Forte 4

These Spectors are among the most practical basses out there from the standpoint of sound & playability. The price range is reasonable considering the quality & longevity of the instrument, & they're just beautiful & sexy to look at. The Spector Forte 4s are known for their straight necks & ultra smooth body contours, & a crisp, clear output tone that can make a worthy player into a contender. The perfect combination of art & functionality come together in this beautiful new guitar owned by Chris Morehouse, currently performing with the popular twin city touring group Common Ground. This assembly of seasoned musical veterans has got the science of performing classic rock favorites down to an art.

LTD - Satin

Ted Pillera from Lakeville, showing off his new D5 LTD five string bass in a natural satin finish. Active electronics & low action make for an ultra-responsive & easy playing guitar. This pic was snapped Friday night while Ted's new band Drama Queen was performing their Prior Lake debut showcase at the Arizona's Lounge on 169 & Canterbury rd.

Guilded

 Peter Berger from White Bear Lake pictured with his 1983 Guild X-702. Wonderful playing bass with high output & great tone. Unique styling with a great headstock & top notch candy apple finish make this one for the archives. These cool 80's basses are hard to find, & this one is a rocker for sure.

This ORR That

Thanks to ROCKFIST's Kenner Siegrist for this week's feature photo.  A very unique sounding one of a kind hand made bass by Charles Orr. Kenner.is a very fortunate fellow to have this bass in his collection. You can track down the owner of this fine bass at a local TC performance near you, & ask Kenner about this axe.

Have a Ball

Ernie Ball Music Man, Circa 1982. I was honored to meet proud owner, player & regular guy David Weeks-Wynne at my place on the north side. I've see his cool band Trailer Trash a few times in the past, but had never been introduced to Dave. He's a great guy with a smooth style & cool sound, thanks to this early Bartolini powered thunder boomer. We all appreciate you sharing this picture Dave.

Father of Loud

R.I.P. Jim Marshall.
So sad to post that today marks the passing of high power audio amplifier innovator Jim Marshall. ...always a gentleman.
You truly have gone to eleven now.
MarshallAmps.com/
Washington Post

J-Bone

Odds are pretty fair that you've seen these red Fenders on stage around town with twin cities fave glam band PopRocks. Jason Swanson pounds out low grooves on these work horses where ever the party is rocking. You can find a link to their cool website HERE. Find a show near you & have J-Bone show you his fine customs.

Bikini Contest RADIO

Friday night's colorful Brat Pack RADIO show at Povlizki's was a spectacle to behold. The band was rockin, even though they got second billing to the Bikini Contest. Veteran twin cities bassist Craig Holets was down right tight, laying down & making it look easy. He used a killer Yamaha 4 string for the show, & it sounded snappy & crisp like it should. Check the Brat Pack Radio schedule for future dates. Nice talking with you, Craig. Rock on.

Have a Cigar

A big congratulations is in order for this proud new Papa. Here are Johnee D'Shea's new babies: Custom USA endorsement REX4 & REX5 (Rex Brown/Pantera) Spectors and Paolo Gregoletto signature B.C. Rich 5 string. If these aren't the most beautiful basses you've seen in a while, then you should definitely drop him an email & tell him so. All three of these gems have beautiful tops, but check out the mass of brass used for the bridges on the Spectors! Johnee has a marvelous collection of great sounding basses that he's used in twin cities bands from ShakyJake to LunaSea, & LadyLuck. Want to see these ultra sleek basses live in action? Find out where, by clicking into the Johnnee D'Shea facebook page.

Holy Grail

Freak of the Week
I talked with Don Greenwald of HeadlessUSA yesterday & he told me about the quest of how he finally acquired this, the holy grail of all things STEINBERGER, the original prototype! Having this is like owning the the first Rickenbacker electric frying pan or the original electric log from Les Paul. Holy cow. If you ever needed motivation to explore new worlds & seek seek out long lost axes, Don's story will provide the inspiration. Read the full article in the January issue of Premiere Guitar. Thanks for everything Don. Nice doing business with you.

One Big Bass - CONK

That's one big bass. If this had any more strings it'd be a piano.
I caught Jonathan Thomas doing a R&B show at the Shorewood lounge on Friday December 2nd with Ronn Easton. His bass really stands out; it's fairly unique so I snapped a pic. I had some other clubs to hit so I didn't get a chance to talk with him & ask him about his axe. You can use the comment section below to help correctly identify this hip seven string bass guitar. Jonathan plays around town with several different acts, so check his website to find out where he's laying it down.

Rock with me Friday & Saturday this weekend at St Croix Casino in Turtle Lake for our next big show on new years eve. We'll be dropping hundreds of balloons from the sky at midnight, with THOUSANDS of DOLLARS tucked inside to make this the greatest party ever. Hope to see you at the show to check what cool guitars we're using. Frosty says he'll be playing his '66 Gibson Firebird for a set, so come & party with us!

