Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

thisis what I was talking about with Paul's guitar strap being sorta tied to the Hofner instead of having a proper strap nut.... appears that way anyways.

As usual I could be wrong (), but...

I was under the impression that these were the 'proper' straps supplied by Hofner specifically for the 500 series basses.

They 'tied' at the neck end of the body and had a sort of 'clip' that would attach to the tailpiece at the butt end.

It could be that the lightweight, hollow design of the bass prohibited a 'screwed on' strap button anywhere else but maybe the neck heel... and doing that would probably throw the neck alignment out of whack anyway!

Yes Alvaro, you are correct. The original straps that came with the Hofner 500/1 outfit were designed to "cradle" the instrument. Later model 500/1's did have strap buttons but the transistion wasn't until late 1960 when both strap buttons were available. My Club reissue only came with the end pin button. I had to add the neck heel strap button myself. It was optional; Hofner supplied the neck heel button but it wasn't installed.

Lest we forget that John Tunes his guitar in the middle of performing during one of the sullivan show appearences

I knew they could change there own strings and tune there guitars. Probably would never have made it out of Paul's house if they couldn't! Was just curious if they had someone on their staff or Abbey Road's that would do neck adjustments etc,etc......

Interesting about that Hofner strap - thanks.

I think certainly they could tune their guitars.... I mean come on... lets get real here.
The story probably came about as a result of the early legend of when John first met Paul and being impressed that Paul could tune. But keep in mind that those were the days when John was still playing weird banjo chords!

There are also pictures of Paul with the strap attached under the strings at the headstock. He now has a strap button on the heel where it's inset to the body. As for tuning, I would hope that George Martin (and the Boys themselves) was/were smart enough to tune the guitars to the Abbey Road pianos rather than have them record something, then try to bring the piano into pitch with it. Perfect pitch is both a curse and a blessing -- I play in church with a blind keyboardist who has perfect pitch and he says it drives him crazy to go anywhere where an electronic or other tune is playing - such as a cash register or doorbell.

Speaking of blind keyboard players, did you year that Stevie Wonder may (I repeat, may) get his sight back through some sort of experimental implant program?

at the ABC, Plymouth, England , 1963

Not to take away all the good work that Ted Hull did with Stevie Wonder teaching him how to overcome blindness, but just imagine if he was able to see, how good he would be?

What a thought

On topic I don't remember seeing a band tour in the 60's or 70's that had a guitar tech in tow. I brushed shoulders with a lot of name bands.

In the 70's we had two roadies (lots of gear) but no tech. My cousin was our lone roadie in the sixties but he did not touch the guitars. His forte was keeping the amps in play (changing tube sets, adjusting bias replacing speakers etc), managing the sound system and setting up synchronizing the automated light show.

I was probably the closest thing to a guitar tech in any of my bands. I have to assume that most bands including the Beatles operated in a similar fashion on the road.

I was always the techie of any bands I was in. Most could tune their instruments but if anything happened it got handed to me or they took to a music store.
Usually unless it got real out of hand they did nothing.

I think that you can develop something close to being perfect pitch after you play for a lot of years.
Most people after they played a while provided they've always play in concert pitch can hear and E chord, G chord, or simular ones in their head and hit the right pitches off of that.
Back in my early high school days we had a girl in the choir who was perfect pitch. She hummed and we all started singing.
The choral director always thought that was so cool instead of hitting a note on the piano in front of her.

You know...Stevie's never had to try to keep his mind on the keys while watching the back-up singers' legs...

It would be nice to be able to have backup singers. I never had that option available to me. Perhaps it could be distracting but I am not the definitive authority on that subject.

Was that a distraction for you in one of your bands Dane?