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Showing content with the highest reputation on 30/09/20 in all areas

  1. I blagged my way into a clinic with FRP as I was obsessed with TOP and particularly his bass playing. I asked so many questions that the people running it started ingnoring my hand each time it went up. Afterwards we got chatting to him and he was very self deprecating. I Showed him my transcriptions and he was amazed that anyone would bother. After a great chat he insisted that my mate and I go to the bands gig at the Forum that night on his guest list. Sure enough when we arrived our names were down. As they came on stage the entire band shook me and my mates hands. After the final encore the entire band did the same. I never got to say thanks him. He was my biggest inspiration and it was one of those rare times when your idol exceeds your expectations. RIP FRP.
    8 points
  2. Pics as promised. Not pristine in any way, but a very nice bass none the less. But it certainly need a deep clean!
    8 points
  3. Took delivery of this head today 😊 my dream set up is pretty much complete: I think I’m bass related GAS free... (just need a nice fretless)
    7 points
  4. She should join, it's the best they've sounded since Master of Puppets.
    6 points
  5. Kinda hesitant but I am thinking this will be the right decision. I never play this absolutely beautiful bass anymore since I got my Fodera. PRICE LOWERED FOR 1 WEEK, then retracting from sale: Selling this beauty for GBP 2300 or 2550 euro + shipping cost (please enquire for info). Built in Germany, 2005 so made of Ovangkol. Almost pristine condition. There's one tiny little dent at the bottom side of the body and one of the tuners is a bit wobbly when there is no string in place (sits solid when the string is there though). I upgraded the nut to a JAN3 brass, everything else is completely original. This bass has a thin neck profile and plays like a dream. Action on it is really stupid low, plays like a formula one race car. Bottom picture is recent, top one I made some time ago. Will ship all across europe plus UK (are there any duties in place yet when shipping between Europe mainland and UK yet?). Bass will be shipped in a hardcase and very well packed. Not really interested in any trade offers, I have too many basses already. Payment options: Direct bank transfer prefered. Transferwise is another option. No Paypal as I have had problems with them in the past and they are crooks. You can check my status here on the forum or the official Warwick forum where I have been an admin for ages. If you want specific detail pics, just ask. Cheers, Marco
    5 points
  6. If the look & feel of the bass are a direct result of decades of you playing it ... leave it alone! If you do nothing now, then you retain the option to something later. If you do a refin now then that history is destroyed, and you can never get it back.
    5 points
  7. Status necks on any bass - winner
    5 points
  8. Up for sale is my 1965 Fender Precision Bass with its OHSC, as it left the factory. Has numerous dinks, dongs, scratches, checking etc but overall is in fantastic condition. Feel free to arrange to come and have a play with no obligation. Cheers, Si
    4 points
  9. Last day and then it’ll be withdrawn REDUCED TO £1150 until NYE and then I’ll just keep it. OPEN TO TRADES OF SADOWSKY PJ OR J, AMPEG SVT CL/VR ALL VALVE HEAD, STINGRAY BASS, BAREFACED CABS FRFR ETC... TRY ME TRADE UP OR DOWN TOO Up for grabs a build that was discussed on here when I had the neck up for sale, so I thought I would build it and see how it went. We have a Fender Jazz roasted maple neck, actually a 40mm nut so the same as the Nate Mendel model of P basses. Tuners are GOTOH reverse wind. The body is black walnut, made by me and finished in Shoreline Gold pained by the incredible Dave Wilson. Its absolutely flawless. Picknups are Fender Custom Shop '62 one of my faves. Kiogon loom with CTS pots Badass II Bridge Off white 3 ply scratch plate. Weight 4.1KG Nut 38mm Comes with a generic hard case and includes UK delivery. More pics/build pics are available too. Collection and test drive welcome anytime.
    4 points
  10. I know its old, but ive not seen this one before. What a great ‘rock’ voice. Never noticed she could do this before. She even appreciates the bass player 😁
    4 points
  11. Yes you have seen them before, But got mine outside today for a play and a few photo's.
    4 points
  12. A couple of people asked for pics, these are as recent as I have, the blurrier one was taken around the time when I first got her.
