Misdee

That's the point I'm trying to make in a round-about way; there's a slew of bass players now who are famous for being influencers on YouTube, not playing on records that you hear on the radio or doing gigs ect. They may or may not make recordings and do gigs, but if they do then not with successful bands or artists that most folks have heard of or enjoy. Some of them are very good players, some of them are pretty average players but good at YouTube. Jaco Pastorius burst onto the world stage just short of fifty years ago because of his playing with Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report and as a solo artist on his self-titled debut. That's some entrance. Contrast that with today. There's high profile bass influencers who have their own signature basses from high-end manufacturers, their own signature strings, merchandise ect. They've never played on a hit record, been in a successful band or done very much except having a social media profile. It's a lot easier to wow fourteen year old kids watching YouTube than it is to impress Joe Zawinul, let me put it to you that way.

I think Danny Sapko is a very decent bass player, and his YT content is okay too. I agree with him quite often. I like his irreverent attitude and Yorkshire sense of humour. How he got voted Bass Player Of The Year is beyond me but I'm old fashioned and think that such awards are for people who make records and do gigs ect. Good for Danny, anyway. You get what you pay for though, and the internet is mainly free so don't be surprised if you have to sift through lots and lots of rubbish to get to the nuggets of gold. Once these guys start doing YT for a living they have to churn out content whether it's worth putting out or not just to have an income. That's usually when things start to go awry. I don't blame Danny or anyone else for giving it a go though; you see so many dismal options when it comes to employment nowadays that I know I would prefer being on YouTube talking about something I love than on a zero hours contract at Spud U Like. Were it not for the restrictions placed on me by my haemorrhoids (and the terms of my probation) I would have probably started my own Only Fans channel before now. I hope that one day Danny's channel is successful enough that he gets to live out the ultimate fantasy for most people from Bradford, i.e to get enough money to move to Leeds. He will need to learn how to dress himself properly first, though.

There's a good reason why this is a one-off.

That is indeed a very nice Jazz Bass. The sunburst on it is beautiful, nice and dark contrast with just the right amount of red. May you have a lot of fun playing it.

I seem to remember the late, great John Wetton (King Crimson, Asia, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, U.K ect) used to live in Farnham back in the late '80's/ early '90's. There's always been loads of musos in that neck of the woods. I expect a lot of Guitar Village's customers are more likely to be investment bankers, though, also in abundance in that part of Surrey.

EBMM hired a creative design consultancy called DreamWorks to help design the Bongo. DreamWorks are owned by BMW and part of their design team.

You should have gone the whole hog and faked a Scouse accent.

It's still hard to believe. Something about life I have learned the hard way is that far too often the worst things seem to happen to the best people. Mani always seemed like a very warm and friendly chap and his bass playing was so perfect for whatever music he was making. You can hear him progress as a player from the catchy riffs and grooves on the first album to The Second Coming. Songs like Love Spreads have got really busy bass parts with lots of hooks and turnarounds that drive the music along. Everything in life is a time and a place, and, at a certain time in a particular place, for a while the Stone Roses were the most important band in the world. Mani was a big part of that.

Seriously, some of those basses are so heavy (upwards of 12 pounds) they are painful to play even sitting down. They hurt your leg and cut off the circulation! The reissue Gibson did a few years ago was a bit of a travesty. The only thing it had in common with the original basses was the overall shape. Not surprising considering what a major undertaking it would be for Gibson to try recreate the Moog electronics ect.

I remember going in there back in must be the early 1990's and they had some lovely stuff in stock back then, Wal basses ect. Friendly and knowledgeable staff, and a very upmarket home counties vibe. I expect it's still pretty much the same. Long may they prosper.

To me, it's a lot of money for something that's a lot of unsatisfactory compromises. My philosophy is that if you have to think about it that hard you don't really want it.

That bass was Gibson's attempt to take on the increasingly sophisticated bass designs that were emerging by the mid-to-late '70's. They did a good job in so many ways, as the sublime tone of those basses proves. It's one of the best sounds for heavy rock/ alternative music ever in my opinion. However, as was not at all uncommon at that time, comfort and playability for the poor sod who had shelled out all that money were not really considered at any stage of the design process. So you ended up with a bass where the reach to the first fret was so far away it was in another post code and you needed the services of an orthopedic surgeon after playing a 45 minute set standing up with it.

Regarding the Jazz Bass with a single rear pickup, I think you might be thinking of early-2000's era Dan Glenn. He was/is(?) and L.A-based fretless player who had a beard, looked a bit like Mo Foster and played a fretless Modulus Jazz that had one rear pickup. Could it be you have got the two a bit mixed up/ mixed together?

I can only think of Mo Foster, who had a double bass fingerboard grafted on to his Jazz Bass when he had it made fretless, but I'm pretty sure that bass had both pickups on it. Probably not what you are thinking of.