shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Shed that thing looks sweet! I actually think the gold is nice. Regular gold not so much, but the satin's not bad. Recessed jack on the back is some smart design. I'm jealous!

[Recycled_Brains]

Got Tapewounds on my Squier Jazz,It's nice to see some love for the Westone,Got an old red one from ex bandmate-really nice build quality. Still lusting after one of these old Guild b302'sguild-b-302-xl.jpg,since I can't afford a decent Rick,and I love Stiff Little Fingers. I found Dave from Soul Asylum a nice faded white one in Baltimore in 94 or 95,and of course he broke it/lost it/let someone steal it from his house.

Those Guilds sound so good.

[markjazzbassist]

i've been jonesing for a Guild ever since i saw Sheryl Crow playing one! Guild's are IMO the most underrated guitars/basses out there. Such quality and craftsmanship (American too) for 1/3 the price of Gibsons.

[drumsound]

i've been jonesing for a Guild ever since i saw Sheryl Crow playing one! Guild's are IMO the most underrated guitars/basses out there. Such quality and craftsmanship (American too) for 1/3 the price of Gibsons.

Yeah, Guild guitars are great. I'm still kicking myself for not buying (and actually selling) an amazing Guild all maple acoustic back in my gear pimping days.

[shedshrine]

It's nice to see some love for the Westone,Got an old red one from ex bandmate-really nice build quality.

More love. early 80's Westone Thunder 1-A active/passive. Made in Japan, brass knobs and two 9 volts.

[dave watkins]

My first guitar teacher had a Westone guitar with a similar body style to the basses y'all have been posting. She had a nice Tele and a Les Paul, some quality acoustics and some other things but for whatever reason 6th grade me always gravitated to the Westone. I love this thread, it's making me nostalgic and stoked about studio builds all at once.

[trodden]

It's nice to see some love for the Westone,Got an old red one from ex bandmate-really nice build quality.

More love. early 80's Westone Thunder 1-A active/passive. Made in Japan, brass knobs and two 9 volts.

DAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMNNNNBBBBB

[shedshrine]

Yeah, that 'racing stripe' got me to try it out too. It was in a little mom/pop shop on the coast. The brass knobs and plate cleaned up real nice for the most part.

Might just be the photo, but that walnut jazz bass looks like it might also have a thicker brass bridge.

[winky dinglehoffer]

All this bass talk got me to thinking about my first fretless--a $10 yard sale find that had been brush-painted black. The action was beyond horrible (there were steel washers between the neck & body for some unknown reason), & it had a cutout for a pickup that had been removed or never installed. I removed most of the black paint, filled in the pickup cutout, & defretted it. Played & sounded pretty decent, considering. It's been living with a friend for a decade or so now--I made him take a picture of it for me. I kind of enjoy how extremely ugly it is--no, I really enjoy how ugly it is.

ugly.jpg (75.91 KiB) Viewed 1789 times

[shedshrine]

Sunday morning..thought I'd seen that bass above before. Did a little digging online..


Rudyard “Rudy” Grunion worked in his family’s electronics repair shop in 1960’s London. He had made a name for himself with local musicians and venue promoters with his excellent amplifier and instrument repair skills. He was an amateur musician himself and enjoyed the camraderie and energy of the burgeoning London music scene. So when a offer came to go with the British contingent of the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 as a tech and roadie, he was enthusiastically on board.

He absolutely revered a new and upcoming American guitarist who was unknown in the states at the time but who had been making a name for himself in London as the leader of Jimi Hendrix and the Experience. Rudy had seen just about every show they had performed, but most enjoyed when Jimi would join onstage pickup bands in late after-hours jams. Rudy noted that if a bass player was needed during these sessions, Jimi was always ammenable. Several times Grunion had seen Jimi handed a bass, which he played with incredible skill.


As the departure date for Monterey approached, Rudy decided he wanted to bring Jimi a gift. He figured Hendrix had plenty of guitars, but maybe he could use a nice bass. Although he had several bass bodies and parts at the shop, none were left handed so he put together a right handed bass strung upside down and brought it with him the US.


The three day festival was more successful than anyone could have imagined for the bands that attended, Jimi Hendrix's use of extremely high volumes, the feedback this produced, and the combination of the two along with his dive-bombing use of the vibrato bar on his guitar, produced sounds that, with the exception of the British in attendance, none of the audience had ever heard before. This, along with his look, his clothing, and his erotic antics onstage, had an enormous impact on the audience. To take things further, aware of the Who's planned explosive finale, he asked around for a can of lighter fluid, which he placed behind one of his amplifier stacks before beginning his set. He ended his Monterey performance with an unpredictable version of "Wild Thing", which he capped by kneeling over his guitar, pouring lighter fluid over it, setting it on fire, and then smashing it onto the stage seven times before throwing its remains into the audience.