    4 points
  13. Perhaps not your genre but this is another example of just how good she is:
    4 points
  14. I've always thought that, even when I first looked at the website years ago it seemed poor. Weird for a company that specialises in cutting edge graphite basses has a crap website, wonder if you could trade them a new Web design for a bass 😁
    4 points
  15. Maybe one of them is holding the young lady’s trousers. Why is she half-dressed for a rehearsal?
    4 points
  16. Great quote this morning from Mark Hamill: "That debate was the worst thing I've ever seen, and I was in the Star Wars Holiday Special."
    4 points
  17. I have been living with a my new Stoneham YI200 valve amp for a week now and I would like to share my thoughts on this British designed and made light weight valve amp. I have no affiliation to Stoneham. The signal chain is as follows, Jack Casady Bass into a Flattley Bass Compressor and Flattley Bass Fuzz using Chord Company Cream Cables. My quest was to find a light weight valve amp ( no more than 20kg ), around 200 watts and with a simple passive tone stack. After looking at the usual manufactures that are seen in music shops I came across an old Basschat thread talking about a 200w Stoneham prototype amp yet unnamed. The tread explained the amp would be light weight and be in the 200 - 300w range. Later it turned out the Northern Basschat guys named the amp YI-200. Nothing more was said about the amp that I could find so I went on a search to get more info and to look for a chance to buy it. The amp arrived from Martin at Stoneham in its custom flight case last week. I opened the packaging and lifted out the amp and was instantly taken aback by the weight. The last time I lifted a valve amp was my old Laney Nexus from about 9 years ago. I remember damaging my back after lifting it up at an outdoor gig. Since then Ive used class D amps but have never really been satisfied with the sonic results. The amp weighs around 18kg and even I with my damaged spine found the lift just manageable ..... now that's a big win in my books. Now for the exciting bit....... Plugging it in. The Jack Casady Bass was plugged straight in without any effects at this stage. I sold of most of my music gear during the first lock down so my cab choices are very limited. I have an old Fender BXR combo that I use just the speaker part, so this was the first go to cab. The amp fired up without a hiss, buzz or fart, which was a good sign. I few valve amps that I have had in the past were terrible for noise on switch on. The amp uses a simple passive tone stack so I set it to the known flat ( ish ) position of Treble and Bass completely off with the Mid set to full. Input gain was set to 3 O'clock position and I set the master volume to the 10 O'clock position. I flicked the amp off standby and was nearly blown out off my seat............ Wow that was loud. I turned the amp down to 7 O"clock and played my first notes. The sound was exactly as I would of expected from a clean well designed valve amp. It had midrange harmonic detail that you simply can't get from anything other than a full valve amp. IMHO. At these setting the amp was indeed tonally flat so I started to just the tone controls. They are subtle in use but have enough range to sculpt a good sound. I settled on the bass and mid controls set to around noon. This gives a subtle bass boost with a bit of mid cut, perfect for my Jack Casady. The amp has 7 valves in total, 3 pre and 4 power. Three ECC83 ( 12AX7 ) handle the preamp duties and four KT120 valves give just under 300 watts of clean output power. Plenty of power for any gig that I will need now and in the future. I started to turn the volume up and up until the house was shaking with every note played. The tone and feel did not change it just got VERY loud. Next was to give it a little overdrive so I turned the input gain fully up. The bass started to growl as the preamp valves started to overdrive. The sound was as expected, perfect for rock or just to have fun. Now this is not my usual setting as I prefer a clean sound so I backed the gain off to around 3 O'clock and it regained its clean composure. The previous mentioned Fender combo that I had been using as a cab has now been sold so I'm without a speaker. I worked out a method to connect the amp up to one of my hifi speakers ( HECO DIREKT ). This turned out to really show off what the amps tonal qualities were. My hifi speakers are less coloured tonally than your normal bass speaker cab. I kept the setting the same and connected the two together. The sound tightened up but did not change its fundamental character which is a win. I'm now using the hifi speakers at home for practice until I can get another cab.................Suggestions most welcome. In summery the amp is clean, refined and the mids contain so much harmonic detail you would not wont for anything else. It's relatively cheap to revalve and weighs less then some class AB amps I've owned. Thank you Martin at Stoneham for an amazing product.
