Ibanez Flying Vee. . . . .

A true blast from the past!!

This picture was taken around 1980, I think - just before a serious 
lack of funds, meant that I had to let it go.

I have no idea where it is now but it had a unique stainless steel
scratch-plate which had a machine turned design on it.

The shot is not very good, as it was taken on a Kodak Instamatic,
which was not the best bit of kit!!
I have managed to convert to digital, from some recently found 
negatives, with a handy negative scanner.
 
I had it's original case and drew a lot of attention, when the case 
was opened.
It was 33 years ago, so if I'm honest, I can't remember much about it.
I guess quite collectable, now.

Back soon with another Ibanez Guitar - thought I would do more of
the Six Strings.

Cheers. :)

Ibanez RB920 Bass Guitar. . . . . .

Ibanez RB920 - What a cracking Bass!

You don't see that many of these around.
I am also lucky enough to have its cousin - two pick-ups, in Blue,
which I will do soon.

The RB920 has a single Super J6 pick-up, with volume and tone
but it also has Tri Sound, on the three way switch.
This give you Humbucker, Parallel Coils or Single coil, which colours
the tones you can get, very nicely.
The pick-up is in a sweet spot so there is plenty of "Bark" and just
the right amount of depth.
Very nice, indeed.

The head is a very nice design and keeps everything neatly in place.

The neck is very comfortable and I feel very at home with this one.
Balances very well and once you have dialled in the tone you want,
the whole feel of the bass, just wants to make you play it and play it 
and. . . . . you know what I mean. 

Beautiful top and binding, a joy to look at, as well as play.
I love it!

I am now getting back into the swing of things, so I hope to come 
back to you a little more often, with more of the collection - Soon!

I was contacted by a well known guitar/bass journalist, recently, 
who commented that he liked my photography!
He made my day!! :)
Thank you! :)

Hope you like these - not some of my best but I was keen to put 
up my next post, so a quick series of shots on a lawn, did the job!

Back soon, Honest!

Cheers. :)

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Yamaha BX-1 Headless Bass. . . . .

Right, back to the job in hand!
Sorry there has been a lack of content, in recent weeks - a lot to do,
at the moment.

So, inside this case. . . . . . .

. . . .is quite an unusual bass!!

The Yamaha BX-1 Headless bass, I think the only one that Yamaha ever made.

There isn't a great deal of information about these rare birds.

Very well made and a delight to play - well balanced, with a lovely neck.
Two powerful pick-ups, with a std Jazz type set-up with the controls but. . . . 
with a difference.
There is a switch on the tone control, which selects Humbucker or single coils,
on both pick-ups, at the same time.
So, you can go from a hard rocking thump to something a bit more funky.

I looked for one of these for ages - and I mean ages!
I have only had it for about 3 years and in that time, I haven't seen another 
one up for sale, in the UK.
They are a little more common in the USA but still command a fair price, due
to their rarity.
Regular readers with know that I have had Westone Rails and still have a 
Quantum, as well as a Hohner B2A (not done that one yet) but this is by far, 
the better proposition.
It hangs a lot better, due to the design and therefore plays more like a 
conventional bass.

The other good thing, like the Westone, you can use standard strings and not
the double ball end, which means you can string it up with your favourite
brand and away you go!

 

Lovely neck joint, that blends seamlessly into the body. Nice!


















Yamaha BX-1. Very Nice!

Back with more, next time.

Cheers. :)



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Eric, What Happened To April??

Hi to all my regular readers - including a good friend with a very nice
Jazz Bass and a liking for proper beer - you know who you are!!! LOL!

So, for those of you who have found a lack of content and been in touch
over the last 4 or five weeks - all I have to show you is this!! :)

 

Yes, I know - hardly bass or guitar related but I have been so busy, over the

last few weeks, the time has flown by and this is by way of letting you know

that there is plenty more to come and I am still very much here!

A friend brought this back from the USA, during a recent trip - Thanks James!