The Schaefer's

Need Jazz? Nothing beats Fender for the style that launched a thousand artists. This pearloid Mexi Bass owned is by freelance bassist Chris Schaefer of Brooklyn Park. }:-D-
Chris says it's got great tone, playability & comfort; & for the little bit of dough he had to shell out at Music Go Round it simply can't be beat. You can tell it makes a nice addittion to the family.

BLINK 182

Daphne blue Mark Hoppus signatue Fender precision bass, featuring the unique combination of the offset Jazz style body with the traditional P style split pick ups. Note the single Volume knob (no tone control). This bass owned by the incomparable Danny Grossnickle, caught playing the low tones for the long time local entertainers, Monarch Band while doing a outdoor gig at St Tim's Summerfest in September. You can catch the next Monarch show on December 30&31 at the Champlin Legion, 8:30-12:30 pm. You may have seen Danny perform with other cool shows around town like the Rhythm Kings, Shaw-Allen-Shaw, or Beautiful Noise.

Rock with me this Saturday Dec 10th at the Main Street bar in Hopkins.

Flock of T-Birds

I found a rather impressive display of Epiphone Thunderbirds hanging around a local used music shop last week & thought I'd share it. Music go Round in Roseville had these Ultra cool Nikki Sixx Blackbirds with traditional goth theme & maltese cross inlay. What's really unique about these is the absence of volume & tone pots; just one over sized toggle switch! Need more info of these? Call the store: 651 487-5600. Pick up one of these basses & It'll be your picture posted here next time.

Tonight: St Croix casino in Turtle Lake, WI.

Attack of the Spectors

Here's John Lockner of Maple Grove playing a 1986 Spector NS-2. It's a nice sounding & smooth playing bass that's never let him down on stage. This is one of five Spectors that he uses regularly to cover the low grooves. John's had a busy gig schedule, as he's been working with GEMINI for years. That keeps him active when he's not busy selling great gear at American Guitar & Band during the week. His past rock trysts include a long history of performances with great local acts Barilla, Dungeon, & Jaded. John's got a lot more cool axes to share, so check back on this site soon for more vintage mojo from a true dedicated rocker.

Diver Down - B2A

Here's the pic that I've been promising of the first Steinberger licensed bass that I purchased back in '84 from Crazy Jim's Anoka Music Center, (now Mr. Mark's Music) which I first referenced in the Wednesday, July 13, 2011 post "Small Package, Big Sound". The diving flag paint scheme is pretty unique, but in line with the styles of the day. Distributed by Hohner & tagged as B2A (Bass, 2 pick-up, Active electronics) this was really bargain priced for the day ($399). If anyone remembers Rod House from the band PANIC, tell him I'd like to buy this one back to use in my current touring bass line-up. This axe photographs very nicely & would work well in our current setting.
My next in town show is this Saturday, November 5th at Main street in Hopkins. Swing in for a cocktail if you're in the neighborhood. Next up after that is Saturday November 12th at McCracken's in Burnsville where I'll be playing the white Steinberger pictured up at the top of this page.

Music Man - S T I N G R A Y

Jim Brophy is shown here with his tri-color sunburst four banger. These low end tone monsters have some of the best natural sound out there, & the playability is nothing to laugh at. As usual Leo got it right when developing these classic timeless functional works of art. Jim had three of these beautiful Music Mans lined up at the big Pickle Park show last Saturday night. Bigger is always better in the glam world of rock & roll. Click HERE to see what's new with Jim's cool band JoyRide.

Ashbory Rubber Band

This one is going on to my "to do" list right now. I'm officially on the hunt. It's about 2/3 the size of a Steinberger. The first one of these that I ever saw & demo'd was labeled as a GUILD. Most of them that I've see since are labeled as Ashbory or DeArmond. John Schwartz from Emerald City Music in Coon Rapids had ordered one in for stock to retail around '85, & couldn't wait to get me behind the wheel to show it off. I was blown away by the responsiveness of the pick-up against the tubular rubber strings. This atrocity was an amazing piece of break through design technology, & sounded better than most of the basses that I'd ever heard. I think they retailed around $429 at the time.

Small Package, Big Sound.

The newest addition to my family has arrived via UPS today. 4 string black Steinberger. I currently use a white Steinberger that is nearly identical, but this one has a feature that my white one doesn't: Drop D tuner factory mounted on the bridge. These are fairly hard to come by,  & I feel honored to have this fine working axe in the arsenal. 1984 was the year that I first purchased a new Steinberger bass from the music store where I was employed at the time, & I used that bass in the band "PANIC" along with Rod House, with whom I'd like to reconnect. My how time flies. I'll post photos of that particular bass on this forum in the near future. Keep checking back.

Want to see & hear the white Steinberger in action around the twin cities? Click HERE & follow the TOUR link at the top.

Check-Mate

Here's one of my axe's that I try to use regularly on the mid-west tour shows. It's got a Cheap Trick meets KISS sort of look to it, & it features gold plated hardware. Everyone says that it looks & sounds like a million bucks. This rare bass guitar has turned out to be a great investment, & it truly has the makings of a real nice working show piece. Want to see & hear this fine Ibanez in action around the twin cities? Click HERE & follow the TOUR link at the top.