    3 points
  18. For your consideration today, I have some wonderful but woefully underutilised pedals that I'm releasing back into the wild. It feels good to let these little ones move from the foster home to the forever home but as always this is tinged with sadness! Meris Mercury7 - £235 An extremely charming little chap, can take you from understated plates to the depths of outer space! A seriously, seriously capable reverb. Also included (if you set the pedal accordingly) is a quality slow gear, warbly chorus and some pitch shifting. Talk about VFM! Meris Polymoon - £235 The Mercury7's oft-overlooked sibling! Mental delays lie in wait within this tiny box! You can flange, you can phase, you can even get just a lovely clean digital repeat should you be so inclined. If you connect the two Meris (Meri?) together you can become an instant ambient artiste, which is a nice bonus! Iron Ether FMeron - £175 *SOLD* What a saucy little blighter this pedal is! The long-suffering Mrs. Bandit commented that this pedal made my bass sound "like a ghost or a hacked-off alien". I feel no greater endorsement is required... Iron Ether Polytope - £135 *SOLD* A lovely wobbly chorus. Or a full-on, in your face old school detuned rave attack; the choice is yours!!
    3 points
  19. Up for sale is my Tuscany Spider resonator bass. This has been well looked after so is in great condition. Fitted with Rotosound Swing Bass roundwound strings which give a lovely warm, full tone through the lipstick pickup. Also sounds great unplugged, and sits nicely with an acoustic guitar, especially when using a plectrum. I’ve also fitted TI Jazz Flat strings in the past which sound awesome plugged it. Collection from Beccles, Suffolk. Or I could potentially meet somewhere for fuel costs. I have a box so shipping is also a possibility. £300.
    3 points
  20. For sale this beauty, Warwick SS1 from 87 Really nice condition for 33 years old Emg Pickups 3,9 kg Sorry no trade
    3 points
  21. More photos from the paint shop. I’ve picked a few out of the vast amount that I’ve been sent. I know relicing is not everyones cup of Darjeeling, but I find it really interesting seeing the transformation from nice and shiny to worn in. Still waiting for the lacquer to go off properly, but just the shake and bake to go now. I foresee this being exactly how I imagined it courtesy of Professor David Wilson, Paintworks Dept, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
    3 points
  22. I wouldn’t have said she was dressed up as such, just dressed the part. I can imagine her going down to Starbucks afterwards wearing the same outfit lol.
    3 points
  23. I think the best of way of establishing whether it started out as a Fender would be to check previous Fender models So no, it didn't start out life as a genuine Fender
    3 points
  24. What a great and informative post! Just as a supplementary footnote; the neck on the OP's bass was almost certainly made by Steve Smith. He was an incredibly talented luthier who founded Heart / Heartwood guitars, and later worked for Goodfellow in the '80's, where his speciality was neck construction. After he left Goodfellow he took a stack of the necks he'd made with him, and set up a guitar repair /custom build workshop in Southend-on-sea, soon building a solid reputation amongst guitarists and bassists for the fantastic quality of his work. Some of the stashed Goodfellow-spec necks evidently found their way onto his occasional custom builds, including my treasured long scale semi "EB-2" (pictured) which has become my go-to bass for most projects. Sadly, Steve recently passed away (2017?) Really lovely bass in the OP, and a good price - bump and GLWTS
    3 points
  25. I have been living with a my new Stoneham YI200 valve amp for a week now and I would like to share my thoughts on this British designed and made light weight valve amp. I have no affiliation to Stoneham. The signal chain is as follows, Jack Casady Bass into a Flattley Bass Compressor and Flattley Bass Fuzz using Chord Company Cream Cables. My quest was to find a light weight valve amp ( no more than 20kg ), around 200 watts and with a simple passive tone stack. After looking at the usual manufactures that are seen in music shops I came across an old Basschat thread talking about a 200w Stoneham prototype amp yet unnamed. The tread explained the amp would be light weight and be in the 