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History is written by the victors.


ianrendall

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2 minutes ago, Teebs said:

But would a Fender P smell be more authentic and represent the quintessence of the bass guitar, rather than say, a Gibson, a Yamaha or a Hofner?

Gibsons smell like stale beer, Yamahas smell like new cars and Hofners smell of pipe tobacco. Fenders smell of leather bound books and rich mahogany. 

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Just now, Bridgehouse said:

Funnily enough the smell is often dictated by the glue they used to stick the case lining down with....

Or how many smoky (not any more), sweaty gigs the bass has been used at.

The number of possibilities is endless...

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4 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Being brutally honest, if you're not much of a player it doesn't matter how much you spend on a guitar, cables or amp...

I disagree with that completely.

When I got my first really good bass (an Overwater Original) my playing improved pretty much overnight. Since the instrument was no longer putting any limitations on what I could do, it was all down to me.

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1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

I disagree with that completely.

When I got my first really good bass (an Overwater Original) my playing improved pretty much overnight. Since the instrument was no longer putting any limitations on what I could do, it was all down to me.

Or you played it more... 

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2 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

Or you played it more... 

Actually I played it less. I was only able to buy the Overwater because I had recently started a much better paid job (which came with a much higher level of commitment to my "career"). I certainly didn't put in the hours playing it that I had done for the guitars, basses and synthesisers I had owned before. I also had just bought my first DAW so much of my music time was spent with that rather than just the bass.

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Back to the topic in hand

 

Leo was a radio engineer he knew people in the business, musicians and studio engineers. He also made the Fender bassman to compliment it and the 15" speaker did the business over other bass makers using guitar amps. He gave them away to the right people so word got about. Lionel Hampton insisted his bass players used it rather than the upright. He was a business man and simply made a great product and got it seen being used by top artists. Ampegs, Gibsons and Ricks slipped from view. GAS was born.

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4 hours ago, deepbass5 said:

Back to the topic in hand

 

Leo was a radio engineer he knew people in the business, musicians and studio engineers. He also made the Fender bassman to compliment it and the 15" speaker did the business over other bass makers using guitar amps. He gave them away to the right people so word got about. Lionel Hampton insisted his bass players used it rather than the upright. He was a business man and simply made a great product and got it seen being used by top artists. Ampegs, Gibsons and Ricks slipped from view. GAS was born.

I don't disagree with you concerning Leo - however the Rics and Gibsons etc clearly didn't disappear - unless you ignored people like the Beatles and many others. It wasn't until the later 60s Fenders became more ubiquitous, usually sunburst, in the hands of Larry Taylor, John McVie and Leo Lyons for instance, but even so there were key artists in that period and into the 70s (and beyond....) using Gibson and Rickenbacker. 

In jazz it really wasn't until the late 60s that electric bass started to be accepted more - people like the MJQ were lone beacons and even after the 60s there remained a lot of snobbery in jazz about using uprights. 

Leo, as I understand, tended to err towards the country artists so it's possible Fender electric basses appeared there (and in rock and roll) during the 50s. Studio people were not visible until far more recently. 

Edited by drTStingray
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