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Basses with provenance!


sshorepunk

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I own a one-off 'red firecrackle' USA Kramer Spector NS2 that was made for Barry Dunaway (who was touring with Yngwie Malmsteen at the time). I saw him playing it on the Odyssey tour at London Dominion Theatre (and then the 'Trial By Fire - Live In Leningrad' DVD) and was blown away by it. I never dreamt it would come up for purchase some 25 years later.... but when it did (on ebay.com through a shop in Miami, Florida) I pounced and made a low ball offer!
I've since become online friends with Barry (who now plays for 38 Special) and he's confirmed that it was indeed his.... and if I ever want to move it on he wants first dibs! I've also got to know the custom spray artist who worked for Kramer/Spector at the time who was commissioned to paint this very bass....

20200615_155605.jpg

Edited by cetera
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The Musicman Sterling I used to own had been used in a demo video for GAK before I got it, I used it to recorded a demo at Graeme Duffin's studio. Graeme is the guitarist with Wet Wet Wet, such a nice guy and an incredible ear. It was amazing watching him work. He put us so much at ease that the guide track we recorded ended up being the one we used for the demo.

I then sold it on to James Glennie who is the founding member of the band James

20190505_161623.thumb.jpg.7531df1328d5ccdf5f2a4689ea3c11de.jpg20190505_161536.thumb.jpg.7b2f600de81584dc05edb82b35bbb477.jpg20190505_161950.thumb.jpg.b2a7af5e2ea0a125f5f1a716510ce8e3.jpg

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My old, ‘63 P Bass was previously owned by Bruce Thomas. It was sourced for him by Barry Moorhouse at the Bass Centre to replace his stolen, salmon pink, P. However, it seems that it wasn’t for him and he eventually sold it back to Barry and thence to me.

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Previous owner of my '83 Ibanez RB920 was Paul Ryder (Happy Mondays).... It was used on their first couple of albums, TOTP performances, videos & live - lots on youtube of it in action. Madchester funk machine!

I don't have any provenance in writing, except some messages on FB, as I'm friends with Paul - asking me if I've still got the bass & if I'm looking after it :) 

20180809_191436.jpg

Edited by nick
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On 15/06/2020 at 18:48, Delberthot said:

The Musicman Sterling I used to own had been used in a demo video for GAK before I got it, I used it to recorded a demo at Graeme Duffin's studio. Graeme is the guitarist with Wet Wet Wet, such a nice guy and an incredible ear. It was amazing watching him work. He put us so much at ease that the guide track we recorded ended up being the one we used for the demo.

I then sold it on to James Glennie who is the founding member of the band James

20190505_161623.thumb.jpg.7531df1328d5ccdf5f2a4689ea3c11de.jpg20190505_161536.thumb.jpg.7b2f600de81584dc05edb82b35bbb477.jpg20190505_161950.thumb.jpg.b2a7af5e2ea0a125f5f1a716510ce8e3.jpg

Guitar with provenance! About thirty five years ago, like an idiot, I sold Graeme my old Epiphone Casino. He still has it, I believe.

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The closest I got to anything with providence is backing out of buying Matt Malley's fretless Musicman as used on Counting Crow's August and Everything After. I kept umming and arring before deciding that I didn't do enough fretless to warrant buying it. Still wish I kinda bought it when he offered me it for sale. 

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On 19/06/2020 at 00:28, TrevorR said:

@silverfoxnik owned the Wal Pro IIE that Nick Beggs used to record Too Shy for a while...

I did @TrevorR, though quite unwittingly..

It was only after I traded it with @Happy Jack that it's true provenance became known.

It was a great bass but even better I believe after Jack had some renovation work done on it. 

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34 minutes ago, silverfoxnik said:

It was only after I traded it with @Happy Jack that it's true provenance became known.

It was a great bass but even better I believe after Jack had some renovation work done on it. 

And I (of course) ended up selling it to @Clarky. Not convinced that I knew about the provenance at that stage.

Incidentally, "had some renovation work done on it" is one of the understatements of the year. It spent months with Paul Herman and came back, quite literally, as good as new.

It took years, but I finally exorcised from my memory how much it all cost ...

 

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I did for a time own the Alleva Coppolo prototype Precision (with two J pickups) that was made for Willie Weeks while touring with Clapton (pictured). Gotta say provenance alone doesn't make me want to keep a bass. Although I would make an exception if Rob Trujillo were to donate Jamerson's bass of doom to me!

Screenshot_20200620-095414_Google.jpg

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When I think about "the basses that matter" - Macca's Hofner, Jamerson's Precision, Squire's Rickenbacker, etc. - I would feel genuinely and utterly embarrassed to find that I owned any of them.

Put in dreadfully predictable terms, I am not worthy. 

It's one thing for a top-notch world-famous bassist to end up owning a famous bass from the past, quite another for a mediocre semi-pro Weekend Warrior like me to have one.

I'm much happier NOT owning a famous bass, with or without provenance.

Additionally, you also need to factor in whether or not you actually like the music that the famous bass was used on. We're talking about Nick Beggs' old Wal here, so let me just point out that one of the main reasons I stopped listening to new music in the 80s was Godawful bands like Kajagoogoo ...

 

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On 15/06/2020 at 21:45, nick said:

Previous owner of my '83 Ibanez RB920 was Paul Ryder (Happy Mondays).... It was used on their first couple of albums, TOTP performances, videos & live - lots on youtube of it in action. Madchester funk machine!

I don't have any provenance in writing, except some messages on FB, as I'm friends with Paul - asking me if I've still got the bass & if I'm looking after it :) 

20180809_191436.jpg

I keep coming back to this thread just to gawp at this. I thought I never ever got GAS but that's an absolute beauty! 

I thought I saw the bassist from actor John Simm's band Magic Alex playing one of these as well, back in the day?  Must be a Manchester thing 😎

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On 14/06/2020 at 14:06, ikay said:

Same as my old Zon Legacy fretless which I bought from John Giblin. Used by JG on various recordings with Kate Bush and Scott Walker, even a James Bond score. I was anticipating a dramatic improvement in my fretless playing but sadly not!

IMG_1892.thumb.JPG.9c553d028efa94212edd2ed9a56f8dce.JPG

Still at least you got an exceptionally beautiful/tasteful looking Bass.

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On 15/06/2020 at 12:40, Bassassin said:

Years ago I had an old Columbus Jazz copy which had a massive Cargo Studios sticker right across the back. Did a bit of digging and found a record of a Columbus J on an ancient gear manifest from the studio - which was for a time co-owned by Peter Hook.

So I like to entertain the idea that Hooky might have had the occasional play on my old Columbus. Tenuous, I admit. 9_9

Check the back for "knee-cap rash"

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8 hours ago, Clarky said:

I did for a time own the Alleva Coppolo prototype Precision (with two J pickups) that was made for Willie Weeks while touring with Clapton (pictured). Gotta say provenance alone doesn't make me want to keep a bass. Although I would make an exception if Rob Trujillo were to donate Jamerson's bass of doom to me!

Screenshot_20200620-095414_Google.jpg

Did Jamerson have a bass of doom as well?

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