BRUCE THOMAS PERSONAL WEBSITE! AND NEW CUSTOM DESIGNED BASS!

[mindwell]

I am in heaven. That's all I can say. Freaking hog heaven.

After years of being conspicuously absent from the web, Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello, Suzanne Vega) has showed up in a big way: new website, and new signature bass. There are four 5-minute videos (also linked on YouTube) of him noodling out classic riffs on his new bass--which sounds AWESOME--and lots of great topical writing.

Bruce, welcome to the internets!

[OldDog52]

Looks like there's a lot of interesting stuff there. Thanks for the link.

[atomicdog]

Hmmm. Here's what he has to say about the neck on his new bass model: The Profile Bass replicates the reshaping I did to the neck of the original to make it more playable. The width of the neck (at the nut) is 42mm / 43mm (15/8” /1 11/16”) … which places it right between the vintage P-bass width of 44.5mm (1¾”) and the J-style 38mm (1½”). Far from being a compromise, this is the best of both worlds … it feels neither as stretched as the old P-style neck, nor as constricted as the J-style. A study of bass players’ online forums convinced me this is the ideal neck width.

[corinpills]

I know better than to click on this link at bedtime. Such a phenomenal musician.

[woodyng]

very cool! thanks for the post/link!!

[KenHR]

Great link, thanks!

I want that bass.

[electracoyote]

Wow, great thread, thanks! I did not know his bass had been so heavily modified, or that it had been stolen. Most interesting. He's one of my favorites. Elvis Costello was very fortunate to have him play on so many recordings.

[woodyng]

i listened to the 4 audio clips on the website,which sounded great,but listening back to the early EC recordings,it sounds like he had flat wound strings on his bass back then. maybe he just had the tone control rolled off back then,but the new clips sounded VERY bright. i do like the basic idea of contouring a lot of the body-i had a 68 fender tele bass that had been done that way-if i had shaved the neck down,i might have kept that bass,'cuz the body was really comfortable.

[iamthebassman]

When I saw EC&TA in the early 90s Bruce played Jerry Jones Longhorns.

[The Lurker]

Originally Posted by electracoyote

Wow, great thread, thanks! I did not know his bass had been so heavily modified, or that it had been stolen. Most interesting. He's one of my favorites. Elvis Costello was very fortunate to have him play on so many recordings.

I didn't know that either. I did learn a lot about vintage automotive paints cleaning up sludge at a Ford plant in NJ a while back. Break open a wad of rock-looking stuff with a pick and there you go, Fiesta Red.....

[fourstringdrums]

You have no idea how friggin happy it makes me to see Bruce playing solo...

[fourstringdrums]

Originally Posted by woodyng

i listened to the 4 audio clips on the website,which sounded great,but listening back to the early EC recordings,it sounds like he had flat wound strings on his bass back then. maybe he just had the tone control rolled off back then,but the new clips sounded VERY bright. i do like the basic idea of contouring a lot of the body-i had a 68 fender tele bass that had been done that way-if i had shaved the neck down,i might have kept that bass,'cuz the body was really comfortable.

He used heavy gauge dead roundwounds. Yes it does sound brighter, but practice amp + living room + camera mic will do that He's also using different strings now than he used to. It says it somewhere on his website that he's using Bass Centre strings, which I think are closer to standard gauge than what he used to use.

[Stax63]

I like Bruce! I began learning bass trying to pick out his bass lines!