200 - 300w range. Later it turned out the Northern Basschat guys named the amp YI-200. Nothing more was said about the amp that I could find so I went on a search to get more info and to look for a chance to buy it. The amp arrived from Martin at Stoneham in its custom flight case last week. I opened the packaging and lifted out the amp and was instantly taken aback by the weight. The last time I lifted a valve amp was my old Laney Nexus from about 9 years ago. I remember damaging my back after lifting it up at an out door gig. Since then I have been using class D amps but have never really been satisfied with the sonic results. The amp weighs around 18kg and even I with my damaged spine I found the lift just manageable ..... now that's a big win in my books. Now for the exciting bit....... Plug it in. Bass was plugged straight in without any effects at this stage. I sold of most of my music gear during the first lock down so my cab choices are very limited. I have an old Fender BXR combo that I use just the speaker part for so this was was first go to cab. The amp fired up without a hiss, buzz or fart, which was a good sign. I few valve amps that I have had in the past were terrible for noise on switch on. The amp uses a simple passive tone stack so I set it to the known flat ( ish ) position of Treble and Bass completely off with the Mid set to full. Input gain was set to 3 O'clock position and I set the master volume to the 10 O'clock position. I flicked the amp off standby and was nearly blown out off my seat............ Wow that was loud. I turned the amp down to 7 O"clock and played my first notes. The sound was exactly as I would of expected from a clean well designed valve amp. It had midrange harmonic detail that you simply can't get from anything other than a full valve amp. IMHO. At these setting the amp was indeed tonally flat so I started to just the tone controls. They are subtle in use but have enough range to sculpt a good sound. I settled on the bass and mid controls set to around noon. This gives a subtle bass boost with a bit of mid cut, perfect for my Jack Casady. The amp has 7 valves in total, 3 pre and 4 power. Three ECC83 ( 12AX7 ) handle the preamp duties and four KT120 valves give just under 300 watts of clean output power. Plenty of power for any gig that I will need now and in the future. I started to turn the volume up and up until the house was shaking with every note played. The tone and feel did not change it just got VERY loud. Next was to give it a little overdrive so I turned the input gain fully up. The bass started to growl and fuzz as the preamp valves started to overdrive. The sound was as expected, perfect for rock or just to have fun. Now this is not my usual setting as I prefer a clean sound so I backed the gain off to around 3 O'clock and it regained its clean composure. The previous mentioned Fender combo that I had been using as a cab has now beed sold so Im without a speaker, until I worked out a method to contact the amp up to one of my hifi speakers ( HECO DIREKT ). This turned out to really show what the amps tonal qualities were. My hifi speakers a less coloured tonally than your normal bass speaker cab. I kept the setting the same and connected the two together. The sound tightened up but did not change its fundamental character which is a win. I'm now using the hifi speakers at home for practice until I can get another cab.................Suggestions most welcome. In summery the amp is clean, refined and the mids contain so much harmonic detail you would not wont for anything. Thank you Martin at Stoneham for an amazing product.
    3 points
  26. I have always liked Ga Ga. she has an incredible voice. No fakery or auto tune from her!
    3 points
  27. I bought a Quad amp in 1971 and still have it. I also had a pair of Tannoy Chatsworths at the same time but sold them ten years ago for £1k, replacing them with a smaller, but not quite as good, pair of Tannoys. I originally had a good collection of vinyl kept in mint condition but unwisely threw them all out when we moved two houses ago. The CD player came along a bit later. So the amp has been with me for nearly fifty years and is still going strong. Edit: And thank you to all those kind people who reacted so favourably towards this post. I should add that in all those 50 years the amp/preamp haven't been revalved. I presume they’ve got valves.
