The Last Bass Outpost

Of all people, yes.    At least that is what he says in an interview in the current issue of German Bass Professor where he talks about his endorsements in the past and future. Until recently, he played Manne basses by the Italian boutique, but didn't like how they would not sound well with effects. Currently he is playing a Yamaha one-off made especially for him (looks a bit like the Michael Anthony Signature), but that is not intended to become a series. But then he says in the interview: "But it looks like I will be changing again soon. I was in Nashville and Gibson senior management offered me to build a signature bass to my specifications that will become a regular model. It is even going to be called the "Burn Bass". Don't know about the timing of the project though."

Mind you, Glenn is notorious for promising-on-paper projects that get half-finished and never see the light of day and we all know what seems to have happened to the Shavobird that Gibson at least flaunted on a few fairs, but has not officially released yet. Also, I don't think I've ever seen him play or even touch a mahogany bass. Whatever comes to mind over the years, Fender Mustang (with Trapeze), Ric 4001 (with Purple early on), Fender Precision (with Purple later), ESP, Vigier, Fender Jazz, Manne, Yamaha was all firmly entrenched in maple/alder/ash territtory. So will this end up as another mock-Fender like the Lee Sklar Signature?   Hughes likes a crisp, but not clean tone with a lot of attack - that seems to speak for something maple'ish from Boltonia, but we'll have to see. He also likes upper register access (for his little funk licks and slides up the neck) and a slim neck (he has small hands).

Bass Professor, a German muso mag, is doing a Ric feature over several issues and wanted pics of 5- and 8-stringers (my problem child: since I ill-advisedly bought it, it has devoured two sets of original Ric trussrods who are now replaced by Ibanez trussrods which are thicker and stronger, the fretboard had to be taken off and the neck honed down, the bridge was countersunk into the body to enable sensible upper register action without having to make the neck too flat and I had the sequence of the octave strings changed, which makes fretting easier and less "buzzy" - now it finally plays like it should have from the start  ). Bass Professor got a hold of me and this is what resulted:

Ze Double-Whammy:



Body close-ups:



Note: String sequence changed from original regular string/octave string to ocatve string/regular string for better playability.



Full size:





Headstocks:





Bridges (4003S/8 sunk into body via extra-routing to achieve playable action):

Anybody got it already?

Lovingly done, cardboard foldout sleeves of all individual albums and comprehensive liner notes etc. I bought mine yesterday, have only listened to their 1st album so far this morning (which sounds mostly like the Everly Brothers still). Sound is surprisingly clear and undistorted with lots of space (and echo!   ) and prominent drums and bass, Paul was melodic even back then, just not as continuously so as in his Sgt. Pepper halcyon days.

Mind you, I went for the "Stereo Box" (not the more expensive, yet missing the last albums "Mono Box") thus disqualifying myself forever as a true Beatlelite because "only the mono mixes were ever approved by Paul and John, the stereo mix a hasty afterthought by Abbey Road engineers believing that stereo was a novelty fad". And while I know that the mono mixes sound fuller, I never ever listened to them on the US Capitol Reissue Box Sets of the Beatles' early albums (before US and European releases synched as regards track choice which was only around Rubber Soul) which came out a few years back. Early Beatles is forever identified by me with those archaic, but charming left/right stereo mixes where you had the vocals on ones side, the music on the other. That is how I first consciously heard the Beatles and that is how my elder brother explained "stereo" to me - it took me years to comprehend that "stereo" does not automatically mean "vocals on one, music on the other side".   To this day I have the desire to mix things left and right in a studio which regularly causes modern engineers to roll their eyes ...    

The Financial Times wrote today that the Box Sets are selling like hot cakes - who said the CD is dead?!!!

Feel free to continue in a reasonable fashion.

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl

The detailed description is now on the Gibson site, Seymour Duncan custom pups and all kinds of fancy coil and pup combinations via the 6 pos varitone, not your father's Ripper then:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Ripper-Bass.aspx

Not often do you see post 1972-74 seventies EBs:

This one is real late (1978), white and rare, but steeply priced:



 http://cgi.ebay.com/1978-GIBSON-EB-3-BASS-w-ORIGINAL-CASE-RARE-WHITE-EB3_W0QQitemZ290335012522QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item439950b6aa&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


Pricewise, this is more like it, a 1976 model, with an attractive BIN:



http://cgi.ebay.com/1976-GIBSON-EB-3-SG-LES-PAUL-BASS-GUITAR-EBO-EB-3L-EB3_W0QQitemZ330347939177QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item4cea458569&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


Anybody here that would like to pull the trigger on the cherry one? You'd relieve me of temptation.