I have just met McCartney, held the Hofner, 59 LP, Epi

[ilan]

* I posted this also in the RRF.  The video link seems to work only with IE and not with Firefox.

I'm posting this from London Heathrow airport. This afternoon me and Danny Cushmaro, Channel 2 News (Israel) anchorman, held a 13 minutes interview with Sir Paul, in a rehearsal studio in London, for his Sept. 25 Tel Aviv concert. The interview will be aired Saturday in Israel Channel 2.

After the interview was over, we were told to turn off the cameras, and prepared to leave. I said to McCartney, can I ask you a question about your bass. He said, come on, and led me and Danny into the rehearsal space where we had seen them prior to the interview playing three songs.

He took us to his guitar rack. There were the '59 LP Standard, a Hofner Cavern reissue, the '64 Hofner (he assured me it wasn't a replica, that it was the real thing), another new Les Paul, his Martin acoustic, and the Epiphone acoustic. He also showed us a brown ukelele that George gave him.

Then he took the Hofner bass, and showed us that the switches were glued to position (neck pickup soloe'd) with black plastic insets.

And then he handed the bass over to me.

I did not play it because it is left handed, and because I simply couldn't.

It was a bit heavier than I thought it would be, but Paul said it was because of the wireless transmitter attached to the strap. It was a wide black strap, not the vintage kind. He said that he feels that a light bass changes the way he plays. He added that the new Hofner sounded nice but not as good as his old Hofner, and he attributed this to the fact that it is old and has been played a lot. Like a Stradivarius, he said.

The action was medium-low. I couldn't bring myself to fret a note.

I forgot to ask about the Jazz bass.

Then he handed me the '59 Gibson. Now this is heavy, he said. It was really heavy. But I was more interested in the bass.

He said that engineers and producers always compliment the sound of the old Hofner.

Next he took the ukulele and played 'Something'. I asked about the bass part, and he said it was an interesting bass part. I replied that in my mind it's a piece of art.

Then I told him about the first time I'd heard the beatles and how it changed my life.

Next he took the Epi from the rack. This is the 'Yesterday' guitar and it has a lot of wear. He strummed the opening chord to Yesterday, and said that the guitar is tuned a step lower, so that he can play Yesterday in G and it sounded in F. He said he liked the open strings in the G chord. I didn't get to hold the Epi.

Sadly, all this was not on camera. But I was not alone there...

My first impression is that Paul McCartney isn't just a great bass player, he's also one of the nicest persons on earth. He went out of his way to make us feel good. Even when an assistant came to say that time is up and they want to go back to rehearsal, Paul said, no, I think we have some more time, and continued to show us the guitars.

He had a Gibson LP that he said he ordered just to have it custom painted, but then, he said, he realized that he likes it a lot because it played very well.

Here is a link to a short part of the interview. This is Danny's question. but in the reaction shots you can see me next to him, I'm the long haired guy.

http://www.keshet-tv.com/VideoPage.aspx?MediaID=45146&SourceID=23

I took with me two pickguards (C64 and Strat) and a TRC, but we were told before we arrived, no pictures and no autographs.

My flight leaves soon so I have to log off. More when I get back to Israel.

[Dave W]

What a great story and a great experience. We'll be waiting for more, and hopefully some more video of the interview.

[gweimer]

Just amazing.  I'm not worthy...   

[Max Soren]

Long ago I fell in love with bass just listening to Paul's bass on Sgt. Pepper.  It literally changed my life and I'm sure many, many others have had similar experiences.  All of this is incredibly interesting.  This message board is quite unique. 

[Chris P.]

Man, this is one of the best stories I read here!!! Great!!

[Basvarken]

Cool story! Thanx for posting

[uwe]

Heart-moving, sehr schön. You'll never again hear a Beatles track like you did before, Ilan.

Uwe

[godofthunder]

Wow ! Only in my dreams could that happen ! I have always wanted to meet him and thank him for his music and bass playing. It is because of Paul and The Beatles that I took up bass. Still have my '65 Hofner.

[ramone57]

yeah, great story.  cherish the memory!

[OldManC]

Wow. Just wow...

Thanks for sharing that!

[Nocturnal]

That is a great story! I probably wouldn't have been able to speak at all if put in your position.

[chromium]

Man doing an interview with him is one thing, but getting to hang out and play some guitars (THE guitars!) afterwards is out of this world!  There could not have been a reporter more appropriate for that job.  Very, very cool.

[gearHed289]

Man, I would have been trembling. Congrats, that is almost unbelievable. 

[TBird1958]

That is really cool, thank you for sharing it with us.

[patman]

That is an incredible story--once in a lifetime...