just a distressed look. The bass has obviously suffered severe abuse.
Amazing to me that anyone would think this is cool in any way.
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It reminds me of one of those Magnum ice creams.
The one with white chocolate. Yummie...
(http://www.ice-f.nl/images/urun/Magnum_White_p_jpg.jpg)
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I never understood white chocolate either. ;D Let's see, tastes like vanilla, looks like vanilla, but I'm supposed to believe it's chocolate.
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It's not just a distressed look. The bass has obviously suffered severe abuse.
Amazing to me that anyone would think this is cool in any way.
Gotta say I'm with Dave on this one. I hate to see an abused guitar. Normal wear and 'mojo' gotten honestly or accidentally are fine, but that bass just looks sad to me.
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I never understood white chocolate either. ;D Let's see, tastes like vanilla, looks like vanilla, but I'm supposed to believe it's chocolate.
I'm with you Dave on that. DEATH TO FALSE CHOCOLATE!!!
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Is white chocolate a German invention?
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Hold on guys. The only damage I see is the ruined fin which indeed speaks for severe temperature and moisture changes (I don't think that ole Overend took his basses out of the truck every night on those long US winter tours with Mott, he had half a dozen of those white ones.) But other than that, it looks structurally alright and all hardware is original. Am I missing something?
The Bird bequeathed by Watts to Martin Turner had a broken headstock (which Turner had repaired and you can still see the repair to this day), this is a different specimen, as I said, Herr Watts had several of them and broke a few (I hasten to add: by accident), famously once to then proceed to sing his bass part over his microphone! Talk about service beyond the call of duty!
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Cool bass, not a fan of white chocolate or vanilla fudge.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/misc/homersimpson-real.jpg)
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Is white chocolate a German invention?
No, why are you asking? :-X We prefer black or brown chocolate like the uniforms of our fathers (who had very little chocolate thanks to the Royal Navy's efficient embargo!). White is generally identified with those flags of surrender hanging out of Dutch windows in 1940, if I'm not mistaken ... :mrgreen:
Aryan or not, I hate white chocolate too, didn't even like it as a kid. Whenever I got a mix of brown and white chocolate - chocolate is one of the few things in life where Apartheid makes sense - in one bar, I'd nibble only the brown away. (I fear I just started another one of those unwholesome side topics with my last innocent remark? :rolleyes:)
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As I posted inTalkbass.............
The Bird really did belong to Overend at one point, it then was left in the care of someone (not a musician) that simply stored it. If memory serves it's now owned by an Englishman that does indeed know of it's significance. That said it's hard for me to see this bass looking like it does, a white early 60's Thunderbird II is my own personal Holy Grail...............
"I'd nibble only the brown away."
I didn't realize this was something you enjoyed Herr Moderator ;)
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- in one bar, I'd nibble only the brown away. (I fear I just started another one of those unwholesome side topics with my last innocent remark? :rolleyes:)
I have got to stop reading your posts while swallowing coffee.
Back to the bass, I have no idea of its ownership history or who abused it. I do know enough about finishing to know that only extreme conditions could have produced that.
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Hahahaha!
Regarding the bass, I would be honored to have it in my house, in a place of honor. Looks to me like only the paint has gone south: the body and everything else looks okay.
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I have had some exchanges with the owner of that bass, it does seem to be legit. That bird was not originally white. That is some heavy finish on there. back in the day refins sometimes were not very refined, even for pros. Lennon's black Ric painted with a brush comes to mind. I think the bass should be left as is. It is a piece of rock and roll history, I'd give both nuts for it.
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Gibson offered high quality factory refins for years, and good guitar refinishers were around well before the age of soldbody electrics. There has never been an excuse for crappy refins, ever.
I don't think this bass got that way from just sitting in storage unless the storage room was underwater.
I wonder how many of you who like it would actually be interested if it had never allegedly been owned by a celebrity bassist. With a big emphasis on alleged. Can the owner actually provide any real evidence of its history?
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Like I said: White 60's Thunderbird II................My Holy Grail!
I do value my nuts tho, so unlike Scott I'll keep mine ;)
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I wonder how many of you who like it would actually be interested if it had never allegedly been owned by a celebrity bassist. With a big emphasis on alleged. Can the owner actually provide any real evidence of its history?
Well, Dave it IS a real Thunderbird, and setting aside the "pedigree" and accompanying price premium... I think it's cool as hell!
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I'd certainly like to own her, regardless of pedigree... even give her a proper (non "tequila") refin... or be very tempted to leave her "au-naturale" once stripped down... ;)
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I'm with Dave, Refin and play the bastard. It is what it is, not what someone else made it... if that makes any sense at all.
Either that or if you cant bear to make the changes , then hang it on a wall (a crime for a bass like that in my book).
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I found this picture on Talkbass.
