molan

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1328959083' post='1535258'] Character! We all want our stuff to be individual, yours clearly is. I think the relative cost of gear (ie as a % of typical income) is a fraction of what it used to be in the 60s-70s, well good gear anyway. Things have changed. [/quote] Absolutely - when I bought my first Fender Musicmaster in 1979 it cost me £110 - my gross income at the time was £2,500!

Thanks guys, I thought I could see a washer under there - wondered why it might be there but I can see Stacker's comment would make sense

I've had immense fun today picking out bass lines from some of these & playing along

I recently bought a new RI '62 stacker body for a project I'm working on. The twin tone controls are heavily ratcheted - is this normal? Obviously they weren't like this on an original Stacker.

So Marco Mendoza has gone up in my estimations after listening to some live Whitesnake tracks

Apologies if this has been posted before but I've only just come across it: http://www.guitarbackingtrack.com/author/OrangeGoblin.htm This is a huge collection of songs with the guitar parts removed. Some are really cut back to just bass & drums, others still have vocals & keys. All are claimed to be album cuts or direct from the board live mixes. The bass seems pretty high in the mix for each of the ones I've listened to so far. Band list goes on forever but to give you an idea of variety Steely Dan - this is how I came across this site whilst hunting for some Anthony Jackson stuff AC DC Alice in Chains The Beatles Jeff Beck Black Sabbath Bon Jovi Carlos Santana Chicago Eric Clapton Deep Purple Doobie Brothers Doors Dream Theatre Eagles Fleetwood Mac Foo Fighters Foreigner Hedrix Iron Maiden Judas Priest Albert King Lenny Kravitz Led Zep Megadeth Metallica Muse Nirvana Pantera Pearl Jam Pink Floyd Judas Priest Porcupine Tree Bonnie Raitt Queen Chili Peppers Stones Rush Slayer Snow PAtrol U2 Van Halen Whitesnake Yes ZZ Top Plus lots of others - 507 in total!! The tip is to make sure you click on the song rather than the band in order to get the Orange Goblin uploads. The majority of this site is, as far as I know, just midi backing tracks but Orange Goblin seems to have all original stuff. Right - back to listening to Anthony Jackson with the Dan

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1328866631' post='1533809'] I'll check it out next time I'm passing! I think I have pictures somewhere... *rummage* Is this it? (May 13 2006 at the Borderline, history fans) [/quote] No - the one Phil has is sunburst, I think he's had it a while as well so maybe pre-dates this one.

[quote name='mcgraham' timestamp='1328864708' post='1533758'] Well [i]that[/i] has convinced me I need a Fodera, if only to be able to do that. [/quote] You'll need to find an old one then as they don't do this any more

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1328821514' post='1533365'] Caravan are great: check out Waterloo Lily, If I Could Do It All Over Again I'd Do It Over You and their brilliant In The Land Of Grey And Pink. The common thread with these albums is bassist Richard Sinclair - I can't recommend him enough, and his voice is perfect for the band as well. You'll also find him in Hatfield And The North, look out for their eponymous album and follow-up The Rotter's Club. I saw Soft Machine a few times in recent years when Hugh was still with us - wonderful stuff. I once ended up sitting a few feet away from him when they played downstairs at the Pizza Express on Dean St. A big lesson there. [/quote] You have to pop into BassGear & play on his old fretless - Phil is more than happy for people to play it. It's just not for sale!

My '86 Fodera Monarch has volume control for each pickup and master bass/treble controls. I use it in a soul / disco band set up to simply flick the switch forward for neck pickup only on the old solu/funk stuff for a P bass sound & then to both pickups, with the bridge pulled back a shade for the more 'modern' disco material. Works really well for me

I have three tort guards sitting next to me right now, '63 original J, '72 original P & early 70's repro on a '63P. Each one is slightly different with the '63 definitely much more orangey than the later ones (which actually works well on the seafoam green body). I think Jeannie's has two different classifications - red tort & brown tort. I'm sure if you contacted them they could help

So this made me think - I reckon there's a hierarchy by age for each broad type of bass based on model changes. For a Jazz it seems to be: 60-62 - Early 60's stack knobs = holy grail, very big money if all original 61-64 - Post stacker but pre-CBS = still big money if original but more of them around & a lot of refinished bodies so prices are lower 65-66 - Transition era, prices vary a lot & many examples of partly pre CBS / partly post & some completely post CBS 66-69 - Post CBS, blocks & binding, less than the pre-CBS & transition models but a little more than early 70's (simply because they are from a different decade?) 70-74 - Generally referred to as 'early' 70's with four bolt necks, good examples can command a pretty decent price 75-79 - 'late' 70's with three bolt neck & patchier build quality. Some very heavy. Really out of fashion for a while until Marcus Miller started raving about them. Nice ones can be very nice indeed but need to be aware that there's some not so nice ones out there (obviously this is true for all eras!) 80-83 - pretty much the same as late 70's, definitely increasing in value now - considered by some to be the last of the 'classic' Fenders 83-89 - 4 bolt necks with dots and even patchier build quality, New American Standard introduced in 89 = definitely beyond 'classic' definition. So there you have it - classics either stopped in '79 at the end of the 2nd decade, or in '83 when the bound & block models stopped production or at a push in '89 when the American Standard came out (which is already over 20 years old now!) Of course - to a lot of people it's just "gotta be pre-CBS or maybe just 'transition' but then again "the late '60's bound & blocked in custom colours are nice", etc, etc. Repeat ad infinitum until you reach 2012. . . Changing anything from original will damage value eventually - my '63 P bass had a replacement pickguard in the early 70's, to get a genuine article now would cost me over £500!

