The Specials Ghost Town 1981 - vintage Kay Jazz Special spot on Horace Panter

[PaulKing]

Watching reruns of TOTP (gotta love BBC4), was very surprised to see Fender man Horace Panter sporting this delicious looking vintage Kay on Ghost Town - more than once. Not many of them around ... last seen with Paul McCartney on Wings tour. Anyone seen one anywhere else?

[attachment=221918:Horace Kay.JPG]

I wonder if he still has it ... drooooool.
One going for $5k on ebay right now.

[spongebob]

A bass part of HP's (amongst others) I'm currently learning for a dep gig.

Didn't realise he was so good. Some really inventive parts....great player.

[PaulKing]

Ah yeh, deep and authentic rocksteady but with modern inventiveness and energy. Great player.

[tredders]

He doesn't still have it (although looking at how much they fetch now, I bet he wishes he still did!).

His arsenal is currently a US Jazz & a Thunderbird (for Specials work), a jap Jazz (may be Mex, I can't remember) for blues gigs, a '73 Telecaster bass for the ska orchestra work, and the original '72 P bass used on the first album (which is bloody gorgeous and plays like a dream) for special occasions.

Great bassist and an even nicer bloke.

Edited August 27, 2016 by tredders

[EssentialTension]

Gibson Thunderbird here ...


http://youtu.be/KaV9GYPSM94

[PaulKing]

Nice one, thanks tredders. Ask him about it someday, I bloody love them but they're so rare.
I bagged me a Kay K162 from '59 recently and it is incredible - for rootsy Chicago blues at least.

[tredders]

[quote name='PaulKing' timestamp='1466430902' post='3075729']
Nice one, thanks tredders. Ask him about it someday, I bloody love them but they're so rare.
I bagged me a Kay K162 from '59 recently and it is incredible - for rootsy Chicago blues at least.
[/quote]

I just texted him about the Kay - will let you know what he says. I felt obliged to mention that shirt he's wearing in the pic, too 😳

I've never seen one of those Kay's, let alone played one. Looks great though.

Edited June 20, 2016 by tredders

[PaulKing]

There are now re-issues of that bass Horace is playing, £500ish. Big sound, only improved with Mojo of a 50s original (massive collector lust for them)
Here's mine (2nd left) ... with family.

[attachment=221936:5 basses.jpg]

[LZD56]

Knew Horace when he was a student in Coventry before his Specials career. Always had a bass in hand, usually unplugged. Really nice guy!

[timhiggins]

[quote name='PaulKing' timestamp='1466435961' post='3075785']
There are now re-issues of that bass Horace is playing, £500ish. Big sound, only improved with Mojo of a 50s original (massive collector lust for them)
Here's mine (2nd left) ... with family.

[attachment=221936:5 basses.jpg]
[/quote] cool bass are they short scale or long and how do they cope with reggae or are they more ska ?

[PaulKing]

Short. Well I use for blues, but occasionally venture into some fat rocksteady and a bit of ska. Big fat full sound, but I dunno if thye'd give the punch you need for a big room shaking dub. Maybe a bit too woody. But double-bass-ish, so good for Skatellites style ska.

[timhiggins]

Cheers Paul i shall have to try one when i get the chance

[GaryDay]

Nice post Paul! Big fan of the Specials and Horace's work with them. I'm guessing you already know of [font="Verdana, Arial"][color="#000000"][size=3]Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon? He played bass for Chester Burnett (Howlin wolf) in the 50's before becoming a singer, the reason [/size][/color][/font]kay k162 bass is referred to as the Howlin' wolf bass.

[lojo]

[quote name='GaryDay' timestamp='1467654426' post='3085182']
Nice post Paul! Big fan of the Specials and Horace's work with them. I'm guessing you already know of [font=Verdana, Arial][color=#000000][size=3]Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon? He played bass for Chester Burnett (Howlin wolf) in the 50's before becoming a singer, the reason [/size][/color][/font]kay k162 bass is referred to as the Howlin' wolf bass.

[/quote]

Nice photo , the keys look heavy to move though

[mikeswals]

[quote name='tredders' timestamp='1466429638' post='3075717']
His arsenal is currently a US Jazz & a Thunderbird (for Specials work), a jap Jazz (may be Mex, I can't remember) for blues gigs, a '73 Telecaster bass for the ska orchestra work, and the original '73 P bass used on the first album (which is bloody gorgeous and plays like a dream) for special occasions.[/quote]

Did he get his original (1st album) P Bass back?? in the 90's his interview stated it was stolen, which the Tele Bass was bought as the replacement.

[tredders]

[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1472076645' post='3118408']
Did he get his original (1st album) P Bass back?? in the 90's his interview stated it was stolen, which the Tele Bass was bought as the replacement.
[/quote]

Yes - I played it a couple of weeks ago . I didn't think that one was nicked though (although I could be wrong). I know that the first Tele bass was stolen from a Coventry Specials gig, and then the next one had a neck like a banana.

He's swapped the neck on the current Telebass (used in the Ska orchestra) with a Squier Telebass neck, as it's slimmer. The original neck on that one was like a railway sleeper!

[PaulKing]

[quote name='GaryDay' timestamp='1467654426' post='3085182']
Nice post Paul! Big fan of the Specials and Horace's work with them. I'm guessing you already know of [font=Verdana, Arial][color=#000000][size=3]Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon? He played bass for Chester Burnett (Howlin wolf) in the 50's before becoming a singer, the reason [/size][/color][/font]kay k162 bass is referred to as the Howlin' wolf bass.

[/quote]

Cheers, Yeah Gary (that Gary? I'm an ageing 80s psycho...) . That's the exact bass I got hold of ... except I pimped it with tiger-stripe scratchplates like the earlier 50s originals. That famous Wolf pic must date from 1959 or later, as that's when they started using white scratch plates like McMahon has (and changed model name from K162 to K5965).

Here's mine ...

[attachment=226920:5 basses update.jpg]

[PaulKing]

Oh I forgot I already posted that pic, so you can see the plates before anyway...