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Geddy's rarely seen basses


jnoble
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The white Rickenbacker bass seen in the Fly By Night promo videos was the first Ric he bought before the black one. But that was the only time we saw him with it that I'm aware of.

Also in the Merely Players book it mentions a white Steinberger bass that was his backup guitar on the HYF and Presto tours that made one appearance on stage but I've never seen that one. That book was riddled with wrong or questionable info so maybe it wasn't even true

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The white Rickenbacker bass seen in the Fly By Night promo videos was the first Ric he bought before the black one. But that was the only time we saw him with it that I'm aware of.

Also in the Merely Players book it mentions a white Steinberger bass that was his backup guitar on the HYF and Presto tours that made one appearance on stage but I've never seen that one. That book was riddled with wrong or questionable info so maybe it wasn't even true

 

While Merely Players does have some questionable info, that white Steinberger has been documented both in photos and videos (Springfield '87, St. Louis '88, Miami '90, and East Rutherford '90 all show this bass).

 

There is also a photo from the St. Louis show in December 1978 showing him with a 4-string Ric that is not black (but for me, it is hard to tell if it is white or mapleglo).

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Can anyone find links to pics/videos with the white Steinberger? Until now I thought it was a misprint or a rumor. Odd Geddy would even still have one by then instead of just buying himself a second Wal. He was pretty vocal about not liking the Stein much after one or two tours
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Good day. With regard to your query about the white Steinberger, for your reference, the link included here is to the band’s performance of, “Closer to the Heart”, from their 11-9-87 show in Springfield, Massachusetts. The bass in question is used during their performance of that song, that evening.

I hope this helps!

 

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Good day. With regard to your query about the white Steinberger, for your reference, the link included here is to the band’s performance of, “Closer to the Heart”, from their 11-9-87 show in Springfield, Massachusetts. The bass in question is used during their performance of that song, that evening.

I hope this helps!

 

 

Oh cool. Thought I'd seen everything Rush by now. Thanks! So it DID exist lol

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Good day. With regard to your query about the white Steinberger, for your reference, the link included here is to the band’s performance of, “Closer to the Heart”, from their 11-9-87 show in Springfield, Massachusetts. The bass in question is used during their performance of that song, that evening.

I hope this helps!

 

 

Ahh, Springfield, MA and a general admission arena. I saw the PoW show there in '86. When we got to the arena the line was stretched for over 3 blocks. But the doors opened right at that moment and we jumped out of my folks' car and ran up to the doors, cutting thousands of people.

 

Anyway, my bass teacher at that time had a white Steinberger. He claimed it was one of the original 4 made. The first 4 were sent to Geddy, who kept 2 and sent 2 back. I'm still friends with the store owner where I took the lessons. I have to ask him if he knows if that's true.

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So here's the answer about the white Steinberger, as well as another little nugget I wasn't aware of. Sorry, can't post the pics hr sent here....

 

"It was indeed accurate and Jon still has that bass as it came up in a recent conversation I had with him. We (Alpha Audio Works) also sold Geddy a 1960 Fender Jazz Bass that Skully (Geddy's bass tech) had Fender re-finish in Fiesta Red that was used during their final tour."

 

 

Edited by edhunter
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And here was the response he sent when I said "Please don't tell me Geddy was in the store..."

 

"Ok I won't...Just kidding; the whole deal was handled through Skully (if memory serves his real name is Jon McIntosh) and we shipped it to Canada through the freight brokerage company that handles all of their tour logistics."

Edited by edhunter
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Good day. With regard to your query about the white Steinberger, for your reference, the link included here is to the band’s performance of, “Closer to the Heart”, from their 11-9-87 show in Springfield, Massachusetts. The bass in question is used during their performance of that song, that evening.

I hope this helps!

 

 

Nice one - thanks for posting! :D And welcome to TRF! :hi:

Edited by Babycat
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Paul only bought that Hofner in the first place because it was in his price range at the time plus it was light. It wasn't exactly a powerhouse instrument especially back then. The early Beatle albums were recorded with such primitive equipment that his tone and presence is badly muffled. It wasn't until Abbey Road at the very end that his bass was being recorded direct to the board with a better quality instrument that being a Rickenbacker and sometimes Fender Jazz
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Paul only bought that Hofner in the first place because it was in his price range at the time plus it was light. It wasn't exactly a powerhouse instrument especially back then. The early Beatle albums were recorded with such primitive equipment that his tone and presence is badly muffled. It wasn't until Abbey Road at the very end that his bass was being recorded direct to the board with a better quality instrument that being a Rickenbacker and sometimes Fender Jazz

 

Paul has never owned a Fender Jazz.

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He got it in '65 or '66 as a gift from the company. But some of the best low end-mid range sonics the Beatles got on record were the few tracks that a 6 string Fender IV bass guitar was used. Lennon played it on Helter Skelter and George some of the Abbey Road songs that Paul played piano on. The clanky sound on Glass Onion was the Fender Jazz
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In the cover issue that he did for Bass Player magazine back in the mid-90s he said he had a mental block against ever owning one because he felt like they were too expensive, even though at that point he could have bought the whole company.

 

 

Edit: but you're right. The photos are there. It's even a straight-up Lefty model. I wonder if it was a loaner in the hopes that he would pick it up

Edited by edhunter
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