Phil at BassGear.co.uk has a genuine 'Canterbury Scene' bass hanging on the wall behind his desk. A nice fretless Fender J in sunburst. It was previously owned by Richard Sinclair of Caravan, Hatfield & The North and Camel fame.

Apologies if this has been posted before but I've only just spotted this. Starts off with Wyman on bass but he moves over to percussion about half way through & Keef takes over on a nice old P bass: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxE_iEDW7k[/media] and here's PArt 2 with Keef up & grooving a bit more: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd3458C-LjY&feature=watch_response_rev[/media]

Well - after Madonna mimed her way through her entire show Guitar Squid have just published their view of the best & worst recent shows. Prince picture quality is poor but he was really rocking, some other good stuff in here too: http://guitarsquid.com/Latest/the-best-and-worst-super-bowl-halftime-shows.html

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1328659805' post='1530955'] [color=#222222]I suppose that by a proper biker I mean someone who has always ridden bikes - from their teens / 20s to their 40s / 50s or whatever[/color] [color=#222222]No offence meant, but as someone who has never had a bike I am merely repeating the prejudices of many of my friends who have always been bikers![/color] [color=#222222]I would agree with your statement about old Fenders being similar to a Harley compared to a Fodera / Ducati[/color] [color=#222222]From my point of view, the best bass I have ever played was a Fodera – however I would have to have a lot of spare cash before I would consider buying one as you can get a bass that comes awful close if you can spend £1k to £2k![/color] [/quote] Funnily enough I think there's even more snobbishness in the biker community than amongst musicians. Ducati guys look down on anything Japanese, the Japanese bikers think Ducatis are over-rated and slow, BMW owners think they are superior to everyone whilst everyone thinks Harley riders can't ride more than 10 miles and just ride around town to show off - meanwhile the self same Harley riders laugh at all the 'crotch-rockets'! I think it's all a bit sad really and that all bikers should have a bit more respect for each other. I often delight in turning up at a Harley meet on a Ducati, Aprillia or Suzuki GSXR and watching people I know as their faces change when I get off the bike and take my helmet off In terms of the late arrival to biking stuff - I think it's just brilliant when a 40+ person discovers the fun of biking. Some of them can be dangerous at first as they pass their test and jump on 200mph Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki etc. but I love the new found enthusiasm they have Bilbo - no tattoos here, however I know a lot of bikers with a series of tats and piercings, one of them is known as 'helmet-bolt', I'll leave you to work out why. . .

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1328708277' post='1531412'] Was this on the trail of the Lonesome Pine? [/quote] I couldn't get that bloody song out of my head when I was there! Luckily the bike had an onboard iPod input so I could play other music once I was on the road

I think I enjoy the 'proper biker' conversations almost as much as the 'Fodera are too expensive' ones So what constitutes a 'proper biker'? I ride approx 300 to 400 miles a week, all year round, does this qualify me or do I get excluded because some of those miles are on a Harley? I've ridden from Miami to San Francisco, and beyond, all of it on a Harley. Also Miami to Washington on a zig zag route through the Blue Ridge mountains. All of this on a great big old Electra Glide in all weathers, probably not 'proper' biking though. Meanwhile I have an Italian sports bike that I probably ride less than 2K miles a year but it's seen as OK down the biker cafe because it looks like a race rep. For me, a big part of the fun of a Harley is that when you fling it into a corner you really have to work hard to come out the other side - the same cannot be said of my Aprilia or Beemer which sail through with little effort. Personally I think a Harley is way more similar to a vintage Fender and a Ducati is a Fodera. I'd be more than happy to own all four

I think 4 ohms plus 8 ohms together is going to give you around 3 ohms combined.

Excellent, thanks guys I tried workin this out by scanning the web and had seemed to have narrowed it down to post '83 (but only because of image sizes and stuff). The seller said the bridge wa removed from a '73 but has now acknowledged that it could have been added at a later date.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1328631227' post='1530349'] 3 bikes sitting in the garage? You don't have much luck... get the mechanic to work on them right away... [/quote] Well - I know the Beemer won't start because it hasn't moved recently & the Aprilia can temperamental, but the good old lump of American iron always starts first time

Cool - thanks for that. I have a suspicion it's an 80's design. Nothing inherently wrong with it other than I paid a premium for a 70's one.

[quote name='kerley' timestamp='1328612220' post='1529834'] Although the materials of the Fodera presumably cost more than a mass produced bass isn't most of the cost in labour. No doubt Fodera could reduce costs by [b]not being based where they are[/b] and also cutback some time in areas which may not be noticed by many. [/quote] Next time I speak to Jason or Joey, my main two contacts at Fodera, I'll let them know that, now they are more successful, they should give up their fancy New Jersey adresses (where they've lived for about 30 years+) and consider moving to the wilds of Nebraska so they can reduce their prices to the greater benefit of the bass buying / playing public. I'm sure they'll be most receptive