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Post by abstamaria on Jul 19, 2009 6:09:53 GMT
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Post by abstamaria on Jul 19, 2009 6:16:06 GMT
Here's a picture of me, Andy, and Anna, our bass guitarist for our band Walking Shadow, showing off our matching guitars. Both are Fender Customshop masterbuilts, Fiesta red of course, with flamed maple necks. I know the Shadows never used a Fiesta Red maple-necked, white pick-guard Precision Bass, but it was so cool to have them match the "Hank Marvin" Strat. The pick-up cover on the Pbass (built to 1959-60 specification) is too pretty to remove!
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Post by bill on Jul 19, 2009 7:47:56 GMT
Hi Andy & Anna, Very nice! Thanks for posting.
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Post by kipper on Jul 19, 2009 8:50:10 GMT
nice looking pair thanks for posting. were you happy with the guitars do they sound as good as they look. peter
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Post by abstamaria on Jul 19, 2009 9:25:19 GMT
Yes, the guitars really sound great. I and our bassist are quite pleased with them. The Stratocaster has a bell-like ring and clarity that are quite distinct from a 1994 Stratocaster that I have. A Fender masterbuilt (John Cruz) that I also have sounds similar. This could be due to the maple neck and fingeroard on both guitars.
The red Precision sounds mellower and to my ears more musical than the PBass we have been using - a U.S. 60th anniversary PBass. This is possibly due to the pickups, [erhaps "hotter" on the later guitar.
On a stage I wonder if the nuances will be discernible to the audience. Probably not. But the two guitars are a pleasure to use.
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Post by abstamaria on Jul 19, 2009 9:43:56 GMT
Here is a detail shot of the two guitars, while they're still new.
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Post by abstamaria on Jul 19, 2009 9:49:02 GMT
Oooops, wrong picture. Anyway, that's our band. Our drummer, Red, is "from the 60s," and played with his high school band then. You can tell that from his grip. Our rhythm guitarist, Roy, is too young to have known the Shadows first-hand; he plays professionally and is really good (better than me by a long shot). He uses a Gibson J200.
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Post by abstamaria on Jul 19, 2009 9:51:04 GMT
Finally, the detail photo.
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Post by sheendigs on Jul 19, 2009 10:33:36 GMT
Hi Andy Very nice pictures..And I loved the Maple neck bass... Sheendigs
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Post by Charlie Hall on Jul 19, 2009 15:07:10 GMT
Hi Andy, Great pics of very nice looking instruments. I know what you mean by the more musical sound from the Precision bass, the older ones seemed to have this and it probably is noticable from the audience, although they wouldn't necessarily realise why. Regards, Charlie
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Post by bazmusicman on Jul 19, 2009 17:19:43 GMT
Hi Andy and Band,
The guitars do look really good, fantastic. But I also like your presentation, very professional, you are a credit to the business.
Best regards, Baz.
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Post by Tone on Jul 20, 2009 16:44:23 GMT
And Anna's Fiesta Red dress looks very nice too!
Tony
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Post by john on Jul 20, 2009 21:13:37 GMT
Hi Andy.
Your spot on about the sound of the earlier P bass. Having owned 5 basses, the last being a Fender Aerodyne ( rubbish ) Last year I swapped it for a 57/62 RI Crafted in Japan, manufactured in 92 and without doubt one of the best sounding basses I've played and the grain in the maple neck superb with a solid one piece alder body.
Really nice photo's Andy, thanks for posting. John m
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Post by abstamaria on Jul 20, 2009 23:52:36 GMT
Thank you. We try. We'll play at the local Hard Rock Cafe this August 4 (using one of Charlie's echo units) and hope to attract a wider audience to the Shadows. I'm not sure how many on Charlie's list read ShadowMusic too, so with apologies to them, here is a photo posted there. It just shows that, above all, it's all about fun.
