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The Basses of Rubber Soul
23 June 2018
5.36pm
Hofner95
A Beginning
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Rubber Soul marked the transition from McCartney’s Hofner to his newly acquired Rickenbacker 4001. Being a bass player, I like to roughly divide the discography between the Hofner, Please Please Me through Help plus Let It Be , and the Rickenbacker, Revolver through Abbey Road . I became curious on how much the Rickenbacker was used on the final recordings so I decided to do a little research. I found a quote from Harrison who recalled the Rickenbacker’s first use on the recording of “Think For Yourself “, recorded on the 8th of November 1965. Using Harrison’s memory as my starting point, I wrote down recording dates of all Rubber Soul period songs and cross referenced them back to that date and made educated guess about which bass was being used. I thought I’d share this with anyone who was interested. Just for a reference Paul received his Rickenbacker on the 30th of August 1965.

Rubber Soul

Drive My Car [13 October 1965], Hofner

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flow) [12, 21 October 1965], Hofner

You Won’t See Me [11 November 1965], *Rickenbacker or Hofner

Nowhere Man [21,22 October 1965], Hofner

Think For Yourself [8 November 1965), *Rickenbacker or Hofner

The Word [10 November 1965], *Rickenbacker or Hofner

Michelle [3 November 1965], *Rickenbacker or Hofner

What Goes On [4 November 1965], Hofner

Girl [11 November 1965],*Rickenbacker or Hofner

I’m Looking Through You [24 October, 6, 10, 11 November 1965], *Rickenbacker or Hofner

In My Life [18, 22 October 1965, Hofner

Wait [17 June, 11 November], Hofner

If I Needed Someone [16,18 October 1965], Hofner

Run For Your Life [12 October 1965], Hofner

Extra Rubber Soul Period Songs

12-Bar Original [4 November 1965], Hofner

We Can Work It Out [20, 29 October 1965], Hofner

Day Tripper [16 October 1965], Hofner

*=unsure which bass

If Harrison’s memory is correct, it appears that the Hofner was the main bass used during Rubber Soul . “Think For Yourself ” presents a challenge in that there are two basslines. I do not know whether the Rickenbacker was used only for the fuzz bass line or for both lines. The other four songs: “You Won’t See Me “, “The Word “, “Girl” and “I’m Looking Through You ” are the only other songs that could feature the Rickenbacker as they were recorded after November 8. I did this research purely for entertainment and wonder and hope that anyone who read it found in interesting.

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24 June 2018
2.20pm
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Dark Overlord
Nowhere Land
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I used to be really into this kind of stuff. Although George claims that he first used the bass on Think For Yourself , Paul had the bass the entire time during the Rubber Soul sessions (he got it after the Hollywood Bowl performance) and he’s seen playing his Rickenbacker on Michelle on the 3rd, 5 days before Think For Yourself so George made a mistake on that one.

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25 June 2018
12.35am
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The Hole Got Fixed
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It sounds very much to me like he’s using the Rickenbacker on The Word .

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26 June 2018
10.03pm
Hofner95
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Dark Overlord said
I used to be really into this kind of stuff. Although George claims that he first used the bass on Think For Yourself , Paul had the bass the entire time during the Rubber Soul sessions (he got it after the Hollywood Bowl performance) and he’s seen playing his Rickenbacker on Michelle on the 3rd, 5 days before Think For Yourself so George made a mistake on that one.  

Thanks for linking those photos. I have seen those pictures before, those pictures are still the only time I’ve seen a bass capo. I’ve edited the post to reflect that on “Michelle “. It appears that George was misremembering the dates, unless for some reason he switched back to the Hofner after those photos. 

27 June 2018
9.25am
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Beatlebug
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They all went completely capo-crazy on Rubber Soul a-hard-days-night-paul-7

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Von Bontee

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28 June 2018
12.36pm
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Bongo
Somewhere In Time
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And yet, he kept playing the Hofner live in concert! mccartney-shrug_01_gif

Other than seeing him play the Rick in the Hello Goodbye & I Am The Walrus videos, he even went back to the Hofner on the Rooftop concert. ahdn_paul_01

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1 April 2021
9.20am
MyValentine
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One should not forget that there was also a Fender Jazzbass available – often seen in studio pics. I don´t know when they aquired it, nor for what songs (albums) it has been used, but they defintely used it!

(any help?)

The 6-string Fender bass was usually played by John or George when they had to substitute for Paul on bass, I don´t think Paul ever used it.

1 April 2021
1.10pm
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Dark Overlord
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They didn’t have Fender basses until 1968 when they recorded the White Album .

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