Must try harder. . . . . I will be back, with lots more interesting stuff, as soon

as I can - hopefully my rare ish, Headless Yamaha Bass.

So, I'll be back to you. . . . . .  as soon as I can.

Cheers. :)

 

Chris Squire's Electra Outlaw. . . .

For the time being, I am done with the Peavey "T" feature and will
come back to it, with shots of my "T"'s that haven't been seen yet.

So, having come across this shot, I thought it would be nice to show it.



This one is the same as mine and although I know he had a much modded one,
I didn't realise he had and gigged an original Electra Outlaw.

Many thanks to Allen, who kindly gave me permission to use his shot.
To visit his very interesting site, go here:
http://www.artistxposure.com/ 

This is my feature on the one I have. 
Electra Outlaw 1
Electra Outlaw 2

Back next time with something that I have not shown before.

Cheers. :)

 

Peavey T-40 and T-60 users and literature. .

Peavey were keen to let it be known that their guitars were being used by 
major artists, at the time - perhaps the most famous, was Ross Valory of
the band, Journey.

There was also Leon Medica of Le Roux and Banner Thomas from
Molly Hatchet.
Leon has been a long time Peavey user - through T-20, T-40 and later using
a Peavey Zodiac.     

                                                                                                        

Johnnie Copeland was a T-60 user, as were many studio players - one guitar,
for various tones.
One of the pics below, show Carl Perkins, with George Harrison and Eric Clapton,
wielding a T-60.      

 

          

















     
Some of the earlier literature that Peavey produced.

I asked Chip about the other T series guitars and basses but I think it is
perhaps best left alone and leave this feature as a T-40 and T-60 only.

Chip closed with these words.

I designed the T-15, T-30; hardware that I designed, and neck patents of mine 
were on those instruments.
I haven't been curious enough to really look into the 20,25-27, or the T-45 
for my input.
I'm honoured and surprised that anyone is interested to that depth.
Warm regards,
Chip

I would like to thank him again, for all of his help.


That about wraps it up on this one - I will be putting up shots of some of my "T"'s,
along with a pic of my unusual early case, with the blue interior.

Cheers. :)

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One Hundred Thousand Visitors - Thanks for dropping in. :)

Today is Saturday February 23rd and today my Blogspot visitor counter shows
the all time number of visitors to my Blog as 100058 visitors!

So, Hi to all those who have dropped in and out over the last few years and
welcome to any new vistors :)

The counter also shows the most visited posts, since I started - it is quite interesting
to see what has been the most popular.

The most popular today are listed below.

Yamaha SB500 

Westone Quantum X850 

Ibanez Blazer 

Ovation Magnum III 

Peavey T-40 

Ovation Magnum 

Jon Lord 

Ibanez ST824 

Ibanez Musician MC924DS 

Peter Cook - Gibson - Mighty Mite 

The most popular of all time are listed below. 

Fender Urge 1 

Ovation Magnum Bass 

Peter Cook FenderBirds 

Peavey T-40 

Peter Cook - Guitar builder and Musician 

Ibanez MC924DS 

Ibanez 2459B & Greco

Ibanez Old & New 

Ovation Magnum III 

Gordy Headless Bass 

Strangely, I no longer have the Fender Urge and yet despite being hardly
mainstream, it has had the most hits! I have no idea why!

The feature I did on Peter Cook has always been very popular and I'm
sure he will be pleased that his posts have been well read. :)

The Ovation Magnum has also had a lot of readers, I think mainly due
to the pics that I took of mine, which I am very pleased with.

Peavey T-40, always popular.

The thing that I find very pleasing, as a big fan of Ibanez, is how high some
of those have come on the list.

The Yamaha SB500 has had quite a few hits, as there is not much out there
about these fairly rare basses.

The Ibanez Destroyer/Greco has been well vistied - not many of either
of these around!

Well, hope you enjoy browsing through the most popular ones - I will
be wrapping up the Peavey T Series feature, over the next few weeks and
then I think I will do a few more of the Guitars.


