Cliff Burton bass question!
 

so im a huge cliff burton fan and I was wondering what bass he used to record anesthesia pulling teeth on kill 'em all. I know he used a ric pre master of puppets but I also knew he had an alembic spoiler that was stolen along with other pieces of gear that metallica owned. I also own a rickenbacker 4003 and I know that it only has 20 frets. but at many points of the solo he hits the 22nd fret so it couldnt be the rickenbacker on that song. any cliff burton fanatics out there that could help me out?
thanks :hyper:

In that solo I honestly cannot remember him going above the 20th fret. But on the Kill em' All album he did use his Rickenbacker 4001 with the largest gauge of Rotosound flatwounds which is also the strings Steve Harris uses (although not the signature series but they also have the regular flats in the same exact gauges), there could be a connection to that, Steve may have been an influence to him at the time, definately possible. On the Cliff em' All dvd it shows him playing the solo in 1983 (with Dave still in the band) with the flats I mentioned, but also is with the stock pickups his Ric came with. And of course you know that by the time Kirk was on the Kill em' All tour he had changed his neck pickup to a Gibson EB-0 "mudbucker" pickup and added some sort of guitar single coil pickup right where the bridge is, at least I believe it is accurate about the guitar pickup. That is the info I know so far, but I am almost 100% positive it was all with his Rickenbacker.

EDIT: Forgot but he also switched the bridge pickup to a red cover DiMarzio Jazz pickup.

He also recorded Ride the Lightning with the same Rickenbacker (with mods) except this time he used the largest gauge of Rotosound Steels. As far as I know he did record the first two albums with the Rickenbacker although when he was recording the Kill em' All tracks I am unsure if his Ric was modded already or not. And then you know on Master of Puppets that was his Aria he recorded that with.

If you listen to the studio version he goes over the 20th a couple times, but is it a possibility that he might of used his spoiler for just that one song (anesthesia) so he could go higher on the solos or something?

Oh and by the way, he did actually go above the range of a 20 fret bass. Where the 20th fret G string is an Eb, he many times on the Rickenbacker and in that solo and alot of other solos he did would bend the 19th fret D up a full whole step to an E. The huge gauge strings he used has so much tension and to bend that D up to an E on those heavy strings like that, the guy really had monster fingers. Also when he soloed on his Aria which is 24 frets, I have seen him reach higher frets and bend the notes up even higher than an E (1985 Day on the Green Anesthesia solo for example).

Yeah basically those high notes you are hearing is an E he would bend the 19th fret up to, even though tabulature on Powertab for example may have wrote in a higher fret rather than write the bend on the 19th. After seeing Cliff do that many times in the Anesthesia solo I also used to do the same thing all the time, it doesn't feel too good on the fingers though doing that alot, lol.

He did also do those harmonics towards the end of Anesthesia if that is what you are referring to.

haha I can imagine, but if you have a chance listen to 1:33 of anesthesia studio version is that what you mean by him bending the strings?

Exactly what he did there, I will post 3 videos of him doing that live, it shows it very well him bending the 19th fret up to an E.

All these versions he slightly changed when playing live, but all of them he does the bend. Hope this helps you out!

1983 Anesthesia on the Rickenbacker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02qNg7p5-rU

1985 Day on the Green Anesthesia on the Aria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-G4PTysacI

1985 Day on the Green For Whom the Bell tolls on the Aria...still does the 19th bend up to an E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Y04V9ZOhI

On the third video, it shows that 19th fret bend up close, that high note he hits is the same note in Anesthesia.

awesome thanks for all your help and useful information! :)

it's funny how many times I've watched those 3 videos and never really acknowledged the bends he does, thanks again!

No problem, but the first two videos might be hard to see the bend. But definately the 3rd video when he plays For Whom the Bell Tolls, it is up close when he bends and is pretty easy to see, that is basically that note. Goodluck doing it if you use the same heavy strings he did, might be a little pain involved. Have fun and enjoy!

Oh yeah one last thing, as for the Rickenbacker, on the first video if you start watching it at 3:40 he bends the 19th fret up to that E a few times. What a monster of a bend that is too!!!

haha right on, thanks for pointing that out

He was deffo using the modded rick on KEA. A few years back the albums producer gave an interview to a bass magazine and said he was having RF interference problems and had a tech put the 'buckers in to combat this. The man (paul cicurro?) still has Cliffs original pickups.

I read "To Live is to Die" Cliffs Biography and they mentioned a Strat Pick up under the space where the string mutes in the Ric used to be.

C/S,
Rev J

He used an Aria bass I think for Anasthesia

Did he really use 55 - 110 flats on a Rickenbacker? Is that even possible with a neck like that?

There has just been a video posted to youtube of David Ellefson playing Cliffs sig. Aria at NAMM, he comments on how light and thin the strings are.

I have heard from Ric owners that it is really not a good idea to use those on one. But all resources I have seen or heard plus interviews told that it was Rotosound flats in the largest gauge on the Ric for Kill em' All. It seems to make sense that is what he used.