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Philip Kubicki RIP

#101
I have spoken with Phil about a hundred times. I always pestered him with questions about his basses. What a generous & patient man. I'm sure he is in a better place now.

RIP Phil. Thanks for that brass cup for the ball end you sent me. That was a nice surprise. I will never forget that.
 
#102
So my son just pulled out my ExFactor (commented how "sick" it is) and I thought of Phil, and will share my story in three parts...

Part 1

I got the Kubicki in 1986 it is number 222 and it was Salmon colour. Here's how I got it...

I had a Spector that I was not too in love with, and was playing in a local club, and a guy comes up to me at the break and says that he is a bass collector/reseller and has a friend who really wants a Spector, do I want to trade my bass.

Now here's the kicker -- my Spector was a prototype ns2 that was acquired by a dealer at Namn (I think in 83) - it was the new curved body design, one piece, in black but only had a single p pup, and there was no serial number on it. I didn't care much for it nevertheless and so of course like the bass slut I've always been I said let's meet. The guy keeps calling me and says I have a deal "that you will not pass up". So I go to his place and he and his friend are there.

Cut to the chase, I traded the NS for a black/maple 73 Jazz, a 77 burst Stingray, AND the ExFactor in a custom flight case.

The Kubicki was my favourite instrument by far, played it for years, recorded quite a few records with it and because of the colour, was synonymous with me in the local scene, (I even have some shots of Jon Bon Jovi playing it in studio while I was doing some stuff with Aldo Nova).

Part 2

Jump some years, I get into serious financial issues, had to sell the Factor.

Jump up a few more years and I bump into an old friend of mine who I have not spoken to for a decade, and he tells me that another local player has my Factor (got it in a pawn shop), and he wants to sell it. I quickly go to his place and almost freaked out because this guy stripped off the "ugly" Salmon colour and replaced the pickups and preamp. In about 4 mins I leave his place with my bass (got it for a few hundred dollars) after I made sure he has all the guts.

Part 3

I get home and try the bass which was now sporting EMG's and (ironically) a tone pump preamp, and to my amazement, I liked the tone. The neck is still perfect, but the finish work on the body is horrible. At this point in my life I am a die hard Fender guy, have a bunch of them as well as a couple of Sadowsky basses which are my tone of choice - but that Kubicki neck was, and always will be my favorite.
So I get this idea...

I call up Phil whom I met at his place in Cali when I brought the bass in for a tune up, tell him the story which we had a good laugh over, he also tells me that it is a shame, that he only made 10 basses in that colour. And so gauging the lightness of the mood I break my idea to him... "Phil, would you re finish and re-do your bass, but use Sadowsky's pickups and preamp?" Silence for a long min... "no, not interested. I'll bring it back to spec. but will not do that". OK I said, continued talking a little and said bye.

Part 3

Not giving up on the idea, I asked Roger Sadowsky the same question, would you use the Kubicki as a platform for your guts, and refinish? "Sorry, no, too busy".

Now I'm really determined, so I get ahold of Michel Dolan, and ask him to take on the project, which he did. The work was to size down the body a bit, fill in the pup holes and re-route for jazz pups, drop in the Sadowsky electronics, refinish gloss/piano black, no markings - and so off he went to rebuild the beast. It took him 3 months.

Part 3 and a half...

When the bass was done, Michael ships it to me (from Cali to Montreal), but I don't receive it. FedEx says it has been delivered. I'm freaking out. FedEx can't find it and it is now a week later. Another few days of back and forth, I'm filling out insurance claim docs for FedEx and I get a phone call from this lady in Vancouver BC (other side of the country) who tells me that they received shipment of "a guitar" and that my name was on the bill inside the instrument case!!! I call FedEx fuming. They picked it up and had it at my door in a day. And it is insanely cool.

So to conclude my very long (sorry) story with my connection to Phil Kubicki, the bass is still my favourite, it is an outstanding playing, incredible sounding, very special instrument created by a very gifted man. The bass is meant to be with me, and will remain that way.
 