So, to celebrate this 100000 milestone, I am going to make a blatant plug 
for one of my very favourite guitarists!
Yes, I play bass but am a great lover of guitar and love everything from 
Classical, through to Hard Rock, traveling through Funk, Prog and Blues.

For me, this guy just does it so well and I never get tired of listening to his
music and guitar playing.
He has played amongst so many of the great players and his piers and yet
is still relatively unknown.
His last album, "Coming up for air" was produced by no less than the very
talented Peter Frampton, another one of my favourite guitarists.

Coming from the Isle of Man and only around 25 years old, he is now living
in Chicago and spreading his music, mainly across the USA - although I have
been lucky enough to see him live, twice - a truly moving experience.

Readers, please give a big hand for Mr Davy Knowles!





Playing alongside Paul Reed Smith - Davy, is pretty much welded to a PRS guitar, these days.



Davy's album traveled around the the word, in a NASA spaceship - over 5 million miles!



Hope you enjoy watching these and check out his other work.
Any existing fans out there, drop in and say hi on the comments section.

Once again, many thanks to all of you readers out there - here's to the next 
100000 visitors.

All the best.
Cheers. :)

 

 



 



 

Peavey T-60 and T-40 Cases, Part II. . . . .

I asked Chip a couple of questions - How did the moulded case design come about, 
in order to conclude this piece about the cases and just get get an insight into the 
musical side of him, what his musical experiences were and did they influence the
design of the T's.

These cases show the two piece handle, so when it is picked up, it can't fall open.
There were also some unlined cases, as shown above. with one of my old 
Forty's in it.
So, there were three official cases - the Original Vac formed case, that was dropped in 
favour of the one Chip designed.
The earlier ones had three clasps and the later ones had four, adding another one at the
end, to ensure a tighter fit.
The Fender type ones, with the Olive coloured interior, I have seen with early T-40's
but never with the T-60's - these don't seem to feature as a factory option, so I can't
say how they came about.
One thing is for sure - there are enough of them about, all the same, to say that 
somewhere down the line, these were sold from some dealers in that case.
Perhaps they fancied the stronger cases for themselves??
Who knows?

Chip continues. 


"When I was a kid, I built several rifle cases for my father and designed the handles 
into it so that he wouldn't ruin the guns if he picked it up without remembering the 
latches. 
That was back in the early 50s, and Ive never made a case since then that had only 
one handle, except the vacuum-formed early Peavey cases. 
Hartley was quite impressed with the safety of the integral handle although it was 
done in other industries in the late 70s".

"I have not been a musician since I was about eight years old. 
I played violin well enough to be in the city's (adult) orchestra, but didn't take up 
music until I was 29 years old, when I went back to college for my mechanical 
engineering degree, ( I had a BS in Commercial Art). 
I repaired instruments the entire time I was in college and only learned guitar 
while in college the second time. 
I only learned finger-picking in the folk style because I was impressed with 
finger-picking. 
I was told to learn with a pick or I'd never do well with a pick. 
They were right.  
I'm not a musician at all. 
Because of a botched left hand operation to install two carbon-fiber knuckles, 
I can't chord the most simple chords, so I don't play anymore. 
I have taken up the short-scale basslets that I build and am having a good time 
with it. 
I don't play bass patterns; I play harmony to the lead and love playing. 
I have no desire to play on the stage or with a group.

The acoustic guitar was my only real guitar playing, so it had no influence on 
my designing the Peavey guitar. 
During my college days when I was repairing instruments, I did build a bunch 
of electric guitars, so learned what players wanted most.  
Hartley told me, "If you and I don't know what guitarists want, we shouldn't be 
getting into the business". 
This was in reference to having a marketing department. 
Even after he finally hired a marketing man, Hartley and I still made the guitar 
decisions until I left to go to Fender.

Back next time with the tail end of the story.

Cheers. :) 

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