Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I got the Bass Player magazine with Geddy on the cover in the mail while I was away on business. Skimmed the article, it looks promising. Has photos of him playing the Rick, plus the Jazz, his first P-bass, even the Steinberger. Looks like a 30-year retrospective article, quite a bit of text. Sorry I haven't read it yet, I just got back from a business trip.

I have to agree with Kevin, too. I think Bass Player is on an up-tick right now. In the last half year or so, they've had cover features on FOUR of my favorite bassists ever: Paul McCartney, Verdine White, Adam Clayton, and Geddy Lee. Man, I couldn't have planned that out any better. I think it's still a high quality magazine, perhaps even getting better (especially now that they are including music transcriptions) - one man's opinion....

'couple of months ago I think I missed an issue due to renewing late. It had a picture on Macartney on the cover. I would love to read an article on him as a bass player. His iconic style is never really talked about so much as Paul the man and the legend. I keep thinking I'll have to get that back issue. I haven't received the Geddy issue yet either.

Clicking on the "dig deeper" McCartney cover photo takes me to a subscription page that has as the default "Send me lots of email spam" with the "Do not send me email spam" button text MUCH smaller than the other options. That means those guys are jerks.

Interesting that Geddy said he kept the action high, as I've read interviews before where he said he kept it very low for extra rattle.

I think it's better than it was a couple of years ago but it's still a bit biased to the real pro muso. An awful lot of us out in everyday amateur bass-player land still think "diatonic" is a calorie-free additive to gin and that ebm7b5#9b11b13 is anything but the sort of chord we really must know in order to be well-rounded players. Just working out where the fifths are takes up most of my time (and quite a bit more of Adam Clayton's to judge by his recent interview!). Still the transcriptions are good (especially last year's "everything is everything") and I usually learn something from every issue. And let's face it, what else is out there that goes beyond the basics?

BTW what is it with all these ads for horribly dull exotic wood basses? Or is it just me who thinks that? (sorry to anyone who's got one, I'm sure it's great and plays like an angel's harp)

Very few boutique basses or high-end basses with exotic woods catch my eyes. To me, they mostly look the same, or similar, and that means mostly like junk.

I 100% agree... I think I commented on that issue around NAM when pictures went up. I like the fenders and rics... nice and tasteful... 5-11 string basses with 2x2 tuners, 2 soapbar bartolini active pickups, neckthrough, deformed horns (or worse ugly ones that bubble out and attach halfway up the neck), and their knotty-tiger-stripe-swampash multi laminate woods look plain silly to me. I think I would be embarassed to play one of those live. I would look like a tool.

I second that thought. That's what I like about the look of Ricks: the simple elegant lines, without being over the top.

Anything "spalted" is a turn-off to me. It looks like driftwood. (sorry Zon owners on the forum...it's just how I feel!)

I think that is Zon's only fault, though (unless REALLY HIGH PRICES counts as a fault) . . . Zon basses play well, look beautiful, and sound gorgeous. And you don't HAVE to get them with hideous tops. It just costs more . . . and makes you look like a bass expert to all the people who think exotic figured woods make you a better player.

"5-11 string basses with 2x2 tuners, 2 soapbar bartolini active pickups, neckthrough, deformed horns". Having more than six strings doesn't bother me so much (except I wonder how the hell people can make any use of that in a band situation that doesn't involve extreme wankery) . . . and of course doubled strings (regular 8's and 12's) are pretty standard. Also, 2x2 tuners, I feel look much better than in-line ones, and Bartolini soapbar pickups are among the best pickups made. Those things in and of themselves are not really obnoxious or stupid.

I think what it comes down to is that the basses are designed to look absolutely ridiculous for no other reason than that it somehow allows people to justify the prices that they charge for them. Is there ANY advantage to have a humongous blobular singlecut that extends halfway up the neck? I'd imagine that would KILL the balance of the bass, and add like 3 lbs . . .

"Having more than six strings doesn't bother me so much (except I wonder how the hell people can make any use of that in a band situation that doesn't involve extreme wankery) . . . and of course doubled strings (regular 8's and 12's) are pretty standard. Also, 2x2 tuners, I feel look much better than in-line ones, and Bartolini soapbar pickups are among the best pickups made. Those things in and of themselves are not really obnoxious or stupid. "

I think my issue with such features is that they are all the same in so many of these custom bases. But then I also said I like fender designs...

This is for Steve C.!!!

Hey Jeff, Enjoy it if it is what you like...just not my cup of tea, is all....
You'll never have to worry about me outbidding you on one!

those zons are good players ...

I guess the problem is partly that they all so deparately want to be different, but that there are a limited no of practical, appealing designs - the classics have already nailed those ie Fender, Rick and Gibson (hence all the copies)- bit like songs, infinite combination of 12 notes, finite combinations that sound good, getting harder to find new ones all the time....