drTStingray

And who could forget (we did....) Hugh Hopper of Soft Machine - early jazz rock - Canterbury sound bands are often associated with the 70s - Egg with the rather excellent Mont Campbell on bass, introduced me to the intricacies of 9/8 time signature!! Probably after 1969 though!!

V interesting - he's quoted as moving from dance bands to a smaller group doing pop and other things owing to the tail off of demand for dance bands.

So once you've come by your Fender Precision, no mean feat and extremely expensive (comparatively) imagine the lot of the famous bass player in the early 60s, having to play live through a Vox AC30 whilst the rythmn and lead guitarists both play though amps of a similar output, there is a drummer (and we all know how loud they are) all with no PA support - so your hard earned Precision bass will likely sound like a hive of demented wasps owing to the level of unintended distortion and sound break up.... Indeed the reason quoted for non release of a Shadows live recording from 1962.

I'm concious we didn't cover folk rock (though Danny Thompson got a mention). Folk rock was quite a crossover genre especially for rock music fans in the 67-69 period. Probably the most influential bands were:- Fairport Convention - bass players were Ashley Hutchings (1967-1969) and Dave Pegg (1969 on). Steeleye Span - bass player Ashley Hutchings (founder member of both bands). He left and was replaced by Rick Kemp in 1972 (out of era 😏) Their bass parts were quite up front in the music and formed quite an important part of the 'rock' element of the folk rock thing.

Thanks for reminding me of this book Trevor - I don't have it but am placing an order. I associate Mo more with the 70s but I'm sure this is a good read and crosses the decades. The pertinent early 60s period for The Shadows (and with Cliff Richard) for basses, for those interested was:- Jet Harris buys sunburst Precision (probably to replace Besson Star semi acoustic (made by Framus) damaged in a theatre dressing room) - late 1959 (nb Hank receives his fiesta red/maple Strat privately imported by Cliff Richard - March 59). Replaced by fiesta red Precision/ rosewood around March 1961 - the 'all three matching guitars' look appeared a little later in 1961 (all with rosewood boards). Jet left The Shadows in 1962 replaced by Brian 'Licorice' Locking who used (likely) the same fiesta red Precision until mid 63. Mid 63 the band changed to white Fenders in time for the release/promotion of the single Atlantis. Nov 63 Locking leaves and is replaced by John Rostill who uses (probably the same) white Precision. 1964 - the band change to white Burns guitars and appear with them for the promotion of the single The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt. The all three FR Fenders, all three white Fenders and all three white Burns appear to have been part of endorsement deals. The astonishing thing about this is that the FR P bass was only around from early 61 to mid 63 - an amazingly short time given the power of the three FR Fenders image/legend.

The John Barry 7 - there's an interesting thought! John Barry being responsible for some great film and TV theme music.

Glad you enjoyed your day out. Love that yellow - as you say it's bright but doesn't stand out quite so much in the flesh as it were. I'm thinking a 5 would look stunning in that with black scratch plate.

Fabulous - congratulations. These are really very fine instruments.

So what was the bass of the UK player between say 1955 and 1965 - there seem to be big shouts for Hofner and Framus from what I've read - anyone any views/knowledge? I know Jet's appearance with a Precision was highly influential. When did Herbie get his Jazz - although it won't have had quite the exposure of Jet's P bass (and subsequent Bass V1).

Fabulous - that must have been interesting - those singles have nice bass parts. I remember Bringing on back the Good Times as well.

If you page down to around post 40-60 Herbie Flowers, Steve Ellis, Russ Stableford's son and other family members appear. Very very interesting and goes to show that there's nothing like getting proper info - even Herbie says he hasn't a clue how anyone came up with the idea he played on it - and also interesting he credits Russ with helping him into the business with deps with people like Ray McVay (an orchestra amongst others regularly appearing on the Light Programme (precursor to Radio 2 and pre Radio 1). This also reminds me there was a major soul circuit in the Uk in the mid 60s, often doing Motown and Stax covers - there was also a blues/rock thing developing (Yardbirds, Cream, John Mayall, Alexis Korner) - the latter developed into album culture and 'progressive' of the 67 onwards period which I think created an entire different element of the industry - songs like Everlasting Love continued to populate the singles chart but were joined by Deep Purple and Jethro Tull for instance.

Ah well found - I think that's the one I'm thinking - I think mine must have an even darker piece than that!! One of the major cost cutting elements was not doing the hand sanding and finishing of the necks - I don't think the edges are rolled either - that said they feel quite adequate, indeed fine. It was suggested at the time that they were that good that they were affecting sales of full fat Stingrays.

Interesting - I know in 1973 the Precision I had my eyes on was £252 new (it was natural finish) - that represented around 30% of my annual salary.......equivant to about £4500 now (based on 30% of minimum wage at 40 hrs per week)!

Aren't the hot pick up/pre amp ones made in China whereas the newer ones are made in Indonesia - the newer ones have been about for quite a while? You are right, the headstock logos are a giveaway (without the big SUB logo are the newer ones). I think SBMM published a fix for the hot ones anyway?