    3 points
  28. Nice to see Cliff getting some recognition, a very underrated bassist. Few sit quite as deep in the pocket as he.
    2 points
  29. I think I'd have said the opposite, @fleabag. Sanding sealer will do just that - form a seal - and that will affect how much the stain will penetrate the fibres. Interestingly, the patchiness that @GarethFlatlands suffered with the stain looked just like that - a surface contamination stopping the dye soaking in - but we know from the machining and sanding that it was freshly exposed wood. Very curious. But the paint job looks fab
    2 points
  30. well before it was within 3 days of your birthday... now there's a chance it was built ON your birthday! Fancy that!
    2 points
  31. If this hasn't gone to Martin there's going to have to be a public enquiry
    2 points
  32. 2 points
  33. I thought 'ooh thats a bargain' before I realised I have absolutely no need for something like that!
    2 points
  34. Built on 4/8 and due for delivery on 25/11. Kudos to the chap who is, seemingly, walking it to the coast and then swimming across the Atlantic, to deliver it!! 😞 I had 3 gigs later this year and it won't be here for any of them.
    2 points
  35. Leave it be. It’s your bass as it is. “Restoring” it would be like erasing part of your story with it and it just becomes another old Fender. Right now there is no other bass quite like it on this planet. It’s entirely unique. Why would you sacrifice that to regress to factory-level anonymity?
    2 points
  36. 2 points
  37. Fender were well known to use mix and match parts, bodies, necks etc, from all different years. It's not uncommon to have a genuine 60s fender bass with a 63 neck and 67 body, with 66 pickups. This went on through the 70s as well. So having miss matched parts is totally normal. In the 70s many people refinished fender basses, remember they weren't as expensive back then as old ones are now. Refinishing the bass will lower its value, the more original it is the more value. Refretting won't affect the value, may add if anything. I'd keep your bass as original as possible, blood and all. It all adds to it's authenticity. 😎
    2 points
  38. Like I say, I don't know the detail, just what Pete told me on one of my visits when I was buying the bass. It could well be as you say but I have to say that the actual bridge pickup sounds pretty much as you would expect a Wal bridge pickup to sound and it does that whilst simultaneously in use for the midi side of things. I've never looked in detail at the electronics (just works) but I'll have a wee look about next time I change the battery and see what I can see without disturbing anything lol.
    2 points
  39. I work as a Chemist in a medical device company so music is just my release and thankfully I don't rely on it financially, however I must say I really really miss playing live music to folks.
    2 points
  40. Natural 'n Satin... You only need to stain or paint bad wood...
    2 points
  41. I did an A-B with my old band, two Mesa Powerhouse 2x10s vertically against horizontally. I was lucky enough to have a very powerful all tube amp with a small enough footprint at the time to do it safely, a Mesa Prodigy. And the difference was pretty astounding. Nothing. At least not the difference in clarity and projection I expected. I think like everything else, it will make a difference in some situations and not in others, there are no generic rules that can be determined by science because of the huge range of variables that will change with each room, even each song (I suspect Bill Fitzmaurice will punish me for that comment later). There are however numerous cultural and aesthetic precedents - let's be honest here, no one wants to see a T-formation bass rig (sorry Bankai), and a lightweight 2x10 on it's side being apparently smothered by an SVT-II is not much better. Proportions folks. Big head, even bigger cab The golden rules therefore 1. Stack your rig so that it looks good 2. Stack your rig so that it's safe and won't kill a punter (drummers and guitarists no so worried) 3. Stack your rig so that you and the band and ideally the audience can hear the bass
    2 points
  42. I think by asking here people are looking for the type of information that you don't find on manufacturer's websites
    2 points
  43. I’ve played a SVT VR only once at a festival and did love it and nearly went down the ampeg route. I went for Ashdown in the end though for them being a UK company and their customer service being so good. Never been let down by any Ashdown products either.
