| queen79luca 07.07.2016 15:26 |
I am not an expert in bass guitar, so I would love to have advise from people, or musicians, into it. John used ever Fender Precision Why he changed from black to White/red ? I mean in Wembley he used black, in Knebworth White/red. Also in the Tribute for Radio gaga he used White/red. What is the difference and what he wanted to achieve doing so ? Thanks |
| Claudio_CQI 07.07.2016 16:15 |
It was just the same bass, only refurbished with different colours. |
| Vocal harmony 07.07.2016 17:14 |
^^^^. I'm not sure it was the same Bass. In the 70's he had two sunburst precission's which were sanded down to their original bare wood, ss seen in the Bo Rhap vid. During the early/mid 80's one or maybe both were rebuilt and painted black. The red P Bass was bought around the time of The Works tour. |
| Claudio_CQI 07.07.2016 17:42 |
Oh, ok, thanks V.H. ! |
| Killer_queenIII 07.07.2016 21:45 |
Only one of the P-bass was painted black, the other one was kept in its natural finish, as seen from the Miracle video. |
| musicland munich 07.07.2016 22:51 |
Killer_queenIII wrote: Only one of the P-bass was painted black, the other one was kept in its natural finish, as seen from the Miracle video.That's a 1961 Fender P-Bass wich was rented for the Video Serial number 62741 |
| Killer_queenIII 08.07.2016 03:25 |
hmm... I always assumed it was the other P-Bass, so were both P-basses painted black then or it's only the '68 bass? |
| Vocal harmony 08.07.2016 04:03 |
JD's red Bass was an Elite model with active pickups and maple fingerboard, so certainly wasn't one of the 60's Basses. He also had either a grey or bronze Elite. His favourite P Bass was painted black then I believe the 2nd one just before the tour so that he still had a matching backup bass. |
| Doga 08.07.2016 04:09 |
One of them was destroyed in Knebworth, no? |
| dudeofqueen 08.07.2016 04:31 |
Doge, re: >One of them was destroyed in Knebworth, no? No - just thrown down in temper. |
| Sebastian 08.07.2016 06:28 |
His first Fender P-Bass was a sunburst one, which he got around 1972. By the time of 'Sheer Heart Attack', he had a second one. The only noticeable difference was the logo: grey and black. He had one of them stripped off to natural at the end of the 'Sheer Heart Attack' tour, but the other stayed sunburst ... until a year later, when it received the same treatment. That means he had, for a while, a natural one and a sunburst one, the latter being the back-up. From '76 onwards they were both natural ... until early-to-mid '86, when one of them was sprayed black. The third Fender Precision he got was the fretless one, again sunburst, which he first played live on the 'Races' tour in America and Canada. Next was a vintage Fender Masterbuilt Precision, which he bought right before the Jazz tour and then used on and off both live and in the studio. Fifth one: the Fender Precision Special, which people from Fender gave to him as a free sample in '81. That's the one he used on 'Under Pressure' (recordings, and also live from 1981 to 1985). Sixth (and last that I know of) was the Elite 1, which was red. He played it on and off live and in the studio as well. He'd occasionally 'punish' his bass when he was very upset. The most famous instance is the end of 'Ga Ga' (Knebworth) but it actually happened, on average, once per tour. He never did any significant damage to his basses, a few times they might've needed a touch-up but that was it. An exception seems to have been the band's penultimate ever concert, which took place in Spain. It seems that John's main bass (the black one) was hit to badly John had to play the last gig with the red one ... which he threw as well, but minutes later he played the second encore with it so it wasn't that big a deal. Truth is, smashing instruments (let alone a bass, which is rather heavy) is not as easy as most people would think. Well... acoustic guitars are probably easy to destroy in a fit of rage. |
| queen79luca 08.07.2016 07:33 |
Thanks guys, but my question was... Why he changed bass during songs, as gaga for the tribute... had the red white a difference set up, or a different sound?.. In the magic tour he use white and red for knebworth and leiden I think. I Don T think he choosed regarding mood or colour.. What d u think ? |
| Togg 08.07.2016 08:11 |
