Hofner GAS

[drbassman]

Pre Beatle ! Wow that's cool, I remember a qoute from (I think)Mike Love that went something like  "when The Beatles hit we were uncool over night" man that must have been a tough pill to swallow

Yeah, we transitioned pretty quickly too!  It was a bit sad and exciting at the same time!  It was a blast being a band in the early 60's, no matter what we played.

[drbassman]

I remember reading an interview with Paul Revere in which he commented about how the Beatles changed popular music with the Sgt. Peppers album.  If you recall, Paul Revere and the Raiders were a pretty popular band in the mid-60's.

He was talking about how his group was still rocking along pretty well, until "...then the Beatles brought out Sgt Peppers, and the rest of us looked at each other and said 'What the hell do we do now'??"

I think it was right about that time that I talked my folks into buying that old P and amp for me.

Yep, we played all of the Paul Revere tunes.  They remained very popular with the crowds, even with the British invasion.

[drbassman]

Dear Dr! Is that pic really pre Beatles invasion? You guys got quite long hair, that's what I'm thinking of.
And Dr, do you happen to have a set list from those days? Would love to see one, just to compare with a set list of my own band from the days. Including familiar stuff like The Rivieras fine version of Let's have a party

Well, you are correct in that picture was after the invasion started and was a transition time for us.  Probably taken in late 63, early 64.  We started playing British tunes as soon as the Beatles hit the radio stations in mid-63, grew our hair out, made lots of changes.  Shortly after that pic was taken, we ditched the "uniforms" and went more Stones looking in our appearance.  It was a great time.

In retrospect, my jazz might have been a 62 since we had been playing for sometime before the mid-63 invasion.  Memory is a terrible thing to lose!

Wow, song list, that's a tough one, but from memory I can just about recreate the most common tunes we did.  I'll have to work on that when I have more time!!!  We played everything British and a few American groups:  Stones, Beatles, Dave Clark 5, Zombies, John Mayall, Kinks, Yardbirds, Cream, The Who, Spencer Davis, Zep, Lovin' Spoonful, Animals, Paul Revere, you name it!  We did probably 2-4 tunes from each group, had at least 4 sets.

Funny thing, we called ourselves "The Guardsmen" back in 62 or so before that name was picked up by a national group called "The Royal Guardsmen" who did "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" in 1966.   We thought it was a good name and so did they!

[Stjofön Big]

All right, dear Dr! Now you're talking! But if we leave the British invasion aside, and directs our minds to the time before that, then how did the set lists look?
Another thing: You say you did 4 sets a night. I've never played more than 3 sets/night, about 45 minutes each. So how long were the sets for you. And when did the gig start, and to what time. Here it was from 9-10 pm until 1 am, though I remember from a tour in Denmark that we started around midnight and left stage somewhere close to 5 am. But Denmark is a special thing, in many areas. Lovely country! (Is this gonna be a comparative studie between Northern Europe and US gig scenes? We'll see!)

[OldManC]

I remember a qoute from (I think)Mike Love that went something like  "when The Beatles hit we were uncool over night" man that must have been a tough pill to swallow

That's funny. I'll bet a LOT of guys felt that way, but it's not surprising coming from him. While Brian used The Beatles as a catalyst to raise his game (which ended up being the challenge that Paul and John needed to raise their game, Mike Love just complained about things...

As a nod to the great feelings and memories in this thread, I won't post my favorite video about Mike Love.  

[Dave W]

As a nod to the great feelings and memories in this thread, I won't post my favorite video about Mike Love.  

Bad vibrations at the RRHOF?

[OldManC]

Please do not watch this if the "F" word is something you are offended by. There are lots of those in this video.

[godofthunder]

 Hey Bill I still have that album, Snoopy and the Royal Guardsmen! What a great disc it mixed three of my favorite things! Music, airplanes and Snoopy (I loved the Peanuts comic strip as a kid)

[drbassman]

All right, dear Dr! Now you're talking! But if we leave the British invasion aside, and directs our minds to the time before that, then how did the set lists look?
Another thing: You say you did 4 sets a night. I've never played more than 3 sets/night, about 45 minutes each. So how long were the sets for you. And when did the gig start, and to what time. Here it was from 9-10 pm until 1 am, though I remember from a tour in Denmark that we started around midnight and left stage somewhere close to 5 am. But Denmark is a special thing, in many areas. Lovely country! (Is this gonna be a comparative studie between Northern Europe and US gig scenes? We'll see!)

Well, we had 4 sets but usually only used 3 of them each gig.  It gave us an opportunity to have variety.  We actully belonged to the local musicians guild, so we too played 45 minute sets and took 15 minute breaks.  We stayed away from the traditional bar scene and did more events and young people's clubs.  We had loads of gigs and played all over Ohio.  Heck, we played at county fairs, political campaigns, state wide and national conventions, summer outdoor concerts,  YMCAs, high schools and lots of college events,  frats and sororities.  Our manager was pretty good for us.

Our pre-British song list included 409, Surfer Girl, gone Surfing, Walk Don't Run,  to name few.  I'll post more after I get some sleep!

[drbassman]

That's funny. I'll bet a LOT of guys felt that way, but it's not surprising coming from him. While Brian used The Beatles as a catalyst to raise his game (which ended up being the challenge that Paul and John needed to raise their game, Mike Love just complained about things...

As a nod to the great feelings and memories in this thread, I won't post my favorite video about Mike Love.  

