Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

getting back to 60s basses ... I found the weak necks and weak pickups of the 60s basses ineffective ... my 70s 4001 basses with their 8k ohm high gains were much more effective than my 68 4001 ... and the modern 4003 is even better yet ... fuller and louder ...

but the thin necks feel good in your left hand ...

Mark, the writer pulled most of that stuff off WikiPedia, and a few interview texts (including the GW text cited) that I have seen back it up pretty well. Sam Lee in the Soho district (off Regent Street in WC London proper) was the guy I was trying to remember that did Chris' original shaving of the body and neck of DC127, back in the Marquee Club days. Richard Davis came along much later....

Jeff, I know what you mean about the electronics. That is why, for a player 1963 like mine, I would install Sergio Silva custom-wound pickups and my own wiring to fix that issue, and retain the body itself for neck feel and speed, and wood tone. Only if I wanted to return it to stock for some later purpose would I reinstall the old original elctronics, and just suffer losing the performance.

My best bass to this day is still my perfect Jan 1970 21-fretter 4001 Susanna. She has the best combination of neck and original electronics of any of them (for what I play), whether compared to my 1950s and 1960s Ricks, or later Ricks including my full set of five DCMs.

Wikipedia? That information is straight off of Chris's web site, word for word.

Sorry I was not clear enough in my text When you go to Wikipedia it lists the referral sites you can jump to as well, with Chris's site as the first. I meant that anyone can go to Wikipedia, and with that text plus clicking on the "official site" plus other links within the text, anyone can get to all the sources of info that were cited in the DP page (except for GW). I did not mean that all that text is on the wiki page word for word.

Chris's site is in the wiki text....

I will try to be more clear next time, Jim, sorry

yes the wood on the 60s basses resonates nicely ...

Sorry, Elys, I wasn't trying to correct you... I'm sure that text can be found on Wikipedia. I was just clarifying that the original text was that of Chris's site, the author on dudepit (Zonguy) didn't clarify his source, unless I missed it. When I read his post, he came across to me as if he was writing from first hand knowledge, but I read most of that in a GW interview of Chris from 1987, just before the release of Big Generator. Hey! Why aren't we celebrating the 20th anniversary of BG? I still like that one. And I still have that issue.

You're doing a great job here, Elys, by the way...

I love Squire's Thunderbird tone on "Release, Release", "Does It Really Happen?" and, if I'm not mistaken, "Our Song". Was it used on anything else?
My money is on "You By My Side" and "Lucky Seven", 'though the latter could be a Jazz Bass too.

Vincent, as a current owner of his non-reverse T-Bird, do you happen to have any information on this subject? I really can't get any sleep 'til it's solved...
Also if it's wired in stereo? There's a pic from the "Drama" tour where you can see two leads coming out.

When Chris sold it to me he made a list of songs he remembered playing it on. That list is in the Thunderbird's case and unfortunately while I'm building my house that bass is deeply buried in storage. I remember Chris mentioning five or six tracks that he used that bass on but I can't recall them now. Interesting, though, the bass came with a custom made strap which had some fish engravings on it and a pouch stuffed with lead attached to the end that connects closest to the tailpiece. The strap was made like this to help balance the bass. The Thunderbird has a repaired headstock crack, but it is a very rare blue non-reverse Thunderbird bass and it was played and owned by Chris Squire so it's pretty special. It plays great. I can't help you with the stereo question either because I just don't remember that detail as well. When I do the book of my Rickenbacker bass collection I will include all the non-Rickenbacker instruments that I own that were formerly owned by Chris Squire and will supply detailed photos and descriptions including provenance.

Thanks Vincent, looking forward to it.

I remember I was surprised when I saw a pic of him playing a non-reverse. I had always thought it was a reverse, probably a Bi-Centennial model. But now I've learned he had it already back in '74 as it was mentioned in the "TFTO" tourbook IIRC.

Great looking and sounding bass.

Oh yeah!

Check out CS playing SMOKE ON THE WATER with the
Green Mouradian 4-string!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSLZGIfPG4I

What a BAND!

"Bryan Adams, Ritchie Blackmore, Bruce Dickinson, Keith Emerson, Ian Gillan, David Gilmour, John Paul Jones, Tony Iommi, Alex Lifeson, Jon Lord, Brian May, Adrian Smith, Paul Rodgers, Chris Squire and Roger Taylor. The best part for me -- Brian May and David Gilmour playing in the same booth, and David Gilmour giving up and laughing, watching Brian play"...

That was fun to watch, THANKS !!!!

When Chris would speak of the Thunderbird he always did so with real fondness. When we picked it up from his storage I understood why. It’s a special bass.

Still, a tall thin longhaired cape wearing Chris Squire playing the heck out of a Rickenbacker RM1999 is definitely the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life

Yep...gotta say it did it for me too.

That was good Tony. Chris seems a bit "reserved" in his playing,, but looks to be having a good time.

Whenever I try to click on that link to youtube my PC-cillin blocks it! Anyone have a clue? It says the site contains spyware!