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My dad, bass in the sixties


BrunoBass

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I found a couple of photos recently which I thought I’d share, I don’t know if they might be of interest to any of you. It’s my dad, Martyn Gibson, who played bass in the early sixties, before marriage and fatherhood took over. Dad played in a band in Stafford from 1963 to 1965, initially they were called The Countdowns, later The Sneakers, and they played originals and covers, a bit of RnB (Ray Charles etc). They played all around the Midlands. They supported Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, and often played with a band from Leicester who went one to become some of Showaddywaddy. My dad’s first bass was (possibly) a Hagstrom PB-24-G; from my research they were also branded Kent and Selmer but he can’t remember and the headstock isn’t visible in order to identify it properly, but as The Beatles became popular he splashed out on a Hofner 500/1. The shop in Stafford (H.E.Parkes & Sons of St Marys Gate, Stafford) ordered it direct from Hofner in Germany with a hard case for forty pounds (or guineas, he can’t remember). How I wish he’d kept it!  He had a Vox amp (didn’t everyone then?) but he can’t remember exactly which model.

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8721CB1B-1B5C-4386-9AC0-E38E749465D1.jpeg

Edited by BrunoBass
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I was gigging pretty solidly throughout the early '70's in various bands, but have very little photographic evidence. Similar story for other musos of that era I know.

Such a shame, I really regret this now.

Why no pics? - well, buying a roll of film and then having it developed was quite a big deal financially, and there were usually other more important things to spend gig money on - like food, and petrol for the Transit.

 

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1 minute ago, musicbassman said:

Why no pics? - well, buying a roll of film and then having it developed was quite a big deal financially, and there were usually other more important things to spend gig money on - like food, and petrol for the Transit.

............and platform shoes...................

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9 hours ago, Cestrian said:

My Dad played tea chest bass in the Coney Island Skiffle Group. They were on the bill in The Cavern on it’s opening night. No connection with Coney Island. They were from The Wirral. 

And here’s a publicity shot of the aforementioned:

A4060F3C-318D-4FC7-85B4-6FFF4688030C.jpeg

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Most pictures of the band's in the 60s will be posed "publicity" shots. In those days film was slower. This ment shutter speeds would have been very slow in the dim light on stage, so blurred pictures.

In the 70s I was taking pictures of stage acts and stage lighting may appear bright to our eyes, but compared to daylight it's dim.

Flash photography was also difficult in the early days. I remember disposable flash bulbs! They were pathetic compared to today's flash guns.

Good pictures here. It's great to see them.

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  • 9 months later...

@BrunoBass yes definitely a Hagstrom or one of its rebadged variants - I got one second hand in the early 80s with a Futurama logo on it. The whole front of the bass is a single piece plastic molding, you can see the screws holding it on. The body would have been plywood covered in textured vinyl. Red and pale blue were the most common colours. 

Nice looking Burns guitar being sported by the guitarist on the right in the second photo.

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1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

@BrunoBass yes definitely a Hagstrom or one of its rebadged variants - I got one second hand in the early 80s with a Futurama logo on it. The whole front of the bass is a single piece plastic molding, you can see the screws holding it on. The body would have been plywood covered in textured vinyl. Red and pale blue were the most common colours. 

Nice looking Burns guitar being sported by the guitarist on the right in the second photo.

And a sweet Hofner  Verithin like @dad3353 's 

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