I know there are some Billy Sheehan fans here. Well, every now and again I troll around the Japanese websites, especially Ikebe, to see what Fender Japan is offering. They have a lot of stuff that isn't available over here, and Ikebe seems to get some stuff made especially for them. This one looks like it's modeled after the Wife: http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/goods_detail.php?offset=48&category_id=2&sub_category_id=19&brand=70&view=1&count=12&sort=1&search_status=1&id=186165 (http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/goods_detail.php?offset=48&category_id=2&sub_category_id=19&brand=70&view=1&count=12&sort=1&search_status=1&id=186165)
Thoughts?
Needs some "ageing"... ;)
Very tastefully done. Sheehan-ized enough to give the unique sound but without unimportant details (broken pickguard etc. not to mention a lame signature) that could make the player look like a 13 years old fan.
Billy's has a Ash body and was originally sunburst. Back when I went to see him play the bass had a lot of finish on it.
Well Mr. Big is pretty popular in Japan (compared to America), so this could make sense...
The notes do make the connection with Billy Sheehan, and also point out that it doesn't have the upper frets scalloped, also it's just mono output. I kind of like it but I would prefer separate outputs for each pickup...
Looks a lot like my trib. to Billy ;D (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/Billybass002.jpg)
Two more pickups and it would look like your new one!
damn, Scott. how many basses do you have?
Quote from: SKATE RAT on July 24, 2011, 08:27:51 PM
damn, Scott. how many basses do you have?
it varies, as many as 50 right now I am at about 35.
Quote from: godofthunder on July 25, 2011, 05:12:15 AM
it varies, as many as 50 right now I am at about 35.
[Faint gargling/strangling noise from here...]
Quote from: Pilgrim on July 25, 2011, 09:06:06 AM
[Faint gargling/strangling noise from here...]
You're not exactly short of basses yourself.
I am convinced you are a closet fender fan :P
Quote from: jumbodbassman on July 25, 2011, 12:20:01 PM
I am convinced you are a closet fender fan :P
lol I might be. I have always admired their rugged simplicity and certainly many of my favorite bassists have used them with great results. I still struggle any time I pick one up but that doesn't stop me from trying. My '75 walnut fretless P is about the only one I can make sound good ???
Quote from: Dave W on July 25, 2011, 11:02:48 AM
You're not exactly short of basses yourself.
HEY! I resemble that remark! ;)
Quote from: godofthunder on July 25, 2011, 01:02:39 PM
lol I might be. I have always admired their rugged simplicity and certainly many of my favorite bassists have used them with great results. I still struggle any time I pick one up but that doesn't stop me from trying. My '75 walnut fretless P is about the only one I can make sound good ???
I'll take the opportunity to drop in a photo of my '63 Precision, bought in 1967; it has a 1972 neck on it and the flats it's wearing also date to 1972. It's a very nice playing bass.
This is pretty easy to like, innit??
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/Electric%20Basses/P-bass.jpg)
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/Electric%20Basses/P3120046.jpg)
That is beautiful! Is it mocha? It almost looks bronze in the first picture. If it's mocha, then that's what we were going for with this (we missed but I still like the result):
(http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/4507/telebrownbodytrue.jpg)
In fact, maybe I was channeling Billy Sheehan in my own way, having gone for stereo outs, and it was the Wife that inspired my love for the Tele headstock...
I think I'm just a couple away from 50 myself.
pilgrim, my dads 1969 ford torino was painted that color.
the inspiration for many tele necks on p basses came from a photo of bogart on the back of the BB&A record.
Interesting - that color is a Ford metallic gold right off the automotive color charts, chosen by me in 1972. Could be the 'zact same color.
That CIJ Sheehan Tribute looks hella cool.
Quote from: godofthunder on July 25, 2011, 05:12:15 AM
it varies, as many as 50 right now I am at about 35.
And there's me agonising over adding a fourth. :P
I've got that many in bits at the moment... :o
Quote from: leftybass on July 26, 2011, 07:49:46 AM
I think I'm just a couple away from 50 myself.
Young whippersnapper... ;D
Quote from: Andrew on July 27, 2011, 08:09:57 AM
That CIJ Sheehan Tribute looks hella cool.
