John McVie bass info

[BassPlyr23]

I'm hoping some rock'n'roll techie might be able to help me with some
information.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I know that up until around '74 or so, John
favored Fender Jazz basses, until he switched over to Alembic Series I's which
he used through the Tusk tour. (He used a couple of fretted and fretless
models on that tour) He used Hamers on the Mirage tour, switched back to
Fenders (a Precision, I think) for the Shake The Cage tour, and used a (I
think) Zon 6-string for the 90's tours. He recently has favored Tobias basses,
which he used on the reunion and Say You Will tours. The exception has been
the Fender Precision (with the E string tuned down to D) he uses only on "I'm
So Afraid", and has done so from the song's inception.

Here are my tech questions:
1) What was the wood used on the Alembics? (They don't look like any wood I've
seen in the Alembic catalogue - and I know that the Who's John Entwistle used
either zebrawood or bird's-eye maple on his Alembics)

2) What brand and gauge of string does John use?

3) Same question regarding picks?

4) Why doesn't he simply use a Hipshot D-tuner, rather than rig up a bass with
a detuned string for use on only one song? (Although I have to admit that when
I was in a band and owned two basses, I would use the spare, de-tuned, on "I'm
So Afraid." I just thought it looked cool. Our roadie would take the
opportunity to wipe down the strings on my main bass, then he'd re-tune the
spare when we were finished with ISA. Now I have a Hipshot.)

5) Since he is the most immobile member of the band, I find it odd that John
been wireless since 1982. Wouldn't one think that Lindsey is in more dire need
of a wireless unit than any living guitarist?

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Steve Denison]

Can't really respond to your individual questions, but I DO know that John's
using at least ONE Turner Electroline this tour.

Oh...as far as the wireless...he might like the slight bit of compression
that a wireless does to the signal...probably more subtle than using a
full-on compressor.

[Mike Whitaker]

Post by BassPlyr23
which he used on the reunion and Say You Will tours. The exception has been
the Fender Precision (with the E string tuned down to D) he uses only on "I'm
So Afraid", and has done so from the song's inception.

Db. It's to get the Db root in both the chorus and the playout. (Our
bassist was absolutely delighted when he discovered this!) I don't think
Hipshot do a tuner that'll drop to Db.