Gold Sparkle Piano Bass

Peacefrog35 · July 03, 2010, 10:15:13 PM

An all original one in good shape has always eluded me until now....

Here she is.... I got her all tuned up today and the key action is better than any other I've played!

jim · July 03, 2010, 10:32:20 PM

holy cow, nice.

Peacefrog35 · July 04, 2010, 08:36:14 AM

Thanks alot Jim. I'm totally loving it. It was so dirty,but not looks nearly new.

Spaceduck · July 04, 2010, 08:53:36 AM

Now that's a beautiful sight :shock: I bet she looks great sitting next to your silver sparkle bass.

Peacefrog35 · July 04, 2010, 09:11:32 AM

Thanks Spaceduck!(love that nicname by the way) I think I'll have to take a pic of them side by side later!

kphlx2000 · July 04, 2010, 05:45:07 PM

I'm jealous. Beautiful piano bass.

Kenneth

Spaceduck · July 04, 2010, 05:59:50 PM

Quote from: "Peacefrog35"Thanks Spaceduck!(love that nicname by the way) I think I'll have to take a pic of them side by side later!

Definitely do that! Though I'm sure I'll explode with uncontrollable envy.
By the way... spaceduck... peacefrog... we must be distantly related

Peacefrog35 · July 05, 2010, 12:04:33 PM

Quote from: "kphlx2000"I'm jealous. Beautiful piano bass.

Kenneth

No need to be Kenneth.. YOu have one of the most impressive collections on the planet. You have the all mighty Celeste!!

Spaceduck...yes, we must be. lol Ok..I'll try to snap a pic of goldie next to the silver later today.

pianotuner steveo · July 05, 2010, 02:18:33 PM

Hey peacefrog..Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger played locally a few weeks ago. I hope they come to your area and you get a chance to see them. Overall, they were very good. Ray didnt even have equipment like yours...He usedsome digital keybord that had a Vox-like stand, and the top was painted a Vox orange.... No piano bass, no Rhodes....

pianotuner steveo · July 05, 2010, 02:20:35 PM

I know what Peacefrog comes from,but not spaceduck....is that from a song?

Spaceduck · July 05, 2010, 06:17:03 PM

Doh... I had to google "peacefrog" to figure out the reference. Not as Doors savvy as I should be :oops: "Spaceduck" ...honestly I can't remember where that came from. I must've heard it somewhere & it stuck (one day I'll have to invent a more interesting story).

About classic artists touring with digital equipment, man that bothers me! Especially keyboardists like Manzarek, Wakeman, etc whose rig was as much a part of their sound as the performance. Surely they can afford the extra roadies to lug a Rhodes, Hammond and so on?

Peacefrog35 · July 05, 2010, 08:27:23 PM

Ok.. you guys asked for it...here they both are..side by side. The silver is all original except for the red velvet interior. The Gold is all original. The factory had painted the cheek blocks black...it was defintely factory paint,but I stripped then and found that they were already stained to my liking...very cool.

kphlx2000 · July 05, 2010, 09:39:31 PM

Now I'm really jealous. You're very lucky.

Kenneth

Spaceduck · July 06, 2010, 07:27:01 AM

Now there's a pic for the history books. Good call on the cheek blocks, it's absolutely stunning!

P.S. Next up: you need to post a recording of you playing "Big Bottom" by Spinal Tap on both pianobasses :lol:

Fred · July 06, 2010, 07:47:01 AM

Very nice!

Peacefrog35 · July 06, 2010, 07:45:53 PM

Hey Pianotunersteve,

Long time no talk! Hey, I've seen Manzarek and Kreiger about 5 times since 2003. I know he doesn't use the classic gear,but that's ok. Most artists change their equipment over 40 something odd years,but it sure would be cool to see him do it.

Groove4Hire · July 07, 2010, 05:01:47 PM

Excellent! Congrats! I guess I'm no longer in the "Gold Sparkle Club" since I sold mine a year ago... I was made an offer I just couldn't refuse but it is indeed a very nice piece of Rhodes history

Groove4Hire · July 07, 2010, 05:34:35 PM

Excellent! Congrats! I guess I'm no longer in the "Gold Sparkle Club" since I sold mine a year ago... I was made an offer I just couldn't refuse but it is indeed a very nice piece of Rhodes history

Peacefrog35 · July 07, 2010, 05:41:37 PM

Hey Groove... I remember I wanted your forever. lol. I still have pics of yours on my hard drive. I'm so glad to have this thing and here's one more pic that I took this morning.

I can't believe that the factory black paint was covering these lovely stained cheek blocks. I only had to do minimal touch up to them.

Fred · July 09, 2010, 08:53:20 AM

QuoteI can't believe that the factory black paint was covering these lovely stained cheek blocks. I only had to do minimal touch up to them.

I Told you so... :wink:

pianotuner steveo · July 09, 2010, 09:07:17 AM

Its too bad that I dont have any connections to the theater I saw Ray and Robby play at, I could have let Ray use my Gibson and Rhodes!!!

The sounds he used were Vox, Harpsichord,and piano.Possibly a Hammond sound on one song....

Peacefrog35 · July 10, 2010, 10:28:40 AM

Quote from: "Fred"
QuoteI can't believe that the factory black paint was covering these lovely stained cheek blocks. I only had to do minimal touch up to them.

I Told you so... :wink:

That you did! Thanks for your help!

@pianotunersteve:

I don't think Ray would use them even if he had someone offer. He seems to be over the old gear. I bet that Storytellers will be the last time we see him in front of the classic gear on stage. He still uses Vox and fender Rhodes piano basses on short video documentaries and interviews explaining the "sound" of the Doors,but that's about it.

On a side note, does anyone have any clue how many Gold Sparkle Piano basses were produced? I see something like only 1 or 2 a year pop up for sale.

Groove4Hire · July 11, 2010, 04:55:13 AM

When I investigated both when mine was made and how many others that were made, I found that the serial#s were very close. I saw two on Ebay during the time I had mine and they had serial# very close to mine. In fact one up on Ebay had a serial# next to mine. I always believed that mine was made in 1964 since the green datestamp on mine was smudged out but after seeing the others on Ebay where the datestamp was visible, I believe they made a limited run of these in 1967.

Peacefrog35 · July 11, 2010, 09:05:53 AM

Groove, that kind of makes sense. Mine has 2 numbers, the serial number on the gold tag is different that my silvertop bass that says BA621.

This gold bass has 1165 on the gold tag where the serial number is and on the harp has a stamp of RJ1567. When it first arrived, I searched on the first few keys and didn't see a green date stamp. Perhaps I didn't look at enough keys. These things are a mystery!

Manzarek · July 26, 2010, 08:45:41 AM

Wow im very jealous! The ironic thing is Ray always wanted a silver Sparkle Piano bass but he got a Gold one, now we all have the silver sparkle and we desesperatly searching for the gold one! lol

Peacefrog35 · July 26, 2010, 10:30:06 AM

You are so right. It's also nice to have both. I'm glad my search is finally over though.
It's funny that he got a silver one too...as early as late 1967 as seen on the Jonathan Winters show and he used it on and off in 68 and almost exclusively in 69 and back and forth with the gold in1970.
I always wonder what made him decide to use which bass. He used the gold one most of 68 ,but concert photos clearly show him using the silver one that year too..for example Minneapolis.

I do love my goldie though! Now I can rest!

News:

Gold Sparkle Piano Bass