Lemmy's modded bass

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rickaddict
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by rickaddict »

That's a great photo. Very clearly shows the bass.
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henry5
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by henry5 »

First thing he did to the original bass was fit a Thunderbird pickup (that and sand off the salmon pink finish!!!!). He "bought two of the pickups in the West End" (of London, famous for its guitar shops).He also apparently wired it wrong and didn't find out 'til years later; I've been informed the output was (would you believe) really low. The brass scratchplate etc came later, if you watch the vids even up to Ace of Spades (which I consider a later album :lol:) it had a white one.

The three main basses he used in the early Motorhead period were the original, the maple-necked one and the white BT one. You can see them on the inside sleeve of No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, and I saw all 3 at various times during the early days. I always felt the first sounded the best, although I always loved his sound anyway.
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wints
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by wints »

How many basses, pick ups on basses, handrests on basses...This whole thread seems like Overkill to me.... :lol:
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weemac
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by weemac »

wints wrote:How many basses, pick ups on basses, handrests on basses...This whole thread seems like Overkill to me.... :lol:
Everything louder than everything else!

Eden.
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heinpete
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by heinpete »

wim wrote:Has anyone got more info on what kind of mods this bass went through?
It seems to be a skunkstripe 4001, but the pickup positions etc are not correct, and I can not distinguish a pickguard on it.
Both pickups seem to be HB's sunk into the wood and the pickupcover is screwed on.
There's a video where John Hall has Lemmy's original bass (a RM 1999?) and talks about restoring it to original conditions.
Is there any news on that one?
Looking at that pic of that early 4001s bass, it is amazing that besides all the mods, Lemmy still clinged to the original bridge??? :roll: Either it must be better than most of the forumites stated, or Lemmy just gives a damn about intonation (does he really have to?)???
:lol: :lol:
rictified
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by rictified »

I noticed in one the earlier pictures that his strings seem to be of a pretty heavy gauge.
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cassius987
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by cassius987 »

heinpete wrote:Looking at that pic of that early 4001s bass, it is amazing that besides all the mods, Lemmy still clinged to the original bridge??? :roll: Either it must be better than most of the forumites stated, or Lemmy just gives a damn about intonation (does he really have to?)???
The stock bridge intonates just fine. I don't know what all of this "It's awful!!!" stuff is about; the deal is, if the bridge is working properly and the tailpiece isn't lifting much/at all, it is a great piece of hardware to have on your bass in my experience. If it has "issues" that's a whole other matter.
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wints
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by wints »

rictified wrote:I noticed in one the earlier pictures that his strings seem to be of a pretty heavy gauge.
Bob...Good to see you here! :D

There was a very heavily used JG Jan 73 on eBay France a while back that was meant to have been used by Lemmy back in the mid 70's. It was @$3000 USD and had no takers IIRC.
rictified
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by rictified »

wints wrote:
rictified wrote:I noticed in one the earlier pictures that his strings seem to be of a pretty heavy gauge.
Bob...Good to see you here! :D

There was a very heavily used JG Jan 73 on eBay France a while back that was meant to have been used by Lemmy back in the mid 70's. It was @$3000 USD and had no takers IIRC.
What's up Andy?
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wim
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by wim »

wints wrote:How many basses, pick ups on basses, handrests on basses...This whole thread seems like Overkill to me.... :lol:
:D
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petersland
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Re: Lemmy's modded bass

Post by petersland »

Nice
Rickenbacker 4003 Basses in JetGlo and SnowGlo,
Petersland Tele Bass, 83 VRI 57 Precision.
TC Electronic amplification, cabs and effects
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