Custom Shop Bass VI

[Dave W]

I saw this one Friday at Willie's in St. Paul. New but "slightly aged." Expensive, and cool. Probably not that much less than an original but originals are fairly hard to find

[ilan]

So Pino Palladino really made Fiesta-and-tort very popular, didn't he?

I remember when I was into this model. Mine was a mid-90's MIJ. I could get a good sound out of it, but never as good as a P or J. It's a very comfortable bass. 30" scale but the overall length is even longer than a P bass (because of the string afterlength). So it balances perfectly, LH fingerings are very easy, and yet the whole bass does not feel tiny like a Mustang, and the nut is exactly where your left hand expects it to be. As a 4-string with normal string spacing, this could work.

[Chris P.]

Strange but true, but in Europe and the UK Fiesta will always be Hank B. Marvin of the Shadows. Also in an indirect way. Because he used it, lots of people started to use it and it became one of the classic colors.

[Dave W]

Stranger yet, Hank Marvin and Cliff Richard are virtually unknown here.

[Chris P.]

True, I guess you had The Ventures.

Before The Beatles most kids started playing guitar because of Hank B. Of course he also made Burns a tad more famous.

[Dave W]

The Ventures had a far bigger influence back in the day than younger people realize. Now you see Dick Dale rewriting history to present himself as a major influence. He's a terrific guitarist but never had a chart hit.

Jørgen Ingmann had the hit version of Apache in the US. IIRC The Shadows' version came first, but it just wasn't played here.

[Rob]

The Ventures had a far bigger influence back in the day than younger people realize. Now you see Dick Dale rewriting history to present himself as a major influence. He's a terrific guitarist but never had a chart hit.

Jørgen Ingmann had the hit version of Apache in the US. IIRC The Shadows' version came first, but it just wasn't played here.

True all of that!