Do you own a famous person's old bass?

[Ezbass]

I bought my old P bass because it played and sounded fantastic. After I had done the deal I asked if there was any history on the bass at all and the guy then told me that it was previously owned by Bruce Thomas of The Attractions. He apparently bought it from the shop owner (The Bass Centre) when his original bass was stolen and he had just recently sold it back. It is an amazing instrument with it's own mojo separate from the previous owner, but I like that it has a history too.

 

[bh2]

OMG! Bruce is one of my all time faves... congrats. I think another TBer has got his old red P.

 

[BassChuck]

I have an amp that was owned by Bootsey Collins.

 

[davec]

I sometimes wonder if any of my old basses or currently owned by anyone famous? If so are thet stuck with my magic?

 

[whyseye]

Not a bass, but I just got a studio rack, some pedals and a JoeMeek preamp that supposedly belonged to Jack Lee, the guitarist for The Nerves...
...it's not the reason that I bought the gear, and I have no proof, but I kinda like the idea...

 

[keb]

No basses, but I have a couple vintage synths (Yamaha DX7II (dated January 1987) and a Moog Taurus (dated June 1976)) which I sometimes wonder who had owned them previously through the decades.

 

[Shaun_Bass0]

Not quite owned, but my Fender Duff Mckagan sig JBS is signed by the man himself...i'm pretty happy about that!

 

[Ezbass]

I think another TBer has got his old red P.

If he has then I think it's stolen if it's the one he played on the Attractions first few albums.

 

[BWB]

I got a bass owned by ummmm Yeah I got nothing LOL

Me neither.

The one that got away from me was Dave Schools' original Yamaha 6 string that was on the wall on consignment at Draisen-Edwards in Athens back in 1992.

I recognized it because he had stuffed a penny under the bridge piece of the lowest string and asked the guy who ran the place if it was his, having noticed his migration to a Modulus.

Alas, it was way too much money for my minimum wage scale post-college struggling musician days and hung on the wall for months before being sold.

If only.

 

[Chuck King]

I have a '74 Precision that was owned by the bassist for Off Broadway, who were a pretty successful local band and had at least one real-world hit with "Stay In Time" back around 1979-80.

I once had a red-and-black Rickenbacker 360 that had supposedly belonged to the guitarist from E'nuff Z'nuff.

 

[corinpills]

Not a bass, but I just got a studio rack, some pedals and a JoeMeek preamp that supposedly belonged to Jack Lee, the guitarist for The Nerves...
...it's not the reason that I bought the gear, and I have no proof, but I kinda like the idea...

Just so you know, that impresses me to no end. LOVE the Nerves.

And, hey, don't blow my Gene Simmons fantasy for me by getting all bogged down in reality. I sold the bass ages ago, but when I was 17 it really mattered that I thought Gene played it.

 

[NS2A]

And, hey, don't blow my Gene Simmons fantasy for me by getting all bogged down in reality. I sold the bass ages ago, but when I was 17 it really mattered that I thought Gene played it.

If you tell me when you bought it and when you sold it, I'll never speak of it again.

 

[4bpauly]

I don't think that any skill is transferred by owning a famous person's former instrument. However, I may suggest, that since a lot of these people can play anything they want, the fact that they chose a particular instrument makes me think there must be something special about it. Maybe not, though, since they did obviously decide to sell it eventually.

 

[flipper_gv]

I don't think that any skill is transferred by owning a famous person's former instrument...

Really?

 

[4bpauly]

sorry, i am new to this...i was respondng to someone's earlier post...i haven't learned how to include their post yet

thanks


































dick

 

[sfericean]

I used to own a Ampeg 8x10 that allegidly belonged to the bass player from devo....hmmmm...I never belived the guy either way because I was planning to buy the 8x10..

 

[troy mcclure]

I have a fretless Wal bass that was made in 2000 for Midge Ure, a singer, becasue he wanted to get as close to Mick Karn's sound as possible, Midge and Mick had collaborated in the past...turned out Midge wasnt much of a player

it also happened to be one of the very few Wals witha Mrk II body and Mrk III neck joint, probably the best overall design they ever did.

not really vintage but a good story none the less

Midge is more than a singer..he is a guitarist and a prolific songwriter...
Ultravox, Visage... "Do they know it's Christmas?"

 

[82Daion]

The Alembic Series I I used to own belonged to jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd between 1975 and 1980.

I own one of Bob Nyswonger's old Fender fretlesses.

 

[The Golden Boy]

I used to own a 1965 Fender Esquire that formerly belonged to Kurt Neumann of the BoDeans.

It was THE guitar used on their Love, Hope, Sex and Dreams album- That album was huge when I was in high school. Just last week I was in Qdoba and I heard "Fadeaway" in the in-house music- and it takes everything in me to not go "I used to own that guitar."

It was an Esquire that had either been routed as a Tele or came routed as a Tele- it had then been routed for a Jazzmaster pickup- and I got a Tele guard and a succession of Tele neck pickups, as well as a succession of Tele bridge pickups... It never really "worked" for me. It was cool to have a piece of something that was BIG when I was a kid.

 

[dukeplaysbass]

I have the CAR US Lakland JO4 made for Howie Epstein (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers). Sounds incredible and plays like a dream -- just like all the other early JO4s I own....

And I have a pre-production G&L that Mr. Hyatt thinks was a Leo "field tester" bass.