Shaggy

Bit of a Del-boy, young Oli, judging by the number of deals in this thread!
Just sold him a DiMarzio model One, slick deal. Top bloke, great communication, transact with in confidence

SOLD pending the usual

PM'd re Hi-Beams

When I was skint (ie; most of my playing career) I was happy playing any old piece of crap, and would have great fun modding it to destruction. Soon as I could afford it I bought the basses I wanted in my teens; the bass buzz for me is purely for playing live and I'm shallow enough to feel far more rock n' roll with a Rick or MusicMan on my hip - they happen to play and sound very nice too. If I were any sort of virtuoso I'd probably want a Ken Smith or Alembic, but I'm not, so I don't. Resale value has never been much of an issue as I'm so crap at selling.

Mind, I've wanted a Wal Mk1 custom fretless for close on the last 30 years after seeing a young Mick Karn, end of last year I actually had the chance on one, found I just couldn't get on with it as the neck was too clubby (I love a really low profile neck on a fretless) and decided to stick with my old and trusted Ovation Magnum. So my shallowness has a limit.

How does it sound through the Mesa 400+? That's an unusual amp / bass combination but I'd imagine would sound pretty damn sweet!

Rumours Wine Bar, Ammanford
Packed out, massive fight by the stage the guitarist waded into, rolled in around 2:30am this morning, half-deaf now.
Starting to wonder if I'm getting too old for this............

Back in the day, the "other" punk/new wave female bassist was Gaye Advert who got far, far more music press coverage than TW, more for being something of a babe than for any discernable talent.
Guess the fact that Gaye is largely forgotten now just shows that talent counts for more in the long run (though I do still own a poster of her, [b]and[/b] a Jetglo Ricky 4001 called Gaye.....)
Being integral to a cutting edge band did TW no harm either of course

There were a couple of others less mainstream, like the bass player of the Slits (anyone remember her name?)

MM use gunstock oil (which I guess you'd get from a gunshop?), and doubtless there are Warwick brand finishes which probably cost the earth.
On my alder Sabre I used Danish oil (any DIY shop), let it dry off overnight, finish off with beeswax polish (the proper thick stuff for antique furniture, [b]not[/b] aerosol!) and then a swift re-wax every year. Even under poly varnish maple eventually ages to a nice pale honey tone, I'd guess any oil/wax will take it a shade darker, and it brings up any "flame" in the grain a treat.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='439904' date='Mar 19 2009, 11:48 PM']I decided to give your shop a try for selling my 1974 Rickenbacker 4001 Fretless. I brought it into your shop on Saturday afternoon. The salesman hummed and hawed, tried to persuade me it was a '75 before I stone-walled him into looking it up (which took nearly 30 seconds) and he had to agree it was a 1974, then explained how the '74 models were much less sought after than the '73.[/quote]


[b]Noooooooooo![/b] I was still hoping to buy that off you one of these days - I'm only about £1450 short.......

BTW it's only the early '73's that have the chequerboard binding / full width sparly inlays.

[quote name='ARGH' post='439021' date='Mar 19 2009, 10:53 AM']please!

You up for selling it??[/quote]
Yeah - someone on here has dibs on it, but haven't heard from him - I'll chase it up and let you know.
Mint, boxed, usual 4-wire option currently set up for standard 2-lead connection

I've got a model 1 if you want me to check string spacing! In the early 80's I once put one in an old P bass copy in the [b]bridge[/b] postion to make a "poor man's Stingray" - being flush with the body it was rather too low, but sounded pretty good.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='437655' date='Mar 17 2009, 06:27 PM']Shaggy, is that Gordon Smith the one that was on eBay about a year or so ago? That's the only GS bass I've every seen. The guitars play and sound nice but they're all pretty much adaptations of established designs.[/quote]
Off ebay, but around mid December last year - it may well have been on before though. Never seen another either, although Joe Garcia here has a Rick copy he thinks may be a GS - as you say, most were copies of classic designs with simplified lines, basic but extremely well made.

