2007 has been a busy year for Blue
Cheer and myself. I've been meaning to get some new text
up here on the site, but I've just been busy with work and
my 'Ace
Frehley Scrapbook' I'm working on. Now, I have a little
time to write but a lot to tell.
The
year started out with the guys on tour. I got to see them
in New York City the night before Easter. I had called Dickie
the night before on his cell phone, figuring I'd just leave
him a message to ask him what time they would arrive. Well,
he answered it, and then said, "I'm about to go onstage,
let me talk to you tomorrow. I have a problem with my bass."
So, I called him the next morning, and he told me that the
tone knob got punched into the pickguard, and he needed
it repaired, but he felt bad asking me to work when I should
be enjoying myself. I told him that to me, that's not work
and I wanted to make sure that his bass was trouble free.
I took some tools and parts in with me that day. I got there
plenty early to get the repair done. I videotaped the soundcheck,
took some pictures, and then went to work on his bass on
the table in the dressing room. It's not tremendously exciting,
but there's a video
clip here on the site of what I did. I basically removed
the tone control, and wired it like it was always set on
zero (no treble), as that's how he likes it. I finished
off the job with a new knob that has blue abalone set in
it. He loved it. The show was great and they had a good
crowd. I videotaped it and took pictures at the same time.
(Don't ask how I did it, but I did.)
We
had been talking a lot, hell, he even called me from Germany
after the "Roadburn" festival that they played
to tell me how it went. He was giving me ideas before that
about what his perfect bass would be. Maybe we could modify
his, or he could come up with something I could fix. He
told me some specific things he wanted, so I came up with
the idea of just building something from scratch. With my
resources, I could do it. I knew people that I could get
the parts from for very little, or free as an endorsement.
My wheels were turning in my head. When I saw him in NY,
he gave me 2 pieces of jewelry that belonged to his brother
that had passed away. "Would I incorporate these into
the bass we build?" He asked, and trusted me to hold
on to them. I kept bouncing ideas off of him, and went ahead
and put in an order for the neck and body and was basically
given them for all of the referrals I send. I contacted
a friend at Seymour Duncan Pickups, and he helped me obtain
the pickups. There was just a few more parts needed, and
soon it was time to start the assembly. The first thing
I had to do, was dye the top blue.
The
year started out with the guys on tour. I got to see them
in New York City the night before Easter. I had called Dickie
the night before on his cell phone, figuring I'd just leave
him a message to ask him what time they would arrive. Well,
he answered it, and then said, "I'm about to go onstage,
let me talk to you tomorrow. I have a problem with my bass."
So, I called him the next morning, and he told me that the
tone knob got punched into the pickguard, and he needed
it repaired, but he felt bad asking me to work when I should
be enjoying myself. I told him that to me, that's not work
and I wanted to make sure that his bass was trouble free.
I took some tools and parts in with me that day. I got there
plenty early to get the repair done. I videotaped the soundcheck,
took some pictures, and then went to work on his bass on
the table in the dressing room. It's not tremendously exciting,
but there's a 
We
had been talking a lot, hell, he even called me from Germany
after the "Roadburn" festival that they played
to tell me how it went. He was giving me ideas before that
about what his perfect bass would be. Maybe we could modify
his, or he could come up with something I could fix. He
told me some specific things he wanted, so I came up with
the idea of just building something from scratch. With my
resources, I could do it. I knew people that I could get
the parts from for very little, or free as an endorsement.
My wheels were turning in my head. When I saw him in NY,
he gave me 2 pieces of jewelry that belonged to his brother
that had passed away. "Would I incorporate these into
the bass we build?" He asked, and trusted me to hold
on to them. I kept bouncing ideas off of him, and went ahead
and put in an order for the neck and body and was basically
given them for all of the referrals I send. I contacted
a friend at Seymour Duncan Pickups, and he helped me obtain
the pickups. There was just a few more parts needed, and
soon it was time to start the assembly. The first thing
I had to do, was dye the top blue.