Squire's triple neck bass

[the'YES'kid]

Who owned Chirs Squire's 3 neck bass prior to him?

Name at least the band he played for.

[Flo]

Is it The Syn or Mabel Greers Toyshop ?

I thought he had this instrument especially designed for him....

[BlankReg]

Had to dig deep into Google for this one…

The original owner of the triple-neck bass was none other than Rick Wakeman!

The Bass itself was originally owned and commissioned by Rick Wakeman. He was always looking for ways to upstage other acts and was at the time just preparing to record “Journey to the Centre of the Earth.”

Full history here: http://www4.cs.fau.de/~koesters/Privat/Wal/walnotes.html

[smatt]

Had to dig deep into Google for this one…

The original owner of the triple-neck bass was none other than Rick Wakeman!

The Bass itself was originally owned and commissioned by Rick Wakeman. He was always looking for ways to upstage other acts and was at the time just preparing to record “Journey to the Centre of the Earth.”

Full history here: http://www4.cs.fau.de/~koesters/Privat/Wal/walnotes.html


Very interesting, you learn something every darned day! :smurf:


What exactly would we all do without Google these days :confused:

Could you imagine being able to just sit in your home and search the world for information with your fingers 10 years ago? I'm still still in Shock and Awe! :lmao:

[gt76yesman]

Shock and awe is right :meteo2:
It even makes more sense that Rick helps Chris off with the 3-necked beast after Awaken. Who better to help you than the commisioner of a beautiful instrument!

[BlueEagle]

At the GOING FOR THE ONE tour, when Chris put that on for Awaken, the place went nuts!

[Bugeyes]

This seems familiar to me...

http://www.yesfans.com/forum/showthread.php?p=196833#post196833

[the'YES'kid]

The original owner of the triple-neck bass was none other than Rick Wakeman!

Correct!!! I found this (well, my brother did) in a book about the history of basses. Then I saw it in action last week, when I downloaded a short clip of a Rick Wakeman concert:
http://yesmuseum.org/video/VH1Wakeman.mov (Right Click>Save Target As...)

[ELLIS]

I could be wrong about this, but I'm sure I read somewhere that the original triple-neck bass is in a Hard Rock Cafe, and Chris had a new copy made. The original had a 6-string on top finger-board with 6 single strings, whereas the new one has 3 double strings instead.
Trust me to complicate things!

[smatt]

The orginal is indeed hanging on the wall of the Hardrock. I'm not sure if the new one has a different string configuration or not though. It would be easy to see from pictures. I think I've got some of both.......

[stevepenn]

I could be wrong about this, but I'm sure I read somewhere that the original triple-neck bass is in a Hard Rock Cafe, and Chris had a new copy made. The original had a 6-string on top finger-board with 6 single strings, whereas the new one has 3 double strings instead.
Trust me to complicate things!


You are correct sir. Beat me to the punch. It was in the NYC Hard Rock last time I was there. Sat right beneath it. His current axe was, I believe, made in Japan. He talks about it on the Star Licks video.

[the'YES'kid]

I was finally able to get a pic of this bass being used by his previous owner.

This is a pic from Rick Wakeman's King Arthur on Ice concert.

[Bugeyes]

http://www.geocities.com/alec90125/Yes-Day_pictures.html

From Alec & Dee's webpage. A picture of it hanging at the Hard Rock. It's the fourth or fifth picture down the page.

[Dr Yes]

Didn't Rick have the original made to out-do Mick Rutherford of Genesis?

I remember Rick saying that it was conceived because Genesis was using a double neck, so they thought hell, why not do a triple.

Ah rock 'n' roll....the excesses of the 70s.

[PO]

Ah rock 'n' roll....the excesses of the 70s.

Yea, I miss that! Sure beat the "as little as possible" 80's.

It's a shame Squire hangs the original in a resturaunt. Wal basses are kind of an elite rarity-collector thing. Maybe 250 ever made (?).

There are a lot of differences between the original and the copy that Squire uses. Pickups were omitted on the two lower necks, the pickguard is squared off, etc.

If I were involved with Wal, I would be MAJOR angry that Squire had a copy made by a knock-off hack. It kind of ticks me off that he didn't have Wal make him a slimmed down version.

I'm sure the original Wal sounds much better.

[Dr Yes]

If I were involved with Wal, I would be MAJOR angry that Squire had a copy made by a knock-off hack. It kind of ticks me off that he didn't have Wal make him a slimmed down version.

I'm sure the original Wal sounds much better.

Paul,

I may be wrong (probably am), but I don't think Chris commissioned the copy at all. I think it was given to him by the Japanese maker and he was very impressed with it - impressed enough to play it on many tours anyway!

As someone has already mentioned, there's an article on it and I think that is where I remember reading that it was given to him, unsolicited - as it were.

Dave.