I saved the pictures in case it gets sold! Here's the specs for posterity (couldn't get the Japanese to work so I'll save it in my computer):
BODY: ALDER
NECK: MAPLE - OVALTYPE, 432-SCALE
FRET BOARD: ROSEWOOD, 184R, 20FRETS
P.U: DiMarzio Model One [DP120] Model P [DP122]
CONTROL: 2VOL , 1TONE
BRIDGE: VINTAGE
TUNER: HIPSHOT D TUNER
I've got a Model One I've been wondering what to do with. So I just need some P bits ....
Found this one close to the one I originally posted:
http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/goods_detail.php?offset=48&category_id=2&sub_category_id=19&brand=70&view=1&count=48&sort=1&search_status=1&id=183097 (http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/goods_detail.php?offset=48&category_id=2&sub_category_id=19&brand=70&view=1&count=48&sort=1&search_status=1&id=183097)
This one has a regular P headstock, but stereo outs. They make references in the text to "that player" but nothing explicit, unlike the other one.
To me, the Attitude has become his signature bass. And you can't get more Japanese than Yamaha, can you?
Quote from: uwe on August 22, 2011, 10:23:27 AM
To me, the Attitude has become his signature bass. And you can't get more Japanese than Yamaha, can you?
It's been that way for about 20 years, right? No doubt that's why the ad copy on the Fender referred to "that player."
Old perceptions die hard. People still refer to Albert Lee as a Tele player even though he's played his Musicman signature model for about 20 years.
Or people moaning about Clapton not digging out his SG, Les Paul or Firebird (plus the mandatory Marshalls) for the Cream reunion after he had crafted and perfected a Strat sound for over thirty years. To me that would have been as if he had worn a longhair wig and flared jeans with platforms.
Quote from: uwe on August 23, 2011, 10:16:46 AM
Or people moaning about Clapton not digging out his SG, Les Paul or Firebird (plus the mandatory Marshalls) for the Cream reunion after he had crafted and perfected a Strat sound for over thirty years. To me that would have been as if he had worn a longhair wig and flared jeans with platforms.
Well, something was missing from that 'Reunion' IMO...maybe the correct vintage drugs would have helped.
Maybe not all music of Cream had aged that well? 8) They were never Lennon/McCartney or Bob Dylan you know :mrgreen:. I think it is telling that Clapton became disenchanted with Cream after he heard an album by The Band in 1969 or so!
Speaking of which: He's all over the new Robbie Robertson album. Recommended.
Quote from: dadagoboi on August 23, 2011, 10:58:22 AM
Well, something was missing from that 'Reunion' IMO...maybe the correct vintage drugs would have helped.
There were a few things missing. I cant watch it without Ginger Bakers drumming making me cringe. Better not to have done it at all IMO. When did Clapton change to Musicman amps? was that during or post Cream?
Quote from: uwe on August 23, 2011, 01:15:11 PM
Maybe not all music of Cream had aged that well? 8) They were never Lennon/McCartney or Bob Dylan you know :mrgreen:. I think it is telling that Clapton became disenchanted with Cream after he heard an album by The Band in 1969 or so!
It seemed groundbreaking at the time, not so much now.
Quote from: uwe on August 23, 2011, 01:15:11 PM
Speaking of which: He's all over the new Robbie Robertson album. Recommended.
He's also trying something new and daring: Eric Clapton To Release New Album Inspired By Blues Music (http://www.theonion.com/articles/eric-clapton-to-release-new-album-inspired-by-blue,21142/) :mrgreen:
(note to the humor-impaired: it's satire)
Cream was both cursed and blessed with being the hard rock prototype even though much of their material wasn't. I bow to their legacy, we probably all do. But what Clapton sincerely wanted, that singer/songwriter thing with his very English take of American blues guitar, he could not do with Cream.
In defense of ole Ginger: I loved his drumming on the reunion. If many drummers today are a recorded phone message, he is a slightly hypheractive real person talking to you animatedly about something that actually is interesting. And, thankfully, he doesn't have the Bonham disease and drags on the beat. This with all due respect to Led Zeppelin and the vast impact of their thoughtful lyrics on American youth culture. I also liked their horn section a lot.
