Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was looking up some things on the ultimate authority on all information - wikipedia ( ) - and saw this: "John Deacon's first bass was an Eko; he later got a Rickenbacker 4001, which is what he used for his audition for Queen, the very first concerts and the recording sessions at De Lane Lea in 1971. When the band began recording at Trident, he had problems with it and acquired a Fender Precision 1967 model with the silver 1966 transition logo and sunburst finish, which became his main instrument for the last concerts in 1972 and all the 1973-1975 tours."

Does anybody know if this information is true? There's no reference given for it on wikipedia. If it is true, does this mean that "The Night Comes Down" is a 4001 and not the Precision? I also wonder what problems he had with it that caused him to switch basses.

There's also another item, if you look at the entry for "Long Away" from A Day at the Races that says Brian May wanted to play a Rickenbacker on that song, but couldn't do it because of the narrow neck.

Yes, I admit it, I'm a big Queen Fan

I have definitely seen a photo of him with a Jetglo 4001 on this site.

Yes indeed.

nukebass wrote:Yes, I admit it, I'm a big Queen Fan

Nothing wrong with that!

And thanks for the great pic Paul.

nukebass wrote:Yes, I admit it, I'm a big Queen Fan

So glad you said "Fan"

jdogric12aolcom wrote:

nukebass wrote:Yes, I admit it, I'm a big Queen Fan

So glad you said "Fan"

Oh, yeah I guess I read that wrong.

Mid 70's Queen are simply brilliant, were the best live band in the world, (with the possible exception of The Who) and Deacon is vastly underrated as a bassist.

Not only underrated as a bassist, but also as a songwriter!
Stone Cold Crazy
Another One Bites the Dust
You're My Best Friend
Spread Your Wings
Need Your Loving Tonight
I Want to Break Free

Just a few I can think of at the moment. He also rocked the Music Man during the 77 tour. Can't be all bad.

Stone Cold Crazy was Freddie Mercury (written when he was in the Wreckers). Deacon's contribution to Sheer Heart Attack was Misfire. They need to release some of their mid 70s shows on DVD. Wembly is okay and We Will Rock You is pretty good, but I prefer the 70's material.

nukebass wrote:Does anybody know if this information is true? There's no reference given for it on wikipedia. If it is true, does this mean that "The Night Comes Down" is a 4001 and not the Precision? I also wonder what problems he had with it that caused him to switch basses.

If it is true, I'd be willing to bet that it' was because his bass tech didn't know how to properly adjust the truss rods.

rickenbrother wrote:

nukebass wrote:Does anybody know if this information is true? There's no reference given for it on wikipedia. If it is true, does this mean that "The Night Comes Down" is a 4001 and not the Precision? I also wonder what problems he had with it that caused him to switch basses.

If it is true, I'd be willing to bet that it' was because his bass tech didn't know how to properly adjust the truss rods.

This may have been before they had techs. This was in the early days, when their demo was being recorded. I looked on another site and found this statement, "at one stage he did try a Rickenbacker because as he says 'I used to like Chris Squire'. However, he had problems recording with it and eventually went back to his tried and trusted Fender." hmmm...

nukebass wrote:Stone Cold Crazy was Freddie Mercury (written when he was in the Wreckers). Deacon's contribution to Sheer Heart Attack was Misfire. They need to release some of their mid 70s shows on DVD. Wembly is okay and We Will Rock You is pretty good, but I prefer the 70's material.

God, I thought I was the only one. I am a huge fan of early Queen. Deacon was a big influence on me as a fledgling bassist. I learned all the bass parts to all of their albums up to and including "Jazz" note for note. Heh, back then, if John Deacon had gotten arthritis or something and couldn't play anymore, I probably could have auditioned for the gig I had their stuff down cold.

I was really disappointed when "The Game" was released...although looking back now I understand that they had to evolve and move in a different direction to remain successful. They moved away from the heavier rock sound to a more commercially viable radio pop sound. When people ask when I stopped being heavily into Queen, I say "At the point when they went commercial and started using synths on their albums". If they don't know when that was, I make it easier and just say "At the point when Freddie cut his hair and grew a mustache."

Ric O'Sound wrote:

nukebass wrote:When people ask when I stopped being heavily into Queen, I say "At the point when they went commercial and started using synths on their albums". If they don't know when that was, I make it easier and just say "At the point when Freddie cut his hair and grew a mustache."

Well put! I pretty much lost interest after News of the World.

Deacon is horribly under recognized as a bass player, not to mention his songwriting as someone else pointed out. Check out the intro to the Millionaire Waltz.

gearhed289 wrote:Well put! I pretty much lost interest after News of the World.

I hear ya. I was slightly disappointed with "Jazz", but I hung in there. The saving graces were May's guitar work on "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Dreamer's Ball" (on which Deacon played an upright bass, I believe) as well as Freddie's awesome "Don't Stop Me Now". The rest seemed more or less like filler. Then came "The Game" and that was pretty much it for me.

gearhed289 wrote:Deacon is horribly under recognized as a bass player, not to mention his songwriting as someone else pointed out. Check out the intro to the Millionaire Waltz.

Tell me about it. Deacon and the late Dee Murray from Elton John's old band were (and still are) two of the most underrated bassists from that era. Murray's playing on the Yellow Brick Road album was awesome...IMO, his bass work on "Love Lies Bleeding" and "The Ballad of Danny Bailey" should be on the "must listen" list for any bassist. But his performance on the whole album was impressive as hell.

Hey, did I just hijack this thread? Sorry...back to John Deacon.

Ric O'Sound wrote:

gearhed289 wrote:Well put! I pretty much lost interest after News of the World.

I hear ya. I was slightly disappointed with "Jazz", but I hung in there. The saving graces were May's guitar work on "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Dreamer's Ball" (on which Deacon played an upright bass, I believe) as well as Freddie's awesome "Don't Stop Me Now". The rest seemed more or less like filler. Then came "The Game" and that was pretty much it for me.

gearhed289 wrote:Deacon is horribly under recognized as a bass player, not to mention his songwriting as someone else pointed out. Check out the intro to the Millionaire Waltz.

Tell me about it. Deacon and the late Dee Murray from Elton John's old band were (and still are) two of the most underrated bassists from that era. Murray's playing on the Yellow Brick Road album was awesome...IMO, his bass work on "Love Lies Bleeding" and "The Ballad of Danny Bailey" should be on the "must listen" list for any bassist. But his performance on the whole album was impressive as hell.

Hey, did I just hijack this thread? Sorry...back to John Deacon.

In Only Seven Days was okay off of Jazz. Dead on Time is pretty heavy, too. I'm okay with The Game because of Sail It Away Sweet Sister and Save Me.

The intro to Millionaire Waltz isn't that hard, but sounds awesome, and matches the piano perfectly. I'm going to try to figure out Flick of the Wrist next, but don't know if I'll ever get it. It only took me 10 years to figure out Millionaire Waltz!

...And Harmony is my favorite bassline from Goodbye Yellowbrick Road.