John Entwistle and the RM 1999

[JakeK]

For Christmas, I received a copy of "Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who". I noticed some early footage of them as The High Numbers, and I saw John Entwistle playing a 4001S or a Rose, Morris 1999. Beautiful bass, and I thought I'd share three of the pics I captured.

John said he quit using the bass because the neck was starting to warp, and he had unit number 2 that was exported to England. He also felt stupid enough to buy the bass in the first place!

[jwr2]

If John had found a good bass tech history might have changed ... he might have made the 4001 his main bass ...

When I got this bass here ... http://www.3dentourage.com/425/68-ric-2.htm ... in 1973 it had a bowed neck and really high action ... I found a good bass tech and he adjusted the neck to where it was playable ... I strung it with rotosound strings for 30 years and it never had another truss rod adjustment ...

There was an interview where Chris Squire said he saw Entwistle playing a Ric bass and he was impressed with the twangy tone ...

[jwr2]

here is an interesting web site with lots of pics and info about Entwistle and his equipment ...

http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment ... egear.html

[jwr2]

[wints]

This is certainly one of the earliest, with the short HS surround that was used up until May/June 64. We know that Pete Greenwood owned DA24, and that was probably the earliest serial number for these basses, (excluding Macca's DA23.)

This was probably a a DB serial number, of which one example was sold to Japan many years ago, via Craig Brody, who bought it from collector/producer Dave Brewis, and is featured on page 164 in The Ultimate Guitar Book by Tony Bacon.

Could it possibly be the same one....?

[jingle_jangle]

This is certainly one of the earliest, with the short HS surround that was used up until May/June 64.

That surround reveals the strong connection with that of the '50s and '60s lap steel surrounds. I wouldn't be surprised if the HS surround stamping used modified lap steel tooling.

[JakeK]

It is possible that the bass was used on "I Can't Explain" and "Bald Headed Woman", but could it have possibly been used on "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and "Daddy Rolling Stone"? I did seen John with a Fender Jazz around the time of the release of those two songs, so who knows?

[leftybass]

This is certainly one of the earliest, with the short HS surround that was used up until May/June 64.

That surround reveals the strong connection with that of the '50s and '60s lap steel surrounds. I wouldn't be surprised if the HS surround stamping used modified lap steel tooling.

Even within a few month's time before this bass was made and after as well, the metal flanges on the surrounds was all over the place. Some are sharply cut while some have rounded edging. The long taper in the front didn't appear until later in 1964 as Andy has said, but some made in '63 have a shape that was similar to what they used on V63s circa 1999-2000, short taper but a longer back end with round edges.

As far as Entwistle complaining about how his 1999 played, he probably didn't know how to take care of it and used heavy strings on it.

[chefothefuture]

The very early 4000s HS surround has the patent number stamped on it like the steels and combos 600/650 and 800/850.

[wints]

Here's my May 64 example.

[rickfan63]

Hey Jeff, on that '68 4001, did the Rotos wear down the frets a lot?

[jwr2]

actually not that bad ... I didn't get the deep divots that you see on some basses ... I would say light to moderate fretware ...

like I said before if I had any desire at all to play a 4 string bass I would have kept that bass and put 4003 11k ohm pickups in it and removed the capacitor ... or kept my 73 4001 ...

can you imagine if Entwistle had played the 4001 on "Live at Leeds"?

[rickfan63]

Yeah, what an album that was and is. Entwistle was a genius on the bass. I think he used the "Fenderbird" on that album. Odd to me how he trashed the 4001S, then later used a 4005 and a Lightshow bass later on. There must have been someone in England who could have fixed that bass for him.

[jwr2]

Actually "Live at Leeds" was this p-bass ...

and Quadraphenia was this bass ...

[jwr2]

Here's John with a few of his basses ...