Show your "Funk Machine"

[Whitebeard]

For those of you that may not know, the Funk Machine is a nick name James Jamerson gave his bass guitar. He played with a studio group called the Funk Brothers that played on most Motown records back in the day. He played a p-bass with old flatwounds and a foam mute built into the bridge cover which was the standard configuration of the day. He influenced an entire generation of players.

James Jamerson & the Legend of the Funk Machine

My parts P/J bass

 

[Walk The Dogs]

I've got two, one a 1960 in almost original state (it was refinished before I bought it) and a 1971 that's been fairly heavily modified.

And one of these: the original Seamoon envelope follower. I can't believe what they're getting on Reverb for this noisy circa-1973 stomp box. IIRC, Craig Anderton, who wrote lots of great home recording books for Tab, invented this half-an-envelope-filter that looked like it came from Radio Shack. It was the first bass toy I bought -- I think after hearing Alphonso Johnson use one.

 

[SRT31]

Mine is a mid 90’s CIJ Fender Jazz.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Bought my StingRay in early 1979. It was made to funk.

 

[BassJihn]

77P with labella flats ofc. This is my funk machine

 

[Gary Stevens]

For those of you that may not know, the Funk Machine is a nick name James Jamerson gave his bass guitar. He played with a studio group called the Funk Brothers that played on most Motown records back in the day. He played a p-bass with old flatwounds and a foam mute built into the bridge cover which was the standard configuration of the day. He influenced an entire generation of players.

James Jamerson & the Legend of the Funk Machine

Where'sthe foam? For funk, I have a GS Custom 30.5" scale bass with a mahogany thru-neck, chambered Florida cypress body wings,rosewood fretboard, Gotoh bridge and tuners and custom wound TVJones ThunderBlade pickups. Volume, volume, tone. Dupont ChromaClear finish (like Paul Reed Smith uses). Daddario Nylon Flats AND a piece of foam under the strings at the bridge. Funk On!! Oh, and a bone nut.

 

[BassmanM]

I don't play funk, but I'd use my reggae machine strung with flats.

 

[budman]

My ultimate funk machine...the Barefoot Servant.

 

[Phillipgh]

Lakland 55-02. My funk machine.

 

[TJL]

These early P Basses are truly indispensable tools for the session bassist. That is why I own 8 of them from '59 to '61. Here is my mid '59 I got from Snuffy Walden.

 

[TJL]

And my '61 I got from J.T. Cure in Nashville.

 

[aolstudios]

F Machine is on the right. Although for more modern stuff I use a MM fretless 5

 

[GBassNorth]

A bass I finished building a few months ago (unintentionally) turned out to be a serious Funk Machine. The center and bridge pickup placements are spaced exactly the same as a Fender P/J bass, and the neck pickup adds a huge thick bottom end to the mix. Each pickup has its own volume and tone control so you can really dial in that Funk Punch that’s so typical of many songs in that genre.

I call it the “BlingBird”…

Pickup spacing template on a Fender Tele and P/J (MM) bass


Back from the finisher and ready for assembly a few months ago

 

[thecoz]

Here are mine. The main is the Invalid Link Removed. The neck is made of a composite called "Amazinol" and the body is mahogany, with a large cavity for the electronics that acts as an acoustic chamber. The pups are quad coil Bartolini's with a TBIBT preamp. (1991 era) The backup is the 2006 Ibanez BTB676NTF. It's a full width 35" scale, so a big stretch from the tight spaced 32" Amazing, but still has the Bartolini's for "that sound".

 

[Grumble]

Well here's mine. a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass with a Dimarzio Model One pickup (1977). It sounds great.

 

[mlshermancpa]

He also never changed the strings so the dirt added the "funk".

QUOTE="Ampslut, post: 26625303, member: 308486"]For those of you that may not know, the Funk Machine is a nick name James Jamerson gave his bass guitar. He played with a studio group called the Funk Brothers that played on most Motown records back in the day. He played a p-bass with old flatwounds and a foam mute built into the bridge cover which was the standard configuration of the day. He influenced an entire generation of players.

James Jamerson & the Legend of the Funk Machine[/QUOTE]

 

[OtisRocks64]

Here is my #1, 2002 Geddy Lee Jazz mod "Funkenstein", Tom Brantley PUPS, Badass II etc., and my #2 "Lannie Rose" 2019 Fender fretless.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Here's Funk Machine #1: Sadowsky P5 with Brazilian board, strung with flats for that phat old-school tone.

Funk Machine #2: another P-only Sadowsky P5, this one black/black/maple. It's my oldest bass (2005), and as you can see has been played the most. The body finish is poly, all wear from me. The neck is finished in nitro -- it was already beginning to wear away, but I gently sanded down the rest because I love the feel of pre-CBS Fender necks where the finish is gone and the neck is all grunged up from dirt and DNA. Again... was done for feel and not for looks, so I don't consider it a "relic job" (but I have no problem with relic basses).

 

[Phillipgh]

I read somewhere that Jameson would boil his strings and put 'em right back on.

 

[ad9000]

Here's mine - neck date is Nov. 1962

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