- Thread starter Scotti4
- Start date
adouglas
Well-known member
Didn't that one go up in the barn fire?
jlepre
Well-known member
Scary...
adouglas
Well-known member
Chuck B
Well-known member
The picture shows an ErnieBall MusicMan, not a Pre EB instrument.
bovinehost
Administrator
I believe that is "Super Silver". RIP.
2ndBassGuitar
Well-known member
I count 4 strings on the "Super Silver". The article is referring to a custom made 3 string EBMM he lost in the fire. Just saying....
drTStingray
Well-known member
This thread has a little bit more info about it and a You Tube link to a performance with it.
http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-basses/49556-tony-levin-snl-performance.html
http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-basses/49556-tony-levin-snl-performance.html
adouglas
Well-known member
Did you read below the fold? Just saying….
RIP:
My old Fender Precision, circa '50s, serial #48,000-ish. Had my blood on it from when P.G. bashed my head by mistake.
Super Silver Bass with interchangable necks. The Sledgehammer bass.
3 String Custom "Harley" bass.
Pick Bass. Custom picks from around the planet embedded into finish.
Clevinger upright
Status Graphite walnut 4 string
prototype NS Upright Electric
Guild Ashbury "Rubber Bass". Used on P.S's "Lovetown"
Bogart Custom frettless
Half Frettless custom Chapman Stick
Polycarbonate Stick
12 String Stick
bovinehost
Administrator
I might be misremembering this, but "interchangeable necks" was probably that - what was it called - Novato? - fretboard exchange system. That might not be the name. I get old and forget stuff.
bovinehost
Administrator
"Novatone".
It came to me in a flash of light and a really annoying smell.
It came to me in a flash of light and a really annoying smell.
Scotti4
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2007
- Messages
- 33
You guys are right - I should have read the EB logo on the headstock. After I posted I noticed it.
I think you're right it was the the super silver bass and the ad shows the interchangeable fretless neck. Lovely looking bass. Surely Sterling could do the man a replica (Sterling Silver??)
S
I think you're right it was the the super silver bass and the ad shows the interchangeable fretless neck. Lovely looking bass. Surely Sterling could do the man a replica (Sterling Silver??)
S
Jimmyb
Well-known member
I thought I saw a video somewhere with TL saying that the 'Sledgehammer bass' was a fretless Sabre? I have slept since then though, so I'm probably talking nonesense as usual.
bovinehost
Administrator
I feel fairly confident in saying that if Tony really wants something, Tony can get it. Thing is, he can go anywhere, pull a Stingray off the wall and be completely happy with what he has.
drTStingray
Well-known member
I thought I read he played it on a fretless Cutlass 1 (maybe that's what he does now though - following the fire).
JimmyB did you see the recent classic album documentary on BBC about that Peter Gabriel album. It heavily featured the bass players on it (and drummer) - Mr Levin appeared and demonstrated the bass line off Sledgehammer - he said he played it on the record on a fretless - with a pick
which he demonstrated and it sounded exactly like the record including the clicking (I had previously thought it was slapped). He was surrounded by Stingrays (5s and 4s - some in bizarre arty colour schemes including the PU cover and pickguard). They also showed film of the intro to Don't Give Up with Mr L playing an extraordinarily nice pattern - apparently written to mimic a drum machine pattern P Gabriel came up with.The other bass player on the album was shown, and he demo'd on an SR5. So from a bass angle, a Musicman fest, and a good film as well.
Jimmyb
Well-known member
I thought I read he played it on a fretless Cutlass 1 (maybe that's what he does now though - following the fire).
JimmyB did you see the recent classic album documentary on BBC about that Peter Gabriel album. It heavily featured the bass players on it (and drummer) - Mr Levin appeared and demonstrated the bass line off Sledgehammer - he said he played it on the record on a fretless - with a pick
The other bass player on the album was shown, and he demo'd on an SR5. So from a bass angle, a Musicman fest, and a good film as well.
Cutlass, fretless, Cuttlefish, Sabre Tooth Tiger, God only knows. I'm pretty sure it was a bass though. Maybe it's live that I'm thinking of, as I seem to think it was on a rundown of his tour rig with PG.
I didn't catch that on the Beeb. I'll have to check to see if it's on iPlayer.
drTStingray
Well-known member
Probably is on the iplayer - definitely worth a look.
Scotti4
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2007
- Messages
- 33
I'm sure he could and in my experience most EB basses I played around the world have all be a) stable and b) excellent sounding.
It does pose the question which has been answered I have no doubt on the forum before: short of the OLP TL model, why has MusicMan never made a specific endorser bass? It seems strange that where EB has produced many artist specific models it does not have a player endorsed bass? It reckon a Tony Levin ray would do well personally. I have no doubt that it has something to do with the ratio of 6 string players to bass players.
I also reckon it's time MM brought out another design format to keep us low ender happy. What's next that's revolutionary instead of evolutionary in design Sterling?
S
bovinehost
Administrator
I'm sure it's come up on the forum before but I did ask TL once why all the rockstars (Luke and Morse and a few others were there) got signature models and he didn't. Paraphrasing, he said, "Because I like Stingrays and Stingray 5s and Bongos just as they are and can't really think of anything I would want that would make them any different from the ones on the rack at Guitar Center."
And a Stingray is a classic design. I like the little bits of new stuff we've been offered over the last few years - the SLO model, the dual pickup designs, etc - but in the end, it's a damned Stingray and that's why you want it to begin with. I suppose a certain amount of people might have said, "Oh, but it's a FLEA Stingray" and maybe paid extra, but what would have made it a Flea Stingray? The logo on the headstock? Because it was really "just" a Stingray. And the other side of the coin is that many more people wouldn't have wanted it because of the designator. (I know this because I am one.)
The case could always be made that certain bassists "deserve" sig models - Dave LaRue, Cliff Hugo, Tony Levin, Dave Marotta just to name a few off the top of my head - but talk to those guys and ask them what they'd change about their favorite models and you'll likely come up with "Nothing, really." Their influence on the designs themselves have already been felt in many cases. Every Bongo is really a Dave LaRue or Cliff Hugo or maybe even Phil Chen signature model, if you see what I mean. (But more a Sterling Ball/Dudley Gimpel signature model at the same time.)
Man, I'm still busy exploring the Reflex HSS!
But have you seen the Craig Young prototype BFR?
