Basses Id Like To Pluck

@JottoSW1thank you for the link. I've a lot of bass related material. I'm hoping to scan it.

Hi Martin, I run the Basses I'd Like To Pluck Facebook page. Sorry to hear about your father. I recently posted this at https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02mnqoWNFNQ2DSdMt3gsmpHaMtB7E4S1Vpi6qTwSZKQ4Pt2RLwYiUNDsa14iHJjSCjl&id=575916252449764 Although I no longer have complete copies of the magazine I do an extensive archive of bass articles. Transcribed from Making Music March 1997 The first bass guitar in Britain. Canty struck a match. He knew that somewhere out there in the dark lay the truth. The real story of the electric bass guitar's first appearance in Britain. He also knew he'd come too far to give up now... BY 1930, speakers and valves (which made electrical recording and repro duction possible) had arrived. This produced a huge increase in bass response on domestic systems and created an expectation of a similar sound from live bands. By the late 1930s, some guitarists were already using amplification; soon (with a slight interruption for a World War) Leo Fender introduced his electric guitar and, in 1951, his Precision bass in the USA. But post-war import restrictions excluded US instruments from the UK, and so delayed the arrival of bass guitars here. British musicians' first exposure to this new-fangled instrument would have been either through American rock & roll films or from such bands as The Treniers or Freddie Bell & The Bell Boys who toured here. But even though you might have seen and heard a bass guitar, you couldn't actually buy one. While researching an article on Jet Harris (original bassist with the Shadows) I learnt he'd switched from double bass in early 1958 and claimed to be one of the first three UK bass guitarists. It got me wondering : who the other two were, and who was first. Various suspects were suggested, and it was clear that sometime in 1957 someone had taken the plunge. Then, last April, Channel 4's late-night film The Six-Five Special featured, among others, the John Barry Seven, with Fred Kirk on bass guitar. Checking the date of the film revealed it was made in late 1957 and Fred became a strong contender for the coveted title. Only pausing to collect my deerstalker hat, pipe and magnifying glass, I was back on the phone to my network of sources and the story began to emerge. John Barry (of 007 fame) had assembled a band with other ex-RAF musicians for a 1956 Scarborough summer season. Then, in October, Lionel Hampton's band - featuring a Fender bass - toured. (John Dankworth walked out of their London gig because it "wasn't jazz", possibly a reference to the bass guitar.) However, when Hampton's band performed at a York theatre owned by Barry's father, the Fender obviously impressed Barry and his band. Shortly afterwards, while on business in the US, his father bought a Hofner Violin bass. I'm not sure what the Hofner bass was doing in the US in 1956 - perhaps an American serviceman had brought it back from Germany. Even our own esteemed Guitar Guru can't offer a better explanation. On March 17th 1957 - exactly 40 years ago this month at the Rialto Theatre in York, history was made when the band made its debut. The bass guitar had finally arrived in Britain. Fred, like many of the early converts to bass guitar, had to be persuaded to switch from double bass. Unlike most, though, who used picks, he played finger style because that's how he'd seen Hampton's bassist do it. He couldn't ask anyone for technical tips because he never saw another bass guitarist. After a 1957 Blackpool summer season, the band got a recording deal with EMI. But the Abbey Road engineers were not familiar with bass guitar and Fred had to revert to double bass - which suggests there weren't, as has been claimed, any session players with bass guitars at that time. In November 1957, though, the band recorded its next single, "Every Which Way"/"You've Got A Way", with the bass guitar - probably the first British bass guitar tracks. In 1958, having set a musical precedent, Fred, then 31, retired from music and returned to his original, and more lucrative career as a pilot. He was replaced by bassist Mike Peters, who'd never touched a bass guitar before. He was handed the Hofner and started gigging immediately. Meanwhile, back in London in early 1957 - probably unaware that Fred had got in first- Selmer sold their first Hofner bass to Barney (any offers on his surname?) of Rory Blackwell's Blackjacks. He'd already been playing bass guitar by detuning the bottom strings of a guitar. As soon as Selmer received a second delivery it was snapped up by Brian Gregg - who in 1960 was to play bass on Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' rock classic, "Shakin' All Over". Later in 1957, Framus bass guitars went on sale, and at least a couple - one to Don Wilson of the skiffle group Dickie Bishop & The Sidekicks - were bought before Jet got his. (Don Wilson's career was ended abruptly by a traffic accident in 1964 when he was with the Artwoods, whose line up included Jon Lord on keyboards - hence the missing link between skiffle and heavy metal... "Smoke On The Water" may have started out on wash board and tea-chest bass. But maybe not.) At the beginning of 1959, bass guitars were still the exception but, probably inspired by Jet Harris, come 1960 every band had to have one. The sound of pop music as we know it had been established. Laurence Canty