Lemmy's equipment

[wellREDman]

On a recent load in I noticed a bunch of monitors marked Motorhead (it was some pop band) when I remarked on it to the touring guy he told me that the PA company had inherited them by dint of being the PA company on the last tour. apparently Lemmy had no will so all his equipment is wherever it was left.
makes you wonder what will happen to his basses ?

[Basvarken]

I have a hard time believing that.
Lemmy may not have had a will. But the PA equipment most likely weren't his personal belongings.
I'm pretty sure Motörhead was set in some sort of legal form, like a company, cooperation, inc, ltd or whatever
With all the Motörhead merchandise that is still sold all across the world there has to be.

I can imagine the company was left with some debts to the record company, or the promotors, etc when Lemmy died.
And maybe they had to sell stuff like PA equipment to clear some of those debts.

Plus, Lemmy did leave a son (Paul) who most likely inherited most of his personal belongings (as well as his debts maybe?)

[wellREDman]

But the PA equipment most likely weren't his personal belongings.

not the PA just the wedges, a lot of times the old school bands own  their own onstage monitors as part of their backline, but logistically they need  travel with the PA truck not the backline truck  hence Lemmy's personal wedges ending up in some PA companies storage yard
  I didn't know about the son, I guess that answers my question as  I think most places where someone dies intestate the personal possessions goes to the next of kin.

[Basvarken]

His bass guitar and the Murder One were set next to the coffin at the funeral service.

I'm pretty sure the rest of the equipment travelled back with the crew when the tour concluded after that last show in Germany.
It wasn't just left there.

[Dave W]

Lemmy was a longtime resident of California at the time of his death. Even if he died without a will, his possessions would be distributed to his heirs according to whatever California laws specify. So, no, if these wedges belonged to Lemmy personally, the PA company would not have inherited them.

[Alanko]

Lemmy must have had a few basses, right? I've found there to be a bit of ambiguity as to the basses he used, and when. There is a video of a tour around the Rickenbacker factory up on Youtube, and they show the carcass of one of Lemmy's old basses which was in for repair. From memory it looked like a very dead 4001S. Likewise a luthier posted photos of a rehab'd Lemmy bass or two on his website, including the half-dozen snapped strap button screws in the body. I've also seen it mentioned that Lemmy used at least one Rickenfaker, and that the 'Out to Lunch' bass might not be a real Rick.

Some things are consistent. From the early days in Hawkwind he was playing modified Rickenbackers, and his Hawkwind Rick was used in early Motorhead as well. This looks to be a 4000 or 4001S with a Thunderbird pickup in the neck and an odd control arrangement.

[uwe]

Uhum!!!

[uwe]

But granted: The Ric and him were an iconic pair.

Somewhere there is also a pic of him with Hawkwind playing an SG shape bass (not the Hopf pictured above) - it could have been an SB model - with a Thunderbird Mk1 pup. My guess is that he broke his TBird II at one point and then used the pup in various other basses because he liked the overdrive it gave him.

[doombass]

[uwe]

This will be considered heresy in Motörhead quarters, but:

- the T-Bird sounds better than his Ric in this vid, more bassy, warmer, less like a baritone guitar, rounds of the middish guitars better,

- Motörhead's music flowed better with the two-guitarists line-up and especially Würzel's playing. More rock'n'roll.

And I always liked Philthy's drumming, for all his technical limitations, he had real swing. Later line-ups lost that. Mike Dee is a metal drummer in comparison (with no doubt the better chops).