Ever wondered why they were so rare (till the early/mid 60s)? This article covers it well - nice to see someone using the Melody Maker for research 😏 👍 https://reverb.com/uk/news/the-british-guitar-embargo-when-brits-were-banned-from-buying-american Apparently although there were import restrictions, when they were lifted distributors tended to import from Europe and elsewhere initially. Jet Harris's first Precision appears to have been bought by him sometime later in 1959 after his Besson Star (by Framus) was damaged in a theatre dressing room. The fiesta red bass came about subsequently with the Shadows matching look - later replaced by white instruments and later still, white Burns instruments.

These now have a different pre amp and no longer have that issue - apparently like the Ray 24, the pre amp has some elements of similarity with/have some derivation from the Old Smoothie design (though that one has the period correct epoxy covering). They sound and play pretty well for an entry level bass.

I think you should keep it if you can - you'll kick yourself afterwards if you've bonded that much with it.

Nope - and basswood is used on the Bongo - the US Subs were poplar - the bodies in the pic (which I've not been able to find) had multiple sections of wood ranging from very dark brown to lighter brown - so a harlequin effect - my US Sub 5 must have had a collision with a Hammond or drummer's metal accoutrements in a band van before I had it - I think the answer is don't do it unless you're going to refinish it in a solid colour - the wood on this is dark brown - I think the textured paint (and checker plate pickguard) are cool and different from my other Rays to be nice in its own right.

Fabulous - and well done. What did you think of the feel of the neck - I'm blown away by mine. And the EQ? The mid control to my ears is completely revoiced - with perhaps full blast being closer to centre detent on the previous 3 band. The treble and bass have more than the previous 3 band. I'm really liking it but to me it is different rather than likely to replace my SR4HH.

Well I'm still waiting for word on my 5HH Cruz teal - on order since 14/4/18 - so they haven't got them all - there was clearly a build up of stock since June but only those ordered as stock - neither of mine figured in the order which was being placed and were added to Andertons' order. So don't expect too much from stock.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you - the influence of these people is definitely there and especially Jamerson/Babbitt. BUT much of the bass output of the rock/blues people of the late 60s is based on development of an interpretation of old blues artists and this around the pentatonic scale. OK Lemon Song has very obvious Motown stylistic influence but that is one song off two LZ albums of that era. That Motown and Stax influenced subsequent soul and pop music is clear and undeniable, the British blues invasion of the US (amazingly exporting its own cultural history back to a more mixed race audience) has more to do with pentatonic box than you find in soul music. In turn that influenced soul and pop also - I mean Black Knight on TOTP??!! There's a tendency to overstate influences and whilst Motown, Memphis and Los Angeles studios were they weren't the sole or even an influence on much of what I'm talking about. If we want to talk studio output (sessions players) Herbie Flowers' part on Space Oddity is an interesting example - I don't hear any of those US studios in that.

Fabulous. And you are right these instruments are flawless.

Various joined pieces of poplar - often of wildly different colour. Somewhere deep in the EBMM site there is a photo of piles of body blanks for the Subs. Will be around 2003 I guess. Probably not a pretty sight under the paint. In comparison an SR5 in trans colour will have more attempt to match wood grain. Quite a lot of the solid colours in the 90s were also over poplar. Poplar doesn't have much grain (my early 90s trans blueburst certainly doesn't).

Yes, fantastic - he did bass solos live as well. The original thread was intended only to give a sample of what would have been listed in the Melody Maker in the Uk and my own recollections - I realised there are several important additions - AND remember I was talking late 60s:- John McVie - Fleetwood Mac John Entwhistle - whilst his playing in the mid 60s was undoubtedly influential, in 68/69 IMO he hadn't reached his 'typewriter style' peak - that I think occurred in the early 70s (Who's Next for example). Some of you clearly started playing earlier in the 60s by the influences mentioned - but I'm still surprised people in the late 60s (unless they were major soul fans) would be turned on by the orchestral pop of Motown, bass playing wise - that's not to put it down - I've learned all of those songs but generally going backwards from 70s soul/funk/jazz/disco influences. For instance, Ain't No Mountain High Enough in the late 60s - great fantastic bass part but really??? Unless you were in a function band or soul band? For me, Nutbush City Limits was a more likely thing to learn at that time (I still play that now in a band I dep with). If you are talking late 60s orchestral (and there were a lot of unsung fine bass players around) how about Alan Spenner on the original soundtrack of Jesus Christ Superstar? People have mentioned Jet Harris - he was very much early 60s but how about the subsequent Cliff and The Shadows bassists, Brian Locking and the phenomenally good John Rostill - he played on the Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt - a very nice bass part which I always felt had Jack Bruce influence - but this was out of era (64 - thus mono usually, not 16 track, and pre Marshall, unduly twangy guitars). However Mr Rostill was part of Tom Jones' celebrated Las Vegas band which was said to have been s**t hot (by none other than Elvis) in - the late 60s - orchestral player by then!!

Me neither - there have been several calls between Andertons and me - their guy Mike has been v helpful though. I took another sparkly picture this morning as this bass glinted at me in the partial light - no flash - Cripes it is sparkly 😂