Interesting NR with black pickups. I THINK this was taken post-plane crash. Not sure though.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l111/bigtreebluesea/LeonWilkesonwithNRTbird.jpg)
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l111/bigtreebluesea/LeonWilkesonwithTbird.jpg)
Leon and Ed King in the background. Yet another interesting pickup in his T-bird.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l111/bigtreebluesea/Leon_EdKing2.jpg)
Some cool shots! Leon was a very cool looking bass player too. After the plane crash he couldn't use his left arm very well so that is why he had the extensions put on the T-Bird's. Wish I could have seen him with Rossington Collins band. I really dug their first LP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDKx9zWINqM
Nice pics! I believe I have already posted these somewhere here before but for those who have'nt seen them before:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/doombass/basist/LeonWilkeson-1.jpg?t=1292994556)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/doombass/basist/leon1-1.jpg?t=1292994659)
Same custom inlay bass modded quite heavily. Refinned, Schaller 460 bridge, (looks like) EMG pickup(s?) and the earlier mentioned strap button extension.
Glad that daft extension didn't catch on.
check his left hand. django.....
Bill Wyman'esque, only with a long scale.
I thought it was Wilkerson ;)
Quote from: godofthunder on December 22, 2010, 05:58:11 AM
Glad that daft extension didn't catch on.
Opps sorry missed the part about his right arm being injured in the plane crash.
I'm still inspired by Leon Wilkeson. Just been listening to "Gimme Three Steps."
Always loved his playing but I was never a big LS fan.
Denis' post - top pic is (I think) Ros/Col or early reform era, next are pretty early - '74?
Doom's pics are approx '76 and again early reform...
The "interesting" pup was (iirc) a Mudbucker...
Robert... R/C were scheduled to tour the UK in the early eighties and play the Rainbow Theatre in North London; Allen Collins' wife died and the tour was (understandably) cancelled - I never did get a refund and I still have the ticket...
Quote from: godofthunder on December 22, 2010, 02:36:32 PM
Always loved his playing but I was never a big LS fan.
I was never a LS fan, either. But I always liked Leon Wilkeson's playing and even saw him once in a chance encounter.
I still have his T bird Bridge and posts for sale or I would trade it for a set of unnotched 60's t bird saddles .
How's that beautiful blue 12ver Baz?
I wasn't aware that the opti-hang came from an arm injury in the crash. That makes sense and perhaps also explains why he holds the neck so close to his body.
I never knew about the injury, either. It does make sense. I had my left shoulder snapped out of the socket in my car accident, and using the Embassy became a task for a while. As I got older, it only got worse. I've still got about 80% use of my left arm, but I feel it on cold days.
Count me in as another who wasn't the biggest Skynyrd fan, but always dug Leon's playing a whole lot. Bands that can't follow his bass lines pretty closely should stop trying to do their songs. In some cases, like "Gimme Three Steps", the bass makes the song.
My first experience with Lynyrd Skynyrd was of course their classic live album One for from the Road. I thought Working for MCA (the whole concept of writing a song as a perceived record company employee) hilarious/brilliant.
To me, Lynyrd Skynyrd never climbed the musical heights of the Allmans, but they never toppled into the netherworld of musical embarrassment like Molly Hatchet either. Even what they do today as essentially the "Ricky Medlocke Band" - and I'm least likely to share their political messages - has musical value. God & Guns is musically a good album with a great production, I don't have to agree with everything they sing.
Ronnie's vocals (not really rock, not really country and not really blues, but all his own) certainly gave them an identity and his brother emulates them well. Live they can still entertain.
Quote from: Chaser001 on December 22, 2010, 02:31:52 PM
I'm still inspired by Leon Wilkeson. Just been listening to "Gimme Three Steps."
Ed King actually played the bass parts on that first album, although the "parts" are rightly credited to Leon. Leon is pictured playing a Ric 4000 on the inside gatefold sleeve.
Quote from: gearHed289 on December 23, 2010, 10:41:28 AM
Ed King actually played the bass parts on that first album, although the "parts" are rightly credited to Leon. Leon is pictured playing a Ric 4000 on the inside gatefold sleeve.
I never really kept up much with all of that. I've seen plenty of live clips of Leon playing and like what he was doing. I do know that Ed King played bass for a while, but Van Zant hated his bass playing. Ed King had played guitar on the smash psychedelic hit "Incense and Peppermints" by the Strawberry Alarm Clock." It is also my understanding that he was responsible for the main guitar riffs in "Sweet Home Alabama." I think this is correct, but not having ever been a Skynyrd fan, there are probably a lot of details about their career that I'm unaware of.
