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Today I played Herbie Flower's 1959 Jazz Bass


Plux_the_Duck
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A few years ago I saw him playing in a modern jazz trio at a local outdoor do. That bass may be the stuff of argument and legend but it didn't stop him playing it in the pouring rain.
Right on Mr F....

Edited by ians
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  • 4 years later...
On 06/08/2010 at 16:33, Stacker said:




There can only be one prototype. A prototype is the first and original design of what all other designs follow on from. There cannot possibly be two. 

 

As a professional industrial/product designer for over 20 years, I have to say, that assertion is 100% false; utter nonsense.

Furthermore, having read your other comments on this subject, I'm here to tell you--albeit 11 years late---not only can there be, and likely, multiple prototypes as part of the product design, development and testing process, there was quite likely a pre-production Jazz Bass sample or samples built exactly to the final specifications for actual production.  Knowing of Leo Fender's famous frugality, absent a statement from a credible source, such as FMIC, it's plausible that a pre-production sample, made in late 1959, was sold at Manny's Music in NYC, if the sample was approved as worthy by Fender.  //Flowers purchased his famous Lake Placid Blue over Fiesta Red Fender Jazz at Manny's, without dispute.

The fact that famous 1959 Jazz prototype many of us have seen in photographs, validated by FMIC and recently list on Reverb for $180K, was VVT but actual production Jazz Basses between 1960 and '61, phasing out completely in '62, indicates WITH ABSOLUTE 100% CERTAINTY that there MUST have been OTHER pre-production prototype variants or a sample with concentric VTVT controls!

 

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I found what @Stacker or @Grinderman posted (not even sure who it was 😧) quite interesting.

It has struck me there must be a lot of closet would be (or actual) grammar school teachers (the type who’ll chuck a text book at your head for an undotted i, split infinitive etc etc rather than read the actual content) around here 😬 I seem to recall a guy who posted some interesting stuff but interspersed with random commas which also started a fury amongst the grammatical types shouting at the clouds for moving 😂😂

That said block capital emphasis does tend to grate a little….ever since Bill Gates or someone claimed it’s keyboard shouting. 

Anyone else seen a Jazz bass prototype? 😀

Edited by drTStingray
Stinky poo auto spell
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I tend to agree with you - certainly with cars the prototypes rarely make it into the wild.

However I know it applies to Stingray 5s as there appear to be more than one pre-production/prototype around - one of the members on here has one - marginally different from the production one and called a V rather than 5 on the headstock 👍

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  • 2 weeks later...

Herbie described the "fuzz" circuit as "a couple of resistors". My guess is that they were actually diodes, and yes, you can create a passive distortion circuit using nothing more than a pair of Schottky diodes wired head-to-tail in parallel. No battery, no other components.

Don't believe me? Here's one I made earlier, demonstrated on electric piano, guitar and bass. There is even a circuit diagram:

 

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20 hours ago, butterfingersbeck said:

Herbie described the "fuzz" circuit as "a couple of resistors". My guess is that they were actually diodes, and yes, you can create a passive distortion circuit using nothing more than a pair of Schottky diodes wired head-to-tail in parallel. No battery, no other components.

Don't believe me? Here's one I made earlier, demonstrated on electric piano, guitar and bass. There is even a circuit diagram:

 

While it's possible, the first fuzz pedal (the Maestro FZ-1) didn't hit the market until a couple years after Herbie's bass was made. So the concept of a "fuzz" effect is unlikely to be something Fender were even aware of at the time. 

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  • 4 months later...

Wow, 11 years later and people are still commenting on this thread about prototypes and whether the bass is a pre-production model or not, but very little about how Herb is a great guy...

 

I somewhat feel people missed my original point of wanting to show some graditude to a man who let me experience a piece of musical history for the better part of a week, with no conditions or rules - just have a laugh playing this bass and let me know what you think.

 

If you want to discuss the finer points of the English language on prototypes - please head to off-topic and likewise if you want to discuss the exact pre-production status of this bass, make a thread about it. This thread was not for this purpose and it does sadden me to see something I was and still am proud of be veered off course back into slagging matches over stuff

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13 minutes ago, Plux_the_Duck said:

Wow, 11 years later and people are still commenting on this thread about prototypes and whether the bass is a pre-production model or not, but very little about how Herb is a great guy...

 

I somewhat feel people missed my original point of wanting to show some graditude to a man who let me experience a piece of musical history for the better part of a week, with no conditions or rules - just have a laugh playing this bass and let me know what you think.

 

If you want to discuss the finer points of the English language on prototypes - please head to off-topic and likewise if you want to discuss the exact pre-production status of this bass, make a thread about it. This thread was not for this purpose and it does sadden me to see something I was and still am proud of be veered off course back into slagging matches over stuff


It’s the internet. Good intentions ruined by arguments over nonsense. I wouldn’t worry about it, just cherish the memories!

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4 hours ago, Plux_the_Duck said:

Wow, 11 years later and people are still commenting on this thread about prototypes and whether the bass is a pre-production model or not, but very little about how Herb is a great guy...

 

I somewhat feel people missed my original point of wanting to show some graditude to a man who let me experience a piece of musical history for the better part of a week, with no conditions or rules - just have a laugh playing this bass and let me know what you think.

 

If you want to discuss the finer points of the English language on prototypes - please head to off-topic and likewise if you want to discuss the exact pre-production status of this bass, make a thread about it. This thread was not for this purpose and it does sadden me to see something I was and still am proud of be veered off course back into slagging matches over stuff

If it`s any consolation to you, recently I have been listening to the track Spirit of man from the WOTW sountrack and the bass playing is what really shines in this song. When you look back at some of the things Herbie has done, he deserves to be right up there with the bass playing greats.

 

:hi:

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4 hours ago, Plux_the_Duck said:

Wow, 11 years later and people are still commenting on this thread about prototypes and whether the bass is a pre-production model or not, but very little about how Herb is a great guy...

 

I somewhat feel people missed my original point of wanting to show some graditude to a man who let me experience a piece of musical history for the better part of a week, with no conditions or rules - just have a laugh playing this bass and let me know what you think.

 

If you want to discuss the finer points of the English language on prototypes - please head to off-topic and likewise if you want to discuss the exact pre-production status of this bass, make a thread about it. This thread was not for this purpose and it does sadden me to see something I was and still am proud of be veered off course back into slagging matches over stuff

 

Edited by jezzaboy
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4 hours ago, Plux_the_Duck said:

Wow, 11 years later and people are still commenting on this thread about prototypes and whether the bass is a pre-production model or not, but very little about how Herb is a great guy...

 

I somewhat feel people missed my original point of wanting to show some graditude to a man who let me experience a piece of musical history for the better part of a week, with no conditions or rules - just have a laugh playing this bass and let me know what you think.

 

If you want to discuss the finer points of the English language on prototypes - please head to off-topic and likewise if you want to discuss the exact pre-production status of this bass, make a thread about it. This thread was not for this purpose and it does sadden me to see something I was and still am proud of be veered off course back into slagging matches over stuff

Damm you triple post!!

Edited by jezzaboy
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