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First ever things


julietgreen
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Well lockdown has forced me to play my first bass solos  - jamming on Jamulus and not having enough soloists to give the keyboard player a break. Hilarious but no pressure. It made me think of the other first times for bass, like the first ever gig. I'd been playing a couple of months when Chris Gibbons (guitar) told me I was going to play with him at a charity gig. Parts of it were ok! I described my first ever sit in on a jazz gig not so long ago. That was kind of breakthrough. One day I'll do my first gig on the DB! That one might be a good while in the future. What about you?

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In 1968 the band I played 'rhythm guitar' with (using a Watkins Rapier 33) packed up after its first disastrous gig at a local yoof club, and I then decided to change to bass. My first bass I bought was this Danelectro Longhorn, from a local secondhand shop for £45.

By the way, the white toggle switches were made of wood. I bet the later reissues were plastic.

image.png.efaaec756a6d0dd25ee70986665e3997.png

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2 hours ago, musicbassman said:

In 1968 the band I played 'rhythm guitar' with (using a Watkins Rapier 33) packed up after its first disastrous gig at a local yoof club, and I then decided to change to bass. My first bass I bought was this Danelectro Longhorn, from a local secondhand shop for £45.

By the way, the white toggle switches were made of wood. I bet the later reissues were plastic.

image.png.efaaec756a6d0dd25ee70986665e3997.png

At least if you died on stage, you could use this to dig your own grave. 

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3 hours ago, musicbassman said:

In 1968 the band I played 'rhythm guitar' with (using a Watkins Rapier 33) packed up after its first disastrous gig at a local yoof club, and I then decided to change to bass. My first bass I bought was this Danelectro Longhorn, from a local secondhand shop for £45.

By the way, the white toggle switches were made of wood. I bet the later reissues were plastic.

You still got the Dano? 

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1 hour ago, casapete said:

You still got the Dano? 

I very foolishly buggered it up in the early '70's by sending it up to John Birch in Birmingham to have a R... (don't mention that word) pup fitted, to try and beef up the sound. But apart from being a bit louder there was no difference. I didn't understand at the time how important string length was on a bass, so I was really just trying to get the frequencies of a 34" string out of a 30" string.

The Danelectro was extremely light and was made of a hardboard face and back with a hollow body. There was no way the poor thing was ever going to produce useful bass frequencies, and really only suited pick playing. So, a stylish and some might say iconic bass ruined through my ignorance. I eventually sold it to a guitarist friend and don't know what happened to it after that.

I cannot remember where the R... pup came from, it was one of the early ones with a split magnet shroud.

Here I am using the Dan with the pup fitted at some gig around 1973.  I changed to a P soon after this....

Yes, and my hair was this long!

 

Symbols at Stockton 001.jpg

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Great pic!

Unusual mod on the Dano, John Birch modified so many basses back then.  I’ve had a few Longhorns and really like them. Still got one, a late 90’s Korean model and it's one of those basses I can’t see me parting with.

Sorry for the thread derail!

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33 minutes ago, Maude said:

Has it got standard bass tuners rather than the little guitar ones? 

Can't remember - maybe John Birch changed the tuners as well - they don't look like the originals, do they ?

I realise the picture was taken at Stockton Fiesta, a big cabaret nightclub there at the time. Long gone, I expect.   :scratch_one-s_head:

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21 minutes ago, musicbassman said:

Can't remember - maybe John Birch changed the tuners as well - they don't look like the originals, do they ?

I realise the picture was taken at Stockton Fiesta, a big cabaret nightclub there at the time. Long gone, I expect.   :scratch_one-s_head:

And a curly lead for added coolness. I spy a thunderbird guitar as well don't I? 

A very cool picture. 😎

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39 minutes ago, Maude said:

And a curly lead for added coolness. I spy a thunderbird guitar as well don't I? 

A very cool picture. 😎

Gibson Firebird in the background I think. Machine heads on the Dano definitely not original, look like 70’s Schallers maybe? 

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10 hours ago, musicbassman said:

In 1968 the band I played 'rhythm guitar' with (using a Watkins Rapier 33) packed up after its first disastrous gig at a local yoof club, and I then decided to change to bass. My first bass I bought was this Danelectro Longhorn, from a local secondhand shop for £45.

By the way, the white toggle switches were made of wood. I bet the later reissues were plastic.

image.png.efaaec756a6d0dd25ee70986665e3997.png

I've still got my Watkins Rapier 33.  I've owned it for almost 50 years.  Should I change the strings? :)

Frank.

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1 hour ago, machinehead said:

I've still got my Watkins Rapier 33.  I've owned it for almost 50 years.  Should I change the strings? :)

I had a Rapier 33, picked it up at a local car boot along with a ruined Kay Strat copy, think I paid £12 for the both. The Rapier was a really cool & interesting old guitar, played not bad after a bit of work. Lots of curious details - set neck, no truss rod, and fitted with switches from a Morphy-Richards hairdryer. Can't remember the specifics now but the trem impressed me with its simplicity & compactness. Odd finish, almost like it had been plastic-coated, unfortunately quite badly cracked.

Mine dated to '62 as far as I could work out - which, if I got it right, made it the only YOB instrument I've ever owned. Seems they were real garden-shed jobs back in the early days, hand-wound pickups & whatever components could be put to use - hence the switches, I guess.

That's one I sort of wish I'd hung onto, doubt I'll run into another.

 

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A mate taught me 5 chords at a party. Blues in A and E. We learned half a dozen songs in said keys and played a gig at a CIU club in West Alotment in 1967. I was 15 and also had to sing in public for the first time. I bet the miners and their wives just loved it.

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