Gord's GEAR;

Strings

I have been a LaBella Artist since 1980. LaBella is a division of E. & O. Mari, inc. which has been in the business of manufacturing musical instrument strings since the 14th century, back in Salle, Italy!! We're talking about violin makers; Stradivarius and Amati. Check out their site!

Bass Violins

According to some experts I have consulted, my 3/4 roundback was manufactured in Mittenwald, Germany, circa 1920. I purchased it in 1973 up in Syracuse , NY. I use the Underwood Pickup with it.

the German Bass, Walter Woods Amp, Polytone cabinet w/12" JBL

I also have a 3/4 French bass that my dad gave me when he retired from the Minnesota Orchestra. It's a roundback with violin corners and a fingered C extension (no machine) on the low string. We always thought it was English but recently the experts at Kolstein Music, Inc. suggest that it's of French origin, c. 1850. Anyone else have any ideas? I recorded all of my TRIOS CDs and most CD & Jingle sessions on this instrument pictured below.

The French Bass

WOW! Look at that! Thanks, Dad!

Amplification
I use the Walter Woods amplifier for most higher volume Upright gigs, and all Electric Bass gigs with various speaker configurations.

I recently acquired the

"CONTRA"... For upright bass in a medium volume setting! Very nice.

HOWEVER, THIS RIG IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING GOING RIGHT NOW! Small size and plenty of volume. Amazing.

the Phil Jones Bass Briefcase

I'm stunned and thrilled!

Bass Guitar

I have played numerous electric bass guitars over the years and I was partial to Fender Basses for much of my earlier days. I played a Fender Precision off the rack from Manny's in New York while I was at Eastman. I found a beautiful "pre-CBS" Fender Jazz Bass in 1977 after meeting Jaco Pastorious and naturally I had to rip the frets out and do the fretless thing. That instrument has an incredibly expressive sound. Thank you for everything, Jaco. What an inspiration!

In 1981 I bought a Ken Smith 4-string bass out of his very first run of through-neck hand carved instruments. (Serial #008) He notified me that there was a production of a number of basses that we should all see. Anthony Jackson, Wayne Pedzwaiter, Bob Crenshaw, and a bunch of us in and around NYC at the time all bought some of these early Ken Smith instruments. They had some amazing features for the time and they were beautifully put together. I still have the instrument and I use it for certain applications, especially when I need a crazy EQ setting or an envelope follower, which Ken had built in to the extensive gold-plated and L.E.D. enhanced electronics package.

My true love in BassGuitarLand however is my way, way incredible 1986 5-string MODULUS Quantum 5-Star with bolt-on graphite neck, Cocobolo (Mexican Rosewood) on the front of the body. Bartolini TCT active pickups package and Starz Guitars brass bridge. I have had nothing but compliments from recording engineers, live sound mixers and artists far and wide about the smooth fat sound of this instrument. Even Paul Peterson said, "WOW THAT'S REALLY GOT SOME BOTTOM!" when he sat in with the band I was in at Bunker's!

THANKS FOR VISITING

email; copy and paste this>> tonalities@mac.com

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