The many Basses of John McVie

[EdwardofHuncote]

Forgot about this giant acoustic bass guitar too. He used to play it on "Never Going Back Again", and "Songbird". Ernie Ball maybe?

Also unusual to see John at the microphone... looks like he has Stevie Nicks holding the bass while he makes an announcement.

 

[wagdog]

Here's a slightly different view of the same bass. The mudbucker could be original to that version of the tele bass but the smaller mid pickup looks almost Gibson EB-3ish.

 

[wagdog]

John and Carvin.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Also, what is that 'thud-bucker' in the neck position... mod or stock?

Stock humbucker, I think, although it does look like it has 8 exposed pole pieces vs. the 4 that would be on a Fender pickup, plus what looks like a small/bridge EB-3 pickup behind it. I did something similar to both of the '72 Telecaster Basses I had (same as John's) but, in my case I put a Rickenbacker hi-gain pickup much closer to the bridge.

 

[Skokiaan]

Stainless steel fingerboard!

Rather than fretless, Alembic called it "continuously fretted."

 

[Jeff Scott]

Rather than fretless, Alembic called it "continuously fretted."

I suppose this was there never is anything "less" about Alembic, eh?

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Brian Barrett at Low End has posted the Penguin and Porpoise Alembic on his website for sale if anyone is interested.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Just watched the entire 2004 SoundStage DVD again last night... save for a couple tunes he uses a natural Fender Precision, John's playing Rick Turner basses throughout. Here's my favorite tune from thst concert, featuring the Turner Renaissance bass:

 

[basspraiser]

The " natural" Lakland P bass mentioned was not natural per se

I forget the wood but the finish was hand rubbed oil. Nothing else.... It looked really great.

I was not allowed to play it but I loved the look!

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

2018 Fleetwood Mac tour starts tomorrow night... McVie has a new 'mystery' P bass on the road. Anybody's guess what this one is... bound and blocked, natural finish, Fender-ish something.

Go, Johnny, Go!

 

[Jeff Scott]

2018 Fleetwood Mac tour starts tomorrow night... McVie has a new 'mystery' P bass on the road. Anybody's guess what this one is... bound and blocked, natural finish, Fender-ish something.

View attachment 3168360

Go, Johnny, Go!

That's his latest special Alembic custom made FSO.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

That's his latest special Alembic custom made FSO.

I really don't know anything for sure about his Alembics except that he doesn't carry them on the road anymore. He apparently still has #73-27 and the 1976 Custom fretless (continuously fretted) but the Penguin & Porpoise bass has been sold a couple times. Not sure what became of his graphite-necked short-scale, but it was for sale too for a while. I've never seen a picture or video of him playing either one of those basses.

I would absolutely love to know the story behind that crazy P & P Alembic. Ain't nobody at HQ talking about it now, that's for sure, which makes me wonder if it wasn't exactly a shall-we-say 'sanctioned' instrument. And even if it was, I just cant imagine that thing began life looking like that. It almost had to be a project bass. Somebody (and I'm guessing that at least one of the somebodys was Rick Turner) grafted a 23 fret Modulus graphite neck onto a decapitated late-70's Series bass, then they put a flipping Superfilter onboard. Then everybody got amnesia.

But I might be fulla' sugar.

 

[nixdad]

We rented the band a Warwick Thumb Bass somewhere around 1990 for John to use in the studio to record the album they were recording at the time. They had the bass for about 2 weeks. Not sure if it was ever used or not.

Unfortunately, John never visited the store (as far as I'm aware) so there was no chance to meet him.

 

[Staredge]

I so wish he'd write a bio.

 

[slagheap]

forgive my rant ( or not, ) but you all need to stop worrying about his basses ( he's played a fooking ton of different ones, who cares? ) and instead learn every one of his john mayall/peter green/bob welch era lines - note for note.

 

[JMacBass65]

The One, and (as far as I know) Only. In action on the 1979 Tusk Tour.

That thing sounds awesome. And I love the little fills he rips here and there on the outro. Tasty!

 

[Jeff Scott]

Cool that he used the "continuous fret" bass live.

 

[Skokiaan]

forgive my rant ( or not, ) but you all need to stop worrying about his basses ( he's played a fooking ton of different ones, who cares? ) and instead learn every one of his john mayall/peter green/bob welch era lines - note for note.

Or....you could not attempt to dictate what others "need to stop" doing and let them enjoy what they enjoy.

 

[Copperhead]

This one maybe?

View attachment 2764777

Can't see the headstock, but this certainly looks like a Telecaster bass... and the 1973 timeframe is about right for "Bare Trees".

Also, what is that 'thud-bucker' in the neck position... mod or stock?

I saw McVie in '72 playing a stock mudbucker Tele, maybe later modded ? He switched to a plain jane stripped P bass with chicken head knobs mid set, maybe like post # 16 ? Strange I remember both quite clearly.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I would absolutely love to know the story behind that crazy P & P Alembic. Ain't nobody at HQ talking about it now, that's for sure, which makes me wonder if it wasn't exactly a shall-we-say 'sanctioned' instrument. And even if it was, I just cant imagine that thing began life looking like that. It almost had to be a project bass. Somebody (and I'm guessing that at least one of the somebodys was Rick Turner) grafted a 23 fret Modulus graphite neck onto a decapitated late-70's Series bass, then they put a flipping Superfilter onboard. Then everybody got amnesia.

I'd swear I saw a thread over on the Alembic Club forum where either Rick Turner chimed in, or someone copy-pasta'd a Rick Turner quote from elsewhere that explained the thinking [sic] behind McVie's penguin & porpoise bass. You could probably do a Google Advanced Search on that site to narrow things down and maybe find what I'm thinking of...