• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Felix Pappalardi anyone?

#61
jerry said:
I lived right outside NYC when they closed the Fillmore and broadcasted the whole show, J Geils, Allmans, etc, I remember recording it on cassettes and then losing them over the years. Back then Leslie did that whole long guitar solo without a looper, imagine that.:D;)
Click to expand...
what an incredible time and place, I've long had a fascination with the whole NY scene from the Greenwich days where Felix cut his teeth, Brooklyn (DUST / SLB), and Graham's whole scene. being a bootlegger from the stone age and getting great stuff during the grunge era, the last great gasp, I can appreciate your efforts and losses. the challenge of booting Mountain is my dream, but only getting one shot is daunting, up real close with earplugs and a limiter is my style, plus it keeps crowd noise minimal. how did your recordings fare? I like that Mountain were into improvisation, it could easily get out of hand but when they kept it leaner it was meaner, all too often Les' long solos exposed his few weaknesses but it was the era of excess and god love it cos when it clicked there's nothing better.
upload_2020-4-28_16-7-52.png

upload_2020-4-28_16-39-56.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: woodyng2 and Rezdog
#62
Acoop said:
Around the late 60's my brother owned a Gibson Supro bass, large body, double cutaway, don't remember the pickups but, there was a round pad on the back of the bass. I don't know that it was original. ... But, one thing I do remember I can't stand Gibson necks. ...
Click to expand...
never heard of a gibson supro bass or any gibson bass with a pad on the back. ...............and i love gibson necks, but they can vary alot!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ajkula66
#63
Thundertips said:
I could never get comfortable on a Gibson either. I've never owned one. A friend of mine in High School had a Gibson SG and I didn't like the way the tailpiece and the bridge are separate pieces and far apart. I couldn't get the hang of it. I use a lot of palm muting and I couldn't seem to get my hand to rest in a comfortable position to do that. So, after that experience, I didn't even wanna try a Gibson Bass.
Click to expand...
i've never heard of an SG (or an EB0/EB3) bass with a separate tail piece and bridge. they either used a 2 point, a 3 point or the two point with nylon saddles like on my EB1 and late 60's EB0's and EB3's.
 
#64
johnk_10 said:
i've never heard of an SG (or an EB0/EB3) bass with a separate tail piece and bridge. they either used a 2 point, a 3 point or the two point with nylon saddles like on my EB1 and late 60's EB0's and EB3's.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I was referring to an SG guitar like Angus Young from AC/DC. I know the Basses have a different bridge setup but I didn't like the feel of the guitar so it just put me off Gibson's right away. I always wanted a P-Bass from a young age, so I was already focusing on Fender. Gibsons feel so different to play.
 
#65
Dang man, you really make me want to bust out my 1960 EB-0 and restore it to playability. The original mudbucker got replaced by a Model One, the body got busted and needs some repairs, it's finished in Imron (brother's idea...what did I know at age 19?), and every year around this time I threaten to make it a project, and I never do. There's something about those old Gibsons. Let them be what they are and they're fantastic. Maybe after seeing what a beaut job you did on your EB-1, this might be the year.

But probably not.

:D
 
  • Like
Reactions: woodyng2, Pauly 4001 and johnk_10
#66
Acoop said:
Around the late 60's my brother owned a Gibson Supro bass, large body, double cutaway, don't remember the pickups but, there was a round pad on the back of the bass. I don't know that it was original. ... ...
Click to expand...

Ah the '60s...and the usual dilemma between people not remembering things or remembering the ones that never happened like the Gibson Supro Bass...;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rabidhamster, Acoop and johnk_10
#68
First of all, congrats to johnk on a fabulous restoration on his early and historic Gibson! I've wanted one for some time now, but have come to the sad conclusion that I will NEVER have the wherewithal to purchase one of these rapidly-appreciating instruments. To that end, I managed to negotiate a sale price on one of Eastwood's version of the EB-1 yesterday when they were having a Rush Sale on the LH model (I basically talked them into letting me have a RH model for the same price!).

I'm very excited to be finally getting a a reasonable facsimile of one of these so that I can try to "get my Pappalardi on"!

Again, great job on your bonafide EB-1 johnk!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hurricane Jimmie
#69
johnk_10 said:
i also noticed that the early ones didn't have a dotted i on the gibson headstock logo and the later ones did, so mine might be a '69 even though they were supposedly reissued starting in 1970. i always thought that mine was a '69 though since some say that they were reissued from 1968-1973.
Click to expand...
Hey man your EB-1 looks gorgeous! I also owned one of those and mine did have the 'i' in the Gibson as I recall. I bought it new in '74 for $450 cash after seeing it hanging on the wall in the Seattle Guitar Center for quite sometime! It did not have the painted f-holes as I remember but it had the chrome p-u and the same knobs it was good for recording but the short scale was no longer useful for me but love that body style!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bass V
#70
primussucks9126 said:
Felix was my Step-Uncle. Felix sr married my Grandma. I never got to meet him. When Felix died my Grandfather wanted all of his stuff sold off. My cousin Robert (who was very close to the band Kiss in their early days) apparently took care of all of that. That was before I got started in music. Both of my Grandparents were a little upset when I started playing. They were concerned that I'd be living wild drug-filled life. It didn't turn out that way. Anywayyyyyy...