#103
AA63 said:
I got the Kubicki in 1986 it is number 222 and it was Salmon colour. Here's how I got it...
Click to expand...

I don't have nearly as interesting a story but I just received a 1986 Ex-Factor... serial #221. :) Mine was single-owner and the case included the original receipt from 1986.

Mine is black. I wonder what the ratio of black:different cool colors was in those days?

Nice that you were reunited with your bass!
 
#105
AA63 said:
So my son just pulled out my ExFactor (commented how "sick" it is) and I thought of Phil, and will share my story in three parts...

Part 1

I got the Kubicki in 1986 it is number 222 and it was Salmon colour. Here's how I got it...

I had a Spector that I was not too in love with, and was playing in a local club, and a guy comes up to me at the break and says that he is a bass collector/reseller and has a friend who really wants a Spector, do I want to trade my bass.

Now here's the kicker -- my Spector was a prototype ns2 that was acquired by a dealer at Namn (I think in 83) - it was the new curved body design, one piece, in black but only had a single p pup, and there was no serial number on it. I didn't care much for it nevertheless and so of course like the bass slut I've always been I said let's meet. The guy keeps calling me and says I have a deal "that you will not pass up". So I go to his place and he and his friend are there.

Cut to the chase, I traded the NS for a black/maple 73 Jazz, a 77 burst Stingray, AND the ExFactor in a custom flight case.

The Kubicki was my favourite instrument by far, played it for years, recorded quite a few records with it and because of the colour, was synonymous with me in the local scene, (I even have some shots of Jon Bon Jovi playing it in studio while I was doing some stuff with Aldo Nova).

Part 2

Jump some years, I get into serious financial issues, had to sell the Factor.

Jump up a few more years and I bump into an old friend of mine who I have not spoken to for a decade, and he tells me that another local player has my Factor (got it in a pawn shop), and he wants to sell it. I quickly go to his place and almost freaked out because this guy stripped off the "ugly" Salmon colour and replaced the pickups and preamp. In about 4 mins I leave his place with my bass (got it for a few hundred dollars) after I made sure he has all the guts.

Part 3

I get home and try the bass which was now sporting EMG's and (ironically) a tone pump preamp, and to my amazement, I liked the tone. The neck is still perfect, but the finish work on the body is horrible. At this point in my life I am a die hard Fender guy, have a bunch of them as well as a couple of Sadowsky basses which are my tone of choice - but that Kubicki neck was, and always will be my favorite.
So I get this idea...

I call up Phil whom I met at his place in Cali when I brought the bass in for a tune up, tell him the story which we had a good laugh over, he also tells me that it is a shame, that he only made 10 basses in that colour. And so gauging the lightness of the mood I break my idea to him... "Phil, would you re finish and re-do your bass, but use Sadowsky's pickups and preamp?" Silence for a long min... "no, not interested. I'll bring it back to spec. but will not do that". OK I said, continued talking a little and said bye.

Part 3

Not giving up on the idea, I asked Roger Sadowsky the same question, would you use the Kubicki as a platform for your guts, and refinish? "Sorry, no, too busy".

Now I'm really determined, so I get ahold of Michel Dolan, and ask him to take on the project, which he did. The work was to size down the body a bit, fill in the pup holes and re-route for jazz pups, drop in the Sadowsky electronics, refinish gloss/piano black, no markings - and so off he went to rebuild the beast. It took him 3 months.

Part 3 and a half...

When the bass was done, Michael ships it to me (from Cali to Montreal), but I don't receive it. FedEx says it has been delivered. I'm freaking out. FedEx can't find it and it is now a week later. Another few days of back and forth, I'm filling out insurance claim docs for FedEx and I get a phone call from this lady in Vancouver BC (other side of the country) who tells me that they received shipment of "a guitar" and that my name was on the bill inside the instrument case!!! I call FedEx fuming. They picked it up and had it at my door in a day. And it is insanely cool.