Yeah, mike was not up to the challenge!  I hate whinners.   . Funny video George!  Guess Mike has a sort of fan club in reverse.

[drbassman]

Hey Bill I still have that album, Snoopy and the Royal Guardsmen! What a great disc it mixed three of my favorite things! Music, airplanes and Snoopy (I loved the Peanuts comic strip as a kid)

I love Peanuts too.  I was bummed when they lifted our name, but we broke up in 1966 anyway. 

[godofthunder]

 Kenny this is the saga of my Beatle bass. I got the Hofner in '73 by '75 I was looking for a solid body bass I just couldn't get what I wanted out of the Hofner. I worked the entire summer of '75 washing dishes at a local resturant and saved up $365.00 to get a new EB3. I took lessons at Benson's Music on Hudson Ave in Rochester NY. The owner Mike talked me in to a new Gibson G3. Lets just say me and the G-3 didn't get along (my amp didn't help a Traynor YBA-1 with a single 18) so within six months I traded it for a Moserite and that was a less than smart move. At this point I was very frustrated with my basses and amp situation. One day I walked into the HOG and there was a Ibanez Destroyer and I just feel in love with it. So I traded my Hofner, Moserite and had to cough up $80 bucks! I was very happy with the Destroyer but I regretted trading the Hofner away. I made the deal in late '75 or early '76 I can't remember. It sat in the display case for a few weeks and was gone. In around 1980 I was recording at a small studio in Rochester and there was a Hofner case in the corner I asked the owner if I could take a look and when I opened the case there was my old Hofner! He would not sell it back to me but promised to call me if he ever changed his mind. In around '82 I saw a add for a Hofner in the paper and wouldn't you know it was my old one the guy from the studio was selling it, he never called me but what are you going to do ? I was super excited at the prospect of getting the bass back but I was going to school and broke, there was no way I could afford it. As it happened my friend Mike Nelson of the Fade Aways was looking for a Hofner So I arranged the deal for him with the understanding if he ever sold I would be his first call. Not the best solution but Mike is a stand up guy and I knew if he ever sold he would get a hold of me. That day came sometime in 1989, Mike called and wanted to sell the Hofner, after all those years I only paid $200 to get it back! Now Mike asks me "hey let me know if you ever want to sell the Hofner" LOL Sorry Mike I ain't selling.

[drbassman]

Wow, great story Scott!  It has quite a history.  If I had a clue where my old J bass was, I'd be curious, but doubt I'd want to part with the money necessary to retrieve it!  You are a lucky guy.

[Stjofön Big]

Great story, Scott! At times I wonder where my own Hofner violin bass went, 45 years ago, but I know it would never be any question of me buying it back. Would be to expensive. But the Club bass, that's the one I really miss. Sure, it was the same bass as the violin, any way you look at it, but there was something to it, that I can't put my finger on.... Maybe it's the fact that they weren't to often seen, those days? I can't remember any other bass I really, really miss. Well, maybe a quite ugly Kay from the 50's that I had for a while, as some kind of reserve if anything would happen. It's the one to the lefter on the first pic that shows when opening the page. http://www.google.se/imgres?q=kay+bass&hl=sv&sa=X&biw=1249&bih=559&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnso&tbnid=_rNhfGYgl4lvZM:&imgrefurl=http://www.junkguitars.com/pictures.html&docid=ZktgsZjWQEPfbM&imgurl=http://www.junkguitars.com/junk4.JPG&w=355&h=485&ei=NvWzTrf4Fejd4QSDtaDeAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=235&vpy=102&dur=666&hovh=262&hovw=192&tx=114&ty=131&sig=115668535989798121112&page=1&tbnh=107&tbnw=78&start=0&ndsp=31&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0
Some bad choises, you could say!

[Highlander]

That is a classic story... I knew you got one again a number of years later but that she was the original...!!! stunning...

I'm deviating slightly here; it's me guys, so... the PC Custom... 1975... when I went to buy my Grenn EB2 copy it was an Autumn/Fall evening after work and the shop window faced east the sun was that bright orangey colour you get and reflected into the shop window from a big pane of glass and there was this cherry red Thunderbird with an odd flying V style headstock and all the gold hardware glinting in the sun just caught my eye... damn near tore my eyes out... the owner of the shop was the bass player in a Who tribute band... they played complete albums in their shows... Tommy...! Quadrophenia...! I never knew if this was his bass, just that she was not new; never saw the case that time... all I had was £60 ($100 approx then) and he wanted £220 for the Custom... oh well...
About a year later I was back in the same shop in my then home town of Hounslow (Heathrow is in the same borough) and looking for a new bass... he had this beautiful white Gibson EB2 and this was up for £200... I was short by £25 so a small bit of dealing with dad I got a short term loan and went back to buy her... she was gone... I was devastated... "Yeah well, Bruce Foxton popped in and bought it,you might be interested in this though, third hand now, I'll do you a deal for £180, with a fitted case, bit leary though..."
The PC Custom was back... I could not believe it... £20 cheaper too...!
When he opened the case... "I did warn you... "
The mock snow-leopard lining was a bit of a poke-in-the-eye but the bass just looked perfect when sitting in it...
I had just bought an MEM 2x15 and a Sound City 120 recently and when I played that Thunderbird through them I was truly smitten...
I saw Foxton play the Gibbie on TOTP at a later date... I'd still like to get one one day...