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Carol Kaye's string changing method !

#21
Jared Lash said:
When accounting for inflation, the value of $239.50 is about $1650. That's a chunk of change to avoid changing strings.

I would take this more as a colorful anecdote than a true story. After all, you could pay a tech to change your strings for you for a fraction of the price and only 10 minutes or so longer than buying a new bass.
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She was working 12-16 hour days almost every day, didn't want to deal with it, and would make that kind of money in a couple hours back then. Besides, she traded it and got some money back for her previous bass so it's not like it cost her $240. And nobody had their own techs back then. I don't know if they even had cartage services back then.
 
#24
JimmyM said:
She gets angry. Very angry. I've been subjected to it online, and it ain't pretty. Go along with her and she's the sweetest person on earth. Disagree or ask her something she thinks is stupid, and the fangs and claws come out ;)
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Yeah, I got in her doghouse once or twice before I just went ahead and unfriended her. First was her insistence that playing with a pick would make me a better bass player because there wasn't anything I could play with my fingers that she couldn't do with a pick. My reply was, "So, you slap with a pick?"

The second time was when she was complaining that no one teaches musicality any more, they all just teach scales, and she was really bummed about that. So, I commented that all was not lost, as guys like Scott Devine were actually teaching music theory specific to musicality and not just scales. Holy ManOWar, you'd have thought I just kicked her dog. How dare I post the name of another bass player in one of her threads.

After that, I was pretty much done with the crazy.
 
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#28
She is still my favorite. I can't imagine anyone achieving greatness without a little controversy or being a little different. In reality, she was probably making a joke about needing strings on a bass that she had also worn the frets out on from all those hours of playing. A smart salesman would have had her sign the bass she traded in and kept it......
 
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#30
rolandm said:
Yeah, I got in her doghouse once or twice before I just went ahead and unfriended her. First was her insistence that playing with a pick would make me a better bass player because there wasn't anything I could play with my fingers that she couldn't do with a pick. My reply was, "So, you slap with a pick?"

The second time was when she was complaining that no one teaches musicality any more, they all just teach scales, and she was really bummed about that. So, I commented that all was not lost, as guys like Scott Devine were actually teaching music theory specific to musicality and not just scales. Holy ManOWar, you'd have thought I just kicked her dog. How dare I post the name of another bass player in one of her threads.

After that, I was pretty much done with the crazy.
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See!! This is what I mean... that's just a crazy way to act.
 
#35
BazzTard said:
from the excellent "Fender Bass Manual" by Paul Balmer (Haynes Publishing)

Carol "I never changed strings-hated to do that and had no time to do that. I merely ran into a music store on a break, handed in my old bass, and quickly picked out a new Fender Precision, and so every two years I had new strings."

rotfl , of course the downside is that each string change costs $1800 lol

great informative book, covers 51 and 57 Ps and 60s Jazzes plus most other models. Goes in depth with how to set up, upgrade parts etc.
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She didn't say she had to pay for it and for what she was doing for the record companies at that time I'm sure she didn't pay for it. Im sure she meant that she would exchange the bass on loan until her strings were replaced.
 
#36
n1as said:
She'd just swap basses every couple of years? Didn't she know that you had to have that perfect vintage instrument to be a commercial success? You can't make it by playing normal every-day basses. Sheesh, all that time focusing on making music rather than perfecting her gear. I'm telling you, she'll go nowhere.


:p
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Her sound was the commercial success. She made 90% of the bass lines we all cover today. If anything we should envy the fact that she could run into a store and just swap a bass.
 
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#37
lifeoffroadbass said:
She didn't say she had to pay for it and for what she was doing for the record companies at that time I'm sure she didn't pay for it. Im sure she meant that she would exchange the bass on loan until her strings were replaced.
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No, she meant exactly what she said...she didn't have time to deal with any of that nonsense. She would trade in her bass when the strings went ka-flooey on her and get a whole new bass. She has zero sentimentality about gear.
 
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#39
Coolhandjjl said:
I'm a commercial photographer. If I became famous, I could definitely see spinning some yarn like "I never learned how to change lenses. I'd just go to the camera store and buy another camera...."
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I almost spit out my coffee on that one!

May as well be saying you never learned to adjust your ISO...then again, you're probably in a studio...:whistle:


All joking aside...I'm a photographer, myself. I could see myself trying to convince someone that I never learned how to change lenses, too.
 
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#40
JimmyM said:
No, she meant exactly what she said...she didn't have time to deal with any of that nonsense. She would trade in her bass when the strings went ka-flooey on her and get a whole new bass. She has zero sentimentality about gear.
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No she absolutely didn't. Niether do MST studio musicians of those days. And way would you want to keep a fender in those days if you were a studio artist. She makes mention in many of her interviews how inconsistent and janky fenders were.
 

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