Post by brewmaster on Feb 7, 2018 12:35:04 GMT
PAUL'S EARLY GEAR
A nice thing about modern bookshops, following the American model, is that many have a coffee area, and encourage browsing with a brew.. So it was, that for the past few visits to Waterstones I've been dipping into the superb "Beatles Gear", while sipping a cappuccino. Andy Babiuk has done a superb job in researching and putting together the information to produce the definitive guide to the instruments and amplification right through the Beatles' career, from the earliest days..
And it was those early days that sparked an especial interest in me, which caused me to make some notes, checkout other references, then write this thread. What I found was a weave of characters and events from Merseybeat.
I became fascinated by what choices they made, based on what was available in Liverpool at the time, and what they could afford. Since my particular interest is the bass, I focussed on Paul.
[Playing the Zenith at the Casbah]
GOING ELECTRIC
Like many aspiring rock guitarists at the time, Paul decided to upgrade his acoustic guitar to electric. He bought a bolt-on pickup to attach to his Zenith guitar, then purchased an Elpico AC-55amp at Currys, a chain of electrical stores still in business. Described by Paul as looking like "a little green suitcase" the Elpico delivered a meagre 10 watts output, which was, nevertheless, adequate for the sort of gigs they were playing at the time. Amazingly, Paul still has that Elpico, [and the Zenith] and may have even used it on later records to produce a distorted effect! It was this kit that took Paul into the Quarrymen, then right up to becoming the Beatles.
Being left-handed was always a problem in those days. Paul explained restringing his Zenith: "Then I changed the strings round. I never could change the nut—I was not a tech—so I would just change the strings round. The sixth string always had a fat hole, so the first string would have to go into it. We’d chop a little bit of a match off, stick that in there, and that would kind of lift the nut enough. And then you had to hollow out a bit of the nut to get the bass string in, because that kept slipping out."
Those early days were a real struggle. Even setting up the gear was problematic. Back then England had a plethora of different electrical sockets and plugs, all running at a lethal 240v. Musicians have been electrocuted on stage
In 1960 Paul went for a Rosetti Solid 7 . It was this cheapo guitar, purchased from Hessey's that Paul used during that all-important first Hamburg trip. Then, upon returning to Liverpool, he restrung it as a three-string bass, using purloined piano strings, to fill in until Stu Sutcliffe made it back from Germany.
[The Rosetti as bass with three piano strings]
Paul borrowed other instruments from time to time, including John's Hofner Club 40, and Stuart's Hofner bass. Sometimes he played these upside down, and this may be a factor in his later musical ability. Playing chords and riffs the wrong way up certainly forces a great familiarity with the fretboard and the relationship of notes.
The Solid 7 proved to be not so solid, and gradually disintegrated, until, during their second Hamburg stint, it was ceremonially destroyed the the whole group jumping on it. This left Paul without an instrument, and with Stu increasingly absent, he became bass player by default.
MISTER BASSMAN
Although, as we have seen, Paul occasionally filled in on bass, it was with some reluctance that he took over the role full time. It was on the second floor of the Steinway shop in the centre of Hamburg that McCartney found the solution to his problem: a German-made Hofner 500/1 bass. This is what McCartney remembered about the purchase:
.'Eventually I found a nice little shop in the centre of Hamburg, near a big department store...I saw this bass in the window, this violin-shaped bass, the Hofner...So I bought it, and I think it was only about £30'
[Rare instance of both bass players onstage together]
He would have been aware of the Hofner 500/1. Many times Paul has spoken of how influential the film "The Girl can't help it" was, and there is a Violin Bass backing Little Richard. Also, the bass player in the Jets, backing Tony Sheridan at the Top Ten Club, had a Hofner 500/1
It is interesting to speculate what alternative instruments Paul could have chosen. Fenders and Gibsons had been restricted-import items into the UK, and although they could be found in German stores, were well out of Paul's price range. Back in England the Burns-Weil Fenton bass, or, the SuperSound would have economical options.
[Jet Harris with Burns-Weill Fenton bass]
In Germany, the Framus Star Bass, already used by some Merseybeat players, was another possibility. Choosing the Hofner not only gave him a fairly cheap instrument [£30 was approx three weeks wages for the average British man], but also enhanced the image of the group.
