Show your Memphis basses here! I know that they are cheap, but I think they sound awesome! I didnt see a thread on them anywhere here, so I decided to make one. Heres mine: (P.S. Sorry for the terrible quality on the picture, I think I'll have more. It was a really crappy camera so thats how I can explain myself!)
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Memphis Bass Club
- Thread starter Rushlover13
- Start date
Apparently you hadn't seen the threads on how decent P-basses they are, and others who like them.
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When you find a shortscale ply wood bass in a attic coverd in stickers and dust you get excited. When you then notice the nut detached the pots rusted in one postion and a bowed neck you think wall art. When it barley produces sound and has worn frets you think trash. When in the process of installing the nut and setting it up the headstock busts completely off of the bass exsposing some horrid looking wood, you smash it.
I have seen thru neck memphis and other ones but really that bass was complete ****. Even if it was in good shape i bet that was memphis cheapest model they made.
Wow a thread on Memphis basses. O_O
My first bass was a lawsuit headstock burst/maple (1978) Memphis P bass.... I positively loathed that bass.... for my 13 year old self it was Fargin HUGE. No set up, relief so bad the string distance to the fretboard was high enough off to give you a nosebleed... and I didn't know a thing about set ups... I hated that bass.... but you know..Memphis P basses sound killerrrr.
Anyway, even though I hated that bass it went everywhere with me. I used to take the thing to school even. Where I was, that bass was... I don't recall how mojoed it got (it had to have been pretty bad) but I know last I seen it, it was in 2 pieces in the mud room abandoned when I moved out of that house. That was in 1986.
Fast forward 2007. I had put the bass down for some time, picked it back up and found this site. And wow, things I should have known before and didn't I learned here (ie setups)... and I often wondered how that Memphis could have been had it been set up. Why I have no idea, but I started looking for one. I was set on one exactly like the one I had but either I'd find a burst and no Fender headstock or Id find one with the Fender headstock and no burst and it would be trashed. My goal was to find one as original as possible and with the lawsuit Fender headstock. I finally found one on the bay last year. It was natural/maple with the lawsuit headstock. This thing even has the paper serial # sticker on the neck plate still. Theres nothing plywood about this baby. Its a fair weighted solid wood bass. The body yes is a few pieces put together but its sturdy and solid. All I have right now are its auction pics but Im looking at it sitting on its stand right now next to my Peavey Dyna bass.
The white PG has since been swapped for a black/gray raised pile of skulls PG... why? I have no idea....
My first bass was a lawsuit headstock burst/maple (1978) Memphis P bass.... I positively loathed that bass.... for my 13 year old self it was Fargin HUGE. No set up, relief so bad the string distance to the fretboard was high enough off to give you a nosebleed... and I didn't know a thing about set ups... I hated that bass.... but you know..Memphis P basses sound killerrrr.
Anyway, even though I hated that bass it went everywhere with me. I used to take the thing to school even. Where I was, that bass was... I don't recall how mojoed it got (it had to have been pretty bad) but I know last I seen it, it was in 2 pieces in the mud room abandoned when I moved out of that house. That was in 1986.
Fast forward 2007. I had put the bass down for some time, picked it back up and found this site. And wow, things I should have known before and didn't I learned here (ie setups)... and I often wondered how that Memphis could have been had it been set up. Why I have no idea, but I started looking for one. I was set on one exactly like the one I had but either I'd find a burst and no Fender headstock or Id find one with the Fender headstock and no burst and it would be trashed. My goal was to find one as original as possible and with the lawsuit Fender headstock. I finally found one on the bay last year. It was natural/maple with the lawsuit headstock. This thing even has the paper serial # sticker on the neck plate still. Theres nothing plywood about this baby. Its a fair weighted solid wood bass. The body yes is a few pieces put together but its sturdy and solid. All I have right now are its auction pics but Im looking at it sitting on its stand right now next to my Peavey Dyna bass.
The white PG has since been swapped for a black/gray raised pile of skulls PG... why? I have no idea....
heres my memphis p-bass twins!!!
Wow a thread on Memphis basses. O_O
My first bass was a lawsuit headstock burst/maple (1978) Memphis P bass.... I positively loathed that bass.... for my 13 year old self it was Fargin HUGE. No set up, relief so bad the string distance to the fretboard was high enough off to give you a nosebleed... and I didn't know a thing about set ups... I hated that bass.... but you know..Memphis P basses sound killerrrr.
