PSA: 50th Anniv Bird at Willie's

[Dave W]

Saw this over the weekend: http://williesguitars.com/index.cfm/basses/10/inventory/25

No steal at $1500 but it's near mint and $500 less than a new one. I didn't play it. Still don't like the partially-filled look (under the gloss) but for what it is, it's a nice example and looks better up close than some of the ones I've seen pics of online.

[Grog]

Cool................ I was going to ask if you had tried out his Hobbit, but I see it's on hold............

[Nocturnal]

I like my 50th Bird. It sounds and plays great, and looks pretty damn cool up close. I wasn't wild about the wood grain showing underneath at first either, but now I like the way it looks. They do look much nicer in person than most pictures would lead you to believe.

[uwe]

(repeat mantra incessantly) I do not collect for fins. Or silly fretboard inlays.

[nofi]

i see sheryl crows embassy is up for 6k. industry suck up cooties not included. if i remember i never saw an embassy live or otherwise until i joined the pit. then they appeared in some number with hefty price tags. can someone explain what the deal is with these. thanks.

[uwe]

It's a bad mix/mishap of a Thunderbird and Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic.



It would also balance perfectly in an alternative dimension with negative gravity which somehow limits its appeal in this world.





In essence, it's the worst family constellation imaginable to raise two innocent sixties Thunderbird pups in.

Other people - none of them well-meaning! - will try to tell you that it's an endlessly (no pun intended!) cool instrument, the Cheap Trick guy playing it too and all that, and that fastening a batch of helium-filled balloons to the headstock will not only alleviate inherent imbalance but also turn heads at gigs ...



But do not let yourself be fooled: This forum has gotten carried away with being "inclusive", i.e. I cannot fathom any miscreation that would not find at least a few disciples/supporters here. Unless it's a World War-I or II-wick of course.

Oh, and yes, I do own one. Poor man's TBird for the (not only chemically) imbalanced. It's enticingly/heartwarmingly ugly. Kind of bass you would see in a Jim Jarmusch flic. Was it John Lennon who said to George Harrison that people only voted for him (George) as their favorite Beatle because they otherwise feared George would get no votes at all? That is exactly the reason why people like the Embassy! 

And Frau Crow has had her fair share of bad choices in the past IIRC.

[Dave W]

No, Uwe, you don't need this for the finish.

Sheryl Crow's Embassy has been there a long time. No doubt due to the price. May be a consignment.

There was a real clean looking Grabber up on the wall but it was expensive and I've never been interested in one anyway.

Speaking of consignments, Nate showed me one that had just come in, a '64 Precision from Mutt Lange. Yeah, he's a famous producer and Shania Twain's ex, but the bass was a real beater. I wouldn't want anything that looked like that no matter how good it sounded. Yet some relic worshiper will pay big bucks for it.

[uwe]

Waitaminnit, Dave knows who Mutt Lange is?!  The mind, it doth boggle. 

I have always associated him with, errrm, stadium rock, no?




That vid brings back memories, and not only of noise-gated snare drums either. It came out pretty much along with MTV and it still shows the Defs as this infectuously and charmingly ebullient youthful unit ready to take on the world - and you believed them too! They are the arch-example to me that a band can achieve zillion-sales-status without a single band member being talented in anything, but the whole being a lot more than the sum of its parts. BTW a characterisation of themselves they have agreed with in interviews. Post-Pyromania, I believe their music suffered from Mutt's overproduction, but I respect them. With one proviso: I preferred Phil "Naked Cowboy" Collen when he still wore leather jackets!!!

Patiently awaiting Dave's reply that he has never heard of Def Leppard ... 

[Dave W]

Waitaminnit, Dave knows who Mutt Lange is?!  The mind, it doth boggle. 

I have always associated him with, errrm, stadium rock, no?

.....

Patiently awaiting Dave's reply that he has never heard of Def Leppard ... 

He's been associated with lots of different types of music and lots of different groups and artists.

Yes, of course I've heard of Def Leppard, although I don't know an ocelot about them. I've also heard of John Cougar, Tiger Woods and Puma shoes. 

[Pilgrim]

...although I don't know an ocelot about them. I've also heard of John Cougar, Tiger Woods and Puma shoes. 

And he ain't lion!

[gweimer]

It's a bad mix/mishap of a Thunderbird and Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic.



It would also balance perfectly in an alternative dimension with negative gravity which somehow limits its appeal in this world.





In essence, it's the worst family constellation imaginable to raise two innocent sixties Thunderbird pups in.

Other people - none of them well-meaning! - will try to tell you that it's an endlessly (no pun intended!) cool instrument, the Cheap Trick guy playing it too and all that, and that fastening a batch of helium-filled balloons to the headstock will not only alleviate inherent imbalance but also turn heads at gigs ...