It has been estimated that there was as many as 700 groups in the Liverpool area. That's just the established ones, almost every lad owned a guitar, and got together informally with his mates. The avuncular Bert Weedon gave guitar lessons on kids TV, and the fave group was The Shadows. At the time, most local bands were clones of the Shads, with matching guitars, suits and neat hair. One day a lad brought a copy of the Merseybeat newspaper into school, and we all saw a picture of The Beatles for the first time. As guitar buffs the first thing we noticed was their instruments, no colour-matched Fenders. Stu Sutcliffe had brought his "Ashes & Diamonds" cool to the group, now with Paul taking over the role added to the Beatles image....the leathers, the hair, and, yes that Violin bass. Likewise, John's Rickenbacker, looked like a true Rock instrument; not something you'd see Bert Weedon play! From that day, the Shads were no longer cool.
According to Merseybeats bass player Billy Kinsey, John and George didn't like the Hofner bass. Likewise, Tony Sheridan thought the Rickenbacker "tinny" Neither the Hofner nor the Rickenbacker were perfect. The bass had severe intonation problems, and the control knobs kept falling off the Ric. However the two main points to bear in mind are that these instruments suited Paul and John, and they were used to record the greatest popular music of all time.
MOVING THE AIR
In Hamburg, Paul took over George's Selmer amp, as George had bought a Gibson amp off Stu. Back in Liverpool, Adrian Barber made a "coffin" amp for Paul in late 1961, with 15" speaker which really moved a lot of air. It literally blew decades of grime off the Cavern walls! The cabinet was a cleverly designed in a reflex ported unit, for enhanced acoustics. Paul paid £25 in instalments. To power the speaker Paul used his Selmer Truevoice amp [by disconnecting the Selmer speaker], and wiring to the coffin.
Adrian, who later worked as stage manager at the Star Club, made a bass "Coffin amp" as permanent part of the club's gear, and Paul plugged into this on his visits to the Hamburg venue.
Adrian made very few coffin amps; as well as Paul, Johnny Gustafsson and Alan Stratton [Black Cats] had them.
IN THE STUDIO
That Decca audition, on New Years Day, 1962, was a low point in their career. Studio staff flatly rejected their amps, and they had to use the in-house equipment. That was the least of their worries, however, and they frankly under-performed.
At the famous Abbey Road studios for their first Parl0phone session, Paul was still using that Truvoice/Coffin combo; great for stage work, but a nightmare in the studio, due to the terrible signal to noise ratio. Engineer Norman Smith hooked up a Leak amp with a 15" Tannoy horn to record Paul. He also had to muffle the vibration on John's Fender amp.
Back in Liverpool, John and George went to Hessey's and bought Vox amplifiers. Paul also upgraded his gear. Adrian Barber built a Quad amplifier in an old ammo box. Nominally rated at 15watts, it actually pushed out about 40. This was installed as the sound system for Alan Williams Top Ten Club. When the club burned down Williams gave the Quad to Barber in payments, which was used for Johnny Gus with the Big Three. When Barber left, Epstein acquired his gear, and passed the amp to Paul, who was charged the £5 paid to Barber.
[Adrian Barber with The Big Three.
He was later stage manager at the Star Club, Hamburg]
This setup gave Paul arguably the best bass amplification system in the world, better than that offered by the big name manufactures, In fact, that separate amp/cabinet design presaged the "piggyback" combos that would eventually be offered by such companies.
Paul used his Quad/coffin stage setup on a subsequent Abbey Road session, before reverting to the studio gear.
FREE GEAR
In March 63 Epstein arranged for Vox to supply amps for the Beatles, and Paul was given a new design the T60. This was a revolutionary solid-state unit, which still needed the bugs worked out. After several blown circuits, the head was replaced with an AC30 bass unit, mated to the existing cab.
The Vox deal marked the end of the early era. No more "coffins", no more swiping piano strings. From now on the Beatles were the top, and guitar and amp companies would readily ply them with products. However, Paul stuck with the Hofner for many years, even resurrecting it in the Nineties for recording.
