12 and 8 String Basses

[Hobbayne]

I vaguely remember an article in bassist magazine about a top bassist who commissioned his own 12 string bass. Can anyone help me as to who it was??

Edited January 16, 2018 by Hobbayne

[Yank]

I don't know if this is the one you mean,  but the guy in Cheap Trick did,  I believe.

[Woodinblack]

You mean like this:

 

[toneknob]

38 minutes ago, Yank said:

I don't know if this is the one you mean,  but the guy in Cheap Trick did,  I believe.

Tom Peterson.

Also Doug Pinnick of Kings X has a custom 12 from Yamaha.

 

[Delberthot]

Tom Petersson's original basses were made by Hamer. The idea being that Cheap trick wanted the biggest sound they could get. The singer Robin Zander occasionally plays a 12 string guitar.

 

He still uses one to this day and his most recent one is a beauty - a Gretsch White Falcon the price tag is eye watering but I think in terms of looks it might even beat the Chandler Royale 

 

Edited January 13, 2018 by Delberthot

[Hobbayne]

Blimey! That must weigh a ton!

Cheap Trick, Thats the band I was thinking of. Never quite got into them. Must have a listen.

[Delberthot]

I saw them 3 or 4 years ago and they were one of the best bands I've seen live

[ambient]

The guy from Pearl Jam.

[Bluewine]

15 hours ago, Delberthot said:

Tom Petersson's original basses were made by Hamer. The idea being that Cheap trick wanted the biggest sound they could get. The singer Robin Zander occasionally plays a 12 string guitar.

 

He still uses one to this day and his most recent one is a beauty - a Gretsch White Falcon the price tag is eye watering but I think in terms of looks it might even beat the Chandler Royale 

 

Cool hat, cool bass.

I remember when Cheap Trick were still playing in bars.

 

How cool is that playing through a Highwatt!

 

I remember going to see Rick Deringer in a small bar in Rockford IL. Went into the bathroom, then in walks Rick, Robin Tom and Bunny.

Went to see Jefff Beck with Tal at Turner Hall a few years ago. I just walked right in on the sound check, just me and the band. "They were playing Ain't Supertitious" I got scared and left before I got thrown out. A big deal for a guy that as a teen lived Truth & Beckola.

I stood right in front of the stage for the show, a few feet away from Jeff. I noticed how the older guy standing next to me eyes were glued on Jeff's fingers. It was Rick Neilson.

 

Great story, right?

 

Blue

Edited January 14, 2018 by Bluewine

[pqs]

I saw Cheap Trick last year in London. They were good if a little tired. I think they only did 3 or 4 gigs in 4 days. The White Falcon looked and sounded great.

 

[Delberthot]

10 hours ago, ambient said:

The guy from Pearl Jam.

Jeff Ament - if you want to hear a 12ver on it's own then listen to Jeremy. That's his own version of the B12A. The "A" stood for acoustic and the regular version looked like this:

 

Unless you play it really low with a plectrum I always thought it looked like a big cumbersome bass to play.

In the early 2000's there were loads of cheaper 12vers floating around - most made in the same factory that makes the Dean Rhapsody. I bought one from the USA when the exchange rate was 2:1 and used it for entire rock gigs and I don't use a plectrum.

 

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Delberthot said:

In the early 2000's there were loads of cheaper 12vers floating around - most made in the same factory that makes the Dean Rhapsody. I bought one from the USA when the exchange rate was 2:1 and used it for entire rock gigs and I don't use a plectrum.

 

Thats lovely, I would get one like that in a flash. I look on eBay every so often, they have the Dean Rhapsody which is a bit ugly, but would be ok if it was cheap enough. One on there at the moment but more than I would pay for something that I have no idea if I would be using, especially on something where you have no idea if you could sell if you didn't like it

[Woodinblack]

12 hours ago, ambient said:

The guy from Pearl Jam.

You can see why he needs to wear a knee brace playing that!

[ivansc]

Saw Cheap Trick in the tiny Lady Mitchell Hall in Cambride years ago - Dave Edmunds came on as a guest player. Blood brilliant.

[12stringbassist]

CT in Manchester last year...
 

My favourite band.

Tom is totally to blame for me getting into using 12-string basses.

[12stringbassist]

 

[Dad3353]

58 minutes ago, 12stringbassist said:

CT in Manchester last year...

Maybe not the bes clip for showing off the tones of a 12-stringer (or any bass, for that matter..)..! I can't remember ever having listened to any track at all and thought 'Hmm, that's a 12-string'. I'm sure that the sound in isolation is identifiable, but with the rest of the racket going on in that clip the bloke could just as well have been miming, for all I could make of it. 

[Cuzzie]

Yep a 12 String is in my list of to gets when the right one comes along. For me it’s all about dUg Pinnick and he had a Hamer before his custom Yamaha.

I had a long look at Waterstone, Musicvox, Galveston and that Dean, but I don’t think any of them live up to the Hamer IMO.

This guy in Australia is doing custom 12vers and I think they look the beans. It will set you back about £3k before any import.

http://www.konigbassworx.com.au/kbwbassgalleryK12.html

[Delberthot]

One thing about playing one is that you either have to keep it fairly simple of have a really good technique otherwise it ends up sounding like someone pushing a piano down some stairs

[12stringbassist]

43 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Maybe not the best clip for showing off the tones of a 12-stringer (or any bass, for that matter..)..! I can't remember ever having listened to any track at all and thought 'Hmm, that's a 12-string'. I'm sure that the sound in isolation is identifiable, but with the rest of the racket going on in that clip the bloke could just as well have been miming, for all I could make of it. 

Try this one...
 

 

Edited January 14, 2018 by 12stringbassist

[12stringbassist]

This other one of mine is a bit better than the first for bass tone...
 

 

[Delberthot]

Waterstone are still doing them as far as I know. Tom Peterssons previous bass before the Gretsch was the TP-12. I had one very similar to this with the Tennessee name on it (who were famous for 8-15 sting basses on Ebay - yes that 15 string  )

 

http://www.waterstoneguitars.com/bass-tp12.html

 

[Woodinblack]

51 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Maybe not the bes clip for showing off the tones of a 12-stringer (or any bass, for that matter..)..! I can't remember ever having listened to any track at all and thought 'Hmm, that's a 12-string'. I'm sure that the sound in isolation is identifiable, but with the rest of the racket going on in that clip the bloke could just as well have been miming, for all I could make of it. 

I don't hear it in cheap trick when I am listening. The only time I have ever really heard it is in pearl jam where it is much more noticable

 

 

[Woodinblack]

16 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

Yep a 12 String is in my list of to gets when the right one comes along. For me it’s all about dUg Pinnick and he had a Hamer before his custom Yamaha.

I had a long look at Waterstone, Musicvox, Galveston and that Dean, but I don’t think any of them live up to the Hamer IMO.

This guy in Australia is doing custom 12vers and I think they look the beans. It will set you back about £3k before any import.

http://www.konigbassworx.com.au/kbwbassgalleryK12.html

Now that is beautiful!

[Cuzzie]

This is a whole heap of 12 String goodness!

https://youtu.be/kZ5Lh3s5gZM