Anyway, even though I hated that bass it went everywhere with me. I used to take the thing to school even. Where I was, that bass was... I don't recall how mojoed it got (it had to have been pretty bad) but I know last I seen it, it was in 2 pieces in the mud room abandoned when I moved out of that house. That was in 1986.
Fast forward 2007. I had put the bass down for some time, picked it back up and found this site. And wow, things I should have known before and didn't I learned here (ie setups)... and I often wondered how that Memphis could have been had it been set up. Why I have no idea, but I started looking for one. I was set on one exactly like the one I had but either I'd find a burst and no Fender headstock or Id find one with the Fender headstock and no burst and it would be trashed. My goal was to find one as original as possible and with the lawsuit Fender headstock. I finally found one on the bay last year. It was natural/maple with the lawsuit headstock. This thing even has the paper serial # sticker on the neck plate still. Theres nothing plywood about this baby. Its a fair weighted solid wood bass. The body yes is a few pieces put together but its sturdy and solid. All I have right now are its auction pics but Im looking at it sitting on its stand right now next to my Peavey Dyna bass.
The white PG has since been swapped for a black/gray raised pile of skulls PG... why? I have no idea....
Nice basses guys!
#1 Rushlover 13
#2 Line6Bassist
#3 StarscreamG1
Holy cow. Has anyone seen the prices these basses are listed as right now on eBay? O_O Sheesh... This is a buyers market right now so what gives?
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I'm looking around for a spare pup for mine. Nothing wrong with the one I have, just wanna plan for a rainy day that hopefully will never happen. Memphis Ps have a very unique sound all their own and its that particular split p pup version that does it so if I could grab a spare that would be nice.
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I'm looking around for a spare pup for mine. Nothing wrong with the one I have, just wanna plan for a rainy day that hopefully will never happen. Memphis Ps have a very unique sound all their own and its that particular split p pup version that does it so if I could grab a spare that would be nice.
3 years ago my dad gave me his old Memphis from the 70s, so I set out to restore it. It was beaten, was living in the basement, pickguard was destroyed, I could fit my whole hand underneath the strings at the 12th fret with no problem. Kinda wish I took before and after pictures, but all I have is some after ones from a show I did the other weekend. I'll put that up, but will take some better ones on a stand. Pretty much everything but the body on this was destroyed though, so I had to rewire it and drop in new pots and pickups. I was really disappointed because I wanted the vintage pickups from the original, but I guess way back my mom bumped the drain valve on the boiler and the guitar got steamed, fried up all the pickups up. Haha, pretty much sucks, it also warped the neck, my luthier said he could spin the truss rod with his fingers. Anyway, now it's pretty solid, the feel is great. I managed to counter the brightness of the maple with some pretty decent DiMarzio Split P blade pickups. It's still a work in progress, needless to say, but considering the 30+ years of beatings its gotten, I'd say I'm doing pretty good. I'm just disappointed that I couldn't have its original sound. Anyway, more pics later, tell me what you think!
Yea I feel the old Memphis made stuff (script logo) is better than alot of **** out there. When I first picked up my P-Bass copy I sold my Rickenbacker and my Geddy Lee series Jazz Bass within a month. It weighs a ton, but it has more character and better sound. Since then I've picked up a 77 Memphis neck-through bass (not sure of the model #/name), and a Memphis Fender Mustang copy. These guitars are solid and built like tanks. So anyone talking **** about those old Memphis' is probably into stupid ass Warwick and/or 6 string basses and plays in a Staind cover band. It's nice to see this board, and anything to do with Memphis.
Attachments
found one of these from 1972 on craigslist. waiting for the seller to get back with me now to see if he still has it. never heard of them before i did a search.
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needs a little TLC, but for $100....i dont mind.
i did manage to find this for anyone who cares:
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needs a little TLC, but for $100....i dont mind.
i did manage to find this for anyone who cares:
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Yea those are sweet. They come with a brass nut and bridge saddles. Sustain for days. I had one of those too. Kickin myself for selling it...
My frist bass was a black memphis pbass. I was leaving for tour in a month and I needed a bass (as I had been borrowing my friends bass for band practices). I bought one for $40 dollars and it was the biggest piece of crap ever. The memphis lived its last minutes on stage.
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