THE PBJ, or how to build a bass without really trying, Part II: Assembly (the first time)

The first thing you see when you walk into Dan’s shop. Always have the right tool for the job…

…continued from April 21, 2013…

On the February long weekend in 2011, we carted a big box o’parts down to Mr. Thorpe’s to start assembly. He had already managed to scrounge up all the stuff I hadn’t been able to get; the pots, strap pins, jack, knobs and the string retainer for headstock, from his considerable resources. I had neglected to order a neck plate, so he disassembled one of his own guitars to get the necessary part!

Almost on impulse, I also bought a set of flatwound strings on my way down; it was a last-minute decision, but it ultimately served me well; those strings, on that bass, became integral to my sound.

It really is fascinating to see a parts guitar come together; all the things that Leo Fender did, way back when, to make his guitars easy to manufacture now make building an instrument using parts based on his designs relatively painless. Not having Fender’s assembly jigs, you do need to do some careful measuring and alignment (thank the deities for Dan’s expertise, here; he really does know his stuff), but once the neck is aligned and the bridge is positioned, the rest of it is pretty step-by-step.

There were small adjustments, along the way (eg: GFS’ Jazz Bass bodies are routed to

The PBJ Mk I, with my photo assistant in the shot…

Asian spec, and their pickups are American spec, so you have to Dremel out the mounting screw holes to get them to mate up) but, after two days of assembly, coffee, assembly, beer, assembly, lunch, assembly, dinner, we had a great-sounding, great-playing bass.

I actually played a couple of gigs with this setup but, somehow, I just knew we weren’t quite done…

…and now, back to music…

…I figure this is a (mostly) music blog, so enough about baseball for the time being.

While in high school, there were few bigger influences on me than the Stones and Faces. Imagine my delight when, in late ’73, news came across the pond that the bands’ respective guitar players, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, had teamed up to work on Woody’s first solo album! It seemed almost too good to be true.

The genesis of the project, according to Keith, was that he was out on the town one night and bumped into Ronnie’s first wife, Krissie. She mentioned to Keith that Ronnie was up at their house in Richmond, working on a solo project, and why didn’t he drop by? Keith did, and wound up literally moving in until the album was finished; “I’ve Got My Own Album To Do” quietly became one of the best albums of the mid-70’s.

The title, of course, was a gentle dig at their respective bandmates; Rod Stewart, at the time, was recording his solo effort, “Smiler“, Ronnie Lane had just finished his first solo project, “Anymore for Anymore” , and even Stones’ bassist Bill Wyman had ventured into that territory with “Monkey Grip“. All this gave Keith and Ronnie the necessary time to themselves. Of course, both Rod and Mick Jagger eventually wound up contributing to Ronnie’s album.

In order to create some buzz around the album’s release, the musicians that recorded most of the album (Ronnie & Keith, with Face Ian Maclagan (keys), ex-Sly & the Family Stone Andy Newmark (drums), and veteran session bassist Willie Weeks) played a series of gigs at Kilburn Polytechnic (now part of the College of North West London). This band, though it was only together for the few weeks that the rehearsals and gigs took, is now sometimes referred to as “the First Barbarians” , in reference to Ronnie & Keith’s side project of the 80’s, the New Barbarians.

My impetus for this post is that I remember reading at the time that the gigs were filmed; I wondered if any footage had survived. Youtube, as usual, came through. To whit:

 

A few fun facts about the recording of the album and those shows:

• Keith’s decision to move into Ronnie’s house may have been motivated by considerations other than creativity; Scotland Yard was looking for any excuse to bust him (he’d walked away from some firearms charges when police badly botched the investigation) and had his own London home in Cheyne Walk under 24-hour surveillance.
• The house where the album was recorded, the Wick, is  an English Heritage Grade 1 listed building. Constructed in in 1775, one of the previous occupants was actor John Mills. While there, Keith stayed in daughter Hayley’s former bedroom.
• Before this all took place, Keith and Ronnie were nodding acquaintances. After a few weeks they were bosom buddies, then semi-permanent guest stars in each other’s projects. By 1975, Ronnie had replaced the departing Mick Taylor as the “touring” second guitarist in the Stones and, though other people were auditioned (Wayne Perkins, Ry Cooder) became the last “official” member of the Stones in 1976. Everyone who’s played with them since (Darryl Jones, Chuck Leavell, Ian Mclagan, Blondie Chaplin) has been an employee.
• Like the Pirates’ gigs at Dingwall’s, Woody’s concerts in the fall of 1974 seemed to be one of those touchstone moments for the nascent punk movement in the UK. Nick Kent relates how he was at one of  the concerts with Malcolm McLaren when Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock and first Sex Pistols guitarist Wally Nightingale suddenly appeared out of nowhere; not having the money for tickets, they had used their skills as second-story men and climbed in through a skylight in the roof!

