Old Man Riva

I’ve convinced myself I remember that bass also! If you’d gone for it at the time and still had it, the way prices have gone in the past year for vintage instruments, you would probably be sitting on a profit now (not that they’re there for that reason, IMO). I’m aware that’s probably not going to make you feel any better, btw! They’ve had a ‘66 dot and bound Jazz in there now on a commission sale for a good few years that’s been up at the same price all along. It was over the market rate when it was first put on the wall but now I reckon it’d be seen as a bargain, for want of a better word, as values have rocketed. If it’s any consolation I wished I gone for the ‘64 P-bass at the time. First world problems, eh...

The Gallery had a 1964 Precision about 5-6 years ago which was one of the nicest basses I’ve ever played. The neck was nicely played in and seemed a little narrower than early 60s Ps normally feel, and the sound was gorgeous. It was strung with flats (not sure which brand) which I believe had been on there for many years. It was light in weight, worn but not battered and the tone pot still gave you the full range - in short it was stunning. It was expensive (even then) at £4k, but whoever bought it would have had a stunning bass.

I think she'd broaden it out to include Steel Pulse, Slits and X-Ray Spex, but, aye, that'd be similar to her starting point... Mid-50s and still wants to change the world... and there's nowt wrong with that.

The good lady wife reckons Sleaford Mods and Young Fathers are the best thing since sliced bread (and/or Crass). I'm too scared to disagree... or play Weather Report within earshot.

When Later first aired over 25yrs ago (pre-internet/YouTube etc for most of us at the time), for me, it was like a breath of fresh air in terms of being able to see live bands on the telly. It gave music fans the opportunity to see bands/performances that we wouldn't otherwise have access to. So, in the spirit of the above here's something that blew me away when I first saw it in summer 1993, and still does, in fact... At the time I think it was one of her first live appearances after Debut came out. I love the song, but this version, to my ears at least, is the best live version I've heard to this day. Captures the original and adds that little bit more. And I was (and still am) intrigued by the bass/guitar (?) that is used as a percussion instrument by one of the keyboard players. Anyone else got any standout moments from Later?

Yes, it was the three-knob version I had. I'm fairly sure that the mini toggle switch was only two-way on the one I had (active/passive), but can't be certain. I can now also remember that I had to send the first one back (a really lovely purple-y/red finish) due to the electrics being really noisy/buzzy. The pic that Bassassin has provided is the one I was referring to with the Wal/Aria style headstock. As I say, it was a really nice bass and, whilst not massively cheap, was an excellent value-for-money active bass at the time - the black finish ran all through the bass from body to headstock and looked lovely. And don't get lost doing that wah type thing..!

I had one of those (in black) in the 80s - wanted an active bass and they were a great buy at the time vs. other options. It’s a long time ago but I seem to recall that the small silver switch was an active/passive switch. With regards to the knobs, there were volume and tone and then one (I think) that panned through various EQs (not all of them usable). If you were dexterous (daft) enough you could almost get a wah-wah effect by panning the knob whilst messing around with your fretting hand - again, not really very usable, and I imagine not what Mr Washburn had in mind when he put in the hard hours designing it. The prototypes/first runs had the tuners either side of a squarer headstock, a la Wal.

Thanks all, really helpful. If I didn’t have to work for a living I reckon I’d set myself up as a Fender detective - solving the ongoing riddles created by Leo & co. Either that or be a “full-time dreamer”... Anyway, for anyone interested in Fender(s) I got this today, which is really well worth a look... Informative, and some great pictures. https://www.amazon.co.uk/fender-golden-age/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Afender the golden age

That’s a possibility. A guy I knew many moons ago used to make a plastic cut out to screw on the back of his basses to protect the finish - essentially they covered pretty much all of the back of the body to protect them from his belt, buttons etc. when playing. Did it on both of his Fenders, a Precision and a Jazz. Didn’t occur to him that he was devaluing the basses. Why would it? Even back then (and doing it for the right reasons) it did seem a little extreme, mind. It also looked horrible!

Always liked Phil Oakley, just seemed really genuine in interviews back then/now. His band weren’t bad either. Re. the Roland bass. I seem to recall Art of Noise using one on a TV prog (the Tube?) in the 80s. For their version of Peter Gunn...?!

