48th November

 

To complete the bass story for now, I need to tell you about my most recent instrument.

After the album was recorded, I went on a road trip with my guitarist friend, and we ended up in Andertons in Guilford. It’s a lovely shop, filled with hundreds of instruments and staffed by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable team. I had a list of basses to try out, almost all of which were options for a second precision bass which I intended to string with roundwounds, rather than the flatwounds that I had on my main P Bass. For those of you that aren’t bass nerds, roundwounds sound brighter and flats have a vibe that I equate to sounding more like a double bass. They don’t sound anything like a double bass, but that’s how I hear them. The thing about flatwounds is that, once you’ve put them on a bass, your main reason for removing them would be that they have snapped. Flats can stay on a bass for years. Roundwounds, on some people’s instruments can get changed much more regularly. As you can probably tell, all this was an excuse to by another instrument.

When we got to the shop, I had a list of Precisions I wanted to try, as well as a 24 fret Jazz Bass and an Ibanez EHB bass, which I only wanted to play out of idle curiosity. The EHBs were headless (meaning the headstock with string tuners was replaced by having tuners at the bridge end of the bass), had fanned frets (so the lowest string was longer than the highest) and had a chambered body (the inside of the bass body was not solid).

I started working my way through the Precision basses, each time handing them over to my friend to try out as well. Some of the instruments were good, some reminded me of why it had taken so long to find one with the qualities of my own model. It had a mix of old school design with some contemporary improvements and a neck that was just the right shape for my hands. Truthfully, none of these basses matched it.

I tried the bright red, 24 fret Jazz Bass (made by Sire) and it felt much better. Aside from being a bit neck heavy, it was contender.

An Anderton’s employee brought in the final bass. I heard myself apologising to my friend for this, somewhat ridiculous thing. Aside from curiosity, the only reason to try it was that I felt it might suit stringing with a high C string, rather than a low B. I always enjoyed playing melodically and had recently discovered the joy of chords on a bass, which sound muddy on the lower strings. I was a fan of bassists such as Rich Brown, Felix Pastorius and Moto Fukashima who all played six strings and weren’t afraid to use the higher notes. I also liked the music of Matt Garrison and Janek Gwizdala, who both played five string basses with a high C.

I looked at this last bass and felt I’d already made a mistake. But then I put my hands on it and played a few notes. Instantly, it felt right. The neck, the weight, the tone, everything. All the lights came on. I handed it to my friend who soon declared he wanted one.

But I didn’t buy it.

That bass was a hideous blue-green colour and anyway, I couldn’t afford it. So I went home, found a model made in ash and walnut woods, sold an instrument I wasn’t playing any more, and welcome my new bass into the house a few days later. That was early May and I’ve played it ever day since then. Interestingly, at least to me, is that it has been a challenge. I had to approach how I hold it and how I mute the strings differently and restringing the bass was, at first, quite an anxious experience.

When the band’s launch gig finally happens, this is the bass you will see me with.