Long after the film crews, reporters and the majority of fans had gone, many of the musicians lingered late into the night in the nearby Monterey park center for impromptu jams and hanging out. During this time Rudy gave Jimi his bass. Thrilled with the gift Jimi played it during a loose Stones medley that had started up. When the other musicians decided to take a break, Jimi was encouraged to keep playing. Still playing the bass, he turned it up and began soloing. Those in attendance egged him on and in good spirits began jokingly chanting “burn it, burn it, burn it” to which Jim obliged when a can of Rosignol lighter fluid was procured.

Rudy was a little disapointed by this of course, but enjoyed the instrument’s moment in the spotlight nonetheless. When at last it was time to return to England, he brought the charred bass back with him, along with the broken bits of the earlier smashed and burned guitar which amazingly no one had seen as a worthy keepsake at the time.

Rudy continued to work as a guitar and amp tech, eventually moving stateside and working for Frank Zappa. He gave the Hendrix guitar pieces to Frank who stored them in a closet under a staircase until finally having them reassembled and repaired with custom electronics. Later his son Dweezil overhauled it to his preferences and has it to this day.

The bass followed a different path. For a time Grunion lived in Seattle. He had spoken with Jimi about the city on many occasions, and wanted to spend some time in Hendrix’s home town. When he first arrived, he found a classified ad for a room with a family there. They took him in and treated him like one of their own. The mother of the family, Gladys Fitsimons, particularly took a shine to Rudy. Having never traveled, she was very taken with his easy going charm, accent, and stories of growing up in London.(17) Gladys played piano and her three children played instruments as well. They would often play together in the Fitsimons living room. During Grunions’s time with the Fitsimons, he gave the Hendrix bass to the family.

Gladys gave the bass to her grandson, Brandon Fitzimons, when he showed musical promise on a toy piano. He played the piano obsessively but violently, often throwing it after a particularly frenzied session. Knowing the somewhat violent history of the bass, she somehow knew Brandon should have the instrument. The precocious musician continued 'terrorizing' keyboards and eventually began dabbling with the bass in his early teens. According to one of his friends interviewed for an independent documentary on the bass, Fitzimons went through a brief phase whereupon he would light the headstock on fire and play the bass while simultaneously smacking it into or dragging it along an electric keyboard. It reportedly resulted in 'a most excellent cacophany'(6). At one point Brandon painted the bass in black house paint and called it "Queen". (citation needed.)

Eventually though, Fitzimons gave the bass to a visiting cousin from Atlanta who eventually donated it. The thrift store that received it put it out on display with a $10 price tag, whereupon Winky “Kommander” Dinglehoffer (18) real name Chris P. Bacon) came into its possession.

While going over the instrument to make it playable Dinglehoffer found a phone number etched in the wood underneath the pickguard remnants. He called the Seattle number and was amazed to find out the rich history of the battered instrument. Fitsimons told Winky the story in detail. At one point Dinglehoffer asked if he had ever given thought to naming the bass. To which Fitsimons was reported to have jokingly replied “Yeah, Yer Mom”.(8)

Dinglehoffer repaired the bass, stripping the house paint off the body and removing the frets from the neck. Yer Mom is currently on loan indefinitely to a friend of his in Atlanta.

[winky dinglehoffer]

A bass coated in a layer of black enamel is the stuff dreams are made of, as Mr. Bogart might say.

[shedshrine]

Meanwhile..

Charvel out for delivery.JPG (55.78 KiB) Viewed 1686 times

.

[trodden]

Sunday morning..thought I'd seen that bass above before. Did a little digging online..


Rudyard “Rudy” Grunion worked in his family’s electronics repair shop in 1960’s London. He had made a name for himself with local musicians and venue promoters with his excellent amplifier and instrument repair skills. He was an amateur musician himself and enjoyed the camraderie and energy of the burgeoning London music scene. So when a offer came to go with the British contingent of the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 as a tech and roadie, he was enthusiastically on board.

He absolutely revered a new and upcoming American guitarist who was unknown in the states at the time but who had been making a name for himself in London as the leader of Jimi Hendrix and the Experience. Rudy had seen just about every show they had performed, but most enjoyed when Jimi would join onstage pickup bands in late after-hours jams. Rudy noted that if a bass player was needed during these sessions, Jimi was always ammenable. Several times Grunion had seen Jimi handed a bass, which he played with incredible skill.


