Derrick Taylor, Roachford - Reeve!

During my recent visit with Val Reeve, we went through a pile of documents that Val had saved, from all those years ago.
Whilst thumbing through albums and photos, one image suddenly caught my attention!
That was my headless bass! The one that started off the Reeve story - I pointed out to Val and she said, "Oh, I remember him quite well - nice lad"
That was definitely the bass! Underneath the photo, was a name - Derrick Taylor and looking through some of the old notes, it seemed that the order for the custom headless was taken on the 18th October, 1984!

The name rang a bell but as I was looking old Polaroid, it was sort of out of context - quick look on Google and up popped some details.
Derrick Taylor, of Roachford fame! Aha! Looking at the old photo and some more recent ones, it certainly did look like it was the same person.
Derrick and Andy Roachford recorded Cuddly Toy, one of my personal favourites of that period, in 1988 - just four years after the headless was ordered.

He has also worked with Steve Howe and Gabrielle - you can see more details here.http://www.sessionbassguitarist.com/session-bass-player

Check out the gallery, with Derrick behind Bryan Ferry - Sweet!

So, was it him? Well, a couple of emails and a phone call, confirmed that it was him. I made Val promise not to mention it to anyone, as I had said to Derrick, that I would let him read the article, before I posted it - she was over the moon, when I told her.

Derrick is still out there, doing the business, some 32 years after Val and Ges met him and started work on the headless bass.

Those of you that have followed the feature on Reeve, may remember that during the strip down of the bass, there was a name under the tuner cover.

Definitely, the very same bass!
Amazing!

Back next time with full shots of the restored Reeve.

Cheers, :)

A visit to Val Reeve. . . .

Well, for those of you out there that remember the heady days of a post at least once a week, if you are still with me - again, sorry for the lack of posts. . . . where does the time go to??

So, quite a few weeks ago, I finally made it to the home of Reeve!

Val was very welcoming and as soon as the kettle had boiled, we were chatting away.

I got to see the area that was the workshop and and talk about the old days, along with Colin, one of Val and Ges' friends, who remembered the old days.

The thing that grabbed me most was the amount of info that Val had still got and albums of pictures, promotional stuff and everything that went with an expanding small business.

It was for me and I'm sure Val, a great day, which got very interesting when we turned over one of the pages in an album - My Headless Bass, that started this feature on Reeve, in the hands of the original owner!

Could it be. . . .??

Back VERY SOON, with the reveal.

Cheers. :)