[PO]

I've read otherwise. But, a copy is still a copy. Someone else's work was undermined. I don't like knock-offs and the people that do it. I refuse to play them.

The legitimate route would be that Wal couldn't, or didn't want to, make another and the "luthier" bought the original design. If Wal authorized it, okay.

But I still don't play copies.

[Dr Yes]

Oh I agree wholeheartedly about the copying issue. Just not so sure that Chris initiated the triple neck that's all.

Of course the Japanese market has thrived on making v. accurate "lawsuit" copies of Fenders and Gibsons and thankfull it's been clamped down on.

But the problem's a common one. Bill Gates and Microsoft ripped off Gary Kildell's CP/M operating system via Patterson's clone Quick and Dirty Operating System QDOS, managed to get the clone cleared as 'legal', and the rest is, as we all know, history....

[yarstruly]

In an interview I just recently read, Chris says he likes the copy better...It was a NFTE inteview, I'll see if I can track down the link.....

[Dr Yes]

In an interview I just recently read, Chris says he likes the copy better...It was a NFTE inteview, I'll see if I can track down the link.....

Sounds interesting...I was 80% certain he'd said he liked it a lot/preferred it more, so it will be cool to see what you can dig up.

[yarstruly]

Here is the link....It's from a 1998 issue of NFTE interview with both Chris & Billy Sherwood

http://www.yesworld.com/
(I hope it takes you there...its in "frames" on my browser...if not look for the link for "Yes Net", ....then "Notes From The Edge"..... then archives on NFTE, then click exclusive interviews, then find the one from 1998 under Chris or Billy)

Here is the pertinent excerpt:

CS:[Talking about putting his Rickenbacker in a museum] We could do that, exactly. It's funny because my original triple neck is in the hard rock café here in New York, near [here], so it's freaky seeing that up, when I go in there for something to eat...it's funny...

MOT: The same triple neck that you've played "Awaken" for many years?

CS: The original one, yeah.

MOT: You have more than one?

CS: Yeah, the one I used on the last tour and on the KEYS recording, is actually a Japanese copy, actually much better than the original.

[Dr Yes]

Aha...

[Dr Yes]

Here's something else I've dug up for interest:


"The original bass nowadays can be found in Hard Rock Cafe in New York. Live Chris Squire uses a copy by a japanes luthier.

The third neck was a 'normal' guitar neck and changed by Chris Squire into a three sets tuned in octaves.
Trevor Raggat (our man for the details) notes: I only realised recently that on the original the centre pickup (middle neck, neck pickup) is mounted on a metal plate. (This means some photos show the replica.)
According to Chris Squires Website the tuning for the triple neck is as follows: Top Neck- AA,DD,GG Middle (fretted) Neck- E,A,D,G Bottom (fretless) Neck- E,A,D,G
Steve Weston has a story for us: For those of you who may be interested, I do know a little of the history of the triple neck. The Bass itself was originally owned and commissioned by Rick Wakeman. He was always looking for ways to upstage other acts and was at the time just preparing to record ?Journey to the centre of the earth? His Bass Player at the time was Roger Newell (now asst editor with Guitarist mag in the UK). According to Rog when I spoke with him some years back. Rick was, and still is very good friends with Pete Stevens, and between them they decided that a real show stopper would be a triple neck Bass. Twin necks (Guitar / Bass) were popular at the time so Rick being Rick wanted to go one better. Rog spent a lot of time with Pete working on the layout of the beast but a real problem which was never really solved was the weight. Apparently it was so heavy that it could only be worn for short periods. (this was another reason that Chris retired the Bass later). Apparently the copy was considerably lighter. Anyway to return to the story, Rog used the triple neck on the ?Journey to the centre of the earth album and tour? but although he hoped for a continuing association with Rick it wasn?t to be since Rick rejoined Yes shortly afterwards and took the bass with him. As we all know Chris used it afterwards and eventually Rick gave it to him. As Rog told me, ?I was f*****g amazed. I loved that Bass since in reality it was built for me and I was so involved in the build. But since I couldn?t afford it at the time it went out of my life, only to find that later Rick had given the bloody thing away. I was absolutely gutted? That?s life as they say. As you correctly point out, Chris has given (on permanent loan) the Wal to the Hard Rock Café where it remains to this day If anyone is interested in further information don?t hesitate to e-mail Roger Newell at Guitarist. I?m sure He would be pleased to answer any questions."

From a site that boasts to have "Even more info than in the Wal Database"

[stevepenn]

Sounds interesting...I was 80% certain he'd said he liked it a lot/preferred it more, so it will be cool to see what you can dig up.

He confirmed this earlier as well in a video for Star Licks.

[ProgMaster]

Yup, correct in that it was 'owned' by Rick Wakeman. It was also used in Rick's 'English Rock Ensemble' line-up prior to Chris' ownership.