So to conclude my very long (sorry) story with my connection to Phil Kubicki, the bass is still my favourite, it is an outstanding playing, incredible sounding, very special instrument created by a very gifted man. The bass is meant to be with me, and will remain that way.
Click to expand...


You have to post pics of your bass ! Nice history !
 
#106
Hi All,

I will post some pics later tonight.

ModuMan -- *Please* let me know if/when you would like to sell the Kubicki - I would LOVE to have consecutive serial numbers.

To answer your question, for the first couple of years Black, White and Red were the most common colours. The others that were less common were (in order from least to most rare) were sparkle black, grey, a black to red burst, yellow, shell pink and salmon.

I know of one other Salmon color in existence, and a couple of shell pink ones - they have popped up here in TB over the years.

A




ModuMan said:
I don't have nearly as interesting a story but I just received a 1986 Ex-Factor... serial #221. :) Mine was single-owner and the case included the original receipt from 1986.

Mine is black. I wonder what the ratio of black:different cool colors was in those days?

Nice that you were reunited with your bass!
Click to expand...
 
#107
What about the Bahama Green? How common was this color?
I own a pre-Fender green, the previous owner changed the pups and pre with EMGs, sounds great but now I want to put back the original elefctronics. Wiring diagram anyone???
 
#109
AA63 said:
Hi All,

I will post some pics later tonight.

ModuMan -- *Please* let me know if/when you would like to sell the Kubicki - I would LOVE to have consecutive serial numbers.

To answer your question, for the first couple of years Black, White and Red were the most common colours. The others that were less common were (in order from least to most rare) were sparkle black, grey, a black to red burst, yellow, shell pink and salmon.

I know of one other Salmon color in existence, and a couple of shell pink ones - they have popped up here in TB over the years.

A
Click to expand...

I played a salmon coloured ExFactor in the mid-90's at Real Guitars here in SF. I wanted it but I had just bought my 1st Kubicki ('86 -black-283) and couldn't afford another one. Phil said it was used on '58 Desoto's.
 
#110
AA63 said:
Hi All,

I will post some pics later tonight.

ModuMan -- *Please* let me know if/when you would like to sell the Kubicki - I would LOVE to have consecutive serial numbers.

To answer your question, for the first couple of years Black, White and Red were the most common colours. The others that were less common were (in order from least to most rare) were sparkle black, grey, a black to red burst, yellow, shell pink and salmon.

I know of one other Salmon color in existence, and a couple of shell pink ones - they have popped up here in TB over the years.

A
Click to expand...

Great info, thanks! There was a color brochure included in my case that shows a couple of finishes. I can't vouch that it was also from 1986 but it's certainly possible.

brochureopen2_zpsa890df06.jpg



While I am not likely to sell the bass, I will certainly give you right of first refusal if I do. When there aren't (comparatively) that many of these things out there sequential numbers are pretty cool and it's fun to see how the line progressed. In any event, I do think it's great to find a "neighbor". :)
 
#111
EduardoK said:
What about the Bahama Green? How common was this color?
I own a pre-Fender green, the previous owner changed the pups and pre with EMGs, sounds great but now I want to put back the original elefctronics. Wiring diagram anyone???
Click to expand...

Ed, contact Mike at Kubicki (that is also his e-mail address) I believe he is still doing maintenance there -610-207-3918 and would be able to help.

---

ModMan - indeed a neighbour would be great, thanks very much!

A
 
#114
I posted my condolescences to Phil Kubicki in another UK based bass forum, (Basschat) I have to say the little I have dealt with Mr. Kubicki he was always a gentleman and a pleasure to deal with both by phone and by email. I have been asking him for different scales of strings and he was hoping to get the project going, but... now he's gone.

Do you know if anyone is continuing the company or continue to make his strings?
 

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