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DeMaio's Bass costs WHAT!!

#21
That began a never-ending quest for excellence and the beginning of our unique friendship. We have modified this bass so many times over the years that it was recently insured for $20,000. By the way, he broke the neck on at least 3 occasions and I had to put it back on.

Taken from Stillwell's site, though I only assumed there was a connection due to the matching numbers.
 
#23
::::BASSIST:::: said:
That is SO Spinal Tap!
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trollface.jpg
 
#26
The question that has plagued me for years now is: what gauge strings does he use??

But whatever the answer to that be, I want to know this first: why does Joey call his guitars basses? Apparently, his "basses" are tuned higher, seem to have rather puny strings and guitar-like string spacing. I'm sure he's played with conventional basses as well, but I see far too many examples of him playing with these guitars, in which I fail to find anything in common with a bass. Some interesting footage here. Not an uber-thin neck, but he's still got his strings weirdly spaced.
 
#27
"This is legendary Manowar bassist Joey DeMaio's famed Enterprise, which I have worked on numerous times during the passed 25 years. The first time I worked on the Rickenbacker 4001 was just days before DeMaio was scheduled to out on the road as the bassist and musical director for the Broadway musical Godspell's touring company. He complained the bass had no balls. I recommended changing the pickups because the bass's stock pickups are notorious for their lack of output.

When DeMaio returned to collect his bass I handed him a bill for $350. He was furious. The bass only cost $500. I told him that my fee was the price for uniqueness. I told him he could pay it and be himself or I could change it back and he could be like everyone else. When he plugged in the augmented instrument, it had so much power that it almost blew up my test amp. He beamed and asked what other changes could be made.

That began a never-ending quest for excellence and the beginning of our unique friendship. We have modified this bass so many times over the years that it was recently insured for $20,000. By the way, he broke the neck on at least 3 occasions and I had to put it back on."

Thats a quote regarding one of the "guitars" on his website. If this was the instrument in question is indeed the one I saw on the site, it was insured for 20k, IMO very different from actually costing 20k.
 
#28
champbassist said:
The question that has plagued me for years now is: what gauge strings does he use??

But whatever the answer to that be, I want to know this first: why does Joey call his guitars basses? Apparently, his "basses" are tuned higher, seem to have rather puny strings and guitar-like string spacing. I'm sure he's played with conventional basses as well, but I see far too many examples of him playing with these guitars, in which I fail to find anything in common with a bass. Some interesting footage here. Not an uber-thin neck, but he's still got his strings weirdly spaced.
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The bass in the clip you posted is his piccolo bass. Live he only uses it for soloing as far as I know though I am sure there are examples of him playing songs with the band on it.
The string spacing is similar to violin string spacing as that was his first instrument, and he just tunes his basses like normal basses, though I believe his strings would be pretty light, and on the old material he spends a lot of the time at the top end of the instrument.
The best example of his bass tone is on the album "Gods of War Live". Whatever people think of him as a player, he is totally unique, and has a career spanning over 30 years and hasn't mellowed in the slightest with the passing of time, though his studio bass playing isn't as raw as it was.
Can't say I would pay $20000 for one of his basses though.
 
#29
I used to be a Manowar disciple for about 5 albums between '82-88. I grew tired of the Hercules mythology like many others. However, they have always sold approx 250,000 units in the States despite going under the radar. Their fans are very much like Maiden or Rush, very loyal. I still listen to the early stuff. Great if you are into classic metal. Joey plays a Ric, picolos, and various 8 or more string basses. They always dabbled with keyboards too, so many of their sounds are unusual. I always thought they were unique back in the day. Now they are like a plague! Still love 'em though. Gotta give 'em their props for enduring all sorts of silly trends, member changes, etc. If you've never heard "Battle Hymns", "Into Glory Ride", "Hail to England", or "Sign of the Hammer" and you are a metal bassist, then pick 'em up. Joey wanted to battle Billy Sheehan and Steve Harris in a solo duel back in the day. He and Sheehan both being New Yorkers, and he just was jealous of Steve Harris's popularity.
 
#30
Evanseveneleven said:
The bass in the clip you posted is his piccolo bass. Live he only uses it for soloing as far as I know though I am sure there are examples of him playing songs with the band on it.
The string spacing is similar to violin string spacing as that was his first instrument, and he just tunes his basses like normal basses, though I believe his strings would be pretty light, and on the old material he spends a lot of the time at the top end of the instrument.
The best example of his bass tone is on the album "Gods of War Live". Whatever people think of him as a player, he is totally unique, and has a career spanning over 30 years and hasn't mellowed in the slightest with the passing of time, though his studio bass playing isn't as raw as it was.
Can't say I would pay $20000 for one of his basses though.
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OK Thanks for the info. Glad you didn't take my post as flaming Joey. I got instantly hooked to M'war after hearing Bumblebee and William Tell. Unfortunately, I did not like their other stuff, or the live videos on Youtube all that much. His playing does sound like a guitar shred wannabe being forced to play bass, IMHO ;)
 
#31
I can understand hating Joey, it's not hard to see why. His piccolo solos can grate nerves. However, to overlook his standard four-string stuff is missing some great shiz.
He was a huge influence on me early on. Check out all the stuff on "Battle Hymns". He plays all over the neck, intros, solos, distortion, chords, etc. "Dark Avenger", "Fast Taker", "Battle Hymn", etc. If you don't like that stuff, yep, you're likely gonna be a hater. I think Joey needs some recognition for the early stuff. He was a great pick player that wasn't trendy. I don't think he sounds anything like a guitar wannabe. He sounds creative and unique.
 
#33
I asked Dawk alot of these questions and his basses are not piccolo tuned except for the song Black Arrows.
As for the pickups in his Rickenbacker, I know he had a Gibson EB-3 in the stock Rickenbacker bridge position and a few others I can't quite remember what they are, I think one was a Bill Lawrence.
I tired using lighter gauge strings once but never could get them to hold tension and Dawk didn't really have a straight answer for me on how he did it.
The Demon basses he uses for most of the songs nowadays has regular 45-105 on them.
He also has a 8 String and Piccolo tuned Demon bass aswell.
 
#34
Considering the rig he uses, he could play a $600 standard instrument and it'd sound exactly the same.

As an aside, MOW are interesting. Joey's solos are nothing but fast nonsense, but as far as fast nonsense goes he's really good at it.

He also has the most perfect classical left hand positioning. And then he lays with a pick?!?!?

The band may have the worst lyrics of any group with an actual record deal. Some of their songs are unbelievable horrendous, then they surprise me with some really good stuff.

Their version of Nessum Norma is my all time favorite. Very strange.
 
#36
Joey's pickups are custome made by Dawk Stillwell. There are three models, a clean, a dirty, and hot. His main bass, the "Demon II," is a rick style body, the neck and guitar are not made of carbon fiber, they are both rock maple, with carbon fiber support rods within the neck due to its narrow width. His string gauges are 50-105. The guitar costs 20,000 dollars because its the only one made, and I'm quite certain that alot of that cost is associated with the research and development of building the guitar, so to speak. Joey has a very unique sound, one that I can appreciate. To me, Dawk is a genious, who can build stuff stock companies can't.
 

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