    2 points
  44. You're a git lol I had my credit card out there! Must resist, must resist!!!
    2 points
  45. I know how that feels lol My middle kid, ripped a very expensive cartridge off my Linn Sondek at the time, I fixed it and sold the Linn at that point. However, all three are grown up and I can enjoy the full hifi experience again
    2 points
  46. There are PA cabs that work with bass, and those that don't. It's not just about the cab, it's about the bass tone you're after also.
    2 points
  47. So you people change your strings huh?
    2 points
  48. History of Goodfellow basses OK, I'll attempt to answer as much as I can. Bernie was one of the first electric bass luthiers in the country (Wal, Status, Overwater being the others). Bernie started building basses in his shed at the bottom of his garden. Out of the small beginings of a hobby turned business, Bernie partnered Mike Freston (Managing Director) and Phil Harris (of Star Guitars, regular contributor for a guitar magazine and owner of a sizeable collection of vintage guitars) to form what would would become Goodfellow. Following a run of prototypes (I believe 10-15 basses), the first Goodfellow basses (with serial numbers) were marketed. The prototypes were all slightly different in design as Bernie was still finalising what would become the Goodfellow shape, the selection being a mixture of passive and then later, active basses. The whereabouts of these original pre serial basses are unknown, they may still be with either Mike or Phil. If they were to surface, although they are without serial number, they do bear Bernie's signature. The marketed basses (i.e. the ones with serial numbers) were of two designs; the Player and the Classic. The Classic is a Goodfellow that has pretty facings, usually quilted maple, elm burr, poplar burr which were all bookmatched to give the bass it's attractive front. This facing was flanked by another 2mm veneer before being glued to the main core body. There are a few rare examples out there that have both front and rear facings. The Player was a series of Goodfellows that had unusual veneers and finishes. I'm sure anybody following the Goodfellows that have surfaced on here will realise that they belong to this range - the Harlequin has a multi-coloured wafer thing laminated top, with a subtle burst around the edges. Other finishes in this range include the Herringbone laminate, as seen on #003 above. Some of you may have seen the zebra burst, a grey white and black burst Player. All of the basses in this range have a mahogany core with front and back laminates. I believe Lowden stopped producing the Player series when they ran out of vaneers - but they may have kept calling the basses they were producing Players anyway. The necks of both guitars are 5 core laminated necks, bolted on to the body. When the Lowden era came, Bernie was employed for 18 months to 2 years but was out come 1989. That makes the start of the Lowden era to be 1987/8. So, what's the difference between the Lowden era basses and the original "Bernie era" (for lack of a better phase)? Well, there are a few telltale signs. What you have to remember is that these basses went from a small handmade operation to a more mechanised/automated assembly. When Goodfellow was initially taken over, there were numerous components that were inherited - such as pickups, half finished necks and bodies, facias, circuits etc. There are numerous tell tale signs however that give a clue to whether a Goodfellow is a "Bernie era" or a Lowden era. The obvious one is a low serial number. The lower the number, the greater the chance of a bass being a Bernie bass. It's estimated that Bernie made approximately 150 under the original Goodfellow company in Wandswood and Deptford before production was overseen by Lowden. It's not clear what happened to the serial numbers during the transition period. Looking at the headstock, the original logos were the big G logo with the Handcrafted England footer. When the production moved to Lowden, this footer was removed - however, due to the stock of parts that came as part of the Lowden deal, there is a chance that a Handcrafted England neck made it onto a Lowden era bass. With regards to a "sandwich layer", it depends if it is a new stock or old stock neck. On the rear of the headstock, the original Goodfellows have Schaller M4 tuners with the G insignia on the rear of the casing. Of course, the originals have the handmade wooden buttons - these have become a bit of a Bernie signature what with them being common place on the modern GB Rumour. Again, as stocks depleted, these were changed to cheaper metal buttons. In fact, I believe that the hardware, including the bridge were sourced elsewhere (Far East?) later in the later period of production due to lack of original stock and a bid to cut cost. The milled bridge (with the Goodfellow wording across the rear of the unit) was a Bernie original