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This is gonna be hard to believe but I am 98% sure for a while I had bought from an old family shop music store in southern NJ and owned one of Flea's black MusicMan basses according to the serial number on it, it was either his or Michael Anthony's of VH. No joke. It was custom made for a top endorsement from 1990-1991. They both fit the bill. EB was helpful to narrow it down best they can pre-computer logging, they think it was MA's from VH's, I personally think it was Flea's from his famous SNL performance when JF was kinda out of it and Keidis kicked him in the butt at the end of the Stone Cold Bush song. For real. It got slightly damaged in a flood and someone bought it off of ebay , and he said he absolutely loved it. Totally custom bass ! Good times ! :D

@BARTFUNKBASS

5 ай бұрын

Do you still own it?

@thesanfordmethod1905

5 ай бұрын

Nope.., I sold it... It was a bad omen I gotta say. wait til I tell you the rest, I didn't know for like 20 years. I'll come back later on with more infor about it, it's worth reading.@@BARTFUNKBASS

@thesanfordmethod1905

5 ай бұрын

i just couldn't get the provinance on it, EB was helpful but they couldn't say with 100% it was his. @@BARTFUNKBASS

@BARTFUNKBASS

5 ай бұрын

Cool!

@thesanfordmethod1905

5 ай бұрын

There's a great, but loonngg yet cool story wrapped around this bass which goes from EB MusicMan company the two Ball brothers who own it now, to a small mom and pop music store in Pittman, NJ called The Music Museum, to Flea himself and his music school in LA. I can guarantee with 98% certainty that it's most likely that black MM Stingray bass Flea played on the famous SNL episode back in 1991 , or maybe one of his back up basses from that night, or in that 2% it could be Michael Anthony's from VH, or even from the band Blur. No joke. EBMM is leaning it is MA of VH . But my gut say Flea. I can send you a pic of it before it left my hands and I can find the serial number too. But this Stingray was custom made and you can feel and hear it right from the start. First it had very hot pickups, this thing was Phat and Loud, the body was Alder , yes Alder, orangey wood, under that Black finish, not Ash, and the neck was the big custom part, the neck's width at the nut was the same width as a 5 string MM but in a 4 string config., the string spacing was so wide part it totally made for a great slapper and brought out a little more in everyone's playing if you had big mitts. Great stuff ! :D @@BARTFUNKBASS

Flea is amazing. He does have a lot of fret noise in his tone.

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

This is me playing actually. Thanks for listening! 😊✌️

Just went and listened to the Andre Foxxe Reputation. Well, that was quite something! Your mind cannot ever expect what that song sounds like.

N great playing too btw ❤

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Thanks, i always thought that flea had that Cutlass right from the early RHCP days. Great documentation and presentation!

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Me too! I thought 1st and 2nd MM are the same bass!

thats insane dude congrats

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Thank You! ☺️✌️

The silver sparkle Stingray 1 step down tuned was used often live on If You Have To Ask as he lately used to do with the Modulus Flea Bass

@BARTFUNKBASS

11 ай бұрын

Yes, I think his tech meant that the E string is 1 step down, not the entire bass. He didn't specify it exactly.

@NealFosterHD

10 ай бұрын

I agree as this is the only song I know that the whole bass needs to be tuned down one whole step

@joeltudor521966

10 ай бұрын

👍@@NealFosterHD

Really cool, thanks for putting this together! Flea is pretty darn good on that there bass! 🤠

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! 😊✌️

Very good video Bart! Hat's Off!👏👏👏I hope to see Mr. Michael Balzary playing again the Stingray Bass one of theese days...🤞🤞🤞

@BARTFUNKBASS

9 ай бұрын

Thanks! I don't think it's gonna happen 😀✌️

Awesome video!! Thanks 🙏

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Thank You!

Great video, thanks very much for putting it together:) By the way, I am fairly sure that is a Kahler 2440 series fixed bridge, not a 2TEK on the “crunch” bass.

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info! 😊 I've never seen one in real life, so you may be right 😎

Amazing video and playing

@BARTFUNKBASS

25 күн бұрын

Thank You! ✌️🎸

nice knowledge❤

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Thanks ✌️☺️

Is this the first of a deep-dive series? If so, I can't wait for the rest - this one is truly informative and enlightening.

