Guitar Archeology

Today I received a ‘91 Jazz Bass bought off of eBay. Seeing as how many of us that buy a guitar end up modifying it to our liking I thought I’d share a few photos of the changes I’ve made right out of the gate. This is how it arrived – white pickguard and these gnarly little Strat knobs:

I’m not a big fan of pickguards but as you can see in this photo there’s a nasty trench [didn't know this was done so early on] running thru the front of this one:

It has these puny little pots & a green cap that I couldn’t find a rating on. If I was gigging with this bass I’d usually go thru and paint the cavities with shielding paint. If comes to that I’ll replace the electronics with a set of EMG JV X pickups.

This is a mod that I consider essential on a Jazz Bass:

I can’t understand why “toaster” knobs were even considered much less used considering the Jazz Bass was introduced as a “Deluxe Model”. With the silly knobs this bass came with there was just no option IMO.

In another post [

That’s pretty much it. All-in-all this bass has lived up to my expectations. Its lively in that I’ve never had a bass that made my hand vibrate when holding down a note. Being Alder its lightweight. It looks good – always wanted a red guitar. And the sound is everything a Fender is supposed to be. Makes me want to go out and find a gig. A Mega Bass Strap and a Babicz bridge arrived just before dinner so tomorrow I have to decide whether to string it up with flatwounds or keep these roundwounds for a while longer. We’ll see how that goes . . .

. . . I promise.
Okay, so I took the plunge and replaced the stock bridge with the Babicz [pron. babitts in case you're interested] and went ahead and strung it up with some GHS Precision Flatwounds. Even with the suggestions for using round wounds I already had an idea of what I was looking for after playing a friend’s ‘62 Stack knob Jazz bass. If I ever used flat wounds on a Fender before I couldn’t tell you when it was so I’m familiar with their purpose but in this case I was going for a certain retro vibe.

That said I went in a completely different direction with the bridge:

When I look down at this thing the term “speed racer” comes to mind. It really is a bit of engineering wizardry. The truly amazing thing is it feels lighter than the stock bridge when you hold them in your hands. I didn’t weigh them but its noticeable. It took a bit of wrangling to suss out the in & outs of mounting this thing. Dialing it in was pretty easy after getting the first string set up. Unless you’re a constant string changer I can’t imagine you’d have to do much to it once it’s set.

The best part of this experience was plugging in and playing a song. What is it about playing a Fender bass? The sound speaks such in a familiar voice – probably due to all the songs that have been recorded using one. But its the neck, too. It just lays so naturally in the hand, at least for me it does.
A friend mentioned that I hadn’t posted a full image of this bass with the Babicz bridge on it so, here it is:

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1024×493 and weights 224KB.

Since I didn’t take the time to A/B the old bridge with the flatwounds* or the roundwounds with the Babicz I don’t know how they might compare but, I can say this, “Wow!” This thing rocks in a very R&B sorta way. Just what I was lookin’ for . . .

The fairytale continues!  Music craft did not create the
Messenger. The patent they used belonged to Glen F.Burke, my Father. Dad made
hundreds of custom guitars between 1960-1965, BEFORE MusicCraft took over. His
company was the Tuning Fork Guitar Company. Started in Springfield. Dad opened the
shop program at Tongue Point, Astoria, Oregon. For three years BEFORE MusicCraft  he
created a kit that kids  at the Job Corp could build. THESE were beautiful, some with
unique shapes, some covered with cowhide, and tooled leather. All of them with the
signature patented neck that Messenger used.
I have received emails from men who created some of those guitars at tongue
point. I have some of my dad’s guitars, and they are still one of the best
sounding instruments around.
I am surprised more people haven’t realized the Tuning Fork Guitar Company
precededthe Messenger by at least 8 years. I have news paper
articles,with Dad in his shop holding his signature neck. I think it’s time he is
given credit.

Hey there, I really enjoy your blog esp. the Harvey Thomas stories. I was wondering where in Midway Harvey had his compound. I grew up in DesMoines and graduated Mt. Rainier in 86.Was Harveys place north or south of FredMeyer ( the old Value Mart) ha I am old!!

I was wondering if you can incorporate some Don Mock stories to your blog. He is a overlooked Seattle legend. His website is pretty cool as well.

I also have a “Child” story around 1985, I wanted a Marshall half stack real bad. It was kind of tough finding one used at this time, my resources where the Seattle times and Cranky old Al or Ed?? down in Riverton valley. Or, Farmers in Burien. I found a Hiwatt 100 watt half stack for sale out in West Seattle, on the junction in a house across from a Mexican Restaurant. He was moving to California and needed the money. The amp had the name CHILD and TIM stencilled in the back of the four twelve cab. I paid 500.00 for both the head and cab.
I did not like the amp at all, partly because I wanted a Marshall and I thought it sounded too clean. I eventually got a pre AOR 50 watt Laney Combo, and I traded the Hiwatt to Al Seig at Performance Music in Federal Way for a Wasburn accoustic!!!! That Al was selling for 325.00, I remember he bitched saying I got the better deal.Anyway I can ramble on so I will stop.