But do not let yourself be fooled: This forum has gotten carried away with being "inclusive", i.e. I cannot fathom any miscreation that would not find at least a few disciples/supporters here. Unless it's a World War-I or II-wick of course.

Oh, and yes, I do own one. Poor man's TBird for the (not only chemically) imbalanced. It's enticingly/heartwarmingly ugly. Kind of bass you would see in a Jim Jarmusch flic. Was it John Lennon who said to George Harrison that people only voted for him (George) as their favorite Beatle because they otherwise feared George would get no votes at all? That is exactly the reason why people like the Embassy! 

And Frau Crow has had her fair share of bad choices in the past IIRC.

What am I going to do with you?  ...sigh...
Yes, the original Embassy is the poor man's Thunderbird.  The guts (pickups, hardware, etc) are the same as a Thunderbird, but you can pick up an Embassy for about 2/3 to 1/2 the price of the comparable Thunderbird.  It's the Mercury to the Ford.  And nobody seems to mind guitar players like Steve Marriott, Johnny Winter (RIP) or John Lennon playing those old Epiphones.  And yes, Tom Petersson did play this one.  So did Jon Brandt.  And our own fur85.  So.....there!

[OldManC]

They are the arch-example to me that a band can achieve zillion-sales-status without a single band member being talented in anything, but the whole being a lot more than the sum of its parts.

They may have intimated the same thing in interviews but the guitarists in Def Leppard have always been a cut (or more) above their contemporaries; Phil Collen more so than the rest of them, though I always preferred Steve Clark, his being the more melodic of the two (not forgetting Pete Willis, who was also good, but even more of a drunk than Clark). Also, unless their first album was completely ghosted in the studio, they were far ahead of anyone around their ages when they recorded it. Later on, Mutt may have made them more pop than the metalheads would have liked but I would say Def Leppard started out a pretty good rock band with very talented guitarists.

[TBird1958]

I miss Steamin' Steve Clark 

I thought he made that band..........

[westen44]

It's a bad mix/mishap of a Thunderbird and Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic.



It would also balance perfectly in an alternative dimension with negative gravity which somehow limits its appeal in this world.





In essence, it's the worst family constellation imaginable to raise two innocent sixties Thunderbird pups in.

Other people - none of them well-meaning! - will try to tell you that it's an endlessly (no pun intended!) cool instrument, the Cheap Trick guy playing it too and all that, and that fastening a batch of helium-filled balloons to the headstock will not only alleviate inherent imbalance but also turn heads at gigs ...



But do not let yourself be fooled: This forum has gotten carried away with being "inclusive", i.e. I cannot fathom any miscreation that would not find at least a few disciples/supporters here. Unless it's a World War-I or II-wick of course.

Oh, and yes, I do own one. Poor man's TBird for the (not only chemically) imbalanced. It's enticingly/heartwarmingly ugly. Kind of bass you would see in a Jim Jarmusch flic. Was it John Lennon who said to George Harrison that people only voted for him (George) as their favorite Beatle because they otherwise feared George would get no votes at all? That is exactly the reason why people like the Embassy! 

And Frau Crow has had her fair share of bad choices in the past IIRC.

I identify with some of what you've posted here.  When I was a kid, I probably liked the Fantastic Four more than any other superheroes.  Even more important, George Harrison is my favorite Beatle/ex-Beatle.  I'll admit the other Beatles were rather good, too.  The Embassy is looking more appealing all the time.  It does seem like my kind of bass. 

[uwe]

They may have intimated the same thing in interviews but the guitarists in Def Leppard have always been a cut (or more) above their contemporaries; Phil Collen more so than the rest of them, though I always preferred Steve Clark, his being the more melodic of the two (not forgetting Pete Willis, who was also good, but even more of a drunk than Clark). Also, unless their first album was completely ghosted in the studio, they were far ahead of anyone around their ages when they recorded it. Later on, Mutt may have made them more pop than the metalheads would have liked but I would say Def Leppard started out a pretty good rock band with very talented guitarists.

I'm not knocking the Leps. I saw them on their first album tour opening for Rainbow, their singer still baby-chubby. They were a noisy, over-enthusiastic garage band then, but somehow ... charming! A year or two later again opening for Priest. Man, had they beome better (this was before Pyromania)! I thought for the first time that these guys might be going somewhere. Then finally a couple of years later as headliner, post-Hysteria: Stadium-honed, they had morphed into this brilliant pop hard rock entertainment machine. And Steve Clark was definitely the musical highlight. Phil Collen is a disciplined technician, but doesn't have much soul. Plus too often half-naked. Leave that to Mark Farner and Jim Dandy.