Colorado

[(bassduke49)]

I really enjoyed meeting old friends and new, and meeting our gracious host, Dan. What a great shop! Thanks to Joshua, too, for helping set up the get together. It was great seeing Jeff Rath, and I wish he would/could come back into the fold here. Apparently, he had a run-in with someone here and a lot of heat was exchanged and he voluntarily kicked himself off RRF. One person who didn't hang around for the photos was Larry Bolt from Fort Collins. Larry was kind enough to contribute photos of a rare 2050 for the book.

Yes, Dorothy was with me on this trip. We spent three days in a B&B in Fort Collins (I used to live there from 1977 to '82) and I was attending the national model contest in adjacent Loveland. Saturday we drove up the Thompson Canyon to Estes Park and ate $15 burgers at the Stanley Hotel (re "The Shining") there. Then Sunday we drove into Boulder and up Boulder Canyon for a bit before going to Premier. While I was commiserating with the Rick folks, Dorothy found a coin-op to do our mid-trip laundry. Afterwards, we had supper with friends in nearby Louisville, then we overnighted south of Denver. Yesterday, we drove down through the San Luis valley and into New Mexico to Ojo Caliente (natural springs spa) to meet with Dorothy's sister for an overnight. Today the three of us are enjoying San Tafe (as I like to call it), and tomorrow it's back up through the middle of Colorado for an overnight at a B&B in Estes Park, CO. Then the long (flat and slightly downhill) drive back home.

And if anyone is thinking "all those Ricks back in Wisconsin and he's away" - well, good luck getting by former-Marine Spike (the house sitter) and his dog, Spike (yeah, I know . . . ) who would be pleased to greet intruders in their own special way.

I hope we can meet more Rick enthusiasts at more events like this in the future!

[(cjj)]

And if anyone is thinking "all those Ricks back in Wisconsin and he's away" - well, good luck getting by former-Marine Spike (the house sitter) and his dog, Spike (yeah, I know . . . ) who would be pleased to greet intruders in their own special way.

Dang, guess I'd better cancel that chartered Gulfstream G650 then...



Sounds like you're having a fun trip, too bad you can't swing North a bit to Montana...

[(jps)]

...I was attending the national model contest in adjacent Loveland.

Appropriately named town for a model contest! You took Dorothy to that?

[(jps)]

I have a photographer friend who lives about 10 miles NW of Sant Effé, he did such while in Nam, and as a newspaper photographer in L.A.

[(artisan4)]

Well, I guess I missed this. Rats, I really wanted to play 'Big Bottom'....

[(cassius987)]

Well, I guess I missed this. Rats, I really wanted to play 'Big Bottom'....

Well I hope that's a Spinal Tap reference!

Sorry we missed you.

[(rickboy88)]

In the "it's a small world" category, I again met Larry Bolt (the source of the great 2050 pics for Paul) without trying to. He was selling a an older Hagstrom on ebay recently, but I didn't realize it was him. I bought it with "buy it now" and then after noticing that he was in northern Colorado I suggested that I drive up and get it rather than deal with UPS shipping.

When I got to his house on Saturday morning I noticed that he looked familiar, and after were were talking for a bit he came out and said "weren't you just at the Rickenbacker gathering at the bass dealer in Broomfield?" Larry didn't stay at the gathering for too long, so he wasn't part of the group pictures.

We had nice chat about basses and I have a feeling it won't be the last bass I buy from him, although I vowed I wouldn't buy any more basses 4 or 5 years ago partly due to a space issue in our little house. Maybe I can try to thin the non-Ric collection a bit - except for the Hagstroms. The Hagstrom intrigued me as it was a very good condition single pickup model I hadn't seen before, apparently made for the Canada market. He also showed me a "white" (nicely yellowed) Ric "S" model with black hardware that he'd recently acquired. He likes the "S" models as well, so we have a lot in common.

[(artisan4)]

Well, I guess I missed this. Rats, I really wanted to play 'Big Bottom'....

Well I hope that's a Spinal Tap reference!

Sorry we missed you.[/quote





Oh...is that....is that a song?

[(cassius987)]

Sad news about Dan, everyone. He is closing up shop due to poor health. For more details, see my other post (linked below) and his website (linked in the post). Even if you aren't in the market for any gear (though you may well be when you see what he is liquidating), I know Dan would LOVE it if local bassists could come and say hello one last time. Think about it.

viewtopic.php?f=68&t=410304

[(rickboy88)]

Dan and I exchanged emails recently for another reason and I also found out the news. I'll be heading over there to see him the week of Nov 11 or the following week with my 60's (and one early 70's) Hagstrom collection. It will be a time that works out best for him. It was something we'd talked about me doing at the gathering after I'd brought my four Rics over, but I've been out of town a lot recently. I'm actually out of town on business travel as I type this, but I'll be back on Friday night. I was hoping for the best with Dan, and now wish that I'd gotten to know him and his store a lot sooner than I did.

[(rickboy88)]

I was able to stop by Dan's store a couple of times this week. For the second visit, I brought over 6 of 7 my older Hagstrom's for show and tell. He had fun playing all of them. We even hung them on the wall for some pictures. He was planning to post one of the images on his Facebook page, so I need to look for it.

I did just miss out on his white 2030 bass by 12 hours or so after he dropped the price a second time, but I do already have the fireglo 2030. I think it was hard for him to sell it. My Ric bass collection still stands at four. I was glad that he was able to move it. As a consolation, I bought one of the acoustic basses he had on the wall. I've always toyed with getting one for some years now, so it seemed as good a time as any.

He was also giving away banners, RCA cables, etc. I grabbed a big D'Addario strings banner that I may try to put up in the garage somewhere. Most of my basses have their chrome flats.

Dan plans on keeping the store open until the end of the month, but the inventory is dropping each day. The acoustic bass was a good deal due to the additional mark-down he had on it.

I plan to stop by again next week to see how he's doing. His store is just 5-10 minutes from were I work, so I can pop over around lunch time.

In the "it's a small world category," when I was at the store the second time I met someone I worked with briefly 15 years ago. He remembers talking bass with me and giving me a set of strings. He only worked at that company for 3 months, so we weren't coworkers for very long. At that time, I still just had the one red mid-60's Hagstrom and one '82 4001S jetglo. Both were purchased when I was much younger.

[(cassius987)]

It's awesome that Dan's inventory is clearing so fast. I will go back up there tomorrow to hang out for a while. I suspect the store may close before Thanksgiving at this rate (which would be good peace of mind for Dan and his family).

[(cassius987)]

I am incredibly sorry to report that Dan has passed. There may be a small gathering in CO to honor him after services out of state for his family, but no specifics have been announced.

[(bassduke49)]

Oh man, this is sad news. Dan was so gracious in hosting our meeting at his store last summer, even while quite ill. A great guy and one for all vendors to look up to. My long-distance condolences to Dan's family and friends, and to you his loyal supporter.

[(rickboy88)]

Sorry to hear that. I was wondering how much longer he'd be able to make with the terminal pancreatic cancer. I think he had more fun than I did when I brought over my Hagstrom collection back in November. He insisted on hanging them on his wall to take some pictures. I should try to post them somewhere else on the forum at some point. Not being Rics, I shouldn't post them in this section. He'd wanted to get the pics on his Facebook page, but I don't think he ever did (other priorities I am sure).

I am so glad I was able to make it to the Rickenbacker gathering back last fall as I got to meet him for the first time, as well as all of the others who there, including Paul the Ric bass book guy. It will be one of those once in a lifetime things that won't repeat.