R.I.P. old bass...

[Paul Warburton]

I had to give you all my feed back on Hopeless basses.
Please forgive me for name-dropping and possibly being a big "EGO-HEAD", as Mr. Fuqua would say, but when I was about 22, I was playing a gig in Minneapolis with Buddy DeFranco and the great lady pianist, Pat Moran, who used Scott LaFaro on his first recording.
One night I decided to leave my great Hornsteiner bass in the club over night because of a possible involvement with a chick with a very short skirt. Please consider my age at the time and the amount of beer I consummed throughout the night. Anyway, I left the bass, and the next morning I heard on the radio that Herbs Bar had burnt down due to a break in by some guys using a butane torch to try to get the safe open.
The Hornsteiner was damaged beyond repair, I thought.
The top and treble ribs were burned beond recognition and the neck was charred badly.
I figured what the hell, took it home to Denver and put it in the hands of my luthier at the time, Chis Maine. He put an old English top he had laying around on, as well as new ribs. We left the neck as it was.
The bass was REBORN! It sounded better than before!
I used this bass when I played with Bill Evans, and Bill said it was one of the finest basses he'd ever heard... of course, I melted.
You can see the bass on: http:[url] ( I posted a TB link, but it didn't work. I guess if you really wanna see the thread, you'll just have to dig through the Bassists heading. Title: Paul Warbuton on playing with Bill Evans by Bob Branstetter. Sorry. )
along with Bill and Philly Joe Jones.
The bass was finally destroyed permantely by a drunk who fell on it in a club. I had it restored, but this was the final blow in terms of jazz playing. I sold it to a young classical soloist for which it was perfect.
Lesson? Don't ever give up on a seemingly destroyed bass.
Regards, PW

[Jake deVilliers]

Great story Paul and with a moral at the end too! A good lesson about repairability.

But you left out the climax of the sub-plot: how did things turn out with the young woman in question!?

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Great story Paul and with a moral at the end too! A good lesson about repairability.

But you left out the climax of the sub-plot: how did things turn out with the young woman in question!?

Jake, you're the one who mentioned climax. But she wasn't as good as the Hornsteiner!
Boy, do I know how to derail a thread or what?

[BananaKing]

Hahahaha.

Nice story though.

Seriously, this keeps getting me down every time i see this thread.

[fretlessman71]

So now that the video is gone from YouTube, would someone care to give a recap for those of us who didn't see it?

[Marcus Johnson]

Brain deficient family of cousin-marryin', possum eatn' podunks windmills a nice old carved flatback bass into the sidewalk, smashing it to smithereens, to the tune of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again".

PS... our diligent buddies over at Rockabillybass.com actually took the time to track this fool down on the web, and apparently they sent the vid to some folks who had provided a scholarship of some kind for him. Shortly thereafter, the clip was pulled from YouTube, IIRC.

[txstatebass]

Karma's a bi!#

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Brain deficient family of cousin-marryin', possum eatn' podunks windmills a nice old carved flatback bass into the sidewalk, smashing it to smithereens, to the tune of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again".

Beautiful re-cap honey!

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Beautiful re-cap honey!

What can I say? ... my Dad taught world lit and journalism.