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1953 Precision Bass

#81
Neither Jaco, Billy, George, nor any other famous important artist put the wear, tear, and in many cases flat out damage from abuse on just short of 100 percent of the so called mojoed basses we see all of the time. To keep showing photos of famous worn basses to elevate the "coolness" of non famous players' basses is like suggesting that a hot night with Bea Arthur is ok because she is a female and so is Jenna Jameson -- it's true, they both are, but... Probably most of the worn basses we are seeing were "played in" by talentless nasty sub-humans that would serve better time killing lice and bathing than "playing" music :) I'm sorry, I don't want dirty hippie DNA all over my vintage basses :)
 
#83
king_biscuit said:
Neither Jaco, Billy, George, nor any other famous important artist put the wear, tear, and in many cases flat out damage from abuse on just short of 100 percent of the so called mojoed basses we see all of the time. To keep showing photos of famous worn basses to elevate the "coolness" of non famous players' basses is like suggesting that a hot night with Bea Arthur is ok because she is a female and so is Jenna Jameson -- it's true, they both are, but... Probably most of the worn basses we are seeing were "played in" by talentless nasty sub-humans that would serve better time killing lice and bathing than "playing" music :) I'm sorry, I don't want dirty hippie DNA all over my vintage basses :)
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No one's trying to "elevate the coolness" of the wear, to my knowledge. I'm certainly not.

The pictures of veteran players are posted simply to show that such wear can occur from heavy use--contrary to the automatic assumptions of abuse and carelessness that some people in this thread have made.
 
#84
GregC said:
No one's trying to "elevate the coolness" of the wear, to my knowledge. I'm certainly not.
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And some us are trying to impart a little comic relief and thought provocation at the same time. But to be totally serious, I don't care how an old bass got "worn," abuse or from playing, It still takes away from the value to me and to collectors. I'd much rather have (and see) a nice clean example, and I don't get toasty in the loins when I see an old road dog. Hey, my opinion!

edit: btw, you don't think some of the famous old instrument were abused. If the Bass of Doom were a person, DHR would have been called in...
 
#85
king_biscuit said:
To keep showing photos of famous worn basses to elevate the "coolness" of non famous players' basses
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Personally I'm not saying worn basses look "cooler", I don't hink this thread is about that, the cool thing about the bass in the OP is it's age. Regardless of wether it's cool or not, i believe it to be a fact that well played basses will show signs of it. THe pictures are not shown to prove how "cool" those bassees look, but to show that basses WILL show the path of time if they are played.
 
#86
king_biscuit said:
And some us are trying to impart a little comic relief and thought provocation at the same time. But to be totally serious, I don't care how an old bass got "worn," abuse or from playing, It still takes away from the value to me and to collectors. I'd much rather have a nice clean example, and I don't get toasty in the loins when I see an old road dog. Hey, my opinion!
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And had your assumptions about the motives of those posting pictures been correct, it would have been a good joke.;) As for clean vs. beat-up...different strokes. I'd be happy with either, but more wear generally means they can be bought at a lower price.
 
#87
Obviously we all have our own opinions. All I'll add is this final note: I played 20+ years, six nights a week, 50+ weeks a year, plus almost daily rehearsals and NEVER had a bass with wear that you could notice. Scratches on a pickguard, sure. Maybe some swirls on an un-pickguarded bass's front finish. Wear on the back of the neck to a degree. But finish damage, back and front like we've seen on some of these basses? No. It's a matter of taking care of your instrument, plain and simple. Lack of wear doesn't mean you play any worse than a person who has a worn bass, just as having a worn bass doesn't mean you are the next Jaco (or James or Emily or Doofus). To each his or her own. Mine don't get beat up.
 
#88
mccartneyman said:
Obviously we all have our own opinions. All I'll add is this final note: I played 20+ years, six nights a week, 50+ weeks a year, plus almost daily rehearsals and NEVER had a bass with wear that you could notice. Scratches on a pickguard, sure. Maybe some swirls on an un-pickguarded bass's front finish. Wear on the back of the neck to a degree. But finish damage, back and front like we've seen on some of these basses? No. It's a matter of taking care of your instrument, plain and simple. Lack of wear doesn't mean you play any worse than a person who has a worn bass, just as having a worn bass doesn't mean you are the next Jaco (or James or Emily or Doofus). To each his or her own. Mine don't get beat up.
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Have you been playing the same bass those 50 years?
I agree that taking care of the instrument has a lot to do with it, but i don't think the bass on the OP looks that way for being neglected or "beat up". I might be wrong, of course.
 
