Project Vista Sonic (rut row, JIO's at it again!)

[Fender_Bender]

Neck plate with my basses serial # done and in the post from the UK - of all the parts that were missing when I got it I had no idea I could have one made for it by the son of the original maker of them on the same machinery. Pretty cool. I can't imagine Fender having that reach into their past at this point in time.

View attachment 3746800

So this is a cosmetic thing and not the actual structural neck plate?.

 

[JIO]

So this is a cosmetic thing and not the actual structural neck plate?.

Yes, the neck attachment screws are under the plate, along with the gaping hole for tr adjustment access. (that hole on mine is not perfectly round from the factory - oops.., oh well, it's covered) You can see the 4 smaller holes for the plate. I'm going to do some upgrading of the neck/body connection by imbedding threaded steel inserts in the neck heal with machine bolts and collars instead of original slot-head screws. Probably will do the bridge attachment like that also. A dynamic connection of critical parts translates to better sound/tone. As shown in my pic - I will also upgrade the interface of tr gear-box to adjuster tool. (which was missing)

 

[Jon Clegg]

The WEM stuff is pretty sought after; the Project V Fuzz is considered a bit of a Holy Grail Fuzz.

 

[daveman50]

I was always fascinated by WEM gear in the 70s. It was the most obscure Brit "marque" - much less common than Hiwatts, etc. Hence, I lusted after it.

 

[JIO]

The WEM stuff is pretty sought after; the Project V Fuzz is considered a bit of a Holy Grail Fuzz.

I was always fascinated by WEM gear in the 70s. It was the most obscure Brit "marque" - much less common than Hiwatts, etc. Hence, I lusted after it.

That's great! Thanks for these insights! By starting this project I've begun a journey back to (British) things that were going on when I was starting as a bass-player/musician but wasn't aware of. I mean, I knew Vox because my second, second-hand bass was a Vox Cougar ss hollow-body. I also knew Vox because of the Beatles amps, the Wyman teardrop bass and Fang's Phantom bass. (Paul Revere & the Raiders) But I wasn't aware of Burns, or Watkins, or WEM or most any effect pedals British or American. Back then it was enough just to have an amp and a coiled cord! And Baldwin made piano's as far as I knew. So it's fun and educational retracing my own history through a different perspective. I recently watched a doc about Shindig! - I watched all the music shows on TV then - Shindig!, Hullabaloo, Ready Steady Go, Where The Action Is, The Monkee's and variety shows that featured the new music - The Smothers Brothers and Ed Sullivan. Those TV shows and top40 radio is what inspired me to become a musician - no one in my family was musical. Once I got the bug - there was no stopping me!

 

[Fender_Bender]

Yes, the neck attachment screws are under the plate, along with the gaping hole for tr adjustment access. (that hole on my is not perfectly round from the factory - oops.., oh well, it's covered) You can see the 4 smaller holes for the plate. I'm going to do some upgrading of the neck/body connection by imbedding threaded steel inserts in the neck heal with machine bolts and collars instead of original slot-head screws. Probably will do the bridge attachment like that also. A dynamic connection of critical parts translates to better sound/tone. As shown in my pic - I will also upgrade the interface of tr gear-box to adjuster tool. (which was missing)

View attachment 3747287

Hmmm, they seemingly managed to shoehorn those 4 little screws in there with a minimum chance of error. I imagine that they were drilled first, then the larger holes. At least that’s the way I’d have to do it.

 

[JIO]

Hmmm, they seemingly managed to shoehorn those 4 little screws in there with a minimum chance of error. I imagine that they were drilled first, then the larger holes. At least that’s the way I’d have to do it.

Yah, it's all pretty ad hock - fits the "Burns Technology" playbook... Danelectro was like that to a certain degree, which I guess is why I'm drawn to both! I like things that are not perfect (but work!) - never been a fan of exotic boutique basses.

 

[JIO]

I got the med gauge D'Addario strings for the VS today - it's funny because I found them on eBay and it turns out they were from talkbass! Keepn' it "in-house".

 

[Axstar]

The WEM stuff is pretty sought after; the Project V Fuzz is considered a bit of a Holy Grail Fuzz.

