Over the past few months, I’ve discovered quite a
few things, thus proving the
old adage that you’re never too
old to learn. Reading is meant
to accomplish “the four Es”—
enriching, enlightening, entertaining, and educating—and in
that spirit I’d like to share five
lessons I’ve recently learned.
My first lesson—which was
provided by Elliot Michael of
Rumble Seat Music—concerns
a circa-1969 Ampeg Lucite bass.
A lot of us already know about
the Ampeg Lucite bass and its
quirks—its clear Lucite body
that weighs a ton, the fact that
it has the weirdest scale length
on the planet, and how impossible it is to intonate due to its
Danelectro-style bridge with a
one-piece wooden saddle.
At the Arlington Guitar Show,
I walked into Elliot’s booth
to see a matched set of Lucite
Ampegs—a guitar and a bass—in
see-through black. Staring at
these instruments, I thought,
“Wow, those are very cool modern repros!” I’m the bass guy who
has supposedly seen it all, but I
was quickly educated: They were
real-deal, original issue. I did not
know black Lucite basses were
ever made!
The bass had a few proto-
typical features that made it even
more intriguing. There was a
scoop in the body to facilitate
pickup swapping—something I’d
never seen on an original Lucite
Ampeg bass. It also had a chrome
tab screwed to the body covering
the scoop. Further, it didn’t have
as sharp of a ridge on the body as
the standard basses. This was the
coolest bass in the show. When
I asked my bass buddies if they
saw this Ampeg, they all replied,
“You mean the reissue?”
My second lesson concerns
beer and Rickenbackers. What
does beer have to do with bass
playing other than saving you
from jamming knitting needles
into your eardrums when you
hear a lousy player? The answer
comes courtesy of Andrew
Southern of Brooklyn, New York,
who points out that Grolsch beer
bottles with the porcelain swing
top have a red rubber gasket that
works perfectly as a strap lock
over your Rickenbacker’s strap
button! Grab two and rest easy—
they won’t mar the finish because
they rest on your strap. Unlike
a metal-button system, they’re
not 100 percent foolproof, but
none of those store-bought locks
will fit your old Ricky without
destroying its strap-pin hole. This
is a neat tip and it’s free (other
than your bar tab).
A rare matched set of black
Lucite Ampegs—a guitar and
a bass—circa 1969. Photo by
Kevin Borden
Yankees in Game 1 of the ALCS,
or maybe it was instinct, but the
bass struck me as non-Kosher.
Early StingRays have a funny
sideways break angle over the
saddles. That issue was rectified
about two years into production.
Now, here’s what I learned from
this bass: While the bridge assem-blies are interchangeable, they
do not fit the respective models.
The bass at hand was in reality
a B01 or a B02, and someone
had switched the neck plate and
bridge on it. The problem is,
while the bridge bolts up, the
string-through holes between the
bridge and body do not match.
As a result, you cannot feed
strings through the body. What
the prior owner had to do was
feed the strings through the body,
then bolt the bridge plate down,
and finally string and tune the
bass. The strings were essentially
locked in place. Do not pass go,
do not collect $2000!
My fifth lesson was discover-
ing an essential book. As I travel
the country, I meet scores of
wonderful people. All are enthu-
siasts, many are players, and some
are collectors. All these folks can
back up their work. I also meet
a lot of authors, many of whom
do a really good job. They create
a product and shop their work to
publishers, but—as with music—
very few “make it.” A few years
ago, I met Detlef Schmidt, who
is a Precision bass aficionado and
has a passion for the early “cow-
boy plank” basses. At the time,
he wanted to feature a 1951 that
I co-own in his book, but I am
very private about my stash, as is
the instrument’s other owner.
KEVIN BORDEN has
been playing bass since
1975. He is the princi-
pal and co-owner, with
“Dr.” Ben Sopranzetti, of
Kebo’s Bass Works (visit
them online at kebos-
bassworks.com). You can reach Kevin at
kebobass@yahoo.com. Feel free to call
him KeBo.
