John Entwistle and the RM 1999

[jwr2]

I am going to have to build a 5 string version of this bass someday ...

[sloop_john_b]

The green Fenderbird was much cooler, Jeff - I think you need to build one of those again!

[jwr2]

ya t... you mean this one ... http://www.3dentourage.com/425/fender-bird.htm

that was a cool bass ...

[gray]

Jeff, you're knockin' me out with these basses of yours. Beautiful stuff!

[haw]

So, going back to the Rose Morris - I wonder if he kept it after he retired it or was it sold.

I don't remember any word of it appearing when the collection was broken up after John's death.

[atomic_punk]

I dont think he had it when he died, I saw the list of stuff auctioned off and it was not in the auction. BUT, it might have just not been in the auction...
Entwistle was a genius on the bass and a huge influence on me. Talk about filling some space in the mix! Wow.
Jeff, when you get ready to make that 5-string Exploiter, plan on making 2 of them.

[ilan]

So Wints, is that an old picture or did you finally string her up?

[wints]

So Wints, is that an old picture or did you finally string her up?

Ilan, I finally strung her up a while back there. Still the same high action I remembered from 1990, (funny how 15+ years feels like yesterday sometimes...) even with a set of 40-95 D'Addario's, instead of the old heavy Roto's, and along with that thick neck means she still won't get much playing time!

The headstock angle is so shallow as well, typically on these basses.

I have been toying with the idea of getting her returned to a vintage AFG one day, but am still very fond of that
Greenglo finish that's she's worn for over 30 years now...

[just_bassics]

Wints, that finish still does it for me. Maybe it's the Irish in me, but I've considered getting another V63 just to have it refinished like that one. Maybe someday, if the current refin ever gets done...

[lennon211]

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.

Despite the fact that Entwistle was a great collector later on in his life, and played a wide variety of amazing basses, he was a working musician in 1964 when he was starting out on the 1999 and probably just got frustrated with it because it didn't have the feel or sound that he needed to anchor what was developing as the Who's sound. Plus, there may not have been anyone capable of setting it up for him, as it was a relatively new bass for that part of the world. Plus an early 1999 or 4001S may have had a completely different feel to him compared with the latter two. Also, his playing style was in constant evolution (also revolution) and he may have settled into a style that was complemented by the later Ric basses that the early one wouldn't.

[wints]

Entwistle was an early user of Rotosounds and this was probably a major factor in why the neck warped. The necks are very thin, as we all know now (Thanks Jeff T!) and the tension produced by Roto's has caused many a problem on these early basses.

I doubt there was anyone who knew how to properly adjust truss rods at this time, and Peter Quaife and Roger Waters suffered the same fate in the next 3 years, and their basses went the same way.

Pete Greenwood also had a RM1999 that belonged to John Lodge of the Moody Blues and that warped too!

Now you know why you don't see that many today...

[atomic_punk]

Didn't Roger Waters' RM1999 develop neck problems as well? I remember seeing a pic of it with a string tree, methinks? Or else I am just up way too late..

[jwr2]

I heard Roger Waters had his Ric stolen ...

[ilan]

Wints, I'm almost sure the neck can be flattened and the action lowered. My '73 had a ski-slope neck from years of heavy gauge strings, it was unplayable, now it has the lowest action of all of my basses except the Shadow maybe. It's dead flat, zero relief, no fretting out and no buzz! Try Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Rounds (043-089), they are much lower tension than 40-95 D'Addario's. Did you ever pull out the truss rods?

[wints]

Food for thought there Ilan...

I'd have to defer to higher authority on that one. As I have mentioned here before, Arnquist told me years ago the birdseye necks,

tend to "move around" more, and are harder to set up.

And this is how a former owner tried in the 70's...