Back to the OP, a glance at my sig shows I'm a fan of old Americana, maybe it's that rock n' roll started there but Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker just seemed to nail the iconic designs early on - improving on them is like improving a Coke bottle, then Alembic nailed the boutique exotic wood / custom electrics blueprint. Even a Wal is basically a Fender design with neat electronics. I agree with earlier posters - amps and quirkiness is where we excel - though I had a 1966 Vox teardrop guitar (now traded with EvilLordJuju) that had pre-IC electrics a decade ahead of it's time and looked as cool as f*

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='436826' date='Mar 17 2009, 01:20 AM']Gordon-Smith - I think their Les Paul models are modern classics and I love them, but I've never seen a GS bass - again, pics?[/quote]

My GS Galaxy (1984) - the only "modern" sounding bass I've ever liked, although it looks like a vintage one. They did a few others too, sadly only guitars now, but still handmade at a small workshop near Manchester.

"Psycho killer" one of the very first basslines I ever learned! Class.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='436707' date='Mar 16 2009, 10:12 PM']+1

Andy's an old mate of mine from his North London days.. He has a beautiful pale Blue Wal Pro2e that he once lent me to tour with about 20 years ago.. He tells a great 'wedding night' story about that bass which, if you haven't heard it, you should ask him to tell you!

Brilliant bloke and a great player as you say, though I haven't spoken to him for about 3 years now.[/quote]

Small world! Yup. played the blue Pro2e (in fact recorded with it as my MM Sabre developed an earth hum that day), still his main bass for live work. He's also got a fretless Pro2e in natural ash which I keep trying to buy off him!
I'll check that wedding night story....

Always preferrred the earlier Tubeway Army stuff as being stronger songs - Jo the waiter, Me I disconnect from you, etc
Andy Coghlan ("Wal") used to play bass for him too, now runs a studio a couple of miles from me doing mainly acoustic and Welsh language recordings - top guy and top bassist.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='434828' date='Mar 14 2009, 07:53 PM']Poor relations that don't come anywhere close to the majesty and power of Joy Division.[/quote]
+1000

The most intense gig I ever went to (Eric's club Liverpool, '80)
N.O. always sounded a bit sub-Kraftwerk to me, but at least they had the guts to carry on and try something different

Jack Bruce was playing one on the Cream recent reunion gig, sounded very fat and bluesy especially in contrast to the Warwick he swapped to. Have to say though if I wanted to play something that looked like a bass fiddle I'd go for the real thing!

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='433556' date='Mar 13 2009, 12:59 PM']Interesting! Do you use the bridge pup on its own?[/quote]
Personally, very rarely on [b]any[/b] dual p/u bass - I find combined setting is generally where the tone is at, or neck p/u only for a darker tone (eg; for R&B / blues). The bridge p/u on my Eagle certainly gives a fatter sound than on my P/J precision, but I guess the big advantage of P/P is that the output of the p/u's is better matched than with P/J.
A lot of it is aesthetic too - a J / P would just somehow look "wrong"!

[quote name='The Funk' post='433534' date='Mar 13 2009, 12:46 PM']Warwick do the Buzzard which I think has two Ps - and the one at the bridge might be in reverse. Would be interesting to hear a J-P![/quote]
Just beat me to it!

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='433484' date='Mar 13 2009, 12:16 PM']I'd be really interested to hear the extra "bite" from a P at the bridge. My guess is that you'd have to swap the P's coil positions (E-A unit closer to the bridge than D-G unit) to avoid the D and G strings being too twangy.[/quote]
I've seen "mirrored" dual P p/u's like that (Warwick Stryker?), but BC Rich - who have been using mainly dual P DiMarzios on their basses for 30+ years, leave them in standard configuration and get a lovely punchy sound.

Used a Tele bass in the early days I'm fairly sure

Another satisfied customer here; bought a 2x10 of him this week, fast easy deal, he knocked a tenner off the price without my asking for a cash deal, even threw in a free speaker lead (as I didn't have the right sort), fast despatch, sorted. Great guy to do business with

Slick deal with Eteinne, bought an amp stand off him this week - despatched the stand to me immediately. Top guy to communicate and deal with - would do so again anytime
Living proof that not all scousers would nick the wheels off their Gran's wheelchair.........

PM'd re the 70's P