Wilko Johnson

“I already had a gig when they asked me to do Game of Thrones…”

Wilko Johnson has played his last gig, according to a story in the Daily Express. He was hoping to do a series of gigs on his home turf of Canvey Island in Essex, but his failing health wouldn’t allow it.

Dammit, dammit, dammit…

Just saw on Facebook that Dr. Feelgood founding member Wilko Johnson has pancreatic cancer, and has elected not to have treatment. Doctors give him less than a year to live, but in true Road Warrior fashion, he’s off to Japan for a tour, back to England to mix a new album, a short tour of France and then, hopefully a series of farewell gigis in the UK.

Dan Achen 1958-2010

“Danno” – 1958-2010

Very saddened to hear of the passing of Dan Achen, guitarist for numerous Hamilton bands, Monday, from an apparent heart attack.
Danno was one of the original Hess Village mafia, as we all (the Deacons, the Trouble Boys, the Florida Razors, Guitar Mikey, John Lewis, et al)  were back in the day. Originally, he was part of the one-two punch of guitarists (Colin Cripps being the other) that fronted the Go-Devils.

His big break came in 1988 or so, when Tom Wilson tabbed him to be the guitar player in his new act, Junkhouse. They worked their asses off, got a major-label deal, and made the rest of us very proud.

Danno was also a big-time guitar collector – everyone in that world knew and respected his expertise. If you were serious about getting a rare or vintage guitar, he could use his contacts to find you one; no matter what remote corner of the globe, he’d know someone.

Mick Green 1944-2010

You’d think Woody’d be able to afford his own guitar…

Sweet Jesus, this is the one I really didn’t want to have to write.

Mick Green, the man whom I regard as probably the most influential guitar player in the UK (with the possible exception of Hank Marvin) has passed away after an extended illness. EVERY SINGLE ENGLISH GUITAR PLAYER YOU CAN THINK OF owes him a debt – Townshend, Richards, Beck, Clapton, Page…anyone you’d care to name. He was first, he was best…and every single player who came after readily acknowledged that fact. In 1962, when Jagger, Richards, Lennon and McCartney were really just noisy teenagers, he was (well, to be honest, he was a teenager, too!) touring with the foremost “real” rock’n’roll band in the UK, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. He was the natural bridge between the chicken-pickin’ of Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup, and the powerchording of the Kinks and the Who. He was also a primary influence for a couple of my contemporaries that tore the roof off – Wilko Johnson and Futoshi Abe.

I’d go so far as crediting Mick with the salvation of rock’n’roll in the UK – coming home from a residency in Vegas with Englebert Humperdinck (!) in 1975 and agreeing to reform the legendary Pirates (Johnny Kidd’s backing band – remember “Shakin’ All Over”?) for a one-off gig at Dingwalls . That did as much to kick off the punk thing as any single event before or after. That gig led to their playing at the  New Musical Express Christmas party, which led to a record deal, whcih led to….well, history.

Please, everyone, go to Mick’s website and sign the guest book. Show’em how we feel.

Heaven just got a little louder….

EDIT 01/13 – It’s a measure of the man how many pickers have offered their condolences in that guest book. In amongst the heartfelt messages from John and Frank (the rest of the Pirates) , and from the students at the middle school where Mick had been teaching guitar, are messages from some genuine heavyweights – Albert Lee, Chris Spedding, Pete Townshend, Sonny Curtis….and I`d like to thank Mick`s son Brad for borrowing my “heaven just got a little louder“ for the eulogy. I`m honoured (stunned, more like) to the point of speechlessness.

         

All Right, a Little More Levity

Without further ado, the Ugliest Guitars of 2008 , as determined in an entirely unscientifc manner by guitarsite.com. As a poster on the TDPRI forum sagely pointed out, there should really be two classifications, just plain ugly, and ugly and stupid.