design, but Bernie sought permission from Helmut Schaller and Rene Schaller to make use of Schaller saddles on those bridges and also use the alternative buttons on the M4 tuners. The keener eyed of you out there, may have recognised the Schaller saddle design. Like other pieces of hardware, alternatives were sought when stocks ran out. Circuit-wise, the preamp was only found in Goodfellow basses. The original circuits were all handmade, as they are with todays GBs. The original Goodfellow active circuits however, were much different to what we see now. They were small circuit boards that clicked into place to the loom that was connected to all the control pots and switches within the control cavity. A smart idea, but a very labour intensive process. The stock of boards may have made their way into Lowden Goodfellow basses, it's hard to say but these were later switched out for alternative preassembled circuits. It's worth noting that the Bernie era basses have the disk around the most forward placed pot. Maybe some Lowden era basses too whilst stock was available but from the Goodfellows I have seen, they seem to be without this disk. I believe that some of the prototype basses have a pickup selector switch as opposed to a pan pot. Finally, the pickups. The pickups are quite famous for having a thumb-rest indent on the top surface and having a wooden grainy appearance. Often mistaken for wooden pickup covers, they are in fact solid resin blocks with the pickup encased within. The reason they have a wooden grain appearance is the fact that they are cast from a mould that was made from a wooden master. The wooden master in question, was actually a piece of London Plane (Lacewood) that Bernie carved by hand in his shed in Forest Hill, SE London. Of course, the mix of parts depending upon availability can mask a Lowden bass but a Bernie built Goodfellow will have all the components present. Its estimated that 100-150 Lowden Goodfellow basses were built before Bernie left Lowden. As the process became more automated, Bernie's role there was removed and Bernie was left without work. Following Bernie's departure, the body shape did change somewhat, specifically with regard to shape of the horns. A five string was developed but again, was significantly different to the 5 string design in the plans that Bernie had drawn up. With regards to the "kit" Goodfellows, this is true. Parts, or rejected parts for that matter, were "leaked out" and assembled outside of the Goodfellow production line. The quality of these basses cannot be guaranteed as the pickup routing, neck joint routing and cavity routing would all have to be done to assemble a complete product. As shown through various parts and complete examples turning up on the used market and eBay, the quality of the final product can be pretty poor. After Lowden, Bernie set up Nightingale guitars with Neil McDonald and with a familiar Bernie designed shape, started producing basses. These basses notable included an early incarnation of the Bernie designed GB style circuit (comprehensive circuit board (for the time at least!) with PCB mounted pots) that would evolve into what we see in the GB guitars of today. Interestingly enough, the Lowden Goodfellow basses adopted this style of circuit. Whether this was coincidental or not, I wouldn't like to say. After Nightingale, came GB Guitars, Bernie's latest creations. The modern Rumour bass definitely shows a resemblance to the early Goodfellow design but they are two very different beasts. The electronics and pickups are unique to his GB instruments and help give the instruments a sound like no other. A Goodfellow bass is not a GB (Goodfellow Basses) guitar - buyer beware! His current basses are certainly a mile away from the humble beginnings of the shed builds but I think the Goodfellow history is an interesting story. A move from his Croydon GB workshop to Brighton followed and Bernie now has the chance to pursue both of his passions. His love of bass building... and his love of fishing. Originally sold via the Bass Centre, the Classic has a retail of around £1250 and the Player retailed at approx £950. The more interesting examples of the "Bernie" basses, (e.g. made by his own hands) still sell on the used market for anywhere between £750 to £1500 depending upon it's facias and condition (and whether it still has a Goodfellow branded Hiscox case. Check the GB porn thread for a look at some of the early Goodfellows that have popped up... and check out Graham Gouldman playing a genuine Bernie bass on his TOTP appearance with Wax (with Andrew Gold)... also the bass on stage with the Style Council at Live Aid is certainly worth a look... It's funny, there has been quite a lot of interest in the original Goodfellow basses in the last month. It seems they are pretty popular out in America! Hope that somebody has found this interesting!
    2 points
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