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Dee Dee Ramone's Precision Bass


WHUFC BASS
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The singer in my band is an old git and went to see the Ramones back in the day. Anyway, at the concert, Dee Dee handed the bass down into the audience and our singer had to fight tooth and nail to get it but got it in the end. Anyway, he used to be in a band years ago and their bass player used to use it. He's still got it and brought it round the other day. Its a 78 Precision in white (although is discoloured now) with a red scratchplate. Originally it had a silicone sealing around the plate and pickups to stop moisture getting in (that was Dee Dee's mod) but the jack socket end was cracked so he replaced it with an identical one, made by the same people who supplied Dee Dee's one. It's a pig to play with high action and doesn't sound that great to be honest. Typical precision sound but the output isn't all that great. Everything's original apart from one tuner and the strap pins.

If you look here, you can see it in action. a few days later, this bass was safely sitting in my mates house.

Here's some pics of it.

Edited by WHUFC BASS
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Being an old git too I remeber reading a guitar mag article back in the day where Dee Dee said his basses were stock apart from being full of silicon, even the journalist at the time did not seem to know what he meant and thought he may have been talking about active electronics but it makes sense now.

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Here is my Ramones gig story. :)

(As a young pup of just 17) I went to see [b]The Ramones [/b]supported by [i]The Boys [/i]and [i]TenPole Tudor[/i], then the next night we saw [i]The Slits [/i]suppoted by [i]The Pop Group[/i] and [i]The Raincoats[/i], at London's Electric Ballroom in march of 1980. The gig was so hot that Dee Dee's bass was going out of tune every 5 minutes. The Electric Ballroom was always hot when packed but this was the hottest it had ever been apparently, and this was only in March. Apparently the already inadequate ventilation system was broken. The Ramones got so pissed off, that after 20 minutes they insisted that the side doors next to the stage were opened or they would not carry on. When the side door opened you could see the entire audience steaming away as the heat rose rose from and contacted the cold air from the open doors.

Fantastic gig though. The Ramones in their prime.
some pics from the gig, not taken by me.

The Ramones at that very same Electric Ballrom gig. This is taken during one of the opening numbers, and [i]there is the very bass[/i]
unless he always bought the same white P bass ?maybe he did. It would be interesting to find out the year the bass in question was
given away by Dee Dee?


A short while later Sans leather jackets.

Edited by daz
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That's the same bass as far as I know. Its funny you should say this, the gig that our singer got the bass was at the Roundhouse in Camden as far as I can remember - just up the road from the Electric Ballroom.

He had to really fight for the bass, throwing punches all over the place as everyone was grabbing it. All the strings were ripped off it in the process. He had another set-to on the way out when someone challenged him for the bass. He was quite handy in his younger days which was just as well otherwise he wouldn't have got this out of the building.

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Scuba Demon!

As soon as I saw this thread in the index I thought about the silicon thing as I remembered an article from something like International Musician where he mentioned filling the bass with silicon and the interviewer didn't know if he meant active controls (like silicon chips I guess) or not.

Quite a thing to see you mentioning the same thing and great to finally unravel a strange mystery like that!

Great post!

Jim D

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Tell him to get it listed internationally. The Ramones are an institution in the States, there's even a street named after Joey Ramone in New York (well, if not a whole street then a 'corner' anyway, lol).

I saw the Ramones at the Roundhouse, supported by Talking Heads & The Saints I think. They played there a few times though so probably a different gig, lol.

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[quote name='molan' post='1084190' date='Jan 10 2011, 01:41 PM']there's even a street named after Joey Ramone in New York (well, if not a whole street then a 'corner' anyway, lol).[/quote]

Yeah, Joey Ramone Place, off Bowery.

Nice bit of RnR history that bass. I only have some signed, original LPs :)

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I really like the backstory to basses/guitars ,Rory gallagher Strat and all that.

Interesting to hear about the action being high - I presume intentionally so? I remember reading an interview with Alan Lancaster, the original Status Quo bassist ,who said that in the '70's he set his action really high when playing live - can't remember why he did it but I thought it a bit bonkers!

Was Dee Dee in the habit of handing out his basses? Are there others kicking about?

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[quote name='WHUFC BASS' post='1085586' date='Jan 11 2011, 03:21 PM']Spoke to the singer today. He's taking it down to Sotheby's who have said that it should sell for quite a sum. As mentioned, there's a fair bit of history involved with that bass.[/quote]

Thats a good idea, hope he has a sensible reserve on it. Let us all know when its up for auction.

Can you ask him if he went to the Electric Ballrom gig i mentioned and if he remembers it? (The Ramones / The Boys / Ten Pole Tudor)

Edited by daz
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