Cosmo Valdemar

I'm honoured to be the first entry on this thread! I achieved this by selling my Squier CV Precision to Mr DR. A pleasure to deal with, great comms throughout. Enjoy the bass!

[quote name='rushbo' timestamp='1431293138' post='2769789'] 10CC were the first band I ever saw - in 1978, with "Dreadlock Holiday" in the charts. They are still a fantastic live band and I'm off to see them for the 20th(?) time at the Royal Albert Hall later this month. GG is rightly renowned for his incredible songwriting, but his Bass playing ain't too shabby, neither. All of the "classic" era material was recorded using his trusty R!ckenb*cker which sounds glorious. If you only know 10CC for the hits, check out the albums - the best Pop/Rock album of the 70's IMHO was "Sheet Music", but all of the first five albums are essential. Here's the band getting all Proggy with an ace little Bass solo around 9.15... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xlqS3X-TUo [/quote] Edited. That's some tasty playing there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUeRghINsGE Some great little bass runs in here.

I've always thought of GG as a songwriter and musician who just happens to play the bass. He's clearly equally adept on guitar. Still, some wonderful basslines to be found. I do love 10cc but I do have to be in the mood - sometimes they can be just the wrong side of smug. But I could listen to Kevin Godley singing the phone book, such a beautiful voice from a big hairy man.

[quote name='Old_Ben' timestamp='1431273809' post='2769495'] Then they'll probably be in the small room, and tiny stage, this is almost certainly not worth the hassle speaking from experience, esp if they are outside of London. Sounds like the typical promoter doing no real work and just taking money of unsuspecting bands. (Make sure they don't get in a situation where they have to supplement a shortfall on ticket sales out of their own pocket. [/quote] My old band played the small room a couple of times. Very much pay to play, in hindsight, although we roped in plenty of mates so we got away with it. It was for a company called Wild Plum, I think. Best avoid

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1431168627' post='2768428'] It reminds me a bit of the Wishbass video with Mr. Wishbass himself jamming on a fretless bass in his back garden. [/quote] I loved that video. One of the Internet's finest moments. It's gone now.

The clip didn't quite live up to the horrors promised in your thread title

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1431109101' post='2767953'] Fair shout, just throwing in some techy stuff I've come across that people may (or probably won't) find interesting and/or useful if they are trying to chase tones. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcTOnIfmOY"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcTOnIfmOY[/url] [/quote] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcTOnIfmOY"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcTOnIfmOY That sounds fantastic! Contains infuriatingly little information though - apparently a jazz pickup hidden under the scratchplate? Why aren't we all hiding jazz pickups in our Precision basses?!

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1431106106' post='2767901'] I disagree with the notion that 'only a Rick sounds like a Rick', because most Ricks don't sound like Ricks either. :rolleyes [/quote] The whole point of the thread was to light-heartedly debunk this 'myth'. And to share some cool music.

I've never heard of them but anything's an improvement over that Boss pedal...

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1431097513' post='2767816'] The restoration in that link is much later of course, probably work done for when RG used the Ric again briefly around the mid-90's and didn't even use it for whole gigs then (recall it coming out for the odd song or two on the Pupendicular tour around 1996). The [i]original[/i] mods must have been done pre 1974 because, as mentioned before, he wasn't in the band by then, so the date mentioned on the Dawksound page is wrong or there was yet more work done after he'd quit Purple. [/quote] Indeed, the restoration was quite a recent thing. Pity they didn't put Rick pickups in it though - he played it on Smoke on The Water at the Roundhouse a couple of years ago and it could have been anything.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1431063999' post='2767384'] Also there was an indie rock band called 'A'. [/quote] They called themselves 'A' so they would be first on the racks at HMV. True story.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1431076344' post='2767497'] Pretty sure I've seen pics of him using it in Purple? [/quote] Yeah, loads of pictures and live clips of Glover using the bass with DP. Odd though, Glover's modified Rick was Jetglo, whereas the one in the link looks more like a burst of some description. Here's a more in-depth piece about the restoration! [url="http://www.rauenguitars.com/pages/roger_glover.html"]http://www.rauenguitars.com/pages/roger_glover.html[/url]

