BassBod Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I suspect that bass is safer in Metallica's fortress than elsewhere...its a relic, but its a bass...reconstructed from the wreck that JP posted to Kevin Kaufman. Enjoy the music he left us, leave the relics to history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I remember an old story where somebody was listening to Jaco practicing on that bass...once he finished the listener commented on how amazing the bass sounded, Jaco put it down and stepped away from it and asked "Really? Well how good does it sound now?". As good as Robert may be - he is no Jaco Pastorius...he was special. The bass is a bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles'tone Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 The way I question I always have about it all is this: It's widely known and accepted that Jaco's bass of doom was stolen from him. When it surfaced again all those years later it is still stolen property isn't it? Surely the police could simply gone to the vintage guitar dealer who had it and just taken it back and returned the stolen goods to it's rightful owner/next of kin? Seems fair to me. Raising money to buy back what really is theirs shouldn't have been an issue for the Pastorius family anyway. I guess the law was against them in some way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurhenry Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 [quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1372108055' post='2121811'] I guess the law was against them in some way.[/quote] Again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 [quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1372108055' post='2121811'] The way I question I always have about it all is this: It's widely known and accepted that Jaco's bass of doom was stolen from him. When it surfaced again all those years later it is still stolen property isn't it? [/quote] Depends whether it was stolen or whether it was sold/given away/pawned/left on a park bench by a homeless person on a bipolar hypomanic/manic episode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pobrien_ie Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 [quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1372108055' post='2121811'] The way I question I always have about it all is this: It's widely known and accepted that Jaco's bass of doom was stolen from him. When it surfaced again all those years later it is still stolen property isn't it? Surely the police could simply gone to the vintage guitar dealer who had it and just taken it back and returned the stolen goods to it's rightful owner/next of kin? Seems fair to me. Raising money to buy back what really is theirs shouldn't have been an issue for the Pastorius family anyway. I guess the law was against them in some way. [/quote] I can see both sides. The fact that it was supposedly stolen would allow the family to feel somewhat aggrieved. Wasn't he living rough at the time? I suppose it's possible it wasn't 'stolen' at all. One of the stories with Jamerson's Funk Machine is similar. Rumour had he sold it before his death. The now common photos of an older Jameron showing off a bass that is not his '62 P Bass could back that up. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that. If RT is willing to return the bass for what he paid, that would seem fair to me. Just my tuppence... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles'tone Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 (edited) [quote name='pobrien_ie' timestamp='1372109150' post='2121845'] I can see both sides. The fact that it was supposedly stolen would allow the family to feel somewhat aggrieved. Wasn't he living rough at the time? I suppose it's possible it wasn't 'stolen' at all. One of the stories with Jamerson's Funk Machine is similar. Rumour had he sold it before his death. The now common photos of an older Jameron showing off a bass that is not his '62 P Bass could back that up. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that. If RT is willing to return the bass for what he paid, that would seem fair to me. Just my tuppence... [/quote] Yes good points there. The fact that RT owns the bass and lets Jaco's sons have access whenever they want and will hand it over if they give him back what he paid for it is the best outcome possible in reality. RT took Jaco's bass to NAMM last year and let a few people play it. Good on him for sharing it with the wider bass world. Better than some collector buying it and hiding it away from everyone again. Edited June 24, 2013 by miles'tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblueplanet Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 [quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1372096694' post='2121566'] Did Jaco own the bass from brand new? [/quote] No, it's a '62 and he bought it in the early 70's already converted as a fretless and then had it fixed up to his preference. He says it was already beat up when he got it. He smashed it on stage while playing with John McLaughlin. A luthier rebuilt it, finishing it with a veneer. I prefer his '60 fretted jazz which some old dude now owns. Im surprised Fender don't want to buy it for their museum or ask for access to measure/photograph it for a more accurate Custom Shop replica. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacker Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 Thing is, it's not really the Bass of Doom! Kaufmann put that quilted top on it so it's gonna sound different, isn't it, notwithstanding any changes to pups and harness. For me, the thing is still stolen property but, as many of us who have spotted our nicked gear in a hock-shop, the dealer will undoubtedly say to the cops that he 'bought it in good faith'! Has the Pastorius family asked for its return?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 60,000? You could get a new one for less than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alstocko Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 (edited) Apparently, according to Felix, him and Trullijo get on well, and he used the bass on the new Yellowjackets album (came out yesterday, well worth a listen!) As for who "deserves" to own it, it doesn't matter what I think. I won't lose any sleep over the subject... Edited June 27, 2013 by alstocko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 [quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1372325143' post='2124233'] For me, the thing is still stolen property but, as many of us who have spotted our nicked gear in a hock-shop, the dealer will undoubtedly say to the cops that he 'bought it in good faith'![/quote] How do you know it was stolen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles'tone Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 (edited) Yup, here's Felix talking about the Bass Of Doom, RT and the Yellowjackets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWocurALC1A Edited March 24, 2014 by icastle Link fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacker Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 (edited) [quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1372343702' post='2124591'] How do you know it was stolen? [/quote] I don't [i]know[/i] that 100%; do you know otherwise?? However, the general consenus is that it was stolen, not long after it got banjaxed by a taxi-cab and then repaired, or something to that effect. Edited June 27, 2013 by Stacker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cellario Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 Watching that Felix video, it just strikes me what a decent, humble character Felix is. A lot of siblings of 'famous' parents are real ar**holes*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 (edited) [quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1372344993' post='2124613'] Yup, here's Felix talking about the Bass Of Doom, RT and the Yellowjackets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWocurALC1A [/quote] What a beautiful man. Edited March 24, 2014 by icastle Link fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 (edited) [quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1372362490' post='2124944'] I don't [i]know[/i] that 100%; do you know otherwise?? However, the general consenus is that it was stolen, not long after it got banjaxed by a taxi-cab and then repaired, or something to that effect. [/quote] What we do know is that during this period Jaco was suffering from extreme hypomanic/manic episodes that were more pronounced than those he had suffered previously. He'd lost/rejected his family, his home, his career and was living rough. It's a horrible illness and makes people prone to patterns of behaviour, particularly impulsiveness, that most people find impossible to relate to. It might be difficult to believe that someone would lose a bass of that calibre through anything other than theft, but he'd already thrown another favoured pre-CBS jazz into Hiroshima bay (after shaving his head and painting his face black) and he'd already smashed "the Bass of Doom" into 10 pieces by throwing it down a concrete stairwell during an argument... or was it a girlfriend who threw it out a taxi? There's a couple of different stories as to how the bass got smashed, and this underlines another feature of bipolar disorder... it causes sufferers to distort the truth. Have a read of this: [url="http://www.bipolarcentral.com/articles/articles-107-1-The-Three-Worst-Things-That-Bipolar-Disorder-Causes.html"]http://www.bipolarce...der-Causes.html[/url] Okay, Jaco said his bass was stolen, but he wasn't the most reliable witness. If it was genuinely stolen, it should have been a simple matter for the family to get it back, surely? This is what Mary Pastorius wrote about him: [quote][size=4][color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The truth is that my father was mentally ill. He was suffering from a severe chemical imbalance, manic depressive illness. He didn't do anything to catch it or cause it, although he definitely aggravated it with many things. His warped perceptions of reality and all of the bizarre behaviors that went along with them can be attributed to manic episodes that sometimes reached psychotic heights. Some people can't or don't want to believe this. Some people have put him on a pedestal and can't accept him being "flawed". Some people, on the other hand, think my father was a f***up who couldn't get his s**t together, thus birthing the manic-depressive "excuse" to tidy up some messy memories.[/quote][/font][/color][/size] Edited June 28, 2013 by dlloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacker Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 (edited) I guess the bass could have been stolen many times through carelessness. And, yes, his illness/state of mind no doubt had a lot to do with his seemingly cavalier attitude towards it in his later days. Anywa, for me, that isn't the BOD, not any more. And I must say I detested that vid of 'name' bassists who sat down and salivated over it when it resurfaced. If we're going along the lines that a bass nicked/lost/sold 30-odd years ago cannot have its history tracked, then RT has a right to keep it if he bought it and it's up him if he wants to gift it to the Pastorius family. Edited June 28, 2013 by Stacker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblueplanet Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 One of the most sought-after stolen basses has to be James Jamerson's "funk machine' '62 P bass. You would imagine this popping up again by now. Or how about Macca's gold Hofner? Can't be difficult to spot that? Jaco's and these other guys' bass-playing talents will outlive any instrument they used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cellario Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 You've got to hand it to Felix for sticking his stuff out there with Jacos reputation as being 'The Worlds Greatest Bass Player'. How could you follow that? His style is nothing like his dads though I've seen vids of him nailing the Jaco stuff....also says he's self taught!! Interesting stuff with The Yellowjackets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblueplanet Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Imagine walking in to a guitar store and finding one of Jaco's basses? Well, this guy did just that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentalextra Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I dont think Jaco really valued his instrument in the way that we do. It was functional and serviceable but clearly wasnt "cosseted" or showered with love. He knew his fingers were the real magic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblueplanet Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 [quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1374411452' post='2148417'] I dont think Jaco really valued his instrument in the way that we do. It was functional and serviceable but clearly wasnt "cosseted" or showered with love. He knew his fingers were the real magic [/quote] Agreed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkgod Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 (edited) This is intresting.... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp1L-Vw0Ems[/media] Edited July 21, 2013 by funkgod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the boy Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 If I owned the bass of doom and Jacos lad came knocking on my door looking for the bass back, I'd invite him in. I'd get the measure of him and if I thought he deserved it, I'd give it to him. If I thought he was tryin it on or maybe lookin to get it back so he could make a few quid, I would tell him he can have it for what I paid for it. I'm a fair guy, maybe not as fair as the devil but I'm fairer than most. That's how I'd play it and I reckon that's how it's being played right now. Finders keepers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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