Paul's Original Color?

maplered · Post by **maplered** » Sat May 07, 2005 9:52 am

Alex,

That picture you are reffering to is from around 1978. It was included w/ the Back to the Egg album. He has his original 4001S and a mapleglo fretless 4001. I've seen that pic floating around the net.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Sun May 08, 2005 8:15 am

I believe the 4001C64S that John gave to Paul was the one used in the Linda McCartney Story. He recorded "Spinning on an Axis" with it.

roadrunners · Post by **roadrunners** » Mon May 09, 2005 4:11 pm

there is no way that pic is from 78' he is dressed and looks exactly as he did in 73'!

helterskelter · Post by **helterskelter** » Tue May 10, 2005 6:15 am

Ill give Paul a call and ask him....

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue May 10, 2005 3:30 pm

Okay, good idea! Let us know, and say hi for me.

brian_l · Post by **brian_l** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 3:35 pm

Does anyone else find it ironic that Paul shaved the wings off his bass around the time he decided to call his new band "Wings?"

apollo11 · Post by **apollo11** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 3:50 pm

He shaved the horns down a little, not the wings. The walnut wings are intact on his bass.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 4:16 pm

Then why didn't he call his band "Horns"?

desertgoldenboy · Post by **desertgoldenboy** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 4:35 pm

I guess it was harder to make the 'H' symbol with his hands than it is to make that 'W' symbol...

jojo99 · Post by **jojo99** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:58 pm

I just saw a pic of Paul with the 4001, stripped, but with the horns the original shape. It looks like it was from the era of his first solo album. I always thought the horns were re-shaped when the psychededlic paint was sanded off. The inside curves of the horns are the hardest part to properly sand off the finish, so I reckoned who ever did it used a power tool of some sort and got carried away. So it appears he specifically had the bass sanded in the 1970's strictly to reshape the horns. Has he ever shed any light on why he did this? If I ever meet him, THIS is the one question I will ask! Maybe he was looking at the bass sitting around while smoking a joint and an impulse came over him..."hey, it'd look cool if I did this...." or maybe the crested horn shape always bugged him and he finally did something about it. People say he "ruined" the bass with the sloppy paint job, but I'd say the horn reshaping is what really made it look ungainly.

ken_swearingen · Post by **ken_swearingen** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:08 pm

Ive also seen that pic' it was the Ram album era apparently it was done on purpose maybe to be different?

leftybass · Post by **leftybass** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 1:05 am

"...I just saw a pic of Paul with the 4001, stripped, but with the horns the original shape. It looks like it was from the era of his first solo album...."

Yes you are correct. There were actually two 'sessions' where Paul had someone strip the bass the first time, around the time of 'Let It Be', late '68-early'69. The back of the body and neck was not sanded and left Fireglo for the time being. Sometime later Paul went further with the stripping and gave it the shape we know today.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:36 am

A photo after the sanding but before the shaving. Meet "Paul McCartney and Horns".