Byrds Tribute Bass

[BYRDS BASS]

Hi, first-timer here. Just dipping my toe into the DIY scene.
Huge Byrds fan so I'm gonna create a tribute to the bass Byrds bassist Chris Hillman played on this TV appearance:
http://youtu.be/yoSwOrytf_M
http://youtu.be/NMYx1xz6lSQ
Body is typical P-Bass, but the neck has a 2X2 headstock with what looks to be a Fender decal at top.

I have a (lefty)Squier P-Bass Special(with P/J set-up which I love) with a sunburst finish and W/B/W 'guard that appears similar to the Hillman bass. Have just ordered a lefty maple/maple LP bass neck from Warmoth. Gonna order tuners and a headstock decal soon.

 

[AutoBat]

I was digging around for more information on that bass and found this on BassTalk:

I sent Chris a note from his web page, and he responded. It was a bass that was loaned to him for the filming, and he never did know what it was. He assumed it was a Fender body with a custom or home made neck. He never used it again.

jte

 

[BYRDS BASS]

I was digging around for more information on that bass and found this on BassTalk:

I sent Chris a note from his web page, and he responded. It was a bass that was loaned to him for the filming, and he never did know what it was. He assumed it was a Fender body with a custom or home made neck. He never used it again.

jte

Yep, I've been trying to dig up info for years, when I read the on TB awhile back I stopped digging. Just gonna make my own!

 

[DangerousR6]

Looks like a cool project, and also looks like what could have been a lawsuit bass. A Fender body and a Gibby mustache headstock... :dontknow:

Oh and welcome... :icon_thumright:

 

[BYRDS BASS]

"Out For Delivery".

 

[BYRDS BASS]

Complete(except for a custom neckplate to be delivered today).

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Lefty strung righty?

 

[BYRDS BASS]

Yep, I play with the E on bottom.

 

[BYRDS BASS]

 

[Soylent]

pretty cool dude!

 

[stubhead]

Whoa! I just have to ask WHO ARE YOU? Based on the age (54) and this little tidbit:

Top 10 "Best Bass Player" -Austin Music Awards 2012, 2011

Because I am 54, and lived & played in Austin from 1980 to 1987, and we might know each other? I was the guy with a sunburst Fender Precision w/rosewood board, who didn't want to play bass on 11 million 12-bar blues (which is a seditious concept in Austin) and also wanted to play slide guitar every chance I could - as long as it wasn't 12-bar blues! Obviously, they had to chase me out of town - back to Miami, where I discovered that playing "reggae" bass was even more boring than playing blues bass (hard to believe, but...) especially since all the "reggae" bands in Miami were made up of cynical "Rastafarians" from Cincinnati & Detroit who's major claim to authenticate themselves was the consumption of large amounts of the sacred herb. But playing the same dozen Bob Marley songs over & over & over & over was the cynical yet successful soundtrack to rip off tourists with $8 foofoo drinks with "collectable" plastic umbrellas in the blow-lunch punch called the Rasta Bell-Ringer or Kingston Kranial Kracker or whatever the heck they chose. I still have reggae nightmares, and songs like "Purple Rain" and "Sweet Child 'o' Mine" run through my head - as sung Marleyesque. Irie!

And, I just turned the strings over on my (righty) high-C five string short-scale, as putting the strings you need most the closest seemed pretty wise.

 

[BYRDS BASS]

Hey, I dig the reverse stringing. I'm a lefty who learned on a flipped righty bass, but I'd never seen a righty use that stringing.

Just missed you, moved here in Jan.'90. Was lucky enuff to join a band from the "Austin Underground" right away. Never coulda/woulda done the blues thang.

ronn.roberts@facebook.com