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Who owns Gordy and Gordon Smith basses?


JanSpeeltBas
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Review of my GS Galaxy (with strange punctuation) & another: [url="http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/product/Gordon+Smith/Galaxy/10/1"]http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews...ith/Galaxy/10/1[/url]
Haven't tried any of the solid bodies, but they're generally very simple, un-fancy versions of American classics, hand built and beautifully made and finished. Think they only make guit*rs now. :)

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Is this guy playing one..?



He's bassist for Black Hack - [url="http://www.myspace.com/blackhackmusic"]http://www.myspace.com/blackhackmusic[/url] - a band that my former drummer now plays with...

I thought it looked kinda familiar, but couldn't quite place it.

IIRC, Tony Clarkin from Magnum played Gordy Guitars in the late 80's/early 90's,

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Definitely a Gordy bass that! They made two models in that shape, one was the `Blueshift', the other was the `Redshift' - one had a single soapbar pickup, the other had two. The bass in the pic has been modded with a J type unit at the bridge. Gordy also produced a `Status' copy! (naughty!). The original `Gordon Smith' company consisted of two guys, a Mr Gordon, and a Mr Smith (good name that). Gordon left to form `Gordy' and I believe Smith carried on...

I've never played a Gordy but they did get very good write-ups back in the 80's (as noted earlier). They tended to favour Schaller 3D bridges and machine heads!

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The guitarist in my band is a sworn Gordon Smith user - he's got a pre-production prototype guitar that looks very much like Shaggy's bass above, and it's lovely lovely. I've never heard a bad word about them from anybody, by all accounts they're fantastic, especially consdering the dollar you have to lay out for one.

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Gordon (Witham) and (John) Smith also had a band as far as I remember (Shy Tots) and played around Manchester in the late '70s and early '80s - mainly rock and biker pubs. The guitars and basses were - in the main - fairly simple but beautifully built. Some instruments had fairly innovative features (a bass with individual pickups for each string - I think these were housed in a small round casing that could be rotated to adjust the pickup height). Finishing and quality of materials was/is excellent - attention to detail and build quality is also first rate. A friend of mine had a black and maple 'precision' built for his son (I was teaching the son at the time) - it was a stunningly beautiful instrument, fabulous to play and a classic P tone. I wish I'd bought it when the student gave up. As the Doctor suggests, there is a Gordy Status copy knocking about - this really was rather naughty - it's a very close copy indeed but lacks the 'class' of the original in my opinion (i.e., it looks a bit cheap). Gordys and Gordon Smith basses come up on ebay - a few a year I'd say - they're almost always worth a punt. I've seen a few that are knocked about but you have a chance of getting a beautiful handbuilt at a reasonable price. There are still a lot of G and GS guitars and basses around in the North West: Gordon Smith is still in business - though it's Johh Smith and his wife Linda now - they continue to build guitars in Partington near Manchester).

Just found this - the official GS site:
[url="http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/"]http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/[/url]

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There's an old Gordon Smith Gypsy bass on Ebay at the moment:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ultra-rare-Gordon-Smith-Gypsy-bass-guitar_W0QQitemZ160345225135QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item255551f7af&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1|66%3A2|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A11|294%3A50"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ultra-rare-Gordon-Sm...3%3A11|294%3A50[/url]

I remember these from advertisements in "International Musician" because of the rotating pickups - I seem to remember John Wetton being in the ads so he may have been an endorser at one point.
Never played a Gordon Smith Bass but their guitars are very good; excellent build quality and play superbly well.

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:rolleyes: Interesting pickups on the GS Gypsy...this design predates similar models by Atlansia and EMG/NS Design.
Gordon Smith made three bass models, so far we've seen the semiacoustic Galaxy and the e-bay'ed Gypsy but
the topmodel was the Gemini with active electronics, XLR DI-out and tremelo bridge - quite a contrast with the Gypsy's simplicity?
The Gordy one or two pickup models were called Blueshift I, II and Deluxe, the latter (I think) an active version of the Blueshift II.
The Redshift series are guitars.
Thanks for all your input so far. Anyone got pictures of the Gordon Smith Gemini and the Gordy headless? :)
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When I worked im music shop retail in the mid 80's Keith Hand who went on to run the shop doctor rock, which is still there but sadly I believe Keith has passed on, was part of gordon smith, we stocked gordon smith guitard and he brought in a red and blue shift bass, he was having these built after splitting from gordon smith, I remembered they had a stingray profile neck and were a well built bass, subsequently I went on the hunt for one and got the one in the photo off e bay, it may even be that one ! its a great little bass especially as it has passive soapbars, I will get it out and put up a shot.

