The Last Bass Outpost

Who in his right mind would want a non resonant neck like the Kubicki one on a fretless of all basses?

He's actually near Frankfurt next week. I might have a look.

Yes, a gig in California (Inglewood) and some BBC live sessions EMI is currently compiling for a concentrated release rather than scattering them all over. Simper was a melodic player, but judged as too rock'n'roll (in the sesne of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates he had briefly played with before Kidd's fatal car accident)by Blackmore and Paice. They were listening to a lot of Vanilla Fudge back then (the blueprint for Mk 1 DP) and I guess they found more Tim Bogert in Glover's playing than in Simper's.

Glover is busy, but unobstrusive, Hughes economic, but clamoring for attention! And getting it too.

I disagree with the conclusion.  This "modification" is retarded, and I would restore it.  The important parts - neck, hardware and electronics are all there.  That is the hardest stuff to find in one piece on old Gibsons.  I would scout out an EB-2/Ravioli with a broken neck and use it as a donor. Yank the neck, reset the good neck on the good body, hook up the parts, boom.

Where is the difference between that and parting it out?  It won't be the same bass then.

It's more Hughes' playing than what bass he plays. He sounds similar whether he plays a Mustang, Ric, P, Jazz, Manne, Vigier or ESP. He hits those strings hard with his pick and does a lot of dampening and controlled vibratos with his left hand. Plus his ubiquitous bending and intentionally sloppy sliding. Funnily enough, he probably sounded the least distinctive with the Ric, which is a very distinctive sounding bass per se, but Hughes and Ric never gelled. He dumped it quickly on the first Burn tour after he had started out with it in the Burn recordings, most likely to lend some continuity in the bass department as Roger Glover had played a Ric in the last years of DP Mk 2. The Ric on the Burn album comes nowhere near as well out as on the albums Glover recorded with the Ric while in Purple (Machine Head, Made in Japan and Who do we think we are). By the time of Stormbringer, where you hear the bass well, Hughes was playing the California Jam P. Same on Come Taste the Band.

The amps might have something to do with it. Glover played Marshalls and the distortion they gave him (which he hated, he always wanted a clear or as he put it "American" bass sound) enhanced the Ric's midrange making it quite prominent. Hughes played Hiwatts which worked great with the P, but not so much with the Ric. His bass sound on Burn is if anything to deep with too little mids which is why you have a hard time hearing him whereas Roger Glover was always easy to pick out. And that is even though Hughes is the much edgier "I want to be heard too!" player whereas Glover is more melodious "flowing with the music", but not looking for attention. Notewise, Glover is actually busier than Hughes, Hughes is funkier and more ahead of the beat, but actually play less notes if rhytmically more prominent.

Ah, "Der dicke Holländer"! Now that is a nice name for a bass, even a Warwick one, keep it then.