EMG456

On 21/03/2019 at 10:07, BigRedX said:

We've already done this. Please try and keep up.

I’m trying to keep up but when did we do this? I just reckoned everybody was ignoring this as being to controversial for this site what with the rickenfaker rules.

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.

11 hours ago, NikNik said:

Mine was the one with the two Bart buckers and herringbone binding. IIRC, Jimmy Grant had the full range of these basses, inc a B100 fretless with an unlined ebony board and a B100 with what looked like an MXR 6 or 7-band graphic inside it.

Dunno if my one's still in the Lothians. As mentioned in the Grants are Pants thread, I'd like her back!

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.

4 hours ago, Geek99 said:

The bass I built is intended as a tribute to him, he is to my mind exactly what a bass player should be

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)

7 hours ago, Geek99 said:

He was heavily into Swedish folk also. He originally auditioned for benny as a singer in a band called the hootenanny singers. Bass hero of mine 

+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.

35 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

EDIT: It's Deon Estus by the way 😏

Ha- guilty as charged- I was too lazy to look it up!

33 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Absolutely it's not, nor was my original interpretation. As I say it's the feel, the way he drives the song forwards that improves the way I'd been playing it. I'm not slavishly recreating the original bass line rather trying yo breathe life into the way my band plays  it. 

The post is really about starting over when one has already learned something in a particular way. The difficulty of unlearning muscle memory, the joys of perpetual discovery, embracing as wide a range of ideas and influences as possible and thereby enriching one's knowledge and skill set. 

Of course everyone is free to take the discussion in any direction they like. 

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.

At £800 this is a steal.

It's a second generation XQ4 with an active circuit and the Nashville serial number means it's a proper original Steinberger blend neck (no truss rod) as opposed to the early 2000's MusicYo reissues which had Moses necks on them. For anyone who fancies trying the Steinberger vibe but doesn't like the aesthetic of the L series, it is ideal!

GLWTS!

2 hours ago, FlatEric said:

Why, thank you.

Series/parallel to each pick-up and the third one in is in/out of phase - two vol and two tone.

Cheers. : )

@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?

7 hours ago, bazzbass said:

well, Dusty again, tough bassline to master.Sounds like JPJ too?

 

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

On ‎25‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 16:38, winterfire666 said:

I'm not interested in any other basses, I've already got the traditional bass covered.  I don't think you can directly compare one of these with anything else on the market.

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...

2 hours ago, lowdown said:

"One of Foster's most memorable bass lines was in the theme tune to the late-70s UK TV show 'Minder' starring Dennis Waterman. The tune, 'I Can Be So Good For You' started out life as a track on Waterman's solo album, it was then re-jigged as the show's theme tune. He achieved the atypical bass sound by using an unusual bass slap technique on an aluminium Kramer 650B bass guitar."

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