I Thought it would be time to post this here since I can't go there and make the corrections. Anyone here is welcomed to go on TB and copy/paste my corrections. Just a few here, nothing major but the facts are just wrong. I will post the phrase, correction and a link to that Post/Thread on TB so you can see and respond there (or here) if you like.
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From;
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f31/da...l#post11493393
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Don Higdon 
Dare I point this out? One former TB member was right in the thick of things, playing jazz on DB and switching to BG back when it was getting off the ground: Ken Smith.
"I remember that Ken was apprenticing for Carl Thompson back in the 70's. Carl had a shop (and still does) on Court street at his house in Brooklyn. Carl's musical heros are Jim Hall, Johnny Smith and Jackie Paris. Carl was a jazz guitarist who made the switch to electric bass late. When you say in the thick of things, is this what you mean, Don? His apprenticeship with Carl Thompson?"
Ah, I was never an apprentice of Carl Thompson or anyone else for that matter. I knew Carl, been to both the shops he had (NYC and Brooklyn) and even played a Duo gig with him once. I also borrowed his Band-saw once to make Spool Clamps cutting Pine Circles out for the clamps. I hung out at the shop socially as well in the early '70s in NYC when he started the shop but was NEVER his apprentice. I can see how one might think that shooting in the dark but with this lights on, we were just friends.
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From my buddy Don Higdon's mention of me being an early Doubler;
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f31/da...l#post11493827
Quote:
Originally Posted by
salcott
Ken was active in the early 50s?
"Yes, he was very active, because that's when he was born.
On the basis of what he's said, he was in the NYC scene in the late 60's. He did start on DB and switch later. I'm sure he played DB when he was with Silver.
Steve Swallow didn't switch until 1970: Cranshaw was playing DB in the 60's, I don't know what year he switched. In any event, there were not that many BG's in jazz for years after the Fender was introduced."
I actually played my Fender 'P' bass with Horace Silver that I had scraped (literally) the Frets down flush with the Fretboard leaving only the Tang (the part that holds the Fret in the wood) showing as lines for the notes/positions.
I thank Don for mentioning that about me even with that minor correction.
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From a common error in the Smith/Fodera history;
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f30/yo...l#post11484579
"If I remember well the article in Bass Player mag, AJ said he wanted to go lower and lower while he was doing walking bass and he was struggling when going higher because he had to move up the neck on the G string. Carl Thombson didn't want his name associated with his crazy idea so he made what exacly AJ wanted resulting in a failliure.
Ken Smith get what the idea of AJ more but it wasn't until Joey and Vinnie Fodera quit Ken Smith to make Fodera bass that the idea of AJ became really well made."
Ok, Joey (Lauricella)
NEVER worked FOR me or for Ken Smith Basses. He was a customer in the first few years we produced basses and had bought about 5 basses from me at my Apartment/Shop on 13th street. He also brought a customer or two over to buy basses as well but not as a salesman either. Just to bring a friend over to buy. Later, he partnered with Fodera when I sold the shop and most of its contents to Vinnie and his two partners, Joey being one of them. We had unfinished basses, necks and body parts started and some orders to fill so I contracted them (mainly thru the 3rd partner of a short while that actually handled the business who is no longer there so I wont mention his name) to finish what was started so I could deliver the orders promised. In that time, I set up shop in PA by 1985 so the contracting phase between Fodera and Smith was less than 3 years. Less than 200 of the first bass carcasses (I finished up all the Basses on 13th street at my place in the City) were made in Brooklyn NY in 3 different shops and one in the City where we made some Neck and Body Billets and brought them to Brooklyn, not all by, with or thru Vinnie but the much of that NY basses were done with Vinnie in some part. All the rest (6,000+) have been made in my shop in PA.
No comment here from me on that authors opinions, just the facts!
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History is history and facts are facts. Not all of history is correct. If you have ever heard the phrase
"if it is written, it is true", then you will understand why I prefer to correct errors, mis-truths and outright lies while I am still here on this earth to do so. Many people, products and litterateurs we have read and learned from has not had the same privilege in the lifetime of the named persons, products or claimed occurrences. I feel it is my obligation to set the record straight no matter how big or small.
Your replies and discussions are welcomed here.