[Vox T60 cab on left]
LINKS
Beatles Gear book
Beatles Gear article
Paul interview
Stu Sutcliffe as a bass player
A nice thing about modern bookshops, following the American model, is that many have a coffee area, and encourage browsing with a brew.. So it was, that for the past few visits to Waterstones I've been dipping into the superb "Beatles Gear", while sipping a cappuccino. Andy Babiuk has done a superb job in researching and putting together the information to produce the definitive guide to the instruments and amplification right through the Beatles' career, from the earliest days..
And it was those early days that sparked an especial interest in me, which caused me to make some notes, checkout other references, then write this thread. What I found was a weave of characters and events from Merseybeat.
I became fascinated by what choices they made, based on what was available in Liverpool at the time, and what they could afford. Since my particular interest is the bass, I focussed on Paul.
[Playing the Zenith at the Casbah]
GOING ELECTRIC
Like many aspiring rock guitarists at the time, Paul decided to upgrade his acoustic guitar to electric. He bought a bolt-on pickup to attach to his Zenith guitar, then purchased an Elpico AC-55amp at Currys, a chain of electrical stores still in business. Described by Paul as looking like "a little green suitcase" the Elpico delivered a meagre 10 watts output, which was, nevertheless, adequate for the sort of gigs they were playing at the time. Amazingly, Paul still has that Elpico, [and the Zenith] and may have even used it on later records to produce a distorted effect! It was this kit that took Paul into the Quarrymen, then right up to becoming the Beatles.
Being left-handed was always a problem in those days. Paul explained restringing his Zenith: "Then I changed the strings round. I never could change the nut—I was not a tech—so I would just change the strings round. The sixth string always had a fat hole, so the first string would have to go into it. We’d chop a little bit of a match off, stick that in there, and that would kind of lift the nut enough. And then you had to hollow out a bit of the nut to get the bass string in, because that kept slipping out."
Those early days were a real struggle. Even setting up the gear was problematic. Back then England had a plethora of different electrical sockets and plugs, all running at a lethal 240v. Musicians have been electrocuted on stage
In 1960 Paul went for a Rosetti Solid 7 . It was this cheapo guitar, purchased from Hessey's that Paul used during that all-important first Hamburg trip. Then, upon returning to Liverpool, he restrung it as a three-string bass, using purloined piano strings, to fill in until Stu Sutcliffe made it back from Germany.
[The Rosetti as bass with three piano strings]
Paul borrowed other instruments from time to time, including John's Hofner Club 40, and Stuart's Hofner bass. Sometimes he played these upside down, and this may be a factor in his later musical ability. Playing chords and riffs the wrong way up certainly forces a great familiarity with the fretboard and the relationship of notes.
The Solid 7 proved to be not so solid, and gradually disintegrated, until, during their second Hamburg stint, it was ceremonially destroyed the the whole group jumping on it. This left Paul without an instrument, and with Stu increasingly absent, he became bass player by default.
MISTER BASSMAN
Although, as we have seen, Paul occasionally filled in on bass, it was with some reluctance that he took over the role full time. It was on the second floor of the Steinway shop in the centre of Hamburg that McCartney found the solution to his problem: a German-made Hofner 500/1 bass. This is what McCartney remembered about the purchase:
.'Eventually I found a nice little shop in the centre of Hamburg, near a big department store...I saw this bass in the window, this violin-shaped bass, the Hofner...So I bought it, and I think it was only about £30'
[Rare instance of both bass players onstage together]
He would have been aware of the Hofner 500/1. Many times Paul has spoken of how influential the film "The Girl can't help it" was, and there is a Violin Bass backing Little Richard. Also, the bass player in the Jets, backing Tony Sheridan at the Top Ten Club, had a Hofner 500/1
It is interesting to speculate what alternative instruments Paul could have chosen. Fenders and Gibsons had been restricted-import items into the UK, and although they could be found in German stores, were well out of Paul's price range. Back in England the Burns-Weil Fenton bass, or, the SuperSound would have economical options.
[Jet Harris with Burns-Weill Fenton bass]
In Germany, the Framus Star Bass, already used by some Merseybeat players, was another possibility. Choosing the Hofner not only gave him a fairly cheap instrument [£30 was approx three weeks wages for the average British man], but also enhanced the image of the group.