There was that Project V guitar, and the Fifth Man guitar concept as well. As far as I can tell Project V was a fuzz with individual sensors fit each string, running from the bridge if the guitar. Two sturdy magnets mounted at the end of the neck must have been used to manipulate the vibration of the strings. There was one fairly rough demo of the system on YouTube and it sounds like a stinging fuzz running parallel to a clear signal?

Very bold, but I feel that the concept was ahead of where technology was at.

 

[Jon Clegg]

There was that Project V guitar, and the Fifth Man guitar concept as well. As far as I can tell Project V was a fuzz with individual sensors fit each string, running from the bridge if the guitar. Two sturdy magnets mounted at the end of the neck must have been used to manipulate the vibration of the strings. There was one fairly rough demo of the system on YouTube and it sounds like a stinging fuzz running parallel to a clear signal?

Very bold, but I feel that the concept was ahead of where technology was at.

Looks like the 5th man was essentially the same concept as the E-Bow/Sustainiac/Fernandez Sustainer only instead of the drivers firing up from under the strings they went transverse across the strings -- interesting solution.

You're absolutely right about ahead of where technology was at; the E-Bow came around in '76 but had the advantage of several years of innovation in electronics to work with.

The Project V fuzz is best known for "Here Come the Warm Jets" by Brian Eno -- in fact a UK company, Ghost Effects, did a reproduction of it a few years ago and called it the "Warm Jet".

EDIT Found a cool page with more WEM stuff on it here

BTW if you ever come across an Espana brand guitar/bass it's a WEM that was rebranded for export to the US.

 

[JIO]

Looks like the 5th man was essentially the same concept as the E-Bow/Sustainiac/Fernandez Sustainer only instead of the drivers firing up from under the strings they went transverse across the strings -- interesting solution.

You're absolutely right about ahead of where technology was at; the E-Bow came around in '76 but had the advantage of several years of innovation in electronics to work with.

The Project V fuzz is best known for "Here Come the Warm Jets" by Brian Eno -- in fact a UK company, Ghost Effects, did a reproduction of it a few years ago and called it the "Warm Jet".

EDIT Found a cool page with more WEM stuff on it here

BTW if you ever come across an Espana brand guitar/bass it's a WEM that was rebranded for export to the US.

Cool - loved the second sound example - really a great sound! There was carryovers from Burns on that guitar; multi-piece scratchplate, the two big selector knobs and options etched into the scratchplate. Having controls on both sides wasn't a great idea and would force a player to adopt a specific way of holding/playing it so as not to accidentally bump the knobs. For '60s players who rode their guitars high maybe, but by the '70's that wasn't happening as much if at all. I dig the 5th Man graphics! Never heard of that brand. There was a '60s Japanese brand called "First Man" - so does that mean that there is a Second, Third and Fourth Man out there somewhere?

Thanks for the WEM link - that's where I found the Copycat. So is a Copycat like an Echoplex? "Here Come The Warm Jets" is a favorite of mine!

 

[Jon Clegg]

Cool - loved the second sound example - really a great sound! There was carryovers from Burns on that guitar; multi-piece scratchplate, the two big selector knobs and options etched into the scratchplate. Having controls on both sides wasn't a great idea and would force a player to adopt a specific way of holding/playing it so as not to accidentally bump the knobs. For '60s players who rode their guitars high maybe, but by the '70's that wasn't happening as much if at all. I dig the 5th Man graphics! Never heard of that brand. There was a '60s Japanese brand called "First Man" - so does that mean that there is a Second, Third and Fourth Man out there somewhere?

Thanks for the WEM link - that's where I found the Copycat. So is a Copycat like an Echoplex?

The Copycat is similar to an Echoplex but the multiple playback heads on some models puts it into Binson Echorec territory; the Echoplex has a single record head and playback head -- repeats are generated by feeding he delayed signal back into the record head along with the live signal. The Copycat has multiple playback heads with individual level knobs allowing you to cut some echos.

