• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Worlds most famous bass?

#41
Gotta be a Fender... :hiding:
 

Attachments

  • bonaduce.jpg
    bonaduce.jpg
    41.2 KB · Views: 92
#44
A couple people have said it, I'm going with Jamerson's Funk Machine. That bass made Motown. I personally don't think that McCartney's Hofner made the Beatles sound as much as The Funk Machine made Motown's. And I think Jaco harmonized his sound so much that it doesn't quite sound like what a bass should sound like, IMO (I'll get flamed for that one, but whatever). The Funk Machine changed the way that people played bass, that style of playing has started other genres of music and has splinter into almost every other western one, it was played on more hits than any other bass in the world, and it is an American made Fender P Bass, the first bass ever made, and most likely, the bass that non-bassists think of when they think of a bass guitar.

If we're talking about its legacy, the bass was stolen days before his death and has never been heard of since. If it's ever found it should be gold plated and placed on top of Mount Everest protected by Buddhist monks.
 
#45
It has to be a Fender P or J and the Paul McCarney's Hofner violin bass why ??? Because every other musicians and non-musicians don't know anything bass related so they know and recognize iconic stuff.
 
#49
The thing about McCartney's bass is sure, if you held up a picture of The Funk Machine, The Bass of Doom, and McCartney's Hofner and asked the majority of people which one they recognize, they'd point to McCartney's and say, "Yeah, that's Paul's guitar."

I don't think a lot of people recognize it as a bass though. I'm pretty sure if you got someone to play a random groove on all of those three, they'd pick out The Funk Machine as the one that sounds like a bass guitar.
 
#50
I can see why McCartney's would win this, because out of all of these famous bass guitars it probably is the most famous. But is it the most famous as a bass or because it was in Paul's hands? It probably is the Most Famous Bass, I concede, but The Funk Machine is definitely the most influential, and for me the most desired. I've never really had any strong urge to own a Hofner, when I got a Fender P and wound it with flats I was in heaven. That's just me though.
 
#56
Chrisk-K said:
Paul's Hofner, hands down. Pick 100 people randomly. How many of them will recognize Jaco's bass? Maybe a few. I bet at least 30 will recognize Paul's bass.
Click to expand...

The Hofner. 90% of the people in the US have never heard of Jaco. Probably 90% HAVE heard of McCartney, and a healthy share of them would recognize the bass. Boomers will be heavily represented in the group that recognizes the Hofner.

IMO it doesn't matter which is "best", or "most influential", or "most popular". The title of most famous would go to the most widely recognized bass.
 
#59
fa·mous = Well or widely known

paul-mccartney_1.jpg
= famous

Jaco_Pastorius.jpg
= Didn't that guy play for Jefferson Airplane?

jamerson.jpg
= I didn't know MLK played bass!

Folks, I don't mean to be offensive but we're talking about fame which involves the general public's perception. Most people have no idea who Jaco or Jamerson were. You'd have much better luck getting someone to recognize Bootsie's bass than Jaco's or Jamerson's. The Hofner wins hans down.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back