common old school myths and legends

[jnevi9nr]

what are some of the old school myths about basses, strings, etc from back in the day? what was in in the 70s? what was the go to bass and strings and what did people think about them?

 

[John Wentzien]

It was pretty much Fender bass and Fender flats (or LaBella) or Rotosound rounds.
The "Flats" guys would hate it when they broke a string...they would have to take the new string outside and roll it around in the dirt so it would match the old ones!

 

[jnevi9nr]

thats funny.

 

[John Wentzien]

thats funny.

Its actually pretty much true...that makes it even funnier

 

[mongo2]

Having been there, pretty much everything was a myth.

A lot like today. Nothing much has changed, myths abound.

 

[ODDBALL]

Being a young bass player this would be an interesting topic if we could keep it going. I could learn a lot from the old dogs on these forums. ( Just kidding Old Dogs )


Shaun

 

[John Wentzien]

Being a young bass player this would be an interesting topic if we could keep it going. I could learn a lot from the old dogs on these forums. ( Just kidding Old Dogs )


Shaun

I just don't have enough "brain-cells" left from back in the day to remember much!

 

[John Wentzien]

Like they always say..."IF YOU CAN REMEMBER IT...YOU WEREN'T THERE!"

 

[John Wentzien]

Here's another one...When I was 11 years old I was over 6 feet tall...The tall guy always got the bass back then!

 

[THORRR]

Fender Jazz and Precision Basses were the norm, along with Gibson's EBO. Ampeg B-15 had the most sound and boom.
Most other bass amps were a little weak. Years later Acoustic came out with the folded horn design that took us all by storm - Finally bass players could have a big voice.

There was no internet, no blogs, no knock-offs yet because design copyrights were still in effect for Fender. You're instrument was more a tool than a collectable. Nobody took their guitars apart (except guys like me) and nobody was building their own from parts.

You could buy a new bass for a couple hundred bucks and flatwound strings were the norm. Roundwound LaBellas and Rotosounds came out but most balked because of the noise when sliding on the strings. We soon got over that.

Nobody ever thought of our "axes" in terms of collectability and increasing value. these were our Hammer and saw - just tools - painted lumber, pretty much.

We left the chrome on the Jazz & Precision and used the thumb rest. Bass was a background instrument with very little opportunity for soloing. Slap was non-existent unless you made a mistake and caught one of the strings and it banged on the fingerboard. And that was an "oops, excuse me".

Playing with a pick was for losers back them (you weren't a bass player unless you used your fingers to pluck.) Two and three note bass parts were most common with an occasional walk between chord changes.

It was the same planet, but totally different worlds.
Hope this gives you a taste of the good-old-days-when-times-were-bad! hahaha! I wouldn't trade it for the world!

 

[lunarpollen]

It was pretty much Fender bass and Fender flats (or LaBella) or Rotosound rounds.
The "Flats" guys would hate it when they broke a string...they would have to take the new string outside and roll it around in the dirt so it would match the old ones!

Unless you were someone busy like Carol Kaye, in which case you would just buy another bass from the shop with all 4 strings already matched in sound, and then arrive on time for your next scheduled session...

 

[John Wentzien]

Fender Jazz and Precision Basses were the norm, along with Gibson's EBO. Ampeg B-15 had the most sound and boom.
Most other bass amps were a little weak. Years later Acoustic came out with the folded horn design that took us all by storm - Finally bass players could have a big voice.

There was no internet, no blogs, no knock-offs yet because design copyrights were still in effect for Fender. You're instrument was more a tool than a collectable. Nobody took their guitars apart (except guys like me) and nobody was building their own from parts.

You could buy a new bass for a couple hundred bucks and flatwound strings were the norm. Roundwound LaBellas and Rotosounds came out but most balked because of the noise when sliding on the strings. We soon got over that.

Nobody ever thought of our "axes" in terms of collectability and increasing value. these were our Hammer and saw - just tools - painted lumber, pretty much.

We left the chrome on the Jazz & Precision and used the thumb rest. Bass was a background instrument with very little opportunity for soloing. Slap was non-existent unless you made a mistake and caught one of the strings and it banged on the fingerboard. And that was an "oops, excuse me".