On that reunion Baker gives me the sense that he is not quite sure what flourish to put where and just lets things almost randomly fly. His years of experience (subconcious programming) get him over the line but the constant fractional hesitancy is what makes me cringe. I have friends on both sides of this. Half (even musicians), dont hear it, half do.
He's not disciplined. Not - thank God - "in the pocket". Below, above, behind and in front of the music at various times, but it all flows. I just find him interesting to watch and listen to (and I don't watch many drummers!) because he defies expectations. His drumming is both original and archaic in its old-school jazziness (when did drummers collectively decide to stop swinging when providing the beat, was it the 80ies?). But then Jack Bruce is no rock-solid foundation bassist either. Funny how both always thought that "the other guy plays to much", yet both sound best together as a rhythm section team.
Ooh, I like this one: http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/goods_detail.php?offset=0&category_id=2&sub_category_id=19&brand=70&view=1&count=48&sort=1&search_status=1&id=204952 (http://www.ikebe-gakki.com/shopping/goods/goods_detail.php?offset=0&category_id=2&sub_category_id=19&brand=70&view=1&count=48&sort=1&search_status=1&id=204952) - another Billy Sheehan inspired Fender Japan special!
Clapton even moved to Woodstock, were The Band lived, tryin' to join them. I think the Band changed a lot. Even The Beatles and The Small Faces.
Quote from: Chris P. on October 28, 2011, 05:03:00 AM
Clapton even moved to Woodstock, were The Band lived, tryin' to join them. I think the Band changed a lot. Even The Beatles and The Small Faces.
??? - posted in wrong thread?
Quote from: hieronymous on October 30, 2011, 06:06:44 PM
??? - posted in wrong thread?
I wondered about that too. :)
Hmm.. I have to try to find a link between Sheehan and Clapton quick!
Yep. I dunno how this happened. Sorry!
Quote from: uwe on August 23, 2011, 01:15:11 PM
... I think it is telling that Clapton became disenchanted with Cream after he heard an album by The Band in 1969 or so!
Speaking of which: He's all over the new Robbie Robertson album. Recommended.
Chris, you might have got it subliminally from this post by Uwe (preparation for the forth blues Reich, I think... either that or an acid flashback)
That's right Kenny! But I can't find were he posted that:D
Right at the top of this page! How did we miss that? And why has Uwe popped into the thread twice to post about Clapton and The Band?
Okay, so I am not crazy:D
Bad acid maaaaan....
Quote from: Dave W on November 01, 2011, 11:00:32 AM
...And why has Uwe popped into the thread twice to post about Clapton and The Band?
A Doctor Strangelove moment?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcW_Ygs6hm0
Quote from: dadagoboi on November 01, 2011, 02:56:15 PM
A Doctor Strangelove moment?
Or a Taggart moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UM9GjnTFIM
America's answer equivalent (not sure which on came first from memory) to "MP and the HG" - could you make such films these days...?
You couldn't make Blazing Saddles again today, that's for sure. Holy Grail, maybe, but would it be understood?
Quote from: Dave W on November 02, 2011, 06:06:04 PM
You couldn't make Blazing Saddles again today, that's for sure. Holy Grail, maybe, but would it be understood?
It's still hugely popular though, and not just with the old folks. The question is whether Hollywood could come up with scriptwriters who could write anything that funny.
When you said Taggart moment, my first thought was this. http://www.itv.com/drama/taggart/ (http://www.itv.com/drama/taggart/)
Quote from: PhilT on November 03, 2011, 07:46:40 AM
When you said Taggart moment, my first thought was this. http://www.itv.com/drama/taggart/ (http://www.itv.com/drama/taggart/)
I haven't heard that of that one. Hopefully it will get over here. I love most of the UK crime dramas. Real acting and good scripts.
I never watched it but dad was a big fan... Most unusually the actor in the lead role died and rather than try and replace him or change the title they just kept going, and it worked...
Chris was on drugs most likely. He tends to be.
Drugs make the feeling of being hungry go away.
Maybe the fumes from those plastic guitars? 8)
:) Plastic guitars was just a temporarily assignment to set up some marketing things:)