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[quote name='lozbass' post='528417' date='Jun 30 2009, 10:36 AM']Gordon (Witham) and (John) Smith also had a band as far as I remember (Shy Tots) and played around Manchester in the late '70s and early '80s - mainly rock and biker pubs. The guitars and basses were - in the main - fairly simple but beautifully built. Some instruments had fairly innovative features (a bass with individual pickups for each string - I think these were housed in a small round casing that could be rotated to adjust the pickup height). Finishing and quality of materials was/is excellent - attention to detail and build quality is also first rate. A friend of mine had a black and maple 'precision' built for his son (I was teaching the son at the time) - it was a stunningly beautiful instrument, fabulous to play and a classic P tone. I wish I'd bought it when the student gave up. As the Doctor suggests, there is a Gordy Status copy knocking about - this really was rather naughty - it's a very close copy indeed but lacks the 'class' of the original in my opinion (i.e., it looks a bit cheap). Gordys and Gordon Smith basses come up on ebay - a few a year I'd say - they're almost always worth a punt. I've seen a few that are knocked about but you have a chance of getting a beautiful handbuilt at a reasonable price. There are still a lot of G and GS guitars and basses around in the North West: Gordon Smith is still in business - though it's Johh Smith and his wife Linda now - they continue to build guitars in Partington near Manchester).

Just found this - the official GS site:
[url="http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/"]http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/[/url][/quote]
And just to add confusion there is a Chris Smith who works there as well amd has done for about 20 years. I know him quite well. They haven't made Basses for ages, although Chris has a stonkin P Bass that he made for himself. They have a very clever way of installing truss rods into 1 piece necks.

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[quote name='RhysP' post='528886' date='Jun 30 2009, 05:54 PM']There's an old Gordon Smith Gypsy bass on Ebay at the moment:

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ultra-rare-Gordon-Smith-Gypsy-bass-guitar_W0QQitemZ160345225135QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item255551f7af&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1|66%3A2|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A11|294%3A50"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ultra-rare-Gordon-Sm...3%3A11|294%3A50[/url]

I remember these from advertisements in "International Musician" because of the rotating pickups - I seem to remember John Wetton being in the ads so he may have been an endorser at one point.
Never played a Gordon Smith Bass but their guitars are very good; excellent build quality and play superbly well.[/quote]
That's a seriously nice bass - would really fancy it as a fretless conversion if I wasn't trying to downsize my gear

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[quote name='lozbass' post='528417' date='Jun 30 2009, 10:36 AM']Gordon (Witham) and (John) Smith also had a band as far as I remember (Shy Tots) and played around Manchester in the late '70s and early '80s - mainly rock and biker pubs. The guitars and basses were - in the main - fairly simple but beautifully built. Some instruments had fairly innovative features (a bass with individual pickups for each string - I think these were housed in a small round casing that could be rotated to adjust the pickup height). Finishing and quality of materials was/is excellent - attention to detail and build quality is also first rate. A friend of mine had a black and maple 'precision' built for his son (I was teaching the son at the time) - it was a stunningly beautiful instrument, fabulous to play and a classic P tone. I wish I'd bought it when the student gave up. As the Doctor suggests, there is a Gordy Status copy knocking about - this really was rather naughty - it's a very close copy indeed but lacks the 'class' of the original in my opinion (i.e., it looks a bit cheap). Gordys and Gordon Smith basses come up on ebay - a few a year I'd say - they're almost always worth a punt. I've seen a few that are knocked about but you have a chance of getting a beautiful handbuilt at a reasonable price. There are still a lot of G and GS guitars and basses around in the North West: Gordon Smith is still in business - though it's Johh Smith and his wife Linda now - they continue to build guitars in Partington near Manchester).

Just found this - the official GS site:
[url="http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/"]http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/[/url][/quote]

I was just about to chip in that I remember a review of that bass from the early eighties. Pickups were laid out in P style and I'm sure I remember the review saying the pole pieces were also rotated to subtly alter the sound. Though maybe I (or the reviewer :) ) got that bit wrong.

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[quote name='kingofthestuntmen' post='528262' date='Jun 29 2009, 11:45 PM']IIRC, Tony Clarkin from Magnum played Gordy Guitars in the late 80's/early 90's,[/quote]

Yup he did and I think bassist, Wally Lowe, had a Gordy bass.

I remember that Guitarist magazine ordered a custom Gordy guitar, the first custom build that I'd ever seen. Pretty sure it ran across 2 or 3 issues.

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I remember one of my teachers other students lending me one he was thinking of selling years ago. I borrowed it for a week. It was nicely finished but had a problem with the circuit or pickups (I knew sod all about set up back then-still learning!) and had an almost inaudible e-string. It felt great to play and was a good weight. Tone wise I really can't remember, I didn't buy it cos it had issues. You don't see them around ever these days, I'd love to have another go on one. Lets keep our eyes peeled then..

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  • 2 weeks later...

FOUND ONE..!

Passing by Crack Generator in Trongate in Glasgow this morning, saw this in the window. Asking price is £199.99... Looked old but cared for; hardware a bit tarnished but no visible damage, though I didn't have the time to stop and check her out -





If anyone checks her out let me know, eh..?

KotS

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