EMG456

It's a long time ago now... When I joined Jimmy, most of the Odysseys had been sold - there were two basses - one with the binding and one without and I think, one guitar. this would have been about 1982/3 ish?? Can't honestly remember. Jimmy would visit the Musical Instrument trade fairs- NAMM, Frankfurt etc.- and buy directly from the manufacturers. This was mainly to sell in the shops but he also had a network of contacts in the MI business who would often trade so yes, there was a bit of distribution going too. I would guess that most of the stock of Odysseys were sold in Edinburgh but there may have been a couple of stragglers traded on to other dealers in the UK. It's unlikely that Jimmy would have bought more than one batch of instruments from Atilla- he liked to have high quality stuff in the shops but it's always more difficult to sell than the mass market so once the original buzz had gone and the interest had waned, it becomes all about the profit, as in most businesses. I remember the two Odyssey basses and two graphite necked Alembic Series basses hung about for ages with no interest from the buying public.

In which case yours is the one I have played! I think I maybe also re-strung it as well. I used to work with Jimmy in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

I used to work for Jimmy in the mid 80s and he imported a lot of stuff directly from the manufacturers, both high end - Oddysey, Alembic, Martin, Gurian - and lower end like the Grant branded guitars. Before then, back in the mid 70's I recall a guitar review in International Musician magazine of a Grant Telecaster copy which the reviewer (a noted London based luthier, Stephen Delft) proclaimed that it was in every respect as good as the equivalent Fender offering. They flew out the door after that. So not all Grants were pants!

Join the end of the queue! 😁

Yes, it can process a normal input and apply effects, amp and cab sims etc. but it also takes the output from a GK3 hex pickup. This enables per string processing so that you could have different effects on different strings, do alternate tunings and opens up the V-Bass cosm bass models, where you can choose pickup types and positions, body types (solid, acoustic, semi acoustic etc in order to emulate the sounds of different basses. The Gk3/V-bass setup works for 4,5 or 6 string basses.

Is that the white Jazz in the Build Diaries? I can see how that could be a bit Abba in the right circumstances! 😁 Rutger Gunnerson and Dee Murray always strike me as being struck from the same mould- always fluid, organic basslines which sound as though they just pressed record and let rip. Completely natural and with no trace of sterility or over adherence to the written part. (If there was one)

+1

I have one of these- don’t use it much but it’s still relevant. Nice sounds and built like a tank.

I don’t get this either. Way back when I was just starting, I found it impossible to play a different bass to what I was used to (Rick) but I wanted to use a Precision because I liked the sound for some types of songs. So I persevered and then fell into the “I can only play these songs on that bass” trap. That was pretty much shot when I had to sell most of my basses to be able to afford my first Steinberger. That was virtually my only fretted bass for the next 8 years so everything was played on it! Now I have again lots of different basses and I enjoy them all- 34,33, 32 inch scales, 4/5/6/8 strings, fretted/ fretless, headed/ headless, different neck widths, tapers and depths/ profiles, active/ passive. I just take whichever ones I fancy to the gig and use them. I suspect the thing is, if you’re used to playing a wide variety of different instruments, it’s easy to adapt within seconds. If you exclusively play one type of instrument, it’s more difficult to adjust quickly.

Ha- guilty as charged- I was too lazy to look it up! Didn’t mean to take it off course- I just gave it a listen and heard a guy doing a passable approximation of the original part. I can’t imagine that if you’ve been playing the song, you’re so far away from that version that you need to completely start afresh but you’re the one who knows. I think I’d only be likely to go back to scratch if I was taking the song into another genre for the cover or sometimes for key changes if the original involves a lot of open strings? Also remember that we are often our own harshest critics.

Not being a naysayer here- the guy can certainly play- but that’s not note for note what the great Dion Estuss played on the record. IMO if you’re looking for accuracy, you’d be better listening to the source and then putting your *own* twist on it for any of the parts which don’t easily fall under your fingers.

Thanks for posting this - had me laughing out loud several times. Very, very clever and impeccably executed.

@FlatEric, I remember we spoke about these a while ago but I can't remember if you said whether your other one has the chequered body binding or not - I would love to find one of those!

The album is indeed a classic. As well as Clapton, Chaka Kahn provided a couple of surprise stand out moments on it. Still do On and On with one of my bands- audiences love it!

Dee Murray - one of my all time bass heroes and influences - the music just seemed to flow out of his fingers automatically. Many great parts with non standard note choices but never gave the impression that it was anything other than spontaneous.

Feel free to be irritated then- I do it most gigs and occasionally it’s really useful- how else might you change a broken string out mid-song??!

Never heard Arthur before so thanks - truly excellent. Keep well and take it easy.

Anyone know where the mashers get the raw material for these - isolated vocal tracks etc?

Is it just me - where's the chromatic run in this?

Of course you can - it's a bass!

Great basses - I love my Sub!

@MoJo, you were probably just having an off night. If you've been playing fours exclusively for a while, having the five could feel odd and it probably threw you even when you went back to the four. As with all things music, practise and familiarity is the key. A good five is handy to have around in my opinion but it obviously depends on your priorities and what you want to do. It's not an age thing - I just got delivery of my 60th Birthday bass and it's a 6 string, 32 inch scale fretless. Now I've never played fretless while singing lead vocals before but the temptation to take it to the gig was too much. The playing was fine but the excess of strings and lack of frets apparently causes you to completely forget all your words - who knew! By all means, stick to the fours if that's what you want but for me at least, variety is the spice etc...

The terrific fretless line on Bergerac was the work of Mr Foster also.

Well, just watched the first two of these and have to say like a few others, preferred the drum one. I think essentially the difference between the two is the influence of the presenter. In Stuart Copeland, you have someone who has lived and breathed music and drums from a very early age and has worked at the highest levels both in terms of sales/ popularity and all round musical credibility. In Tina Weymouth, you have someone who was handed a bass at the age of 24 and told to learn it. I'm not belittling her talent here- she has sustained a music biz career for many years so she's obviously doing something right- but more pointing out that her musical experiences seem to me to be much more limited than the likes of Copeland and I think the choices of who/ what to feature reflected that. A programme about bass that misses out Squire, Entwhistle, JPJ? No Stanley Clarke, Jaco, Mick Karnes, Pino? No Larry Graham/ Louis Johnson? No Tony Levin/ Lee sklar? But wastes a few minutes on Dizee Rascal...mmm? On the plus side, she was very personable and had a nice easy way in front of the camera - just needed a more widely informed editorial direction. Anyone know who's doing the guitar one? Hopefully someone like Dave Grohl.