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Yes, but I have the patience to make videos only about Flea basses 😄

@PeteCarlton

Жыл бұрын

@@BARTFUNKBASS 🤣🤣🤣

I purchased the 79 in my profile picture because I was a huge flea fan. I even got a similar elephant tattoo...😂

@BARTFUNKBASS

Ай бұрын

Coolness! 😉✌️🎸

Amazing vids BARTFUNKBASS thank you 👍🏻

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

Glad you like them! 😊✌️

Incredible!! Thank you

@brycequinn1

7 ай бұрын

Do one for his few modulus’s

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

I'll try ! :)

Love this video - kudos on all of the incredible details! My '95 Sterling sounds EXACTLY like the Alanis Morissette "You Out To Know" bass isolated track - I definitely agree it was Flea's Sterling on that record 👍👍

@BARTFUNKBASS

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! 😊✌️

Min. 8:24 The Honeyburst Fretless Lined Pau Ferro Fingerboard Clear Pickguard 3 band EQ Stingray 4 must be a year 1990 because of the truss rod adjust bullet that's set at the headstock instead at the end of the neck which became the standard from 1991 onward.

@BARTFUNKBASS

9 ай бұрын

Pau Ferro? I think it's rosewood? 😊 It can be 1990 because I've seen a few of them on Reverb. ✌️✌️✌️

@joeltudor521966

9 ай бұрын

@@BARTFUNKBASS You find Rosewood and rarely Ebony on pre Ernie Ball Fretless Basses, Pau Ferro on EB from late 80’s onward.

Pretty sure he played either a Wal or Alembic on Give it Away.

@BARTFUNKBASS

5 ай бұрын

Wal

I like the picture when you can see the 3 GK 800rb heads

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

🤩✌️🎸

thanks for this video, a lot of new information for me, like the flea bridge which i never understood the name!

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful! ✌️☺️

Aeroplane the verses (slap part) are stingray but the rest is alembic epic

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

Yeap

Great video as always Bart!

@BARTFUNKBASS

5 ай бұрын

Thanks! ✌️😊🎸

Bass tuned down a whole step for If You Have to Ask 9:24

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

"If You Have To Ask" is in Drop-D which means only E string is tuned down a whole step. I've seen live footages from that era and he was using StingRay or Sterling in "If You Have To Ask". However, his bass tech may have meant the "E" string, not the entire bass.

@NealFosterHD

10 ай бұрын

@@BARTFUNKBASS pretty sure it's not drop-d but all strings down a whole step

@BARTFUNKBASS

10 ай бұрын

Not in "If You Have To Ask"@@NealFosterHD

@RedHotChiliRiffs

8 ай бұрын

@@BARTFUNKBASS The bass on If You Have To Ask is definitely not drop-D. All the strings are a full step down so it’s: D-G-C-F. Same as Naked In The Rain. A lot of people think it’s drop-D but that’s incorrect. I really enjoyed this video! I always think of the Music Man as the ultimate Flea bass!

@BARTFUNKBASS

8 ай бұрын

@@RedHotChiliRiffs Thanks! Where did you get that information? Nobody actually knows how the bass was tuned. The only thing we know is we have to detune an E to a D to have a low range that let us play it correctly.

Flea recorded "Uplift Mofo.." and "Mother´s Milk" With Spector basses. Also giged a couple of years with Spector basses. In "Knock me Down" and "Good Time Boys" video clips Flea appears playing Spector and there are some footage of Flea recording arround 1986 with a Spector bass too.

@BARTFUNKBASS

3 ай бұрын

Yes, I think we all know it already :P

Kudos, that's a very accurate analysis! It's just missing the black Stingray he used in 1993 for If You Have to Ask (the one with a big white sticker on the pickguard). Or did he use a Sterling for the drop-D tuning songs?

@BARTFUNKBASS

Жыл бұрын

I took 90's black StingRay as one copy because no one knows how many he had at that time.

Awesome video!!! I really want to know about... which bass line on this video is going on time line? like, 1:30 Jungle man

@BARTFUNKBASS

5 ай бұрын

Hi! Thank You! Yes, I played "Jungle Man"! 😊✌️

you outta know sounds like a stingray with the treble cut

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

it's possible

I'm not pretty sure about this, but in Alanis' album, or in "You Oughta Know" track, his bass doesn't sound a lot like a Music Man. It does sound like a Jazz Bass, or a heavily bridge sound configuration at least.

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

Have you had the opportunity to play a 5-string StingRay or Sterling USA with a 3-position switch?

@vinisasso

7 ай бұрын

@@BARTFUNKBASS No, I never had.

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

​@@vinisasso I've had StingRay 5 for a few years and I think the ""You Oughta Know" sound is one of the single coil modes.

@vinisasso

7 ай бұрын

@@BARTFUNKBASS I did consider that possibly it was a bridge pickup solo configuration going on, not necessarily coming from a Jazz Bass

@BARTFUNKBASS

7 ай бұрын

@@vinisasso Check this out: kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZGuLmpufcsSzec4.html