There are few instruments as iconic as Paul McCartney's Höfner 500/1 "Violin" bass. The instrument is so closely related with him, and his musical career, that it is often simply referred to as the "Beatle Bass".
Throughout the 1960s, many guitar manufacturers aimed to create similar instruments, appealing to fans of the instrument's aesthetic, and the music associated with it, while offering a much more palatable price tag. Many manufacturers still do, today. Of course, vintage is always better, right?
This year, I turned 36. I promise, this is not a complete non sequitur. For, on my 36th birthday, I was graciously gifted one such vintage bass that pays homage to the heralded "Beatle Bass".
After the British Invasion, many manufacturers started creating instruments that mimicked the Höfner, many of them very cheap, and terrible. Some are pretty cool, and are dripping with vintage vibe, such as this early-60s Teisco Del Ray. Since this one hails from Japan, I guess you could say this is my Asian Beetle Bass. Nevertheless, it's pretty fantastic.
I really enjoy the slight departure from the original body shape of a Höfner. It's almost like Picasso's take on a Höfner– asymmetrical design, oddly-placed f-holes, two thumb rests, and... a mute! I have always dreamed of having a bass with a mute, to capture that vintage sound. The very sight of it makes me want to play every track of Pet Sounds. The foam piece you see in the picture can be raised and lowered to change the level of dampening of the stings.
Even the logo on this thing is funky. My best guess is that it's a crown of some sort. Or two globes? Honestly, I'm not quite sure.
While this bass, to me, is rather dazzling to the eyes, instruments are largely graded on sound, so here's a little clip of it in action.
If you, or any Steemian you know, share an obsession with weird and vintage instruments, I would love it if you let me know in the comments, or direct me to your profile where you have posted about them. I will very likely spend an unhealthy amount of time admiring all things old and musical.
Thanks for reading and watching, and thanks to my brother for the sweet bass! Hopefully, we can get him on Steemit soon. He's a fantastic talent.
Thom
Note: All pictures and videos in this post come from my trusty cellphone. All information regarding historical trends of instruments or manufacturers are the result of many years of unhealthy obsession with the topic, and countless conversations with fellow vintage gear enthusiasts, and those afflicted with GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). This presentation is meant to be generally informative and entertaining, and less about hard facts.
Great to read about other bass players and their passion about their instrument! 😊 personally I recently got me a Cort acoustic bass with flat wound strings and a piezo pickup...which opened my door to the acoustic and semi acoustic bass world. Your Teisco looks awesome and makes me want to try want of those. Keep it up :)
Thanks! I've been wanting to get a cheap fretless acoustic. I played only fretless for years, and love the faux upright sound. Still not the real deal, but it gets real close with a far greater ease. Play on, my friend!
Do it, for now nothing comes close to the awesomeness of an acoustic amplified sound, makes you never wanna stop playing haha! For me it's still a challenge to get the intonation right but I guess as long as I stick with the fretless (even in stressy situations when a fretted bass would be a lot easier) the learning curve will still go up... I'm sure you know what I mean :)
Oh my ,that is a sweet intrument and no mistake. I really like the idea of the mute. I didn't know that basses coudl have them. I am thinking how handy it would have been when I tried to learn slap bass for a while back in the day. I used a trick from my guitaring at the time which was to put a hair band at the very top of the neck and postion it just so that it would mute it slightly but not too much. It was a bit fiddly though!
This one isn't much of a slap machine. I've seen the hair band trick for tapping. I'm sure it would work well for slap, too. The mute at the bridge gives it that kind of thumpy Carol Kaye sound. Almost like a palm mute technique. I'm anxious to employ this one a bit more. Thanks!
Very interesting!
Glad you found it to be so! I could ogle cheap old guitars all day.
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Thanks for such a great post. Hope you'll also like to read this
Hope your'll interested to read this
Thanks for the compliment. Sorry to hear about the death of that young man. The article seemed to suck in and out of at least a couple of languages, so it was a bit hard to follow. I wish you success in your efforts. Thanks!
Thanks for your complacency. I should concentrate it my next posts.
a Beautiful instrument and a nice playing! makes me wanna record something over this with my drums hahaha. Cheers!
If you can record drums, I'd be more than happy to lay a bass track on it!
i'm gonna make a recording in a few days and i will tag you on it, if you like it, i'll be more than happy if you play something over that groove !
Deal. (Playing it cool, truthfully very eager. )
My first guitar back in the late 80s early 90s was a Del Ray. It's a junior model but still looks sweet and has good sound. It is something I will be holding onto forever. I will post pictures soon.
I hope to see it!