Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

OK,
this is for Anyone who has a clue about it. For starters, I don't, and I've asked Hillman, and he has no recollection of it, either. There are a couple of mid 60s Byrds videos out there, done in B&W, with the 4 originals in the band; on one they lip synch "Tambourine man", the other is "8 Miles High".Hillman has a Pbass, which was the norm for him by late '66/early 67 on, but what is weird, is that in these videos, for the breif time they do close-ups of Chris with the bass, the neck is the point of interest; it is clearly a Maple fingerboard, with, get this, a Gibson style headstock, with 2 on a side Kluson tuners, and the headstock is Maple as well!!The rest of the bass is stock sunburst, mid 60s PBass setup.
Conjecture, Anyone???I can only guess maybe it was an experimental Fender thing,But.........
Maybe I need to email Chris again and rattle his cage.

This hybrid bass appears on a Swedish TV show, from late February/early March 1967 where The Byrds perform "So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star", "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Eight Miles High". An "enlightened" David Crosby sways in front of the mike as he introduces his leader: "The guy on the end is Jim McGuinn ..."

The explanation could be that Chris suffered a house fire in January of that year, where all or most of his instruments were lost. Chris' Guild Starfire basses (2-pickup cherry and 1-pickup sunburst), his sunburst Fender Jazz Bass and his Fender VI don't seem to appear from this period on, either. It's also possible that Chris lost a Rickerbacker Electric Mandolin in the fire.

The Byrds' gear definitely merits research on the same lines as the Beatles' gear. Do you agree, Don ?

Heres what Chris wrote me the other day on that bass: Don,
I have been asked this question before and for the life of me I can't remember
what that Bass was or where it came from. Obviously I must have borrowed it for the show because i sure didn't own it....


Chris H.......

Another "follow-up" post regarding Chris and Byrd basses; I asked him what was his favorite of all the basses he was known to have used from the beginning, and he told me it was the sunburst PBass that you see him with after mid-late '66. He said he traded the Guild for it as far as he could recall. I didn't ask Which Guild.....

If you can remember the sixties . . .

Regarding research into groups' gear, finding out that someone played model A through model B on a certain record is enough for me. I don't condone tracking down and exposing current owners, who may be in too vulnerable a position to insure their treasures.

I don't condone tracking down and exposing current owners, who may be in too vulnerable a position to insure their treasures.

...Assuming a given artist still actually owns the particular axe in question.....

Sort of along these lines... I saw The Byrds play at the Curling Club in Duluth, Minnesota back in 1965. It was an awesome experience and my brother and I stood about 2 feet from the stage in front of McGuinn. There was another local band that was set up on the other half of the stage so The Byrds did one set, then the local band and then The Byrds again. Chris Hillman used his Guild Starfire bass for the first set but when they started the second set Chris picked up the local bands(bass players) bass which was a Precision and he used it for the whole set. I remember this clearly because I was really into the guitars already back then and thought it didn't look right with Hillman on a Fender. Kind of like seeing McCartney without his Hofner. Possibly this was the night that he realized he preferred a Fender Precision over a Guild Starfire? Sure wish I would have taken pictures back then but I was only thirteen and what did I know, I was lucky just to be there I guess.

Depending on When you saw the Byrds[live or in pics that you can approximate dates on] Chris' use of basses seems to be more or less like this; starting w' pic on "Mr Tambourine Man LP, sunburst Jazz Bass. By Turn Turn Turn LP, he was using a 1 PU sunburst Guild Starfire I bass.Pic in B&W I've seen of him from outtakes of the 5D
[Eight Miles High era] show him with a Starfire II bass[2 PU] in solid woodgrain[other pics from the period in color reveal cherry finish on mahogany body].For the rest of his career, a sunburst P Bass seems to be axe of choice, with the exception of the odd PBass w the strange neck mentioned early in this thread, and elsewhere, Terry found an obscure pic of Chris with a Hofner Beatle Bass!! And last week, I sent Chris the
hyperlink to a "Bunnybass" interview with John Hall, where John comments that Rick made Chris an 8 string bass in the 60s.Chris sent me the brief reply a couple days later saying simply, " I never had an 8 string bass from Rickenbacker?????"
Hey! Don't shoot me; I'm just quoting the man here!!!!

I remember seeing that bass on television too, don't remember anything but the bass because it was so odd, a P bass with a strange neck. I think the song was "Mr. Tamborine Man" and maybe it was lip synched.

To view a March 1967 Byrds video featuring Hillman playing the mystery P-bass with the 2+2 headstock, click here. Cool Rickenbacker shots, too.

Do you guys know where I can download any music videos by the Byrds, specifically "Mr. Tamborine Man" or "Turn Turn Turn?" Thanks.

Hey, did you notice that Gene Clark wasn't in a single frame of that video?

Was this performance shot after he'd been booted from the group, was it while he was on one of his periods of "hiatus," or did the cameraman just not own a wide-angle lens?

Sure looks like a Fender logo...

Nice work Mortivan!

Thanks! 'Twas nothing