Buzzard

[Freuds_Cat]

What d' ya think Mark, a shiny black leather jumpsuit for Chris to match the Buzzard or is that too much? 

[TBird1958]

Guys............

I'm workin' on him!  Nothin says Lovin' like Leather ( just no assless chaps!) and that's probably what he needs instead of Spandex.
Dutchmen! What's a girl to do 

BTW Schatz I hadn't said it before, but it's a lovely bass 

[Chris P.]

Thanks for the comments on the bass, Mark! I know it isn't everybody's cup of tea, but I like it:)

Clothes: I bought a black cotton strap for it today and I already have some clothes which'll work. I guess more pics will follow!

[Chris P.]

BTW: The neck is modelled on on of JAEs P's. It's 44mm wide at the nut, which is exactly like my MIM Fender '50s P. Quite a hand full. The widest 4-string neck I've got and tried.

[Lightyear]

Clothes: I bought a black cotton strap for it today and I already have some clothes which'll work. I guess more pics will follow!

OK!  Mark has had an influence on you!   If all you want to wear is strip of black cotton please don't post any picks of yourself in that outfit   We're not that tkind of place!

[TBird1958]

Reminds me of that Joe Cocker song:

"You can leave your hat on"   

I guess I have "The Full Monty" on my brain this A.M.

[Dave W]

Make sure you wear black shoes. No brown shoes allowed with a black Buzzard.

[Highlander]

THE BUZZARD
Starring... Doug Fyghter...

Soundtrack available soon on FLYING DUTCHMAN Records...

Management - Hornung Associates
Wardrobe to be re-arranged Hills of Seattle at the earliest opportunity...

Now all you need is the makeover... 

[Chris P.]

Well, I still only have the little Vox T25 here at home, but I tried to compare the Buzzard with the '76 Thunderbird and the MIM '50s P.

Note: Both the Bird as the P have nickelwound strings and the Buzzard has coated steel strings. The neck pick up of the Buzzard is placed at exactly the same place as the split P. The T-bird neck pick up is placed more to the neck.
I'm not as good as Uwe in explaing sounds, but I give it a go.

Compared to the maple board P, the Warwick sounds more tight, more nasal. Same clear highs. The Warwick has very thight low growls. And of course the neck through gives it another kind of sustain/decay. Speaking in terms of fatness, the basses are comparable. Of course the Buzzard has a rosewood board, but also a small body and steel strings, a brass nutt and so.

The very mid-ish Thunderbird is a bit warmer sounding and it sounds rounder. Both have a bit of that nasal mahogany sound. The Warwick has a more metallic zingy sound. Again it's tighter sounding. Because of the metallic sound, it has some kind of Entwistle sound.

If we talk Entwistle I think the Buzzard is more a combination of maple board P Entwistle and Buzzard Entwistle, while the Thunderbird is more second half '70s Entwistle.

Next wednesday I'll try her out at high volume!

[Chris P.]

I promised you to report about the Buzzard after gigging it.

Like I said the Buzzard sounds totally different than any bass I've got. It's like the sustain and decay of the Thunderbird, but much sharper and more edgy sounding, combined with the mid-growl of my mapleboard Precision. But much tighter and with some nice sub lows.

Playing alone I prefer a warm, fat bass, and the Buzzard is quite different. I never judge a bass before I gigged it, because a bass sounds totally different when playing with drums and guitars. And of course it's also different when playing with a band with warm acoustic guitars, jangly Telecasters or fat Les Pauls.

Wednesday night I rehearsed with Boilersuit, so with drums, female vocals and a LP jr. And the sound of the Buzzard perfectly mixed with the rest of the band. Real edgy, nicely warm growling and..... cutting very good through the mix. And that's what I hoped and expected!!!! The mapleboard P also cuts through the mix very well, but sometimes it's too harsh. Playing the P my bandmates ask me to turn down the volume every time, but the Buzzard was loud, cutting, but not in a irritating way. With that three piece band and only rhythm guitar I have some space to fill and the Buzzard did that perfectly. I hoped this bass would be okay, but it's better! My drummer liked it cos he could hear it very well (he hates muddy basses) and our singer/my girfriend loved the combined sound of her P90 guitar and the birdie.

Yesterday I gigged the Buzzard during Queensday for a couple of hundred people and a lot of friends, who saw my new band for the first time and loved it! Of course the Buzzard was the subject of a lot of conversations. You love the looks or you hate it, ha ha! A lot of questions: 'Man, what is THAT!?!' People know me for playing vintage stuff, so some of my friends were really shocked seeing me with that nice little birdy:) Love that!

Now I played against a Strat and an Gibson ES335 and again the bass was cutting through very well and in a nice way. Vincent, the sound engineer, is the best engineer I know. We always ask him when we have important gigs. He was very impressed by the sound, also DI'd. I'm totally used to play the strange bass now and it feels like a part of my body! Totally natural!
This all was before we heard the knews a mad man tried to attack the Dutch royal family by driving his car into their bus on our national holiday Queen's Day. The royal family wasn't hurt, but five innocent bystanders were killed. A very tragic day and after our gig all the other bands were cancelled. Very tragic.

Tomorrow we'll play as support act of one of Holland's most famous bands for hundreds of people so, today I'll celan off all the sweat on the Buzzard. It was warm yesterday.

[Freuds_Cat]

I'm enjoying you sharing the journey Chris. 

[Highlander]

Nice to hear she's worked out and was worth the trip... 

Shocking news, otherwise... 

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Outrageous attack on the Royal Family!  Lucky they weren't hurt. Shame about the others tho.
I was in Holland twice with my ex who's Dutch/German & the 2nd time we extended our stay in order to see the Queen & her 24 karat gold coach drawn by wonderful black horses bred just for that & the drawn swords of the military & all & it was very fokken cool!

Congratulations on the wonderful bass too, sounds TERRIFIC!!

[Chris P.]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, terrible. I saw feature of flying, bleeding people and a guys leg ripped off... All live on Dutch tv... The guy killed six bystanders and he's dead too....

Gold coaches. That isn't very strange. We all drive them in Holland. Well, I'll put on my wooden shoes now and I'll get some tulips from the garden in front of my windmill now. Snorting some cocaine afterwards and I will eat some frencg fries with mayonaisse.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

...& zelfgabokken petat? 

Loved smokin' dope in public over there! Glad I did that before I quit.
Right in the center of town, right in front of the cops. Wonderful. 

Hey~ You're The Flying Dutchman now on your Buzzard! hahaa