Munurmunuh

I've just been enjoying read all these interviews: 2020 interview 2016 interview 1992 interview 1983 interview and thought some people who aren't sufficiently Maiden-enthusiastic to read them might be interested in these details.... Basses etc (Recent) I wanted to ask a bit about your West Ham bass; it’s one of your older guitars, isn’t it? It’s had a few re-sprays, yeah. It started off, actually, when I very first got it, it was white, and then I had it sprayed black. Then I had it sprayed the blue sparkly thing, which was sort of, a bit of a throwback to Thin Lizzy, really, I suppose; I had that look with the mirrored scratch plate, and then I had it sprayed with the West Ham colours. So it wasn’t the chequered bass? No, I’ve got two chequered basses; it’s not that one, I’ve still got those. No, the West Ham version that I’ve got now, that was done by the Fender custom shop, so they did it really properly. I applied officially to West Ham to ask and get permission, just because it was the right thing to do, and they said; “yeah, no problem”. (1992) The first Fender I picked up was a Jazz, and then I realized that wasn't what I wanted, so I changed to a Precision, and I've used Precisions ever since. I just found the Precisions were best for me, and I still use them now. I really like the bottom end, the roundness on the bottom end of a Precision. I can get a real lot of top, and real lows, the midrange, everything, and all really solid. Anyway, in the meantime I tried out loads of different basses. I had a Rickenbacker for a while, I had a Gibson Thunderbird. You tend to try different guitars like that because of people you like. The Gibson Thunderbird was used by Entwistle, Martin Turner, Pete Way, and they're all totally different bass players, all had totally different sounds, and I thought I'd try one out because I really liked their playing and their sounds. But when I got one I hated it. It was horrible, it just didn't work for me at all. I don't put my name to anything I don't use—it's pointless. I'm not a guitar collector, I don't want loads of guitars for nothing just because I know I can get them. There's no point if I'm not going to use them. No point putting my name to something in an ad, and I don't use it, and then someone goes out to buy one because he thinks I use them. It's what I did years ago, the Gibson Thunderbird; the Rickenbacker because of Chris Squire. The Custom Shop just did a couple of jobs for me. I had a Fender before, had it sprayed black-and-white check, really liked that, so I got Fender to do me one, and they did a brilliant job. I might do that for the signature, though of course my blue one is the one I've used most. I use the blue Precision mainly, and then depending on whether the strings go, the sound starts to go—it really depends on the temperature at the gig and stuff—and I might have to change the guitar halfway through the set. Sometimes if it's colder I can get almost to the end of the set, and there's been cases where I've used it for the whole set. I use the blue one first, the black-and-white-check one for backup. Originally, the blue one was white, and I had it sprayed black, used it in the early pub gigs and stuff, and then had it sprayed blue, and it's been like that ever since. On this new album [Fear Of The Dark] I used about five different Precisions that I've got, for different songs, because they've all got different qualities to them. Some are a bit more middle-y, some more bottom-y. They do vary. Why do you think that happens? Is it the wood, the pickups, what? The pickups are pretty much standard. Seymour Duncan does those, he tries to make them the same as the pickups in the blue one. We thought about getting a graphic to tweak so that they all sounded pretty much the same, to even the sound out, so that if I changed guitars live it wouldn't be too much of a difference in sound. But although they're all Precisions, they all sound different. Not vastly, but enough. I think a lot of it's down to the wood, yes, the density of the wood. The blue one in particular is so heavy and dense. The Custom Shop took all the measurements and weighed it and everything and built me another one, and it does feel the same, but it still doesn't sound the same. I'm not one of these people who thinks, Oh, old guitars are best. If the guitar's well made and everything, I don't care if it was made last week. That one does sound the best out of all of them, though. If I lost that I'd be well whizzed off. (1983) I play a Fender Precision Bass from around ’72. It’s been five different colors; at the moment it’s blue. I use it on tour and in the studio. It has the original Fender pickup and pretty low action. I’ve also got three other Precisions. My 1959, which I bought recently, feels so good. It feels pretty much as good as my ’72. I also have three Ibanez basses, but I don’t really use them. I used one of them on “Run To The Hills”. It’s got sort of a grunting sound, and it’s good for playing really fast because the notes come out clean. I use a DBX 164 Compressor, two Hiwatt Model 109 preamps, two Alectron preamps, six RSD power amps, and eight Marshall 4x12 cabinets with Electro-Voice speakers, which have the best sound. I like getting a lot of bullocks and a