Greetings All

[Lloyd Howard]

Greetings all,

I've played double bass for 43 years, and electric bass guitar for about 23, having previously studied piano for 5 years, voice for 3 and drums for 4 years. Viet Nam interfered with pursuing a musical education. I left the military in '83, settled in Western NY - beautiful country; finished raising a family and sent two children to college. I've played mostly in this area since. The group I primarily work with, and have for the last 13/14 years, is seen at a modest web site http://www.razzandfriends.com . I also gig with other groups as my schedule will allow. The last few years I've been averaging 150+ gigs a year. That's one of the primary reasons I retired 2 1/2 years ago from a short 15-year IT management (Information Technology) career with NY State. (Although the IT involvement really started in the early '70s while stationed at the Navy Annex in Washington, DC and was re-awakened while back in school in the late '80s working for a BS in physics and an MBA.)

I've played mostly jazz (bebop and swing) mixed in with doing mostly private gigs and a few public gigs. I never played pop or related music until about 15 years ago when I started working with a group that focused mostly on '70s pop with some '80s mixed in. Interestingly, the group is composed mostly of philosophy professors that I met at the university I went to in the late '80s. What was interesting was that I had never played those pop songs before this group, but I grew up with the music and knew it. Its always been a really fun group, but won't replace my first love.

I do some teaching for double bass for the Infinity Performing Arts, a non-profit organization in Jamestown, NY - http://www.infinityperformingarts.org - which is meant to augment education in the public/private school environments for those students interested in pursuing music as a vocation. I also do some private teaching and involvement in music events where I have something to contribute.

The first bass I bought was a Kay S-8 model, made about 1941, from Weaver's Violin Shop in 1966 while I was in college (first time) in Washington DC. I still play that bass routinely. I also have a 7/8 carved bass of unknown vintage that I got from an ex-symphonic player in 1983, but I believe he said it was built in the early 1930's. I use it for the upright gigs that I don't use the Kay. I have two other double basses that belonged to my father, one German, and the other Italian. I rarely play those out. He played in big bands mostly out of the NYC area.

I became interested in electric bass in the late '70s and I bought a '78 Precision new from a shop in Norfolk, VA. I also wanted a fretless, but there didn't seem to be a decent selection at reasonable prices to choose from, so I decided to build my own from scratch - no kit. I used black walnut for the body, hard maple for the non-trussrod-ed neck with an ebony fingerboard (sound a little familiar?). I machined all the hardware except knobs and tuners. I play that bass alot currently using TI Jazz Flats, but now it also shares time with a used Yamaha fretless I got a year ago. I'll use a fretless on gigs where I would rather not to use an upright if the leader doesn't have a preference. Besides the Precision, I have other fretted basses that I really enjoy playing when I can, a Kawai FIIB, a Travis Bean TB2000, and a 4 string Ibanez SR300DX that I swapped out the stock pickups/electronics for EMG P/J pickups with TI Super Alloy strings - great sound.

I look forward to learning from and enjoying this forum.

[Mike Pecanic]

Welcome Lloyd! Wow, a Travis Bean, I haven't seen one in years....

[Richard Prowse]

Welcome Lloyd.
Check out the Down Here (NZ) thread.
We'd love to hear from you.
Your new pal Richard