Paul's Ric: psycadelic paint job?

[Spectrum]

In this Walrus video Paul McCartney is playing his famous blonde Ric bass, but around 1:30 in the video he is dressed in some sort of gorilla suit and his Ric has what looks like a psycadelic paint job.

YouTube - ‪The Beatles - I Am The Walrus HD‬‏

What's up with that? Is that some sort of temporary paint job, or what? It's kind of cool-looking, now that I thnk about it...

 

[Ric5]

The bass started out fireglo. Then he painted it. Later it got sanded down to the bare wood. Why the paint job ... probably a drug induced decision.

 

[tkcthulu]

If you actually look at it up close it's a pretty poor paint job

 

[Rugaar]

Someone around here has one and has posted the pictures a few times. It's pretty cool. I assume he'll arrive shortly.

 

[cassius987]

I have always thought it was a ridiculous-looking paint job but some people have had it emulated for their own Rics, for instance to perform in a tribute act, which makes perfect sense--why not be authentic about it? I'm sure the audience appreciates it. But yeah, it's not for me.

 

[SactoBass]

I think I've heard of this band. They're pretty good!

 

[cassius987]

^lol. It's taken me years to really appreciate the Beatles, for a long time I couldn't get past elements about them I thought were "gimmicky". But they really did make for a good listen or ten once I got past that.

 

[tkcthulu]

Actually, in the video I never realized that the Ric wasn't painted in half of the video then painted in the other.

EDIT: Just realized it was the lighting; was painted whole video

 

[SactoBass]

^lol. It's taken me years to really appreciate the Beatles, for a long time I couldn't get past elements about them I thought were "gimmicky". But they really did make for a good listen or ten once I got past that.

Yeah, of course, I was just being silly in my previous post. It was watching their debut on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, 1964 when I was only 7 years old that turned me on to music from that point on. I didn't start playing bass until I was 16, and I am now 55. Over the years, I have played many Beatle songs, and every time I sit down to learn a new one note for note, I always end up looking at the CD player and saying "wow, Paul is incredible!"

 

[Ric5]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Spectrum]

Oh, I see, it was a flame job! So I take it the instruments in that photo are yours? And do you know what the deal was with Paul's bass? Did he paint it halfway through the filming of that vid and then sand it all off later?

 

[tkcthulu]

Paul originally had it in fireglo. He had it painted in that in it is seen painted all through the video (some of the shots it may look like it's clean due to the lighting but isn't.) In like 1968 or something he sanded the paint down. That's as far as I know.

 

[mwesth]

Yeah, of course, I was just being silly in my previous post. It was watching their debut on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, 1964 when I was only 7 years old that turned me on to music from that point on. I didn't start playing bass until I was 16, and I am now 55. Over the years, I have played many Beatle songs, and every time I sit down to learn a new one note for note, I always end up looking at the CD player and saying "wow, Paul is incredible!"

+1

 

[iamthebassman]

Someone around here has one and has posted the pictures a few times. It's pretty cool. I assume he'll arrive shortly.

Possibly me you're referring to.

 

[audiomitch]

The story I heard was they were all tripping on acid at a party and broke out the paint. George's psycho Strat got the same treatment.

 

[iamthebassman]

George did a MUCH better job on his.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

The story I heard was they were all tripping on acid at a party and broke out the paint. George's psycho Strat got the same treatment.

Something like that. Paul dumped small paints cans over it and just had fun with it. Later on, he sanded it down once or twice, no one is sure when the horn peaks got sanded off. It eventually made it back to Ric when Paul was scheduled to play at the Hollywood bowl (post Beatles perhaps?) where the factory sanded it again, put in new pups, essentially rebuilt it and refinished it left as plain maple.

 

[Spectrum]

Possibly me you're referring to.

Very cool-looking, man.

 

[lazerbrains]

The story I heard was they were all tripping on acid at a party and broke out the paint. George's psycho Strat got the same treatment.

I remember reading that Paul, John, and George all had their guitars painted by the artist known as "the fool" at that time. John and Paul later had theirs sanded down and refinished.

Eric Clapton also had his guitar painted by the same artist, as did Jimi Hendrix with his famous fender.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

I'm 100% certain "The Fool" painted Eric's SG (now owned by Todd Rundgren) and 99.9% certain The Beatles instruments in question were painted by "The Fool" as well.

The main point I wanted to make FYI is that "The Fool" is not just one person, but a group of Dutch artists collectively known as "The Fool." I've also heard audiomitch's version of how they got painted as well.