Parkinson Bass, bit of a surprise. . . . .

Two posts in two days!

Just a quick one - read this one first and then come back . :)

http://flatericbassandguitar.blogspot.com/2010/08/parkinson-bass-leigh-rare-as.html




Last week, I finally got round to sort out the Parkinson - bit of a
wiring issue, a few sharp frets to sort out and then put some strings
on it, for the first time in my ownership - over two years ago!
Shame on me!!

Removing the scratch plate revealed the wiring.
How quaint, all bits of different coloured wires, soldered in a "I hope
it sticks" sort of way. One hadn't!
I sorted that out and tidied up a joint on the jack socket
and was going to sort out the other wiring but then thought I'd leave
it in it's original condition - the rest of the joints seemed solid so I
left well alone.
The pick-ups are a bit unusual - completely sealed and one two core
wire coming out of each. I could see bare timber under the pick-ups
which looks like Sycamore?? Not much exposed, so it was hard to see.

Being around 35 years old, at a guess, a few of the fret ends were
exposed slightly, so they were sorted and then a rub down with a
cloth - deliberately not buffing anything up, to keep it as it was.
Scratch plate back on, just with a couple of screws, a set of old Dean
Markley strings, that had been brought back to life in my special
"Brightening tube" and strung it up.
No relief, off with the plate backed off the rod, tuned up again, much
better - set the action and intonation . . . . . . still with me??
Yes, I know this is going on much more than necessary but as I said
in the first post, this is so handmade, I was having fun sorting it out.

Plugged in. . . . . . bit surprised! I normally leave the volume and eq
the same on my little amp, so I can get an accurate measure of what
each instrument sounds like. Loud and bright, in this instance.
It looks like a Precision but sounds more like a Ric?? It really does.
Took to a friend, who has a Precision, plugged in the Parkinson - still
loud and bright, plugged in the Precision, nice but not so loud and not
so bright. Mmmmm!
Took it to rehearsals, plays really nice and through the big rig, sounds
a lot more like a Ric than a P. Rest of the band thought it sounded nice.
Very interesting and quite surprising!
No pics yet but will try and get some really soon

Anyway, that will do for now - I am still on the trail of the original owner
of the Jaydee and will post it up as soon as I can.

Cheers. :)

Parkinson Bass, Leigh. Rare as . . . . . .

Parkinson Bass.





As a lover of anything not quite the norm, it is very interesting
to see what the small volume makers turn out.
I have several "one off" instruments but this one is quite unusual.

Parkinson of Leigh, in Lancashire is not one of those makers that
crop up in conversations that include makers like John Diggins,
Doug Wilkes, Peter Cook, Ray Cooper, John Birch, Jim Cairnes,
etc, etc - I could go on for some time but there are quite a few
makers out there.



Mine is a "Project" that I will get round to, soon, I hope!
I have not had it strung or played it but curiosity is edging me
towards "getting it on the road"!

I just love the "Handmadeness" (is there such a word) of it - the
slab body, one off neck, the hand sawn scratchplate, the odd looking
knobs and those slot-head screws take me back to my early days!
Oooh, nostalgia isn't what it used to be!!
I can find nothing about the maker and have only seen one other one
but there must be more out there.
The pics below are not of one of my basses - these are the only other
images of one that I could find.
Mine has a serial # 070 and the other one shown is 080.
Judging by the difference, the more he made, the better he got.








Has anyone else out there in the wide, wide world ever heard of one,
seen one, played one or owned one??
Would love to hear from you.


Cheers, :)

contactflateric@gmail.com

Ibanez RB650 The Red One

 Having put up the post about the white one and my current usage, I found some old shots of The Red One, from 13 or 14 years ago.

The red RB650 is shown along an RS900, at two different venues and there is also a full frontal shot, taken by Lars Mullen, of the white one I have mentioned.

 

This is alongside a Parkinson of Leigh bass, one I haven't had out in yonks. An unusual bass, with a bright ish tone.

Parkinson of Leigh Bass

Back very soon with news of another Peter Cook instrument that has come to light.

 Cheers,😊

Flat Eric, Bass and Guitar - 199th Post and Five Years on. . . . .

Today is a bit of a celebration!
This is my 199th post! 

This has taken me some time to do but I hope
it will be interesting.

   

If you ever wander off somewhere, within the blog, just
click on the script at the top of the page and it will take
you to the latest post. :)

From the many e.mails I have had, a lot of people drop
in here either out of interest of curiosity but mainly 
because they have one of the instruments I have - or they
are looking for one or they are fans of the Marque.
To mark the ocassion, I have created a directory of most
of the posts - the most interesting ones but not all.

So, it works like this - find an article you would like to read,
click on link and away you go!

                                   





Back to the begining - almost

Earlier part of the story

 More scribbles - not many pics 

Peavey T-40 & A start at last

Even more T-40 

Ibanez Twin Neck

Ovation Electrics

Peter Cook Custom Guitars

 Aria & Ibanez Blazer Twins 

 

Peavey T-60 Wine Red

Westone Rail Bass 

Gibson RD Artist Bass

Parkinson of Leigh

Ibanez Old and New

Ibanez SB70 Guitar

Alittle more Aria

Reeve Ric Twin Neck

Stu Hamm Urge 1

Ibanez RS900 & RB650

Status Groove 

Hohner G3T

Hondo Professional

Doug Wilkes

Status Shark

Fender Jazz & The Boys at Work

Chalky

Kimbara Ripper Bass

Peavey T-40 1979

Gordy Headless Bass 

Columbus Telecaster Bass 

Ibanez Musician Bass 

Aria SB600

Guild B301-F

Aria SB R60

Peter Cook Guitar Builder

Peter Cook

Peter Cook Luthier

Axis Guitar & Bass 

Gibson & Mighty Mite 

 Peter Cook Custom Guitars

  

Peter Cook The Outtakes

The Axis Connection

Peter Cook - The Final Cut

Ibanez 2459 Destroyer & Greco Rickenfaker 

Peavey T-40 - Greco & '72 Jazz 

Ovation Magnum III 

Marchis Telecaster 

Parkinson Bass - Bit of a surprise 

Aria TSB-650

Foundation and Jazz Fretless

Fender PB70 US

CMI Artist Fretless Bass

An easy day :)

All the King's Horses 

Can you see yours in there??? 

Ibanez RS-800 

Ibanez Studio Basses 

One Hundred Posts! :)


Well, that lot should keep you going for quite some time.

As I said, it's not all the posts - there are plenty of others
during this period but "One Hundred Posts" takes you
to July, 2011.

For the 200th post, which is the next one - I will carry
on with the theme.

Thanks to all of you who drop in and thanks to all those 
who have dropped me a line or two - great to hear from
you.

Contact me here. :) 

Cheers. :) 

If you have landed on this page and you want to go to the 
latest post, go here:
Latest post.