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

[JIO]

Hah! 1963 and red! Holy Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Batman!

VTG 1963 LOUIS MARX & CO. NUTTY MADS "MANNY THE RECKLESS MARINER" RED TOY FIGURE | eBay (no affiliation)

 

[daveman50]

I was pretty sure you didn't think it was a potato!

 

[JIO]

Back to Burns - a rare trans red poly Burns of London Bison bass from 2012. (original design from '64-'65) Upgraded bridge & tuners and black knobs. 34 inch scale with 1 9/16th nut width, made in Korea.

 

[JIO]

Red 1963 Burns Vista Sonic ... modified. I've seen other such hack-jobs over the years on Fenders etc - what gets into someones head to do this?

 

[Fender_Bender]

Red 1963 Burns Vista Sonic ... modified. I've seen other such hack-jobs over the years on Fenders etc - what gets into someones head to do this?

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Well, if you could ever call a guitar a canoe paddle.....

 

[farace]

I bet it weighs several pounds less; maybe that was the motivation. Not a good excuse, but maybe a reason.

 

[Reedt2000]

what gets into someones head to do this?

Vox envy?

 

[JIO]

Well, if you could ever call a guitar a canoe paddle.....

I bet it weighs several pounds less; maybe that was the motivation. Not a good excuse, but maybe a reason.

Vox envy?

I hoped it was a different body with the Burns neck/parts, but the bridge rout gave it away. The Vox teardrop and Phantom warped a lot of minds. I wanted a Phantom bass back when they were new but never considered hacking up a bass to make one.

I nearly traded my '64 T-bird II for one of these at one point - this a '66 Phantom Delta IV - made in Italy with a pencil thin neck and massive paddle head-stock. Glad I didn't but I would still love one of these in good condition as this one is with OHSC. (on Reverb for $2950) I can imagine neck-dive that would rival any other but the gestalt of this bass is unmatched.

 

[JIO]

Well, if you could ever call a guitar a canoe paddle.....

I bet it weighs several pounds less; maybe that was the motivation. Not a good excuse, but maybe a reason.

Vox envy?

I hoped it was a different body with the Burns neck/parts, but the bridge rout gave it away. The Vox teardrop and Phantom warped a lot of minds. I wanted a Phantom bass back when they were new but never considered hacking up a bass to make one.

I nearly traded my '64 T-bird II for one of these at one point - this a '66 Phantom Delta IV - made in Italy with a pencil thin neck and massive paddle head-stock. Glad I didn't but I would still love one of these in good condition as this one is with OHSC. (on Reverb for $2950) I can imagine neck-dive that would rival any other but the gestalt of this bass is unmatched.
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[Fender_Bender]

I hoped it was a different body with the Burns neck/parts, but the bridge rout gave it away. The Vox teardrop and Phantom warped a lot of minds. I wanted a Phantom bass back when they were new but never considered hacking up a bass to make one.

I nearly traded my '64 T-bird II for one of these at one point - this a '66 Phantom Delta IV - made in Italy with a pencil thin neck and massive paddle head-stock. Glad I didn't but I would still love one of these in good condition as this one is with OHSC. (on Reverb for $2950) I can imagine neck-dive that would rival any other but the gestalt of this bass is unmatched.
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Had it been made in Greece instead of Italy, you could have called it a “pencil necked Greek” (cue rimshot) .
To quote classy Freddie Blassie “they say these pencil necked geeks are a dime a dozen. I’m looking for the guy supplying the dimes”.

 

[JIO]

Had it been made in Greece instead of Italy, you could have called it a “pencil necked Greek” (cue rimshot) .
To quote classy Freddie Blassie “they say these pencil necked geeks are a dime a dozen. I’m looking for the guy supplying the dimes”.

What movie is that from?

 

[Fender_Bender]

What movie is that from?

He was a famous old time heel wrestler, and later manager. I assumed everyone would have heard of him, so I threw in the quote to make the first joke relevant.
Pencil necked geeks would have been the general public, or even jobbers, who did not have the huge necks of the star wrestlers.

 

[JIO]

He was a famous old time heel wrestler, and later manager. I assumed everyone would have heard of him, so I threw in the quote to make the first joke relevant.
Pencil necked geeks would have been the general public, or even jobbers, who did not have the huge necks of the star wrestlers.

Got it - I could have Googled him but always love an explanation from someone who knows. I've heard the term but didn't know the history.

 

[Fender_Bender]

Got it - I could have Googled him but always love an explanation from someone who knows. I've heard the term but didn't know the history.

Like anything in pro wrestling, he probably stole it from someone else . I vaguely recall him having a “song” back in the day, where he repeats the geek line.

 

[JIO]

Like anything in pro wrestling, he probably stole it from someone else . I vaguely recall him having a “song” back in the day, where he repeats the geek line.

Was he an American wrestler or a Canadian wrestler? (if they have such a thing) I know they have wrestlers, but maybe not these faux-type 'entertainers'.

 

[b/o 402]

Was he an American wrestler or a Canadian wrestler? (if they have such a thing) I know they have wrestlers, but maybe not these faux-type 'entertainers'.

I think Dr. Demento used to play it occasionally:

 

[Fender_Bender]

Was he an American wrestler or a Canadian wrestler? (if they have such a thing) I know they have wrestlers, but maybe not these faux-type 'entertainers'.

Pretty sure he was American. I read his autobiography some years ago and it was entertaining. He used to file his teeth into fangs to be scarier. He somehow ended up marrying a Japanese woman and her family was so scared of him and could not believe she married him.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I think Dr. Demento used to play it occasionally:

Looong time since I heard that .

 

[Jon Clegg]

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.

A little bit of a callback to the WEM 5th-Man guitar; I was looking at guitar-synth stuff the other day and found some interesting info on the Roland GR-500 -- it used a similar sustainer setup to the WEM; 2 permanent magnets up where a neck pickup would usually be to create a magnetic field, the strings are electrically isolated from one another at the bridge and grounded at the frets (more likely the nut) six amplifiers drive the strings with the signals from the hex pickup. Hah! Did Roland copy WEM?

 

[JIO]

A little bit of a callback to the WEM 5th-Man guitar; I was looking at guitar-synth stuff the other day and found some interesting info on the Roland GR-500 -- it used a similar sustainer setup to the WEM; 2 permanent magnets up where a neck pickup would usually be to create a magnetic field, the strings are electrically isolated from one another at the bridge and grounded at the frets (more likely the nut) six amplifiers drive the strings with the signals from the hex pickup. Hah! Did Roland copy WEM?

Wouldn't be the first time. Many 'innovations' are riffing off of something that came before that was overlooked or not quite there yet.