Girlfriend's Dad's Bass 62' Jazz

[BadBobbyH]

Shrine in the living room?
No.
Great basses are supposed to make great music. Play it.

I play all my basses on a daily basis. That sentence sounds awesome. But anyway, I'm an instructor and active musician in and out of the studio so I clock in hours and hours on my instruments. What I meant by that statement is, I think the bass is so beautiful, when not in use I think it's a shame for it to be in a basement storage room.
For the owners argument sake, for him the instrument is a tool and nothing more. When not in use he keeps it with the tools. When it breaks he gets a new one. It's just his bass has never broke and he can't find one he likes better. He told me the other day he's gone through 37 drummers, 4 of which are dead. Wow.

 

[Plutonium244]

The mother-in-law of a guitar player I play with used to be a performer back in the day. In the rehearsal room at the home of the guitar player, there sits her old '62 Precision, now at home with the guitar player and his wife (who is a drummer). I was a surprised to see it there, and more surprised to hear the wife say, "yeah, it was my mom's." Mom apparently was a C&W musician and played the Midwest for a couple of decades in the 60's and 70's.

 

[Mustang Surly]

"Why do people think that pictures of instruments on album covers (or as seen in videos) have even the slightest thing to do with what is heard on the album? For that mater, same could be said of the musicians on album covers, particularly 'back in the day'."

If you doubt JMacBass65's words, you probably haven't watched this:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Chef]

Also I do plan on marrying my girlfriend, making me the only other bass player in the family. So, one day...

Im sending him a new case for it this this week, as he currently has it in a early-mid 2000's hard shell. Which I think suck and so does he. He mentioned wanting a square case with better latches and I happen to have the perfect one laying around.

If it's not a G&G Fender tweed re-issue, it should be.

 

[Morris2103]

That is an amazing looking bass

 

[Joe Kyle]

Six degrees of separation from the Trashmen, GO!

Sweet bass dude!

 

[los100malditos]

A piece of Rock n Roll history ... marry the girl... LOL

 

[BadBobbyH]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Well it's red here, so that won't be a late 60's refin. More likely a refin less than a year after it was made, or a different bass to the one held here...or that jazz wasn't actually used on the song and this was:

(Danelectro Longhorn)

I'm gonna have to send the top pic to the owner of the bass. That's pretty cool, looks like it was a matching color scheme. When I was there I asked him about the pick up cover and the bridge cover, he came back a few seconds later with both of them. Said he had the thumb rest somewhere too. I didn't inquire about the original pick guard as his was so badass looking.

 

[maves75]

Great story. Great bass!! Dubuque is one of my favorite places. I can't imagine, but I'd like to look behind every refrigerator hoping to find another!

 

[bluesblaster]

Oh yeah this bass also recorded 'surfin bird' by The Trashmen

Than her Dad is Bob Reed ?

 

[bluesblaster]

Great book by Rick Shefchik out now called "Everybody's heard about the Bird" all about the rock n roll bands of the 60's from the Midwest.

 

[DerekW]

He told me the other day he's gone through 37 drummers, 4 of which are dead. Wow.

That's a pretty good average for drummers actually.

 

[BadBobbyH]

Than her Dad is Bob Reed ?

Nope, the bass was owned by the guy in the Trashmen. It's not really my place to put the owner's name out on the Internet, I don't feel comfortable with it. I explained how the instrument was acquired earlier in the thread.

 

[Jeff Elkins]

I'm still stuck on "behind a refrigerator." I need a moment...

 

[bluesblaster]

sorry, didn't see that.

It was most likely purchased by original owner from B sharp music in Mpls. Your girlfriends dad might be interested in the book mentioned above, lots of info on the Trashmen, there are photos of him with that bass in the book (pg. 152)

 

[darwin-bass]

Wow, that is very nearly the ugliest bass I've ever seen. Trashed. Desperately in need of some finish work to try to preserve the underlying wood before the whole thing just flakes apart.

Yea, I just don't get the whole relic thing. All I see is damage and careless handling on the part of the owner / player. Clearly others see it differently :-O

 

[JMacBass65]

All I see is damage and careless handling on the part of the owner / player. Clearly others see it differently :-O

Judge much?

 

[Plutonium244]

I have one bass that is beat to hell, but that is because I played the sh*t out of it for many years, in many situations. It's the only bass I have where I actually wore down the finish on the back of the neck. It's got its scars, but I love it and will never try to refinish it... because it's like a totem pole, every mark is full of personal history. I don't TRY to relic them, but I earned every scar.

 

[The Bass Clef]

Wow, that is very nearly the ugliest bass I've ever seen. Trashed. Desperately in need of some finish work to try to preserve the underlying wood before the whole thing just flakes apart.

Yea, I just don't get the whole relic thing. All I see is damage and careless handling on the part of the owner / player. Clearly others see it differently :-O

It's a tool that was used for decades before vintage instruments were cool and collectable. This isn't part of the "relic thing". It's the real deal. The finish is flaking off, but I'm sure the bass is far from flaking apart.

 

[jim777]

What happened with the weed?

Remarkably, it met yet another unfortunate fire (well, 14 or 15 seperate instances of meeting fire, give or take) and finally succumbed. Tragic really