This fretless P-bass belongs to friend David Hayes and is available directly from him. It was originally a fretted instrument and was converted many years ago but could be switched back with the help of a decent luthier if desired. This is a cool if funky instrument with a ton of mojo and a great past that is looking for a new home and more stories to be part of!
Here are some pics and snippets of David's history with this bass.
Pics include one with Luke Gibson (singer-songwriter formerly w Luke & the Apostles)while playing a series of folk festivals across the country, from Sudbury (Northern Lights) to the Gulf Islands.
Another photo shows David playing with a '30s/'40s swing/jump blues (by way of Tom Waits) group called Cahoots. He's pretty sure this was one of their gigs downstairs at the ElMo.
Also a picture with Colin Lindens band with whom David played extensively.
THE HISTORY OF THIS BASS AS REMEMBERED BY DAVID
"I had owned a '67 Fender P, sunburst, great shape, in the late '60s. In '72, needing money because I planned to go to York University, I sold it. A year or so later I looked for another one & found this '65 FenderP for a reasonable price because it was very road-worn. The finish had been badly worn off in many places & 2 of the tuning pegs had been damaged. I always saw my basses as player's instruments so, after consulting with instrument repair whiz Steve Dark, I decided to replace the tuning pegs with Schallers (they have proven to be terrific, superior to Fenders) & generally cleaned it up. I sanded it & stained it a natural blonde. The pickups were repaired a couple of times, the pots cleaned, but otherwise the bass is original except for the tuning pegs and pickguard.
At that time, I was playing with Red Rider, which was made up of some high school friends. (This was pre-Tom Cochrane.) We played clubs like the El Mocambo & a few that were big at the time but long gone (The Junction Tavern at Gerrard & Jarvis, The Midwich Cuckoo further south on Jarvis, the infamously rough Knob Hill Tavern in Scarborough that was a big rock club in that era...) The bass in these days had a white pickguard & I played it first through a lovely all-tube Ampeg V-4B with folded twin-15" cabinet, then replaced that with a somewhat lighter Acoustic 370 & the 301 reflex 18" cabinet.
I left Red Rider in late'77 (Tom Cochrane joined a few months later). I had decided to study journalism at Ryerson University but before I started I played with what today would be called a "roots" band. With Cahoots, we played '20s, '30s & '40s swing, jump blues, etc. While at Ryerson I replaced Terry Wilkins as Colin Linden's bassist. I loved Terry's fretless sound so helped Steve Dark remove the frets on my Pbass' rosewood fretboard. At that time I had made a custom mahogany pickguard. (It didn't last long. The wood cracked at the spot of most stress, near the input jack.) I replaced it with the black pickguard that's on the bass now.
With Colin Linden I toured around Canada & played a couple of showcases in New York (with a heavy-duty custom road case I had made for airline travel). In Toronto, Colin & his Group du Jour, as we were called, were regulars at Larry's Hideaway, Hotel Isabella, The Edge, The Rivoli & other venues. Colin loved the sound of my Pbass. Paired with an Acoustic 370 amp & a honky single 15" (Altec Lansing 421-8H) cabinet built to the specs of an Ampeg Portaflex cabinet, he said (admiringly) that it had the sound of an angry goose honking.
As of the mid-'80s, when I had to officially stop working with Colin because of time constraints, I've been a busy working journalist. Today, I play in a hobby band called 3 Chord Johnny & the '65 Fender P has been well looked-after. No falls or other damage over all these years. Sounds lovely through my current rig, a MarkBass P501 & David Eden 2x10" cabinet.
Price $4200
Interested? E-mail or call me and I'll pass your info on to David!
tonyds@pathcom.com (416) 699-7082