Playing with a pick was for losers back them (you weren't a bass player unless you used your fingers to pluck.) Two and three note bass parts were most common with an occasional walk between chord changes.

It was the same planet, but totally different worlds.
Hope this gives you a taste of the good-old-days-when-times-were-bad! hahaha! I wouldn't trade it for the world!

I shall call it "The not-so-good-old-BAD-days"

 

[muzikman7]

Fender Jazz and Precision Basses were the norm, along with Gibson's EBO. Ampeg B-15 had the most sound and boom.
Most other bass amps were a little weak. Years later Acoustic came out with the folded horn design that took us all by storm - Finally bass players could have a big voice.

There was no internet, no blogs, no knock-offs yet because design copyrights were still in effect for Fender. You're instrument was more a tool than a collectable. Nobody took their guitars apart (except guys like me) and nobody was building their own from parts.

You could buy a new bass for a couple hundred bucks and flatwound strings were the norm. Roundwound LaBellas and Rotosounds came out but most balked because of the noise when sliding on the strings. We soon got over that.

Nobody ever thought of our "axes" in terms of collectability and increasing value. these were our Hammer and saw - just tools - painted lumber, pretty much.

We left the chrome on the Jazz & Precision and used the thumb rest. Bass was a background instrument with very little opportunity for soloing. Slap was non-existent unless you made a mistake and caught one of the strings and it banged on the fingerboard. And that was an "oops, excuse me".

Playing with a pick was for losers back them (you weren't a bass player unless you used your fingers to pluck.) Two and three note bass parts were most common with an occasional walk between chord changes.

It was the same planet, but totally different worlds.
Hope this gives you a taste of the good-old-days-when-times-were-bad! hahaha! I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Very Good.

 

[beyondat]

Like they always say..."IF YOU CAN REMEMBER IT...YOU WEREN'T THERE!"

Hilarious, I never heard that one before.

 

[John Wentzien]

You might see an occasional "Ric"...not too often.

 

[zachoff]

Not old school, but the myth that you can mod an SX and it'll be just as good as a Fender.

 

[John Wentzien]

Not old school, but the myth that you can mod an SX and it'll be just as good as a Fender.

All we had were Japanese Fender copies...until you could afford a real Fender!
And they sucked WAY more than SX!

 

[2400]

Fender Jazz and Precision Basses were the norm, along with Gibson's EBO. Ampeg B-15 had the most sound and boom.
Most other bass amps were a little weak. Years later Acoustic came out with the folded horn design that took us all by storm - Finally bass players could have a big voice.

There was no internet, no blogs, no knock-offs yet because design copyrights were still in effect for Fender. You're instrument was more a tool than a collectable. Nobody took their guitars apart (except guys like me) and nobody was building their own from parts.

You could buy a new bass for a couple hundred bucks and flatwound strings were the norm. Roundwound LaBellas and Rotosounds came out but most balked because of the noise when sliding on the strings. We soon got over that.

Nobody ever thought of our "axes" in terms of collectability and increasing value. these were our Hammer and saw - just tools - painted lumber, pretty much.

We left the chrome on the Jazz & Precision and used the thumb rest. Bass was a background instrument with very little opportunity for soloing. Slap was non-existent unless you made a mistake and caught one of the strings and it banged on the fingerboard. And that was an "oops, excuse me".

Playing with a pick was for losers back them (you weren't a bass player unless you used your fingers to pluck.) Two and three note bass parts were most common with an occasional walk between chord changes.

It was the same planet, but totally different worlds.
Hope this gives you a taste of the good-old-days-when-times-were-bad! hahaha! I wouldn't trade it for the world!

For some reason, I think I might've enjoyed being a bass player back then!

 

[John Wentzien]

And we walked 5 miles to the gig...up-hill both ways!

 

[ElMon]

Unless you were someone busy like Carol Kaye, in which case you would just buy another bass from the shop with all 4 strings already matched in sound, and then arrive on time for your next scheduled session...

Not to derail an already-hilarious thread, but I always thought this story of hers was complete an utter bull-squeeze. Just sayin...