That said, I have a special place in my heart for the Cigar Box Jesus, the Three Little Pigs Junior, and the V that buddy’s carved his dog’s head onto. My wife thought the mermaid guitar was pretty good, too, until I pointed out that you can’t tell from the photo where the knobs are. Oh, and on the one with Kenny, Dolly and Willie, is the figure on the top bout Mick Mars from Motley Crue?…and who puts the stars’n’bars on a guitar dedicated to Lincoln, anyway?

All the “MUST-HAVE” sounds…

I’ve never been a “pedal guy”. Fiddly bits of gear that pretty much work at their own convenience, and, despite the nickname “stomp box”, break half the time when you stomp on ’em. Now that you can buy hand-wired effects pedals that cost HUNDREDS (!) of dollars, there’s always someone ready to take the piss.

Witness RedTelectronix Custom Effects. Obviously, he feels about pedals pretty much the same as I do. And no, Rick, this isn’t about your current love affair with the wah-wah. I’ve always hated pedals.

The Left Right Hand….

Hamilton blues diva Trish O’Neill and I were having a conversation the other week about how we both happened to be naturally left-handed, but learned to play guitar right-handed.  It was, for her as well as me, a matter of the availability of instruments as much as anything else.

But it led me to wonder, “How many others are there?” Well, once you get around to asking, it would seem that almost as many natural lefties play right-handed as left-handed. LeftHandedGuitarists.com  posts the following list of players who are left-handed, but play righty:

AL ANDERSON (I assume they mean the guy from NRBQ, not the guy who played with Bob Marley)

BILLY BOB THORNTON

BILLY CORGAN

BOB BROZMAN

BRUCE COCKBURN

CALVIN NEWBORN

CARL WILSON *

CHRIS MARTIN (Coldplay)

CHRIS REA

DANNY GATTON *

DAVE HOLE *

DAVID BOWIE *

DAVID BYRNE

DUANE ALLMAN

ELVIS COSTELLO

ERIK DARLING (The Rooftop Singers)

GARY MOORE

GEORGE BARNES

GEORGE VAN EPS *

GILES HEDLEY (Giles Hedley Blues Band, The Aviators)

INORAN (a.k.a. INOUE KYIONOBU)

JANICK GERS (IRON MAIDEN)

JIMMY RAINEY

JOHN WETTON (KING CRIMSON)

JOHNNY WINTER

JULIA ROBERTS

KEANU REEVES

KEITH CARRADINE

LEFTY FRIZZELL

MARE WINNINGHAM

MARK KNOPFLER *

MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO *

MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD

MICHAEL HEDGES

NICK LOWE

NOEL GALLAGHER (Oasis)

PASCAL PERIZ

PAUL LE MAT

PAUL SIMON

PHIL HILBORNE

PRESTON REED *

RIK EMMETT (Triumph)

ROBERT FRIPP

RUVANE KURLAND

STEVE CROPPER *

STEVE MORSE

TED GREENE

I am amazed by how many of my favourites are on here – Steve Cropper, Michael Bloomfield, Al Anderson. I am also amazed by how many super-pickers there are – Danny Gatton, George Van Eps, and one that remains unconfirmed – I’ve always understood Roy Clark to be a member of the fraternity.

 

Les Paul 1915-2009

It’s Les Paul…with a Les Paul!

WOW. About a month ago I was having a conversation with Deacon buddy Alfie Smith. He was absolutely beside himself – he’d been invited to New York to play with Les Paul at his Monday night residency at Iridium. Unfortunately, I don’t believe Alfie made it in time – Les died this morning at his home in White Plains, NY, of complications relating to pneumonia.

I don’t exactly how to quantify what Les Paul did for the music that came after. Perhaps the best way is to paraphrase Ron Wood – ” I was sitting in the control room of a recording studio with Les Paul one day, and he’d point at a piece of gear and say ‘See that? I invented that.’ Then he’d point at another piece of gear and say  ‘See that? I invented that.’ Then ‘And that’. ‘And that’. ‘And those over there’.”

It is something of an exaggeration to say that Paul invented the solidbody electirc guitar, or multitrack recording. However, he standardized it, and taught musicians that there was no reason that they couldn’t be in charge of the records they made. Once recording tape came along, there was no reason to let the technicians run the show.

A lot of the musicians that influenced me were Les Paul disciples – Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, and entire generations from the sixties onward. You can read his CNN obit here.