Gordy Headless Bass

bought new about 1987-8 for #400 reduced from #650 as it had a slight dent on the rear. status lookalike hand made by gordy/manchester guitar co, this was one of the first ones prior to a tantrum by status which left the later models with more pronounced slashed ends (rather than curved) to the pointy bits! Neck through Body made of ash or alder in gloss black. Unique bridge means string ball ends sit in slots at the neck end while the strings are cut to length and clamped in the bridge voila! Pickups are two gordy handmade alnico units (so trev walker the gordy tech/salesman told me) into an active pre-amp, two 3 way micro switches, two vol and two tone switches. The neck is quite wide but shallow and the fingerboard is ebony with no inlays.

I`ve played all styles and it has a sound for them all. Flea would cream his jockstrap over the sound of this... but so would john entwhistle and jaco and pino, honestly so many sounds. People were buying these after hearing mine at gigs. The treble can be a little hissy depending on amp settings but hey just roll it off a gnats dick!

Everything was spot on as i would have expected from a bloke of trevors ability when purchased and the only thing i`ve had to do since is alter the truss rod and change the battery. The rod has an access hole at the end of the neck so you can literally adjust it while playing.

I still use this as my no1 instrument - god knows I`ve tried all sorts of name basses and things over the last 18 years but I still keep coming back to this as my workhorse! Despite regular gigging at smoky sweaty beer spilling biker rallies etc(yes I have been so bongo`d I couldn`t move my fingers (or my legs) keep it simple!!)- it never wears out, gets temperamental or fails to deliver. It does help that the action is guitar like which has been commented on by not suprisingly many jealous guitarists.

company is now R.I.P. - Trev continued working for many years and was one of the few people who I would trust near any of my instruments , however he has now cleared off to spain - the jammy git.

Have turned into an boring ancient old git i`m afraid. Am using a GK1001RB - Behringer BassV-amp Pro, Hartke vx115 and Ashdown ABM 2x10. My only gripe is that the bass looks great except on stage where due to it being black it doesn`t stand out at all. I once actually sold this bass and bought a status 5-string - then promptly sold the status and bought it back again! It has seen off the following : Fender precision, Musicman stingray, Status 5-string, usa squire jazz bass, epiphone thunderbird and gibson thunderbird. At the moment I have a WAL pro bass, a late 70`s Aria SB1000 with a bartolini pickup and preamp, a mint original mid 80`s Aria SB1000 and yet I still come back to the gordy for its sounds, playability and reliabilaty.

Approx 1985 vitage.
Made in Northern England by an ex partner of Gordon Smith guitars.

24 fret through neck construction bass built to an approximation of the Status Series 2 basses.

Body appears to be either maple or alder, fingerboard is a superb rosewood with no inlays on the front at all.

2 volumes, 1 bass and 1 treble control all topped with 'Precision'style tops, and a series/parallel/reverse phase miniswitch for each pickup, this active instrument has what appears to be Schaller totally enclosed twin coil pickups of the humbucking type.

The bridge although being a tuning style as with a Steinberg, owes much to the Rickenbacker for it's saddle design.

I bought this bass about 6 years ago from Musical Exchanges in Birmingham, England. I paid #310:00 for it but I am sure that new it would have cost somewhere around the #600 bracket.

The bass is also quite light so it it ideal for long sessions.

As a stage bass it is very clinical in it's sound. Care needs to be exesized in set up because the low frequency output is very powerful indeed. With the treble up it can be redio surceptable.

For recording it is superb, very flexible in sound range. With digital recording mediums it comes into it's own.

Very loud and clear when you compair it to passive instruments.

Range of sounds from extreem treble through extreem bass, but with sounds taken from Jazz Basses and Rickenbackers, and right on to JD Supernaturals.

Frets are heavy weight, scale length is the full 33.5 inch, and the action is as low as any good guitar!

Finish even now is superb in a typical Fender solid flame red body and neck.

Lage back plate in black covers all controls and there is a small black plate for the PP3/9 volt battery.

I have used this bass sevaral times in a live environment and it has had no problems. The only gripe is the radio interferance from dimmers when I have loads of treble up.

I do prefer my Yamaha BB350 with MEC's and a Wilkinson Bridge for live though.

Never had to use it. I'm not even sure if I could get in touch. Are they still in business?

I have played guitar and bass for over 35 years now, I play a variety of music from own songs to Yes, Gentle Giant, Level 42, The Who ect.

With guitar I play Hendrix, Deep Purple, Focus and Django Reinhardt stuff.

I have a '64 Strat in candy red. A '72 Jazz Bass with EMG's and a Yamaha BB350 with MEC active system built in.

Trace Elliot GP11, OMP 400 watt per side amp and 2 single 15 horn loaded bins, along with 2 twin 10 cabs all Eminence.

Boss foot rack effects, Alesis 3630, Zoom RFX1000.

Plus digital recording equipment by AKAI.