I love Mountain, Felix's playing, tone and his work as a producer. I'd love to own one of these one day, and one of his SUNN rigs.

Beautiful bass!!!!
Click to expand...
thx for introducing yourself as family, pretty cool being linked to true Rock royalty and I've been obsessed with everything about such a very interesting young man, there was a lot going on in his life during the wild '60s and tragically just like Mountain there is way too little to soak up. the guy really has been overlooked for his life's story and I doubt a movie today could even do him justice, maybe you could be the one to do him right. didn't Felix grow up in the Bronx? is the family still based there?
urban legend is that Sr. quickly went to Felix's home / musical library to confiscate everything to ensure nothing would be ''sold off'' and it all, minus instruments etc., was burned. is there any possibility that his treasure trove of paperwork still exists?
if you aren't already, you should hook up with Al Romano, he's had Felix's violin bass and likely still has one of his Sunn amps / cabs and at one point put up a great video of him gloriously putting those pieces thru their paces at volume. it too has been taken down, by him... maybe you could get the real deal!
any idea where his Mellotron is?
upload_2020-4-29_1-34-32.png

if you don't know what's going on here ...it's just 3 guys and some scribble lol I dig this shot cos it captures SO much if you know the back stories. Eric needs to be int'd in depth about Felix, he's rarely said anything. I'd luv to pick his brain re Felix who was essentially a part of Cream.
upload_2020-4-29_1-57-48.png

Brain Soap ...the '60s! lol
upload_2020-4-29_2-7-14.png

another great capture of Felix's deep involvement with Cream during his first major Producer coup for Disraeli Gears at ATCO. a flustered Ahmet needed someone to get in the studio now! so this new band from England could start working on their 2nd LP but he didn't have a Producer. Felix had been stalking local label offices looking for his next big break and by chance was in Atlantic's office at the right moment hoping to meet the band, Ertegun says ''who the Hell are you?'' and after a momentary intro the boss said ''go in and see if you can get anything out of these guys''. ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? and the rest was RnRHoF history.
upload_2020-4-29_2-11-16.png

a happy man is a happy band
upload_2020-4-29_2-49-8.png

upload_2020-4-29_3-0-15.png

upload_2020-4-29_2-46-38.png

upload_2020-4-29_1-32-36.png

 
  • Like
Reactions: Steve23, Hurricane Jimmie, br1qbat and 6 others
#73
johnk_10 said:
i've owned this bass since 1986 and when i got it as a partial payment for recording a band in my studio, although it had a poorly, home-job refinish, it did have 90% of it's original parts on it (missing it's original volume pot and telescoping heel strap button). i took it apart in 1987 intending to reshoot it with a proper nitro finish but never got around to it until a couple of weeks ago that i finally gave it a proper nitro finish and reassembled it yesterday. (it only took me 33 years to get around to it!). it plays and sounds really good (like a vintage EBO) and i'm just glad that i finally stopped neglecting it. anyway, here's a couple of pics of it as she is now.

View attachment 3805961

View attachment 3805962
Click to expand...

DAMN! Nice low action too! That thing is both beautiful, and a well made american bass!
DUDE! Even though it's not my typical goto tone, I'd rock that thing live!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6stringtheorist, ajkula66 and Rezdog
#76
Anyone have any experience with the EB-4L model ? how does it sound compared to an EB3 or EBO ? I know it has some kind of coil switch, and that moving the pickup back a ways probably takes some of the mud out.
 
#77
i don't have an "L" model but i do have a '73 EBO with the pickup in the middle and i actually prefer it in that location. the contours of the body are minimal but it does have a tummy cut and arm relief. the neck is made of maple (as opposed to mahogany like the previous ones) and has a longer headstock. mine'spickup has a DCR of 1.3K so it has more top end but it still sounds great. it's also heavier than the earlier EBO's, but still all not that bad weight-wise.

73-EBO-01.jpg

73-EBO-02.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: ajkula66, HaphAsSard, bluesblaster and 2 others
#78
johnk_10 said:
i don't have an "L" model but i do have a '73 EBO with the pickup in the middle and i actually prefer it in that location. the contours of the body are minimal but it does have a tummy cut and arm relief. the neck is made of maple (as opposed to mahogany like the previous ones) and has a longer headstock. mine'spickup has a DCR of 1.3K so it has more top end but it still sounds great. it's also heavier than the earlier EBO's, but still all not that bad weight-wise.

View attachment 3807675
View attachment 3807676
Click to expand...
The more I look at these Basses that look like an SG, the more I wanna try one. They're called EB's right? I like that one with the pickup in the middle. Jack Bruce played them a lot, right?
 
#79
Thundertips said:
The more I look at these Basses that look like an SG, the more I wanna try one. They're called EB's right? I like that one with the pickup in the middle. Jack Bruce played them a lot, right?
Click to expand...

The SG shaped one right above is called an EB-0, the violin shaped one in the beginning was called an EB-1, the hollow body ES-335 shaped ones are called EB-2s, the double pickup ones like an SG are called EB-3s. Google them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: johnk_10 and Thundertips

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back