#89
GregC said:
And had your assumptions about the motives of those posting pictures been correct,
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Ok, but they were, and that is exactly what was being done. Posters were taking famous, nearly universally accepted "cool" instruments and attempting to extrapolate that "mojo" to random beat dogs that were NOT played into submission for artistic sacrifice. As if a generic beat old bass is cool because it has lot's of "wear," and Sheehan's bass has lot's of wear. That's really what was being done. Aside from the most obvious problem that "most of those old generic basses were played half as much and have twice the wear of Jacos' BOD or Clapton's Blackie, the "only" reason those famous basses (and guitars) are cool is because they were owned and played by famous players. And George Porter's old P didn't get that way because he wiped it down after every gig and polished it once a week. Certainly our definitions of abuse differ!
 
#90
Diogenes said:
The fact is that touring musicians, who love their instruments enough to play them at thousands of gigs, cannot possibly pamper them and keep them in pristine condition. As someone here already posted a picture of Rory Gallagher's Strat I'll post this... Billy Sheehan's "wife"... the Fender Precision that he toured with and played thousands of shows with from 1971 until the late 80's:
instr_34body.jpg

instr_34.jpg


So yea... calling the '53 P that is the topic of this thread "beat up" or such IS being judgemental.
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No, not judgemental. Accurate. Sheehan's bass above is beat to crap. Most of that isn't normal playing wear and tear. It's been routed and hacked. Which he's entitled to do, I mean... it's his bass.

But using Sheehan's bass as an example pretty much proves the opposite of the point you were trying to make.
 
#91
jmorbita said:
Have you been playing the same bass those 50 years?
I agree that taking care of the instrument has a lot to do with it, but i don't think the bass on the OP looks that way for being neglected or "beat up". I might be wrong, of course.
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That bass in the OP wasn't played for 50 years. It was perhaps played for 20 or so years and then put away when the owner got a better bass. Certainly that bass hasn't been regularly gigged since the early 90's when the vintage market began taking off.
 
#92
king_biscuit said:
Neither Jaco, Billy, George, nor any other famous important artist put the wear, tear, and in many cases flat out damage from abuse on just short of 100 percent of the so called mojoed basses we see all of the time. To keep showing photos of famous worn basses to elevate the "coolness" of non famous players' basses is like suggesting that a hot night with Bea Arthur is ok because she is a female and so is Jenna Jameson -- it's true, they both are, but... Probably most of the worn basses we are seeing were "played in" by talentless nasty sub-humans that would serve better time killing lice and bathing than "playing" music :) I'm sorry, I don't want dirty hippie DNA all over my vintage basses :)
Click to expand...

Link Removed

clearly not worn
 
#94
king_biscuit said:
Ok, but they were, and that is exactly what was being done. Posters were taking famous, nearly universally accepted "cool" instruments and attempting to extrapolate that "mojo" to random beat dogs that were NOT played into submission for artistic sacrifice.
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Wrong. I was one of the posters myself--as I already pointed out--and that really isn't what I was doing. I showed a guy who just about everyone knows has been playing the same instrument for decades, and it's worn to hell in a fairly similar way to the (obviously older) '53 P in question. Kind of difficult to come up with a picture of a non-famous player who everyone knows has been using the same instrument for decades. As for playing for years for "artistic sacrifice", that can come without any fame at all.
 
#95
smcd said:
That bass in the OP wasn't played for 50 years. It was perhaps played for 20 or so years and then put away when the owner got a better bass. Certainly that bass hasn't been regularly gigged since the early 90's when the vintage market began taking off.
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smcd said:
I get a big kick out of how many here are making the assumption that this thing was "played, not abused", when you have no idea what the history of this istrument is. You seem to see an old instrument and squeal "mojo!!" with delight.

I hate to disappoint, but this bass was not used by some grizzled old man in the last remaining true, unspoiled, undiscovered delta blues band. More likely this bass was used as a baseball bat/car jack by 2 generations of bratty kids and then left in a damp cellar next to the boiler for 20 years.
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Certainty and inconsistency make for an amusing combination.
 
#96
My 2 cents in this debate: That bass doesn't look too bad for being 56 years old. General use over 56 years on a thin Nitro finish and there you have it. IMHO it's completely badass. It's all about what kind of taste you have. For instance I wouldn't play that Ritter Phil Lesh has been using lately if you paid me but others love it and that's cool, I can respect that. BTW- AMAZING PICS DARK HORSE!!!
 

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