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1431033909' post='2767243'] Cheers. Do you happen to know what he used it on? [/quote] Glover's modified Rick is on "Who Do We Think We Are?". Compare the tone to that on "Machine Head" - it's much fatter, but woollier and with less definition. Still has a noticeable Rick flavour, though.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1431027656' post='2767143'] Didn't Lemmy put Gibbo pups in his? [/quote] Lemmy is well known for replacing the neck pickup. One had a Thunderbird pickup, another had a Bartolini, amongst others. I never understood why as he only uses the bridge pickup... Lemmy once described Rickenbacker pickups as sounding like 'chewing corrugated iron'. He seems to like the humbuckers they use on his signature model though.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1431023506' post='2767073'] OMG, that isn't Roger Glover's old one is it? [/quote] Pete Agnew from Nazareth had the same mods. Here's an interesting bit about Glover's: http://www.dawksound.com/bass.html

There are plenty of bands/styles I dislike, but few of them actually 'bother' me. Except that is for The Doors. I think the hatred is worsened by the adulation and worship heaped upon them , particularly Morrison. Gah! Oh, and Guns n' Roses, but I can put that entirely down to the vocal stylings of Mr Rose. Funnily, considering he ripped off the style completely, I love a bit of Nazareth.

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1431016952' post='2766970'] May 2011. They only wanted £2400 for it.... [/quote] It lives!

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1430937684' post='2766189'] [attachment=191403:Mike Rutherford twin neck.jpg] I believe this is a Dick Knight 12/6-string bass which apparently Rutherford couldn't get on with. [/quote] Interesting! Never seen that one before. I believe Mr Knight is no longer with us but the company lives on - his son runs it now apparently. There's a website but no mention of these basses. I might send him an email to see if he can shed any light. [url="http://www.knight-guitars.com/"]http://www.knight-guitars.com/[/url]

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1431007143' post='2766838'] I thought this thread was about a down market version of the famous Cuban Band. [/quote]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1430998355' post='2766680'] Yup, the whole thing is a bit weird. An old friend of mine (Dave Pomeroy) is a pro bass player out of Nashville, pretty well thought-of, and he routinely tours with a number of fairly big-name headliners, especially in the world of rockabilly and country. He's over today with Sleepy LaBeef, who's not well-known in this country but should be, to headline at a big Rockabilly festival on Saturday night. Before flying back to Nashville on Monday they then go on to play Sunday night at ...erm ... Dartford Social Club. Go figure. [/quote] Dave Pomery who used to have the column in Bass Player mag? In Dartford?! I might pop along!

How dare you!

[quote name='Phil Adams' timestamp='1430899515' post='2765619'] I suppose this is going off topic really, sorry, but I was enthralled by that Renaissance track, I didn't realise they were THAT good. Annie is just awesome, and that bass, whatever tone it is, is just brilliant. [/quote] Beautiful isn't it?

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1430868414' post='2765499'] I always say it the person who's playing the bass that dictates tone and sound. Not the bass, strings, or the amp. If I were to get up and play through Larry Graham's rig I would sound like me, not Larry Graham. But that's just me. Blue [/quote] Different argument entirely. My post was about how the fabled 'unique' Rickenbacker tone can apparently be acheived by a bass with very different electronics, something I always doubted possible. FWIW, the idea that tone and sound is dictated solely by the player, rather than the gear, is one I find ludicrous. But that's another thread.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1430894382' post='2765565'] Are we sure that's an actual Rickenbacker and not a John Birch copy? [/quote] It's not a Rickenbacker - it's a custom made by Dick Knight. Not the classical guitar-style slotted headstocks. Little can be found of it's history online though sadly. I've edited the original post now to make it clear this isn't a Rick, but just sounds remarkably like one!