I got into them fairly early on (bought Nuthin' Fancy when it came out) and first saw them on the GBMB tour, and finally in '77, but I don't know much about their recent work...
He (LW) had to completely rejig his playing style post the accident...one link gives this list of his injuries...
...broke his jaw and had most of his teeth knocked out, suffered a crushed chest (with a punctured lung), almost needed an arm amputated, and he sustained internal injuries. (Wilkeson reportedly coded at the hospital and had to be revived.)...
He was also found with his throat slashed on the tour bus at one point in the '90s - no one was found to have been the attacker... Ed King saved his life...
Ed King was playing guitar with the band but LW quit just prior to the recording of the first LP - Ed King just played what LW had been playing, post recording he re-joined and recorded until his passing...
He was not the original bassist - I know of two predecessors - first was Larry Junstrom (38 Special) and then Greg Walker (Blackfoot) - Rick Medlocke used to play Drums for them along with his Blackfoot partner Greg Walker - they both feature on "First and Last"
Quote from: TBird1958 on December 22, 2010, 07:05:30 PM
How's that beautiful blue 12ver Baz?
You mean the 8 string??? I don't own any 12vers. Just my Blue Metal Flake 8 string T bird II and the Futura 8 string I'm building.
Quote from: Baz Cooper on December 23, 2010, 05:57:12 PM
You mean the 8 string??? I don't own any 12vers. Just my Blue Metal Flake 8 string T bird II and the Futura 8 string I'm building.
Oops I'm wrong! Yes, the 8 string.
Is it done?
Sound nice?
Oh...man...it's the best 8 string I've ever played, built, owned....but now I did crudely (like Dr. Frankenstein) wired and strung up the Futura 8 string.....(it just needs a nut and to be checked out by my main tech/repair guy to make sure it's Kosher before I finish it or scrap it and start over!) It's sounded so bad -ass....Almost..ALMOST, i tell you...better than the Blue metal flake one....You truly must always use a Thun derbird Pickup for an 8 string bass....Or a P bass split pickup...if you can stomach the way it looks...although I did borrow Tom Heslin's Rickenbacker 8 string for a coupla weeks....THAT...if it had a better bridge...that was Killer as well....an 8 string Rick!!! So...As soon as I get my strings that I ordered...I will take it in a hopefully...jopefully finish putting it together and disassemble it and paint it in the spring.
That 8-string just makes me jealous! Can't we change the subject? ;)
Quote from: Stjofön Big on December 24, 2010, 08:11:49 AM
Can't we change the subject? ;)
Sure!
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=4991.0
Founds this on the web:
Leon smashed his left arm and it took months of repeated surgeries to help him to a position where he could even play again, and for those of you who do not know this, but if you look at the way Leon plays the bass guitar he has it standing up almost vertically and the reason for this was because his left arm was smashed and he lost the ability to rotate the arm and play normally, so the bass guitars had to be modified with an extension off the body of the guitar so he could strap it on a specific way and turn the guitar into an almost upright position just to play it because he could not rotate that left arm any more.
Quote from: gweimer on December 23, 2010, 05:32:03 AM
In some cases, like "Gimme Three Steps", the bass makes the song.
Just my opinion but I think his playing MAKES most of LS's songs. I love his style. We play their song Swamp Music with the Crocs. Great lines.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wJWBcj7lsY
I went to YouTube and typed in Leon Wilkeson. I wanted to see if I could find some specific examples of his bass playing. Years ago, I had been on YouTube for a while looking at live performances of LS. I thought maybe I would find something like that again. However, the first thing that came up on YouTube was "Leon Wilkeson's testimony." I wasn't completely surprised by that because the only time I saw him was at a church in Gulfport, Mississippi in the 80s. I began to wonder if maybe Leon Wilkeson had been in a Christian rock band for a while. I googled and found that he had been in a Christian rock band with Billy Powell called "Vision" in the mid-80s. By coincidence, a Lynyrd Skynyrd documentary came on last night. There were a few clips of Wilkeson and Powell, as well as other people. But there was no mention of Ed King at all. It seemed to me that about 90% of the documentary was about Ronnie Van Zant. Even Ronnie's father was on there about five times. He got way more attention than Leon Wilkeson. I don't even remember one really clear shot of him playing bass on the entire documentary. Overall, the documentary was pretty sad, but that's primarily because the plane crash was an overwhelming tragedy, truly horrifying.
Here's some footage of one of the shows. Not sure if it's this clip, but there are others from this concert which have good footage of Leon. Yu can hear his playing in this one, though.