You change guitars for different reasons, but obviously the fretless one gives a very different feel for certain songs, the others again will have pick-ups that are wound slightly differently and therefore may have more attack or less depending on turns, so for certain songs he may want a different feel, some tracks he'd play with a pick and some without, so some guitars sound better played with one or other. I suspect the main damage he likely casued to the Black bass in Spain would have been knocking a tuning peg off, which would be a pain to repair quickly, I think his roadie had to frequently check the necks to make sure they were still straight as he did seem to like to chuck them around a bit, and as Seb said it does take a lot to actually break a Bass, but you can knock the neck out fairly easily. |
| cmsdrums 08.07.2016 09:17 |
For the Tribute concert there may well have been tuning to different keys, and so easier to have a bass prepped and ready for that rather than have to play the song in a different place on the neck |
| Killer_queenIII 08.07.2016 18:36 |
^Since Radio Gaga was played in a lower key during the Tribute, I guess he switched to the red, which is tuned lower to, match the key they're playing the song to. |
| queen79luca 09.07.2016 19:44 |
Thanks guys! |
| Bohardy 10.07.2016 14:41 |
You can see John playing Ga Ga in F, whereas it sounds in E, so I think you have your answer about the detuned red P-Bass. |
| daga 18.08.2016 17:29 |
About The Miracle clip bass link |
| Sebastian 18.08.2016 20:59 |
Brilliant. Thank you. |
| Togg 22.08.2016 05:41 |
I dont understand why he needed one, when he already had one? Surely he had two natural wood Basses? weren't both his original ones sanded down so he surely already had a spare? Oh wait his other one must have been painted Black at that point right? Ok I get it |
| Togg 24.08.2016 06:13 |
On the assumption that this was a replacement for the Bass he threw at Knebworth in 86' it's seems his original wasn't repaired by 89' the time of the video shoot, making me wonder if it ever got repaired and if it still sits in the same state as it ended up after Knebworth? |
| Vocal harmony 24.08.2016 07:13 |
This has nothing to do with the Knebworth Bass. The Video Bass is just a prop and he had been using what ever Basses he needed to use to record with after Knebworth including, possibly, the damaged guitar. |
| Togg 24.08.2016 08:09 |
No my point is, it was needed for the shoot as his natural bass had been damaged in a stage accident, so... I'm guessing that was the Knebworth incident meaning he couldn't use it for the video shoot so they had a copy made. He used the Red Bass for much of Knebworth as far as I know, but it footage of him throwing the bass looks like it might indeen be the natural one, the Black was was already damaged in Spain at the gig before so he was running out of guitars... Anyway if the guitar wasnt repaired by 89 maybe in never was...? |
| Sebastian 29.08.2016 13:11 |
I've always thought the bass he threw at the end of 'Ga Ga' was the red one, and he still used it for the second encore so it's not like he smashed it or broke it (those things are heavy - it's not that easy to destroy one). Of course I could be wrong ... is there any photo or footage that shows that more clearly? |
| Sebastian 29.08.2016 13:11 |
. |
| Togg 30.08.2016 05:16 |
You may well be right, I watched it a few times and it's not clear, but seemed more like the natural one than the Red, the only reason I assumed that was due to the fact the natural was damaged in a stage accident which means by the time knebworth happened he had both the natural and the black one out of commission if it was the Red one he threw. Not bad going for one tour! |
| Togg 30.08.2016 07:49 |
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| Togg 30.08.2016 07:51 |
So, I've found proof I was wrong.... D'oh, the bass was indeed the red one... So maybe he'd alrady knackered the natural one and the black one by this point! |
| Sebastian 30.08.2016 22:32 |
Perhaps he simply didn't have the natural bass anymore. I've seen some photos of John with it in either late '85 or early '86 but that's all. No sights of it on his backline of spare guitars on that tour or at Fred's tribute. So, either he sprayed both of his natural basses black, or he only sprayed one and then sold/gave-away/lost/broke the other. |
| Sebastian 30.08.2016 22:32 |
I really need to stop double-posting. It's annoying. |
| matt z 31.08.2016 01:29 |
John looks strange next to Fred's crotch in that pic. Just saying. letting my inner retard free. Awesome photo though. I know what I'm doing for John's birthday next year, now. Hmm ... maybe John knew something we didn't |
| Togg 31.08.2016 06:19 |