As the departure date for Monterey approached, Rudy decided he wanted to bring Jimi a gift. He figured Hendrix had plenty of guitars, but maybe he could use a nice bass. Although he had several bass bodies and parts at the shop, none were left handed so he put together a right handed bass strung upside down and brought it with him the US.


The three day festival was more successful than anyone could have imagined for the bands that attended, Jimi Hendrix's use of extremely high volumes, the feedback this produced, and the combination of the two along with his dive-bombing use of the vibrato bar on his guitar, produced sounds that, with the exception of the British in attendance, none of the audience had ever heard before. This, along with his look, his clothing, and his erotic antics onstage, had an enormous impact on the audience. To take things further, aware of the Who's planned explosive finale, he asked around for a can of lighter fluid, which he placed behind one of his amplifier stacks before beginning his set. He ended his Monterey performance with an unpredictable version of "Wild Thing", which he capped by kneeling over his guitar, pouring lighter fluid over it, setting it on fire, and then smashing it onto the stage seven times before throwing its remains into the audience.

Long after the film crews, reporters and the majority of fans had gone, many of the musicians lingered late into the night in the nearby Monterey park center for impromptu jams and hanging out. During this time Rudy gave Jimi his bass. Thrilled with the gift Jimi played it during a loose Stones medley that had started up. When the other musicians decided to take a break, Jimi was encouraged to keep playing. Still playing the bass, he turned it up and began soloing. Those in attendance egged him on and in good spirits began jokingly chanting “burn it, burn it, burn it” to which Jim obliged when a can of Rosignol lighter fluid was procured.

Rudy was a little disapointed by this of course, but enjoyed the instrument’s moment in the spotlight nonetheless. When at last it was time to return to England, he brought the charred bass back with him, along with the broken bits of the earlier smashed and burned guitar which amazingly no one had seen as a worthy keepsake at the time.

Rudy continued to work as a guitar and amp tech, eventually moving stateside and working for Frank Zappa. He gave the Hendrix guitar pieces to Frank who stored them in a closet under a staircase until finally having them reassembled and repaired with custom electronics. Later his son Dweezil overhauled it to his preferences and has it to this day.

The bass followed a different path. For a time Grunion lived in Seattle. He had spoken with Jimi about the city on many occasions, and wanted to spend some time in Hendrix’s home town. When he first arrived, he found a classified ad for a room with a family there. They took him in and treated him like one of their own. The mother of the family, Gladys Fitsimons, particularly took a shine to Rudy. Having never traveled, she was very taken with his easy going charm, accent, and stories of growing up in London.(17) Gladys played piano and her three children played instruments as well. They would often play together in the Fitsimons living room. During Grunions’s time with the Fitsimons, he gave the Hendrix bass to the family.

Gladys gave the bass to her grandson, Brandon Fitzimons, when he showed musical promise on a toy piano. He played the piano obsessively but violently, often throwing it after a particularly frenzied session. Knowing the somewhat violent history of the bass, she somehow knew Brandon should have the instrument. The precocious musician continued 'terrorizing' keyboards and eventually began dabbling with the bass in his early teens. According to one of his friends interviewed for an independent documentary on the bass, Fitzimons went through a brief phase whereupon he would light the headstock on fire and play the bass while simultaneously smacking it into or dragging it along an electric keyboard. It reportedly resulted in 'a most excellent cacophany'(6). At one point Brandon painted the bass in black house paint and called it "Queen". (citation needed.)

Eventually though, Fitzimons gave the bass to a visiting cousin from Atlanta who eventually donated it. The thrift store that received it put it out on display with a $10 price tag, whereupon Winky “Kommander” Dinglehoffer (18) real name Chris P. Bacon) came into its possession.

While going over the instrument to make it playable Dinglehoffer found a phone number etched in the wood underneath the pickguard remnants. He called the Seattle number and was amazed to find out the rich history of the battered instrument. Fitsimons told Winky the story in detail. At one point Dinglehoffer asked if he had ever given thought to naming the bass. To which Fitsimons was reported to have jokingly replied “Yeah, Yer Mom”.(8)

Dinglehoffer repaired the bass, stripping the house paint off the body and removing the frets from the neck. Yer Mom is currently on loan indefinitely to a friend of his in Atlanta.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhHhhhhahahhaah.

This is awesome.

[shedshrine]

Glad you guys read all the way through that. Was afraid it was too long for a mom joke.

[trodden]

Glad you guys read all the way through that. Was afraid it was too long for a mom joke.

I got all the time in the world for your mom...joke.