Thanks for your time and the blog,

Mark

It was 1964, I was living at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.

Front Gate RAF Woodbridge

It was a great time to be in England with the Music scene happening at the time.  We had some great music coming to the base playing the clubs.

Airmans Club RAF Woodbridge

I was able to experience bands like The Animals, The Searchers, Georgie Fame and Dusty Springfield.  After school, I would go to the Base Exchange and look through the catalogs at pictures of guitars and pick out the ones that I liked, always hoping that I might be able to get one someday.

Base Exchange RAF Woodbridge

But, it was seeing The Rolling Stones at the Gaumont Theatre in Ipswich that really got me motivated to play the guitar.

Gaumont Theatre Ipswich

I got my first guitar a ‘Stella’.  I had borrowed it from my neighbor, Billy Bird.  It had one string (the low E string…)  I learned to play the ‘Peter Gunn Theme’ and was able to talk my parents into buying it for me.

The guitar cost $5 !  The new strings cost more than the guitar did.   My cousin Sue, boyfriend at the time (later to be husband) Des Lee, played in a band called “Lee Walker and the Travellers”, came by, put the new strings on and taught me my first chords, E, A and D.   He told me these 3 chords are Rock n Roll and that’s all you need.  Best lesson I ever got!

Here is the Guitar;

Stella

I used this till I was able to get my first Electric Guitar, a Green Sunburst Rosetti Lucky7 at a second hand shop at the Market in Doncaster, Yorkshire.

When I met Harvey Thomas, he showed me this guitar he made for John Lennon.   According to Harvey, John did not take delivery of the guitar, because of the comments John had made about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus.  Harvey, also told me he had to fire an employee, he found sanding on the guitar, without sandpaper !

Now here are the pictures of the guitar.  Enjoy!

Mick Flynn

Thanks to Denise Pressnall for the pics

Brian Setzer paid me 7K for a Gretsch on this particular day in Houston. He counts his money by listening to the C notes as they fan past his ear. Not really..

Larry Briggs, Strings West

Another set that came through Mick’s Vintage Guitars.  A 1960’s Supro Dual Tone Guitar with matching Supro Amplifier

Here is a picture of what it looked like at Harvey Thomas Custom Guitars, Midway Washington.  I used to walk up there  in my High School days with my buddies.  Bought my first Wah-Wah pedal from Harvey.  It was quite a scene.. Went out back of his house to the Long shop, past the ponds, cars, ambulances, T-33 Jet trainer and buses !  Harvey came out from behind the shop, dressed like he just came from a Safari in his Tan Outfit complete with pith helmet, smoking a cigar, asking what we wanted.  He then pointed to a dummy hanging from a noose, saying this is what happened to the last guy who was poking around !  He then warmed up and took us into the shop.  WOW! What a scene, guitars hanging from everywhere, even in the pond outside !  Harvey left an impression on everyone who was lucky enough to experience him.  Sure glad I got the opportunity.

Mick Flynn

Thanks to

Denise Pressnall for the great pictures !

One of the first impressions of Harveys’ place!

I took Billy Gibbons across the street to meet his neighbor with the car for sale. Mister Gibbons had been camped at the Two Louies mansion for a few days and had noticed the little red 1960 Rambler parked across the street. I knew it had been for sale for over a year with an original asking price of $6,000. My neighbor was a bit stunned to be confronted on his porch by a pop star, but Billy made sure they hit it off and after a twenty-minute bargaining session Billy bought it for $1,500. This, after Billy explained that he intended to make the car famous. Mister Gibbons maintains a fully staffed automobile restoration facility in Los Angeles. He said he intended to jack up the little red Rambler and turn it into a 4 by 4 monster car. My neighbor, the ZZ Top fan, saw a chance to be part of rock auto history. The ZZ Top tour bus pulled up with a tow-bar attached and the little red Rambler headed off to a new life in the ZZ Fleet. A few months later I got a faxed invitation to a coming out party for the “Little Willy 4X4” in Los Angeles.

Here is a picture of the Harvey Thomas “Green Falcon” (that’s what we called it, not the official name..). This guitar showed up in my shop in the early 80’s.  I got it from Gordy Kjelberg, who had a few of these here Thomas Guitars.  It eventually ended up with Paul Day and then Tony Bacon’s book “The Ultimate Guitar”.