 

[JIO]

The Copycat is similar to an Echoplex but the multiple playback heads on some models puts it into Binson Echorec territory; the Echoplex has a single record head and playback head -- repeats are generated by feeding he delayed signal back into the record head along with the live signal. The Copycat has multiple playback heads with individual level knobs allowing you to cut some echos.

Cool - so is a mellotron along these lines? I have the Electro Harmonics Mel9 pedal and have used it with my bass with great effect. We primarily use it for keyboards in my band.
Here's one of our recently recorded songs making full use of it -

 

[Fender_Bender]

Cool - loved the second sound example - really a great sound! There was carryovers from Burns on that guitar; multi-piece scratchplate, the two big selector knobs and options etched into the scratchplate. Having controls on both sides wasn't a great idea and would force a player to adopt a specific way of holding/playing it so as not to accidentally bump the knobs. For '60s players who rode their guitars high maybe, but by the '70's that wasn't happening as much if at all. I dig the 5th Man graphics! Never heard of that brand. There was a '60s Japanese brand called "First Man" - so does that mean that there is a Second, Third and Fourth Man out there somewhere?

Thanks for the WEM link - that's where I found the Copycat. So is a Copycat like an Echoplex? "Here Come The Warm Jets" is a favorite of mine!

Having controls right on the forearm chamfer would be a no go for me . Sounds very “this is the end” intro with a touch of sitar to me.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Cool - so is a mellotron along these lines? I have the Electro Harmonics Mel9 pedal and have used it with my bass with great effect. We primarily use it for keyboards in my band.
Here's one of our recently recorded songs making full use of it -

Nope, the Mellotron was basically an analog (or analogue if you're a Brit) version of a modern digital sampling keyboard using tape recordings of various sounds to supply the voices.

The Copycat was a more complex implementation of a tape delay like the Echoplex. The big difference between the Copycat (and Echorec for that matter) and the Echoplex is that while the Echoplex repeats are always on a constant beat ( sound-delay-sound-delay-sound-delay-sound) the Copycat can have rythmic repeats like sound-delay-delay-sound-delay-sound....) by turning down some of the playback heads)

 

[JIO]

Nope, the Mellotron was basically an analog (or analogue if you're a Brit) version of a modern digital sampling keyboard using tape recordings of various sounds to supply the voices.

The Copycat was a more complex implementation of a tape delay like the Echoplex. The big difference between the Copycat (and Echorec for that matter) and the Echoplex is that while the Echoplex repeats are always on a constant beat ( sound-delay-sound-delay-sound-delay-sound) the Copycat can have rhythmic repeats like sound-delay-delay-sound-delay-sound....) by turning down some of the playback heads)

Wow - such cool devices! I remember looking into a mellotron that a local band had on stage when I was in High School in the early '70s. I couldn't comprehend how complex and cool it was!

 

[JIO]

I'm goin out on a limb on this, but the bass player (in 1966) is playing a Fender Jazz bass with a neck-hugger pu installed and a knob (probably its volume knob) to the side of the tug-bar. Pretty cool for that time to have a modified bass, but I think it's a Burns Tri-Sonic. Sure looks like one if it isn't.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I'm goin out on a limb on this, but the bass player (in 1966) is playing a Fender Jazz bass with a neck-hugger pu installed and a knob (probably its volume knob) to the side of the tug-bar. Pretty cool for that time to have a modified bass, but I think it's a Burns Tri-Sonic. Sure looks like one if it isn't.

Creepy weird little song there. It certainly does look like a regular jazz with a Burns pup added. The mudbucker force was strong for that guy.

 

[JIO]

Creepy weird little song there. It certainly does look like a regular jazz with a Burns pup added. The mudbucker force was strong for that guy.

Isn't it? The bass player could have doubled for Lurch on The Addams Family! I watched a doc on them - pretty interesting. Aussies but all from different countries as kids - they all met in the outback projects there in the early '60s. They became huge in Australia and 'invaded' the UK in the late '60s, so having access to Burns pu's wouldn't have been a stretch.

 

[Reedt2000]

Here's a better pic

From a thread put up last year, but never responded to

Dick Diamonde - The Easybeats

Still hard to 100% ID the pickup, looks kinda like a tele neck PU