Identify This Bass..old 60's recording

It sounds like something Carol Kaye would play. Probably a Fender with mutes under the strings.

 

sounds almost like a baritone guitar to me.

 

It sounds like one of the old Fender or Danelectro 6 string basses. They're sorta like baritone guitars.

 

^ Yeah, I'm not sure, but it doesn't quite sound like a P bass to me. Whatever it is, the player sure could play it great.

 

THE GRAVEYARD JAMBOREE April 18, 1969
Walt Disney Productions Recording Stage
Contrabass, Bass Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Drums, and Organ

"Al" Hendrickson

The Haunted Mansion Main Theme. Every cue in the ride is synchronized to this basic track. (Excluding the organs in the Foyer and Ballroom) It was recorded in to stages, first the rhythm section (guitars, contrabass, and drums) then the organ was recorded on a separate track. This track also serves as the underscore of all cues in the graveyard sequence. Musically, the graveyard score is programmed very much like a parade score in reverse. Where as the individual units are faded in and out with a basic underscore.

 

http://www.hago.org.uk/guitars/contra/

 

IMHO: Contrabass on this track was a Contrabass guitar....

Per Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrabass

 

That would be a double bass (a.k.a contrabass) and a bass guitar playing mostly in unison (there are a few moments where he throws in a few extra bass guitar rhythm fills on top of longer double bass note). The bass guitar is being played with a pick and is slightly muted and not very trebly. If the bass guitar were muted anymore and there was more treble, you'd have some "tic-tac" bass going on.

And it could be a P bass, or a Bass VI, or something short-scale like a Mustang or something. Hard to tell...

 

Ah, now I think we may have it...
I hear the double bass playing a slightly less busy line undernearth, like lunarpollen says, though I challenge his interpretation of the main voicing to be a bass guitar. I think it is an upright bass playing along with a contrabass guitar.

My reason for not thinking it's a bass guitar is that (unless I'm mistaken) foam or palm muting adds a little depth to the tone of the string while this recording features a very thin quality that is quite unlike a bass guitar string. Also keeping in mind that a bass guitar in this era would likely be wearing flatwounds, which certainly aren't very thin and crisp!

And for what it's worth - this song seems to be rooted in 'nawlins' flavor, which is rarely complimented by an electric bass guitar.

Any thoughts on my audio and/or cultural interpretation?

 

^^^^^^^ Please see bold above

 

I believe it is a two electrics, one short scale contrabass and a standard 34" scale "Fender bass" as all electrics were referred to in that era...

 

They wouldn't have listed it like "contrabass, bass guitar" if they didn't mean a DB and a BG. I think the BG is a Bass VI just from the sound of it, but who knows.