Old Man Riva

That clip is from the Old Grey Whistle Test. Great stuff. There was also an excellent documentary on BBC4 a while back that charted his rise and then decision to stop performing, which was equally great. He came across as a wonderful human being. He fought a lifelong stammer and did/does a lot to help younger people with the same condition, which featured heavily in the programme. On a musical note his 1973 Live at Carnegie Hall album features pretty much the same band as the clip, I think, and is well worth a listen.

I remember a mate doing me a copy of this album on a trusty TDK D90 when it came out nearly 30 years ago. I couldn't stop playing it, and played and rewound it time and again. To this day it still ranks as one of my favourite albums - it's otherworldliness (?) put me in mind of how I felt hearing Bowie albums in the 70s or Prince in the early/mid 80s. It all seemed so far away from the traditional sound/production I was used to hearing.

Really like Bow Wow Wow - there was a BBC gig from Sefton Park (I think) back in the day that blew me away at the time. As I recall it a Wal bass was being 'strummed/slapped/picked/strangled' to within an inch of its life for most of the gig. Fabulous bass player.

Had a Donald Byrd day... Which has featured two of my favourite four-string fellas, Mr Rainey and Mr Felder.

You’re not losing sleep then... that’s good! The ‘66 Jazz is a really nice bass. The neck is lovely on it and the bass sounds great - that said, I don’t think I’ve played a ‘66 dot and bound that I didn’t really like. I think it suffers from what you say - it’s been around for a while and has become part of furniture.

For basses where you’re paying a premium and expecting top quality in return I’ve played a few Fender CS basses that've been properly horrible. They've tended to be NOS ones, strangely enough, rather than the relic jobs. A mixture of rotten set-ups, poorly finished frets, necks like bananas (as referenced above) have all been present on expensive instruments. In the spirit of fairness I’ve also (mostly) played some lovely Fender CS basses but when they get it wrong they really get it wrong.

I’ve convinced myself I remember that bass also! If you’d gone for it at the time and still had it, the way prices have gone in the past year for vintage instruments, you would probably be sitting on a profit now (not that they’re there for that reason, IMO). I’m aware that’s probably not going to make you feel any better, btw! They’ve had a ‘66 dot and bound Jazz in there now on a commission sale for a good few years that’s been up at the same price all along. It was over the market rate when it was first put on the wall but now I reckon it’d be seen as a bargain, for want of a better word, as values have rocketed. If it’s any consolation I wished I gone for the ‘64 P-bass at the time. First world problems, eh...

The Gallery had a 1964 Precision about 5-6 years ago which was one of the nicest basses I’ve ever played. The neck was nicely played in and seemed a little narrower than early 60s Ps normally feel, and the sound was gorgeous. It was strung with flats (not sure which brand) which I believe had been on there for many years. It was light in weight, worn but not battered and the tone pot still gave you the full range - in short it was stunning. It was expensive (even then) at £4k, but whoever bought it would have had a stunning bass.

I think she'd broaden it out to include Steel Pulse, Slits and X-Ray Spex, but, aye, that'd be similar to her starting point... Mid-50s and still wants to change the world... and there's nowt wrong with that.

The good lady wife reckons Sleaford Mods and Young Fathers are the best thing since sliced bread (and/or Crass). I'm too scared to disagree... or play Weather Report within earshot.

When Later first aired over 25yrs ago (pre-internet/YouTube etc for most of us at the time), for me, it was like a breath of fresh air in terms of being able to see live bands on the telly. It gave music fans the opportunity to see bands/performances that we wouldn't otherwise have access to. So, in the spirit of the above here's something that blew me away when I first saw it in summer 1993, and still does, in fact... At the time I think it was one of her first live appearances after Debut came out. I love the song, but this version, to my ears at least, is the best live version I've heard to this day. Captures the original and adds that little bit more. And I was (and still am) intrigued by the bass/guitar (?) that is used as a percussion instrument by one of the keyboard players. Anyone else got any standout moments from Later?

Yes, it was the three-knob version I had. I'm fairly sure that the mini toggle switch was only two-way on the one I had (active/passive), but can't be certain. I can now also remember that I had to send the first one back (a really lovely purple-y/red finish) due to the electrics being really noisy/buzzy. The pic that Bassassin has provided is the one I was referring to with the Wal/Aria style headstock. As I say, it was a really nice bass and, whilst not massively cheap, was an excellent value-for-money active bass at the time - the black finish ran all through the bass from body to headstock and looked lovely. And don't get lost doing that wah type thing..!

I had one of those (in black) in the 80s - wanted an active bass and they were a great buy at the time vs. other options. It’s a long time ago but I seem to recall that the small silver switch was an active/passive switch. With regards to the knobs, there were volume and tone and then one (I think) that panned through various EQs (not all of them usable). If you were dexterous (daft) enough you could almost get a wah-wah effect by panning the knob whilst messing around with your fretting hand - again, not really very usable, and I imagine not what Mr Washburn had in mind when he put in the hard hours designing it. The prototypes/first runs had the tuners either side of a squarer headstock, a la Wal.

Thanks all, really helpful. If I didn’t have to work for a living I reckon I’d set myself up as a Fender detective - solving the ongoing riddles created by Leo & co. Either that or be a “full-time dreamer”... Anyway, for anyone interested in Fender(s) I got this today, which is really well worth a look... Informative, and some great pictures. https://www.amazon.co.uk/fender-golden-age/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Afender the golden age

That’s a possibility. A guy I knew many moons ago used to make a plastic cut out to screw on the back of his basses to protect the finish - essentially they covered pretty much all of the back of the body to protect them from his belt, buttons etc. when playing. Did it on both of his Fenders, a Precision and a Jazz. Didn’t occur to him that he was devaluing the basses. Why would it? Even back then (and doing it for the right reasons) it did seem a little extreme, mind. It also looked horrible!

Always liked Phil Oakley, just seemed really genuine in interviews back then/now. His band weren’t bad either. Re. the Roland bass. I seem to recall Art of Noise using one on a TV prog (the Tube?) in the 80s. For their version of Peter Gunn...?!

Thank you, sir, really helpful. I can only think the neck-plate I saw on a ‘68 P-bass was a replacement done at some point during the time you reference above. Which then makes me ponder why a neck-plate would need replacing... Fenders; so many questions!

Does anybody know when Fender added the plastic trim to the metal neck-plates on their basses? I thought this was a mid-70s+ thing but I saw a late 60s P-bass recently which had a neck-plate with a black plastic surround, which led me to ponder for way too long on when they introduced them.

Hard Times?!

Wunjo have one in at the moment...

If you can stretch the budget a bit I’d definitely suggest giving the Bowers & Wilkins PX headphones a listen. I tried them against Sony WH1000, Senheisser PXC 550 and the ever present Bose Quiet Comfort sets. I much preferred the B&Ws over the others - seemed to offer an airier and more open sound, with warm (not overbearing or muddy) bass and real clarity in the highs. I’m a big fan of B&W in any event - I’ve a set of 685 S2 speakers at home for use with the HiFi - and can’t recommend them highly enough. That said, I know it sounds obvious, but headphones really are a personal thing so you’re always best checking them out using music that you’d normally listen to and taking your time doing so. Good luck!

The Sonny Rollins soundtrack for (the original) Alfie is also right up there for me...

Dirty Harry Paris, Texas

The database seems a good approach. Andy Baxter operates in a similar way - i.e he gets contacted by players asking to be notified if a specific instrument turns up and keeps a record of these. Once one comes up (or he sources one) he can easily get the ball rolling. Good for the buyer and good for the seller...