tight, driving bottom end without much rumpling. It’s got a lot of treble, as well. (Recent) Tech 21 made this gadget [Steve Harris Signature SH1 preamp/DI] for me, since I can’t take my gear everywhere. It’s an amazing piece of gear. I can’t believe it. I don’t normally say things like that, but I truly believe in it. I couldn’t believe it myself when I heard it. It reproduced my E-V [Electro-Voice] speaker sound. When I toured in Canada in November with Coney Hatch, Andy Curran’s Ampeg rig is as far removed from my sound as possible, and I played the Tech 21 through it and it came out so close to my sound, I was amazed. I was like, “This can’t be real”. At first I thought maybe it was a one-off, but they were able to reproduce [my sound on a consistent basis] — so, basically, we decided to market it. I don’t mind putting my name on something that I use, and I knew I was definitely going to be using this. I’ve even been using it as a DI, as well, when Maiden tours. It’s been an absolute godsend, because it means that we’re able to tour in other parts of the world where E-V speaker cabs are not easy to rent — in some far-flung places of the earth where it’s difficult to transport any gear, I can use the Tech 21 unit. Strings (1992) Yeah. I originally used roundwounds, and if I played a quiet section it screeched so much as I moved my fingers along the strings, moving up barre chords or whatever, that I ended up using the flatwounds, for that reason. Plus you don't churn your fingers up so much. They were interested in me endorsing them, so I said yeah, I'd love to, if it works. (Recent) You use flatwound strings, and yet you’re known for a bright, trebly sound. It’s a bit of a contradiction. It is. The unfortunate part is that I have to change strings every gig. It’s because I sweat so much onstage that they just go dead. That might happen with roundwounds as well, but having said that, the flatwounds also stop all the screeching when you’re playing quieter, slower stuff. And that’s one of the reasons I stopped playing roundwounds—the screeching, and also chopping your fingers up a bit. I love the flatwounds. It’s not for everyone, I suppose. They’re such a heavy gauge that they tend to bow the neck unless you have a really solid neck, like I have. Technique (1992) Do you use the first two fingers of your right hand? And what about nails? Those two, yeah. When I'm recording, I tend to keep the nails longish, to get that treble attack on it. But I can't do that live because they just break off. You just naturally hit the thing harder. There's no point, so I tend to trim them right down. Otherwise I'd just split them and it makes things worse. Do you get much damage to the fingers themselves? Yeah, the first couple of weeks I get blisters. Then they burst. They're really, really sore for a few days, then they go really hard, and that's it. They stay like that for the rest of the tour. The only bugbear is that when you play somewhere really, really hot and get really sweaty, your hands go soft, and that completely changes your sound. Your fingers tend to sort of sink into the strings, almost. And there's nothing you can do about that, it's the temperature of the place. That's why I prefer to play in places that are a little bit colder. Also, that maintains your treble output, and the attack is more even, the fingers stay hard and solid. Very big difference: It's like someone put a muffler over your speakers. So, you just have to add more top-end to try and compensate, but there's not a lot you can do. With the blisters, have you tried putting stuff on to harden them? Yeah [dismissively], tried that. Doesn't work. I tried that Nu Skin stuff, when I've had a blister that's come open, when you're through to the skin underneath, that's really sore. But once you get out playing, get the adrenaline going, you tend to be alright anyway. It hurts a bit, but sometimes the pain—you just grit your teeth and get on with it. Weird. Do you use all four fingers on the left hand? Oh yeah, all four. Obviously I bridge a lot between the first and the last finger, and I do play a lot of bass chords, as I said. I tend to get quite hard skin on the little finger just on the outside edge, because I'm barre-ing a lot. Song writing (1983) I know 90% of what I want, and I’ll work out the melody lines and riffs, build it up layer by layer. I’ve written most of my songs on my own, the melody lines and lyrics. I know what crotchet and a quaver is but that’s about it. I don’t know what scales are. (Recent) When you’re listed as the sole writer on a song, clearly the music and the lyrics are yours, but are you also writing the vocal melodies and guitar harmonies? Yeah. I do the vocal melodies and all that stuff. Sometimes when I’m writing I might take a melody that I think is a part for a guitar and change it to be a vocal melody, or it might be both. An early song, like “Phantom of the Opera,” started off as a riff, and then I put the vocal to it, but I just do it by feel — whatever feels right. How do convey those ideas to others? Do you play an idea on bass or sing it to them? I work it all out. I play bass chords as well, but I’ll usually whistle or hum the melody for the vocal, write the words out, and then I’ll show Bruce what it’s to be sung like.