It has been estimated that there was as many as 700 groups in the Liverpool area. That's just the established ones, almost every lad owned a guitar, and got together informally with his mates. The avuncular Bert Weedon gave guitar lessons on kids TV, and the fave group was The Shadows. At the time, most local bands were clones of the Shads, with matching guitars, suits and neat hair. One day a lad brought a copy of the Merseybeat newspaper into school, and we all saw a picture of The Beatles for the first time. As guitar buffs the first thing we noticed was their instruments, no colour-matched Fenders. Stu Sutcliffe had brought his "Ashes & Diamonds" cool to the group, now with Paul taking over the role added to the Beatles image....the leathers, the hair, and, yes that Violin bass. Likewise, John's Rickenbacker, looked like a true Rock instrument; not something you'd see Bert Weedon play! From that day, the Shads were no longer cool.
According to Merseybeats bass player Billy Kinsey, John and George didn't like the Hofner bass. Likewise, Tony Sheridan thought the Rickenbacker "tinny" Neither the Hofner nor the Rickenbacker were perfect. The bass had severe intonation problems, and the control knobs kept falling off the Ric. However the two main points to bear in mind are that these instruments suited Paul and John, and they were used to record the greatest popular music of all time.
MOVING THE AIR
In Hamburg, Paul took over George's Selmer amp, as George had bought a Gibson amp off Stu. Back in Liverpool, Adrian Barber made a "coffin" amp for Paul in late 1961, with 15" speaker which really moved a lot of air. It literally blew decades of grime off the Cavern walls! The cabinet was a cleverly designed in a reflex ported unit, for enhanced acoustics. Paul paid £25 in instalments. To power the speaker Paul used his Selmer Truevoice amp [by disconnecting the Selmer speaker], and wiring to the coffin.
Adrian, who later worked as stage manager at the Star Club, made a bass "Coffin amp" as permanent part of the club's gear, and Paul plugged into this on his visits to the Hamburg venue.
Adrian made very few coffin amps; as well as Paul, Johnny Gustafsson and Alan Stratton [Black Cats] had them.
IN THE STUDIO
That Decca audition, on New Years Day, 1962, was a low point in their career. Studio staff flatly rejected their amps, and they had to use the in-house equipment. That was the least of their worries, however, and they frankly under-performed.
At the famous Abbey Road studios for their first Parl0phone session, Paul was still using that Truvoice/Coffin combo; great for stage work, but a nightmare in the studio, due to the terrible signal to noise ratio. Engineer Norman Smith hooked up a Leak amp with a 15" Tannoy horn to record Paul. He also had to muffle the vibration on John's Fender amp.
Back in Liverpool, John and George went to Hessey's and bought Vox amplifiers. Paul also upgraded his gear. Adrian Barber built a Quad amplifier in an old ammo box. Nominally rated at 15watts, it actually pushed out about 40. This was installed as the sound system for Alan Williams Top Ten Club. When the club burned down Williams gave the Quad to Barber in payments, which was used for Johnny Gus with the Big Three. When Barber left, Epstein acquired his gear, and passed the amp to Paul, who was charged the £5 paid to Barber.
[Adrian Barber with The Big Three.
He was later stage manager at the Star Club, Hamburg]
This setup gave Paul arguably the best bass amplification system in the world, better than that offered by the big name manufactures, In fact, that separate amp/cabinet design presaged the "piggyback" combos that would eventually be offered by such companies.
Paul used his Quad/coffin stage setup on a subsequent Abbey Road session, before reverting to the studio gear.
FREE GEAR
In March 63 Epstein arranged for Vox to supply amps for the Beatles, and Paul was given a new design the T60. This was a revolutionary solid-state unit, which still needed the bugs worked out. After several blown circuits, the head was replaced with an AC30 bass unit, mated to the existing cab.
The Vox deal marked the end of the early era. No more "coffins", no more swiping piano strings. From now on the Beatles were the top, and guitar and amp companies would readily ply them with products. However, Paul stuck with the Hofner for many years, even resurrecting it in the Nineties for recording.
[Vox T60 cab on left]
LINKS
Beatles Gear book
Beatles Gear article
Paul interview
Stu Sutcliffe as a bass player