Great music recorded on cheap instruments

[Jack Butler]

How much do you think a Fender Precision bass cost when Jamerson recorded all those Motown hits?

If you do the conversion to today's dollars, probably about the same as now relative to the economy. Someone was complaining about prices of a new Fender Jazz like a year ago, how they were like $250 in the early 60's. When you run the inflation calculator it equates to around $2,400 today. So if it's just a USA Jazz, they are actually cheaper today, although custom shop Fender would be a little more.

 

[Jack Butler]

I believe that until recently, Laura Lee from Khruangbin used an SX that her father bought her for all recordings and performances.

Did she switch from the SX? That will make me a bit sad. Always loved that she used that cheap bass even after becoming famous.

 

[swink]

Oh hey, harmonicas don't cost a lot.

But Toots is priceless.

 

[BobDeRosa]

Did she switch from the SX? That will make me a bit sad. Always loved that she used that cheap bass even after becoming famous.

I'm remembering (maybe misremembering) a recent Bass Player interview and I think she said she had or was about to upgrade. Let me see if I can dig that issue up.

EDIT: I was misremembering and had my facts wrong. She's not upgrading and ditching the SX, just using other basses as needed. Here's that section of the interview:

 

[Dlew919]

Surely the most obvious answer here is Brian May's 'Red Special'? It doesn't get much cheaper than an upcycled kitchen table and an about-to-be-scrapped fire-place mantle.

Red Special - Wikipedia

Argh! Yes. Knitting needles, old fireplace taken from the scrap heap. Motorbike springs for the vibrato. Cheap wood. Took them two years because there wasn’t much money anyway. Never had a fret job or truss rod adjustment. Cost about 50pounds in total. Still in use. Not insured because it’s irreplaceable.

 

[Killing Floor]

Right. Although kinda depends on song/era. George's Gretsches were not cheap. Nor were the later Rics (12 strings, Macca's bass). The Gibson J160 acoustics were not cheap. In 65 they got Strats, in 67 they got Martin D28s (Blackbird, Julia) then George's gorgeous Gibson J200 (heard prominently on the intro of For You Blue then given to Dylan who's holding it on the cover of Nashville Skyline). Then of course the famous Kubicki built rosewood Tele. (And others, lefty and righty Jazz Basses, George's ES-335, for example.)

But yes, the Epi Casinos were cheap and used A LOT. Both John and Paul in both word and deed christened them their favorite electrics (cue Band on the Run). Paul's two Hofners were cheap of course. And of particular note, the most covered song in music history, Yesterday, was played on an Epiphone Texan (upside down, and tuned down a whole step.) So yes some VERY notable music on cheapies.

I’m not an Epi expert at all but they were a highly regarded brand back then before Gibson ownership. I don’t think they were cheap then.

 

[Michedelic]

Laura from kraungbin plays an sx p bass and doesn’t change strings ever

That’s a J bass knock-off.

Did she switch from the SX? That will make me a bit sad. Always loved that she used that cheap bass even after becoming famous.

I'm remembering (maybe misremembering) a recent Bass Player interview and I think she said she had or was about to upgrade. Let me see if I can dig that issue up.

EDIT: I was misremembering and had my facts wrong. She's not upgrading and ditching the SX, just using other basses as needed. Here's that section of the interview:

She was seen in a somewhat recent video with a Fender VI style bass…


The band probably won’t be doing much any
time soon as she is currently with child.

 

[Michedelic]

I’m not an Epi expert at all but they were a highly regarded brand back then before Gibson ownership. I don’t think they were cheap then.

They weren’t cheap after Gibson initially acquired them, just an alternate universe brand. At that time, Melody Makers(like Fender’s Musicmaster, Bronco, and Mustang)were the downmarket/student instruments. In the early 70’s the name was then applied to inexpensive, Japanese manufactuted basses and electric/acoustic guitars and but the models were odd mutations of Epiphone only styles, not doppelgängers of classic Gibson designs; hence not a Squier analog…that came much later. It was also at that time that Gibson quality went straight to the toilet, Fender’s wasn’t so great either, and the notion of ‘vintage’ desirability started to emerge.

 

[Ekulati]

I’m not an Epi expert at all but they were a highly regarded brand back then before Gibson ownership. I don’t think they were cheap then.

Yup. I think it's relative though. They were definitely on the cheaper end compared to their Gibsons, Gretsches, Rics etc. George even had a 335, but there's like one photo of him playing it. Ok, maybe two.

 

[SteveCS]

Also, don't forget the Italian Farfisa organ. Everyone knows the sound from Pink Floyd, Booker T, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Percy Seldge, B-52s and hundreds of others. Fraction of the price of the competition at the time, and right now you can get them for a good dose of pocket change!

 

[swink]

 

[Michedelic]

Nothing like going to the junkyard for percussion objects. Then you can recycle after the gig.

 

[Killing Floor]

Yeah! Don’t forget about Bixla.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Augustus Pablo on Melodica
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE05nrdjjJ4dqpwDyCeaI94PC80ISJLNp

 

[ThudThudThud]

Jimmy Page often recorded with cheap guitars, like the Danelectro on Kashmir. He also favored low-powered combos, like Silvertones and Fender Champs, which were essentially practice amps back then.

The bass player used Hohner B-Basses for a while. Those are as crappy as you can get … I had one and it was a piece of junk!

Jojo Garza is a great bass player. I'm guessing they (the brothers in the band) bought the best they could afford at the time, and didn't let the instruments stand in the way of their talent.

 

[ThudThudThud]

Stretching ‘cheap’ but Jeff beck often used Made in Mexico Fenders.

Until the last couple of years you could pick up a used MiM Fender for three bills pretty much anywhere.
It's only recently that they've commanded an arbitrary premium.

 

[Manticore]

Location is important here. In the UK in the 1960s a Fender was a very expensive import item, hence a number of bands used domestic alternatives of various qualities. Vox was one popular choice, although many were made in Italy. Users, including recorded, of Vox include Bill Wyman, Brian Jones and Jimmy Page in the 1960s, and Dave Wakeling in the early 80s alongside WEM and Fender.

The Shadows, Honeycombs, etc., endorsed Burns, even though Hank Marvin is typically associated with a Strat.

My first foray into bass guitar was on a rented Crucianelli Espana EL-38. I had it a year; it was good enough to convince me to pursue bass guitar.

 

[ElectroVibe]

If Fender used to be a "budget" guitar brand, then what was a regular brand at the time?

 

[ElectroVibe]

If a synonym for "cheap" in your world is "inexpensive" just about any decent recording with a Fender instrument. Fender was founded as a company providing inexpensive instruments to the masses, a tradition that survives to this day.

I think of Fender as a designer brand today.

 

[Michedelic]

If Fender used to be a "budget" guitar brand, then what was a regular brand at the time?

Fender was never a budget brand, but due to their assembly line means of production, as opposed to the craftmanship mode of Gibson, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, etc, they were able to offer their product at a more attractive price point. Add to that their forward thinking designs.