(http://home.earthlink.net/~mc2/images/TBirdII_OverendWattsFullWeb.jpg)
Overend Watts' (Mott The Hoople's bassist with the coolest stage name) old Tbird from the 60s-70s videos....and that's NOT a Gibson Custom Shop "relic" job
That bass looks like a jigsaw puzzle, he could make it like new for free, if he had all the missing pieces and some glue.
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I'm listening to a lot of Mott the Hoople currently in my car (bought the new boxed set with mini replica LP sleeve editions of All the Young Dudes, Mott, The Hoople, Drive On and Shouting and Pointing), so my judgement is currently tainted, but I can understand the attraction that bass has. I'm not really into celebrity basses and I don't think they "anoint" the instrument (though it has to be said that Overend Watts was the first bass player who made TBirds, and white ones at that, an integral part of his stage appearance, in the early seventies TBirds in England were few and far between, Glenn Cornick's Wild Turkey wasn't as popular as Mott the Hoople and John Entwistle didn't focus as singlemindedly on TBirds as Overend did), but this thing looks like it has a good story to tell. And other than the extremely flaked off fin, it seems sound and is therefore even playable.
Here's another pic of it:
(http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/11/l_c81f08b9a2b74c9eb8c68a70590a8f8d.jpg)
Let's face it: One day all our nitro finned instruments will look like that unless we keep them in a perfect humidity climate. Nitro wasn't invented to last for centuries. I notice how my former burgundy red EB-2, which had turned to gold when I bought it, is now turning browner every year and the fin is becoming less and less impact resistant too. And, yes, I do even wish that all forum members here be still there to witness when the nitro comes off their beloved instruments in several decades!
Uwe
PS: Maybe if you buy the bass, you get the boots as a freebie? Or did Michael Schenker or Arthur "Killer" Kane nick them off Herr Watts?
(http://www.mottthehoople.com/images/mags/9410-ruta66.jpg)
PPS: Will Overend Watts play a TBird at the coming MTH reunion shows and if so what shoes to go with it?
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MTH live is in my steady rotation in my van. I love the discs raw energy I don't think there are a whole lot of overdubs on this disc. There is at least one bum note from Overend, the vocals and back ups are not spot on but I love the honesty of it all. To me it is real R&R not this glitzy pap we are served up today. I still vote leave that bass alone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you guys are refin happy ;)
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Half a show with me playing it would have whats left of that paint falling off like skin on a leper.........
;D
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Leperbird, that's it.
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I'm with Dave, Refin and play the bastard. It is what it is, not what someone else made it... if that makes any sense at all.
Either that or if you cant bear to make the changes , then hang it on a wall (a crime for a bass like that in my book).
You stole my post, that thing looks pitiful in that shape.
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If you haven't already done so, you guys need to check out the recent live 4-CD Mott the Hoople set put out by Angel Air records. It's entitled "In Performance 1970-1974" and it collects a lot of the various early live material that's out there into one stellar package. It is truly an amazing collection. I could just keep playing the four CD's over and over in constant rotation.
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Thanks Frankie.
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I don't know if you guys noticed this but...2 things....#1: Overend's bass had a white headstock with the raised section painted white. #2: He also had mutes on his bridge. Now I understand someone could have removed the mutes but the headstock????? Why would he paint the raised section black??? This seems kinda fishy. Unlkess he had a coupla white Thunderbird II's
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I don't know how many he had but I am pretty sure it was more than one.
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Uwe said earlier in this thread that he had several. May be. And this may have been one of them. But it's not the one you see in photos of him.
The owner seems to be trying awful hard, I see the bass has its own MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/overendwattsthunderbird), and yet the newest comment shows Watts with a bass that's obviously not this one.
All I see is a claim unsupported by any real evidence, like a verifiable chain of ownership.
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He had something like eight TBirds, not all white. Whether this is one of them, who knows?
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I just know I want it...................
And you guys say women can't be decisive ;)
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I just know I want it...................
Nah, why bother with that one when you can do it yourself!
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=2526.0
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George,
I meant to comment on that Bird :thumbsup: since I have one too......refinning it white is a fantastic idea, Scott's two point looks really good (I have one) and I'm thinking maybe later this year it'll get done.
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I just know I want it...................
And you guys say women can't be decisive ;)
But they can be impulsive! ;)
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"Impülsivê", the new lush fragrance as worn by the unbelievable Fräulein Rômmélle! Traces of black patent leather, Panzer grease, mahogany and model train oil mingle and combust to one sheer sensation ...
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"Impülsivê", the new lush fragrance as worn by the unbelievable Fräulein Rômmélle! Traces of black patent leather, Panzer grease, mahogany and model train oil mingle and combust to one sheer sensation ...
Uwe........
I'm gettin' all Sproinky just thinkin' about it!
;D
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Uwe... Veronica... you are BOTH incorrigible... :popcorn:
I'm more of a "what does she sound like...?" than the look, but you'ld never guess that form my (pitifiable by comparison) collection... about the only thing I can say is "unique" about mine is a rather obscure make of T'bird, that has suffered at my hands... :vader: