Lost 64 Precision Bass... (Colin Bilham)

[meesterbassman]

Bizarre post and a shot in the dark.


my old teacher Colin Bilham has just died (age 90). First bass guitar chair in the west end and one of original Superstar and Joseph bands I believe.


he *should* have sold his ‘64 precision to me a few years back (2005ish) but was arm twisted (I think) to flog it for (gulp) £750 by (I can only assume) some with minimal

scruples. (Supposition there!)

I was gutted. More so to discover that it then got sold on at auction in 2015 by Tennants in the UK at a price I could still have managed (£2.5k).
the auctioneers tell me it left the UK but can’t say where.


Colin bought it from the bass player in the Hollies...



anyway, would LOVE to track it down (and ideally buy it back for posterity) - I’m gutted he’s gone (knew him for almost 40 years).



anyone come across it (info here including serial):



Link Removed

 

[GretschWretch]

Which Hollies bass player? Eric Haydock or Bernie Calvert?

 

[meesterbassman]

Which Hollies bass player? Eric Haydock or Bernie Calvert?

not sure (he never said and i didn't know enough to ask!) - it would likely be in the written provenance he did to go with the bass...

 

[GretschWretch]

not sure (he never said and i didn't know enough to ask!) - it would likely be in the written provenance he did to go with the bass...

Probably was Haydock (I just remembered). Calvert's go-to bass was a Jazz.

 

[DSAObass]

Bizarre post and a shot in the dark.


my old teacher Colin Bilham has just died (age 90). First bass guitar chair in the west end and one of original Superstar and Joseph bands I believe.


he *should* have sold his ‘64 precision to me a few years back (2005ish) but was arm twisted (I think) to flog it for (gulp) £750 by (I can only assume) some with minimal

scruples. (Supposition there!)

I was gutted. More so to discover that it then got sold on at auction in 2015 by Tennants in the UK at a price I could still have managed (£2.5k).
the auctioneers tell me it left the UK but can’t say where.


Colin bought it from the bass player in the Hollies...



anyway, would LOVE to track it down (and ideally buy it back for posterity) - I’m gutted he’s gone (knew him for almost 40 years).



anyone come across it (info here including serial):



Link Removed



View attachment 4234787

 

[DSAObass]

Meesterbassman, this is not about the bass - Colin Bilham was my bass teacher too! I am sure it's the same one. I studied the double bass with him in school in the UK near Peterborough in the early 80s. Sad to hear he passed away...

 

[meesterbassman]

Meesterbassman, this is not about the bass - Colin Bilham was my bass teacher too! I am sure it's the same one. I studied the double bass with him in school in the UK near Peterborough in the early 80s. Sad to hear he passed away...

Hi. Just seen this!
Yes-he taught at a few schools (including Oundle and Stamford) - I inherited some teaching from him and now have his bass bow. Fab chap and a proper character. did a show 20 years ago and Joe Brown (that one) came to see it and got chatting. He did Charlie Girl in the 1960s with Colin. And remembered him being ‘a proper ‘ooligan’.

 

[DSAObass]

Yes, I was at Oundle. He did have twinkle in his eye... very good man

 

[KPMcC]

Meesterbassman, this is not about the bass - Colin Bilham was my bass teacher too! I am sure it's the same one. I studied the double bass with him in school in the UK near Peterborough in the early 80s. Sad to hear he passed away...

Colin taught me, too, in the early 80s when he was a peri in Cambridgeshire and later as a private pupil. When my parents decided to buy me a bass, he drove me down to Footes to get one.

I went to Newcastle to study Creative Arts, and we met up when he was there touring with the RSC as a Gamba player.

He was also in Fiddler On The Roof, playing the converted violone that he had. I played it once, at his house.

Colin was a lovely man, and i'm sad to read that he has died.