Sebastian wrote: Perhaps he simply didn't have the natural bass anymore. I've seen some photos of John with it in either late '85 or early '86 but that's all. No sights of it on his backline of spare guitars on that tour or at Fred's tribute. So, either he sprayed both of his natural basses black, or he only sprayed one and then sold/gave-away/lost/broke the other. Could be, although the text from the auction site says it was damaged at the time so I assume he still owned it? maybe it was damaged a long time before knebworth and never repaired cause he liked the Black one and Red one's better?? At the London stormtrooper exhibition his Music Man Stingray was on display which didn't see much action after 78' and an odd choice for a Deacy bass if they still had a natural one hanging around somewhere |
| Togg 31.08.2016 06:22 |
The Music Man Stingray... |
| Sebastian 31.08.2016 06:27 |
Togg wrote: At the London stormtrooper exhibition his Music Man Stingray was on display which didn't see much action after 78' and an odd choice for a Deacy bass if they still had a natural one hanging around somewhereIt did see action considering it was used for 'Another One Bites the Dust' (recordings and 1980 - 1985 live renditions) and other songs. |
| Vocal harmony 31.08.2016 07:13 |
My understanding is that both natural P basses were rebuilt and finished in black. I remember the stingray being used. Could the red active P Bass have been bought as a replacement for the stingray. If he wanted P basses for there feel then the Sting Ray must of been used for it's sound on certain songs. An active Precision can get quite close to some of the Sting Ray sounds and would have the advantage of being another Precision. |
| Vocal harmony 31.08.2016 08:56 |
Togg wrote: The Music Man Stingray...A reflection on QP, certainly on those they employ and maybe even the band themselves. The exhibition was a huge success and brought many items in the bands history to close viewing by many excited fans. But wouldn't you think with the amount of official input someone would have spotted that RT never set his kit up like it appeared in this display. It's a bit like the re issues and live releases. They have everything they need but can't be bothered to do the job properly |
| Togg 05.09.2016 03:43 |
Sebastian wrote:Togg wrote: At the London stormtrooper exhibition his Music Man Stingray was on display which didn't see much action after 78' and an odd choice for a Deacy bass if they still had a natural one hanging around somewhereIt did see action considering it was used for 'Another One Bites the Dust' (recordings and 1980 - 1985 live renditions) and other songs. Okay some action but if you'd ask folk what basses JD had the Stingray will never get a mention, it's not a well known JD guitar, how do we know it was used for AOBD? i'd be keen to hear about that, i'm always interested to hear about which instrument was used for recording. |
| cmsdrums 05.09.2016 07:02 |
Vocal harmony wrote:I made exactly the same comment after attended the exhibition about Roger's kit set up; they go to the detail of including the lovely tape boxes etc....then just ruin it all with something like that.Togg wrote: The Music Man Stingray...A reflection on QP, certainly on those they employ and maybe even the band themselves. The exhibition was a huge success and brought many items in the bands history to close viewing by many excited fans. But wouldn't you think with the amount of official input someone would have spotted that RT never set his kit up like it appeared in this display. It's a bit like the re issues and live releases. They have everything they need but can't be bothered to do the job properly Still, I had to point out to Greg Brookes at the time (after he'd been blowing his own trumpet about how every attention to detail was catered for) that the exhibition also had a 15' high, 25' wide wall display stating that Bo Rhap was on Queen II...... |
| Sebastian 05.09.2016 07:28 |
Togg wrote: how do we know it was used for AOBD?link: Deacy himself confirms using it on the song, among others. link: He confirms having used it in the studio. Since that's before 'Dust' was committed to tape, he could mean any song from 'News of the World', 'Jazz', the four tracks they did in Summer 1979 or unreleased material. Or some of the above (certainly not *all* though). |
| Vocal harmony 05.09.2016 08:14 |
cmsdrums wrote: Still, I had to point out to Greg Brookes at the time (after he'd been blowing his own trumpet about how every attention to detail was catered for) that the exhibition also had a 15' high, 25' wide wall display stating that Bo Rhap was on Queen II......I think Mr Brooke's and some of QP staff live in a different reality to those of us in the real world ;) |