Can't remember where I found this photo, but yeah

Writing that prompted me to get around to changing the strings on both basses the next morning. Ahhhh, yessss, lovely 🥰 I hadn't really realised how much crispness of attack had been lost.

That prompted me to see what how life had treated him after he jumped ship. He's done, er, okay for himself, we'd have to say

Made in Yamaha's Indonesia factory laminated neck an exact copy of their BB424 neck: 40mm nut, 22mm / 25mm thick at 1st / 12th frets body an alder P bass copy but with Yamaha diagonal-through-body stringing copy of the G&L split MFD pickup 3 versions: shell pink / maple / white 3-ply lake placid blue / rosewood / tort metallic candy apple red / ebony / no pg sell for about £500ish

Every part of my fingers and wrists is capable of getting annoyed with me, and they're most likely to get riled if I get stuck in one tensed up position. So I make sure my bass is hanging where both hands can wiggle around a little. They then tend to look after themselves - if they fancy a slightly different angle to avoid getting weary, they'll do it of their own accord. The worst spot was the left thumb getting bent back all the time overgripping the neck. It's very tempting to really press hard on the back of the neck when learning new stuff, rather than lightly resting.

On DrumChat, some time later in the decade, a thread will start, Who takes a spare kick pedal? and one post will start, "I never used to, until I did a gig in Bridgenorth...."

Grunt, a presenceful focus higher than rumble and lower than poke.

The GHS Boomers on my BB are 4 months old and the Fenders on my Squier P are 3 months old. Both are nickel-plated steel hexcores. With both sets, the richness has dropped out of the sound, and the brilliance has turned into a kind of perfunctory jangle. A usable noise I'm sure, but I miss the intensity and vibrancy.

Would they be supplying any kind of sheet music, eg melody with guitar chords? Or would they expect you simply to know the tunes and busk along?

Did the previous blue sparkle version have the same neck profile? I think that unlike the maple-bodied WHUFC it's alder, and quite a bit lighter. But perhaps without the WHUFC paint job you wouldn't be interested amyway?

I fitted standard RS66s to my BB424 which is string through, and the fit was perfect.

@Bassassin ahem

All of a sudden my Squier has become the Morgan Freeman Precision 😄

500 posts on this TB J neck P bass thread

The vibrato in a voice is a naturally occurring feature, not one created by the singer consciously altering the pitch. The information going from the brain to the voice is in tune; how it comes out depends on faults in vocal technique. The vibrato is totally separate, and can also have faults of its own. A singer deliberately adding a fault to the vibrato to try to mask intonation problems is nothing but someone in a terrible pickle.

There are some songs that, when I call them to mind, the rubbish being spouted by the DJ over the intro on my Taped From The Radio recording is part of the memory

ngl, def still v pleased with it

When John Entwistle commisioned a bass, did he have one bass delivered? No, he had four made and decided which one was the one. I think this is the level to which we should aspire. Order 4 identical Custom Shop basses, pick the one your hands and ears like best and make a wincingly painful loss on the other three

I had never heard of the bassist that my signature P honours 😬

The vast majority of the G&L options are available on the standard built-to-order "Option Order" instruments, so they're no more expensive than the ready-built ones they supply to retailers. You just have to wait a while: waiting time is creeping up towards six months. Their "Custom Shop" costs quite a bit more, adds a few more exotic options, and allows for proper customisation, eg fitting L-2000 humbuckers onto a Jazz.

I came to conclusion that their customer service communications were all automated computer-generated BS. I tried shopping with them twice, received nothing twice, and got a PayPal refund twice. Heaven knows what trying to return anything would be like.