Thank you, sir, really helpful. I can only think the neck-plate I saw on a ‘68 P-bass was a replacement done at some point during the time you reference above. Which then makes me ponder why a neck-plate would need replacing... Fenders; so many questions!

Does anybody know when Fender added the plastic trim to the metal neck-plates on their basses? I thought this was a mid-70s+ thing but I saw a late 60s P-bass recently which had a neck-plate with a black plastic surround, which led me to ponder for way too long on when they introduced them.

Hard Times?!

Wunjo have one in at the moment...

If you can stretch the budget a bit I’d definitely suggest giving the Bowers & Wilkins PX headphones a listen. I tried them against Sony WH1000, Senheisser PXC 550 and the ever present Bose Quiet Comfort sets. I much preferred the B&Ws over the others - seemed to offer an airier and more open sound, with warm (not overbearing or muddy) bass and real clarity in the highs. I’m a big fan of B&W in any event - I’ve a set of 685 S2 speakers at home for use with the HiFi - and can’t recommend them highly enough. That said, I know it sounds obvious, but headphones really are a personal thing so you’re always best checking them out using music that you’d normally listen to and taking your time doing so. Good luck!

The Sonny Rollins soundtrack for (the original) Alfie is also right up there for me...

Dirty Harry Paris, Texas

The database seems a good approach. Andy Baxter operates in a similar way - i.e he gets contacted by players asking to be notified if a specific instrument turns up and keeps a record of these. Once one comes up (or he sources one) he can easily get the ball rolling. Good for the buyer and good for the seller...

20,000 euros for a '66 Jazz?! I imagine that'll be around for a few decades to come...

Re: "Just being displayed in the shop and on it's website". In fairness, some folk have entered into agreements based on just that and have had positive experiences where gear has been sold and commission happily paid... From your perspective who would be an example of a trader/store you would work with and what would you expect them to be doing (i.e. "doing some work") in terms of marketing/selling your instrument? Gear being held for a touring band and then sold on is an interesting one that I wasn't aware of so it'd be good to know where to look for that in the future.

Agree. Forgot to mention Wunjo. Again, the amount of hard work and effort that Tom H and his team have put in over the years to build the business/reputation should be taken into account if one is considering them to market/sell an instrument on their behalf on a commission basis.

Depending on the shop I'd suggest that you/we would be piggy-backing their expertise and reputation. Andy Baxter, for instance, has spent years of hard work building up his business and reputation. He sells worldwide and if he has a bass of yours you would be confident that buyers all over the globe would have access to that instrument via his website (pics, sound-clips, description etc.), and would be willing to part with their cash for a bass they hadn't seen in the flesh or played - again, he's in a position to do this due to the amount of hours, money and effort he's put into building his business and reputation. Similarly with the Gallery. The have spent years working hard to build a business and solid reputation. The same as Andy they also display instruments on global websites like Reverb or G-base, and can do so with the confidence that people around the world would see them as a credible seller/business and would buy in confidence. For those reasons above alone I've had both Andy and the guys at the Gallery sell basses for me and have been delighted with the outcome. I certainly wouldn't expect to be able to piggy-back another company's years of hard work and reputation-building and it not come with a fee. I know others that wouldn't pay a penny to a third-party and would rather do it themselves, which is absolutely fine - there is no right or wrong way. The one thing I would suggest is that, as with any business transaction, one would have a conversation at the front end and get all the clarity one requires in terms of what they will be doing to sell the bass etc. Ask questions, get clarity and leave nothing to assumption/expectation. Personally speaking, I feel that if I were to leave it to assumptions or I chose to manage my own expectations (rather than asking questions beforehand) then I would only have myself to blame if I weren't clear on how they were looking to sell my bass.

Here’s his signature head... he’s a groovy little so-and-so..! https://youtu.be/NS-zZaVJVm4

Agree completely regarding awards for music being a nonsense, and the Brits is/has always been one of the worst excuses for shameless music business back-slappery, but the fact that all people seemed to have talked about today is Stormzy and him getting the Grenfell Tower tragedy/disgrace back into the press I’d say the show was worth it. His performance probably inspired more younger folk to get politicised than a hundred politicians’ empty rhetoric and false promises would ever do.

I’ve got that picture hanging on my kitchen wall! Debris brings a lump to the throat every time. Re. Maybe I’m Amazed above. He sings it well but you have to feel for RL knowing that Rod is about to effortlessly take it up a good three notches when he joins in! A great band...