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Post by abstamaria on Jul 20, 2009 23:55:20 GMT
And please note the "vintage" strap! We spare no effort! (Must distract the sudience from my playing!) Andy
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Post by abstamaria on Aug 4, 2009 8:09:30 GMT
We're using the matching guitars for the first time at a show tonight. A million things can go wrong, the most likely being I will forget my parts and my lines! Tell us to break a leg!
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Post by bill on Aug 4, 2009 9:58:54 GMT
Break a leg all!
Post pictures/video of the event. Above all, enjoy.
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Post by john on Aug 4, 2009 21:24:01 GMT
Andy Until looking at the last photo of Anna, I didn't realize how petite she is comparing Anna to the P bass. Hope you had a great gig John m
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Post by abstamaria on Aug 5, 2009 9:27:25 GMT
Thank you all! We played to a very packed house who all seemed to enjoy themselves and, above all, as you reminded me to do, we had a lot of fun ourselves. Yes, Anna is quite petite - about 5'2. In addition to our 10 instrumentals, the company did 21 vocals, so Anna shifted a Hofner "violin" bass for those pieces. Allow me to post this photo from last night. We're playing "Apache," and as you should be able to tell from the position of the players, that is the "galloping" portion. You can just spot our Indian maid (squaw?) with a head-band-with-feather and a tomtom (a Chinese tamtam, actually, as per the original recording!) to the far right. Anna has a spiel before Apache, and at the endshe says "That is Ethel. Tonight she plays Cliff Richard. No not Cliff as a singer, but Cliff as a percussionist ..." And Ethel thumps away with the the tamtam. Fun.
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Post by tonybiker on Aug 5, 2009 11:01:52 GMT
What a great post. Nothing better than to see a guitarist with a smiling face. I am sure this is the first of many.
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Post by bill on Aug 5, 2009 11:04:18 GMT
Thanks for the photo. It brightened my day. From a now smiling Bill
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Post by Charlie Hall on Aug 5, 2009 22:26:32 GMT
Hi Andy, It is good to see you enjoying your performance! Regards, Charlie
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Post by abstamaria on Aug 7, 2009 13:44:04 GMT
Now, we do the next show, only 4 weeks away!
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Post by Charlie Hall on Aug 7, 2009 14:36:44 GMT
That is a great poster!
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Post by BarryH on Aug 7, 2009 14:37:22 GMT
Hi Andy,
If the show matches the standard of your artwork and your photographs, I'm sure you'll be brilliant.
Really good stuff.
Cheers Barry
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Post by abstamaria on Aug 8, 2009 4:13:40 GMT
Our show had 31 numbers, with 7 Shadows and 3 Ventures pieces. The rest are vocals, ranging from Ricky Nelson, the Shirelles, to the Lennon Sisters (Mr. Sandman, a lovely number, unexpected by the audience, which is a sung at the end by four of "girls," including Anna, our bassist, who sings a difficult 2nd or 3rd voice). The women singers are very talented. Anna is actually an MD - pediatrician! It's difficult to do Shadows to a mixed audience, often because the pieces are usually not fast and can't compete for audience attention with dance vocals or even the drive of a Ventures piece. However, because they are "listening" pieces, they are suited for a show as we put together, where the audience expects to concentrate on the performance. Hopefully, the format will allow us to do "Nivram" at some point. With apologies to those who've already seen the photo, here's a shot from the August 4 show. "Atlantis" is a good show number, because it has keyboards, a chorus, a triangle, and of course us!
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Post by sheendigs on Aug 8, 2009 10:08:22 GMT
Hi There Nice picture...And everyone seems to be happy performing.. Could we see the picture of the band that is on your poster? ;D Sheendigs
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Post by abstamaria on Aug 9, 2009 5:41:46 GMT
Here's the company, Sheendigs.
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Post by bill on Aug 9, 2009 13:03:26 GMT
Hi again, This is a great thread, full of fun. OK, I have to ask, when are you going to get red spangly suits
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Post by abstamaria on Aug 9, 2009 13:27:31 GMT
Ha, ha, ha. No spangly suits. Might scratch the guitars.
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