With a Jazz bass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHsDa9_HSlA
With a Tele bass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wacfM3NRb_8&feature=fvst
He's got a NR T-bird in this one! You can see it well around 8:44 and later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH9C5qYWkWA&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3iOpX-cQ88
Quote from: Hörnisse on December 25, 2010, 09:19:18 PM
...the bass guitars had to be modified with an extension off the body of the guitar so he could strap it on a specific way and turn the guitar into an almost upright position just to play it because he could not rotate that left arm any more.
He would probably be playing a Cort Curbow now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6wpoeL-Tbs&feature=related
Lynyrd Skynyrd doing "Crossroads" in Atlanta, 1976. Audio only.
I went to see Skynyrd on New Years Eve at MGM and their new bassist Robert Kearns did a pretty damn good job I thought. When he first came out on stage I thought I was looking at Leonn, he was dressed in a 70's style suit, a hat and funky red glasses. He was playing what looked like a late 60's Jazz through 2 vintage blue line SVT heads and cabs. For the last couple songs he broke out what appeared to be 3-tone sunburst NR Bach bass w/ a white guard, a P/J set up and a lefty neck. I wish I brought in a camera instead of my crappy cell phone.
That would be awesome: my favorite bass player Robert P Kearns on a BaCHbird!
But I don't think BaCH ever made such a bass...
Local connection to Robert Kearns: he played two Raleigh bands, Cry of Love and Sidewinder. Pee Wee Watson was also in Cry of Love and works at Harry's Guitar Shop, which I often frequent.
Wow Denis. Did you ever see CoL live?
I'm glad I did. Their album Brother is my all time fav albums top three.
Quote from: Basvarken on January 02, 2011, 08:45:07 AM
Wow Denis. Did you ever see CoL live?
I'm glad I did. Their album Brother is my all time fav albums top three.
It's possible, Rob, but I honestly can't remember! There were many small music venues in Raleigh and area cities in those days and I saw many, many bands in those days. Wish I had a list of them all!
Here's an interesting link from our local paper announcing Kearns would play with Skynyrd.
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/beat/triangle-alumni-report-robert-kearns-to-lynyrd-skynyrd
Best I can find at the moment - give it a few weeks and they may start to show up...
(http://image.pollstar.com/WeblogFiles/pollstar/1007221022125003538_v1.jpg)
There appears to be a 'bird logo on the scratch...
Quote from: Kenny's 51st State on January 02, 2011, 09:06:11 AM
Best I can find at the moment - give it a few weeks and they may start to show up...
(http://image.pollstar.com/WeblogFiles/pollstar/1007221022125003538_v1.jpg)
Wow, the similarity is uncanny!
Now that I re-read that post about the bass that Robert played I'm certain it must have been an Epiphone Non Reverse Thunderbird. They have three tone burst, Pj pickups, red bird logo and upside down head stock.
Yeah, sounds like the bass I bought from Denis. I haven't seen another NR made that way by anyone other than Epi.
You can see pictures here:
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=3457.0
the only reason I said BaCH was that on the headstock there what looked like a BaCH logo...WTF do I know though, it was New Years and had quite a few drinks in me
this is the best I could find for now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvlfTQoXmqk
Quote from: Denis on January 02, 2011, 08:39:45 AM
Local connection to Robert Kearns: he played two Raleigh bands, Cry of Love and Sidewinder. Pee Wee Watson was also in Cry of Love and works at Harry's Guitar Shop, which I often frequent.
That's really interesting.
You did well to spot it and bring it to the table, 'Chevy, and welcome... ;)
Years ago I was in contact with their tourmanager Bobzilla over the PeeWee era demos. He was going to dig them up and send them over, but at some point he backed off.
I would love to hear Cry Of Love recordings from the short period they worked with Sass Jordan as their new lead singer, when Kelly Holland had left.
Quote from: Basvarken on January 02, 2011, 03:03:21 PM
Years ago I was in contact with their tourmanager Bobzilla over the PeeWee era demos. He was going to dig them up and send them over, but at some point he backed off.
I would love to hear Cry Of Love recordings from the short period they worked with Sass Jordan as their new lead singer, when Kelly Holland had left.
Next time I go over to Harry's I'll ask Pee Wee if any of that stuff can be had.
Pee Wee played kick ass bass in PKM!
Quote from: Hörnisse on January 02, 2011, 04:19:43 PM
Pee Wee played kick ass bass in PKM!
Here he is with a MusicMan at Lincoln Theater just downtown from me. Just this past year!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hafw0jVNrao&feature=related
Quote from: Kenny's 51st State on January 02, 2011, 03:02:31 PM
You did well to spot it and bring it to the table, 'Chevy, and welcome... ;)
+1
a very interesting thread indeed.