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Mark King & the 'new' Status T-Bass?


lowregisterhead

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13 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

Just interested, but didn't Lodestone do this type of headstock. ? Or did Status get there first. Its such a great design, but im sure more costly. 

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The screenshot of the Status website above showing the T bass page is something I remember from their website going back some 13 years or so and I'm not sure how long it had been up before I first saw it. I'm not sure how long Lodestone have been doing it.

 

I have lusted over that picture of the honey burst T bass with the gold hardware many a time, I'd love one.

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I think that the original one came out around 1996. I had a sonic blue 5 string. It was ok but probably at that time I didn't realise that I don't like Jazz basses in terms of sound.

There was an ad in Bassist magazine for a shop selling them off cheaper - might have been Musical Exchanges. £699 rings a bell or it might have been £749 for the 5 string

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On 3/24/2018 at 22:43, AndyTravis said:

Yeah, Mark Gooday of Ashdown (and previously Trace Elliot) was involved with both basses.

I’m pretty certain an agreement was made that the T-Bass could return as a Status if the Ashdown basses (lodestone) could feature Rob Green’s ETS headstock design.

 

I did a quick search for Lodestone, and the company was dissolved in 2012... maybe the quirky headstock wasn't so popular after all.

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On 3/24/2018 at 22:43, AndyTravis said:

Yeah, Mark Gooday of Ashdown (and previously Trace Elliot) was involved with both basses.

I’m pretty certain an agreement was made that the T-Bass could return as a Status if the Ashdown basses (lodestone) could feature Rob Green’s ETS headstock design.

 

I did a quick search for Lodestone, and the company was dissolved in 2012... maybe the quirky headstock wasn't so popular after all.

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MK used one with Gizmodrome on their recent Italy show. With a pick. And he's said recently that he's also started using a heavier gauge string. 

It's true that in recent years his tone has become thinner since using the KingBass model, but to me it is only apparent on recorded stuff (the Metropolis gig video is a prime example of this). Live, (as in actually being in the same room with him) his sound has always been powerful, but very different to his Jaydee / Alembic days. From what I've heard of him playing the T-Bass his sound has fattened up somewhat, which is a good thing I think. 

It's easy to be cynical when it comes to Mark's association with Status, the countless tweaks on his KingBass being the main reason for this, but remember this: Status did pretty well without Mark's high profile use while he was using his Alembics pretty much exclusively at the end of the 80s/early 90s, players like Jaz Lochrie, Michael McKeegan, and Mike Porcaro were swinging their Statii about while everyone else was going back to vintage Fenders, and Status have always sold instruments regardless of artist endorsement. If I was a luthier and someone as high profile as Mr King wanted to use my basses exclusively, I'd be a fool to turn him down. It's business after all innit? 😊

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2 hours ago, Rumple said:

When I saw him play a few weeks ago he was using this red Status jazz bass.

 

That's the T-Bass he used for the Italian gig. Interesting that in a recent BGM interview he said that they wouldn't be going out and playing Police songs or Level 42 songs because that wasn't the point of the Gizmodrome project, and yet here we are....

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3 minutes ago, Grassie said:

That's the T-Bass he used for the Italian gig. Interesting that in a recent BGM interview he said that they wouldn't be going out and playing Police songs or Level 42 songs because that wasn't the point of the Gizmodrome project, and yet here we are....

Yup and I think they did a King Crimson song too ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder if it's because when they went to Italy their back line never turned up & they had to borrow stuff & it put Mark on to normal gauge strings & the T bass being a longer neck holds the tension better ?  Plus it's a great bass I wish I hadn't sold mine .

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34 minutes ago, Kevin Dean said:

I wonder if it's because when they went to Italy their back line never turned up & they had to borrow stuff & it put Mark on to normal gauge strings & the T bass being a longer neck holds the tension better ?  Plus it's a great bass I wish I hadn't sold mine .

I have it on good authority that Mark bought a 60's jazz a couple of years ago and fell in love with it, hence his shift to a more j-bass style instrument. There are probably contractual reasons why it has to be a Status, of course...

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12 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

It’s not ticking many boxes for me. Which I would loved it to have done...

Yeah! Exactly... on paper it looks great... loved all the heritage bands: 80s Crimson, Police and Level 42 (well early L42)... But in action... talent tribute band for anyone of the above.

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On 4/9/2018 at 06:44, visog said:

Is it me or is the whole Gizmodrome thing all a bit, 'welcome to our new direction...'?

It's doing nothing for me. And a glance at my cd collection tells you I'll buy almost anything.

Edited by uk_lefty
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Back to the bass.  The latest info on this bass is now on the Status website. Price list looks like £2 grand ish for a 4 string so not bad for a Status bass I guess.  I'm interested so far but will want to try one out first and will like to see what other mortals think about it before pulling a trigger.

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