In the meantime it was mostly the RD, the cherry sunburst one, and then when the head got broken, the blonde one. Just the usual teething troubles with a custom-made instrument. It had to go away for work, there were things that needed doing, but once they were ironed out it was great. I played the doubleneck mostly and that weighs a ton and I'd get quite worn out by the end of it. I know the Guild used to get used near the end. I definitely wouldn't have done too many gigs with it. MH I can't imagine what I was doing using the Thunderbird. Mick with his doubleneck bass "Igor" and the Acoustic 360 amplifier in the background The only 6 string guitar I'd like to own now is a 60's Guild acoustic.įlyGuitars The Ten Years Later live footage available ( Rock Palast DVD) shows you play the Guild B301, Gibson RD Artist and Gibson Thunderbird - is this something you generally did, swap basses on stage? Probably sounds so good because Guild used to have the oldest stockpile of wood of any guitar maker, and old seasoned wood makes great guitars. And the low end! This great guitar must be the most under-rated bass of all time, and for 150 quid, there was nothing else to touch it. It had one pick-up and weighed about the same as a bag of sweets. He was raving about a Guild B301 bass that they had, and ordered me to get there and try it. Then, in 1977, I got a call from a friend who was working in Sound City in Shaftesbury Avenue. I'm still as impressed by this bass as the day I bought it. Using both pick-ups together gives it a real nice tonal quality in the high mid. You could really wind up the low end on the amp and this would deliver, big time. It's as great to play as I always knew a T'bird would be and it has a unique sound: very clean and workable. You'd never know it's not original except for where (for some weird reason) the holes to take the bridge adjusters have been drilled in the wrong position, filled in, and then repositioned, which is a great shame. It's beautifully married up to the side sections and the headstock has the same step cut into it. Whoever did it though, made a fantastic job of it. One thing though, it seems like the entire centre section has been remade in maple, but not by Gibson. He asked if I wanted to buy it: I nearly tore his arm off. MH A regular visitor to Alvin Lee's place was a close friend of Gary Thaine, and after Gary died this guy inherited his gear, which included a Gibson Thunderbird bass. And the low end!' Note the Acoustic 360 amplifier in the background.įlyGuitars Tell us about some of the new basses you were using at this stage. Mick bought his Guild in 1977: 'What a revelation. I've not managed to play with Tom again since the Alvin Lee days. I saw Tony not very long ago he's still playing great. There are two guys from that period that I got on really well with as drummers, and as people, and that's Tony Fernandes and Tom Compton. Tom also came to an audition for Mathew Fisher on my recommendation there was talk of another album, but it didn't happen. Tom and I did work very well together extremely well. I was very embarrassed, but happily, things eventually came together and he was quite happy, so that was that. I apologised profusely and said to Alvin I'm really feeling this. I don't know why but I was very rusty at the time, really, really, rusty there must have been a real lull in my work. He asked Tom if there was a bass player he liked working with. The bass player, Alan Spenner turned to Alvin after Tom had gone, and said "I can't really play with that bloke because he speeds up" and Alvin said, "Well I really like him". As a consequence, his tempo probably crept up a bit or something. Tom's a very aggressive, very flamboyant drummer, and when he first played with Alvin, he followed what Alvin was doing very closely. You had played with Tom previously in the Human Orchestra. Ten Years Later on stage, from left to right: Alvin Lee, Tom Compton, Mick HawksworthįlyGuitars Probably the best known of your bands was Alvin Lee's Ten Years Later: Alvin Lee, guitar Tom Compton, drums Mick Hawksworth, bass (and sometimes) Bernie Clarke, keyboards. 1981 Victory Standard (Candy Apple Red).
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