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Just because Jaco is cool

#81
This is what he had to say about it in this interview: Invalid Link Removed

So you have checked out a number of instruments then, including headless ones such as the Steinberger?

Jaco: Yeah [Police bassist] Sting turned me on to the Steinberger. The first time I ever saw one was when I went to see the Police. I tell you, Sting's a beautiful cat. We had heard about each other and talked on the phone, but we had never hooked up. So when I went to see him, the first thing he said to me was, 'Hey,Jaco, come on back and check out my bass.' I like them. They're real good basses. I have one now, but I just haven't had enough time to even explore it. You see, one of the main reasons I use these same old basses is because I've worked so hard and so long on the road- forever- that to get another new instrument at this point, I really feel like I would have to learn how to play it from scratch. I mean, I know everything about these basses of mine, every bit of chicken grease and every drop of sweat that's ever been on them. These things are beat-up alright, but I hardly put any scars on them at all; the only ones are thumb marks. Other than that, I have not made a mark on them. Man, I used to do one-and-a-half flips off my asmps and land on them- looke like I was killing them. But I really never touched them. It was just an illusion- all entertainment. That's what I am, an entertainer.
 
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#85
preside said:
Yup, it was the only thing I requested for Christmas. I told my wife I want to help get this made. Kudos to Mr Trujillo (sp?)
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I pre-ordered it also. I wasn't able to attend the preview of the film in Marin so when it arrives I'm going to have a film-night party. Jaco lives!
 
#86
First time I heard of Jaco was in a Bass Player article before the internet when we subscribed to magazines of our interest one particular article was in interview form and had a piece where Jaco pulled the frets out of a Jazz bass because he could not afford a real fretless and filled in the lines with epoxy to smooth it out. I remember thinking "wow that is genius"
 
#87
Jaco at J Swifts '86 1.jpg
Jaco at J Swifts '86 2.jpg
Jaco at J Swifts '86 3.jpg
coronado3 said:
Wonder what happened to his '66? Also, anyone have any pix of him playing the baby blue jazz?
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Here are three pix of him playing it at Jonathan Swift's Cambridge,MA in early '86. You can't quite see the blue color due to the stage lighting.
 
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#89
Does anybody know what strings he preferred? And I have always found it interesting about his Acoustic brand amp. I wonder why Acoustic? Not that my wondering matters a hill of beans, of course. I wonder also if anyone ever stole Jaco's usual/favorite "home" bed- bench in the park. That would be wild. Yeah, I got it----for sale at a cheap $100,000.00
 
#90
bassrich said:
First time I heard of Jaco was in a Bass Player article before the internet when we subscribed to magazines of our interest one particular article was in interview form and had a piece where Jaco pulled the frets out of a Jazz bass because he could not afford a real fretless and filled in the lines with epoxy to smooth it out. I remember thinking "wow that is genius"
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Epoxy is hard to work with and it was never explained by Jaco how he shaped and polished it. You cannot just whack that stuff on, let it dry and go rip on the bass. It is known that the bass went to Kauffman at some point after that to get it reworked.
 
#92
MEKer said:
Does anybody know what strings he preferred? And I have always found it interesting about his Acoustic brand amp. I wonder why Acoustic? Not that my wondering matters a hill of beans, of course. I wonder also if anyone ever stole Jaco's usual/favorite "home" bed- bench in the park. That would be wild. Yeah, I got it----for sale at a cheap $100,000.00
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Rotosound RS66 'Swing Bass' roundwounds, probably .045 -.100
 
#96
MEKer said:
Does anybody know what strings he preferred? And I have always found it interesting about his Acoustic brand amp. I wonder why Acoustic? Not that my wondering matters a hill of beans, of course. I wonder also if anyone ever stole Jaco's usual/favorite "home" bed- bench in the park. That would be wild. Yeah, I got it----for sale at a cheap $100,000.00
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I came to my own conclusion a while back of why Jaco preferred the Acoustic 360. (he used 2) Each one had an 18" driver in a folded horn cab w/an amp in the base of the cab and the head on top. The fullness of that big driver created a physically percussive sonic wave to those in the audience. Standing next to it didn't sound as big - it delivered the 'bigness' out to the audience. Jaco loved the bass-heavy sounds of Muscle Shoals and Motown, but more importantly he was a people person - he loved interacting with people in a very physical way. I think that amp allowed him to 'touch' his audience with his bass - the low sound wave 'punching' their chests - literally feeling the notes.
 
#97
#98
stacker said:
Epoxy is hard to work with and it was never explained by Jaco how he shaped and polished it. You cannot just whack that stuff on, let it dry and go rip on the bass. It is known that the bass went to Kauffman at some point after that to get it reworked.
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Yah, the legendary DIY removal of frets with a butter knife hrs before a gig story is prit-ty tall… there's a few versions of the story and maybe we'll never know which was true. Doesn't really matter anyway as the result is what was important.
 
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#99
JIO said:
Yah, the legendary DIY removal of frets with a butter knife hrs before a gig story is prit-ty tall… there's a few versions of the story and maybe we'll never know which was true. Doesn't really matter anyway as the result is what was important.
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I'm curious, though, cos as a daft kid I did just that on a defretted Fender P! It was a nightmare, notes choking all over the place! I had to sand it out and get the neck radiused!
 

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