LeftyBassist.com

2 of my former basses at New Jersey Guitar and Bass Center http://www.newjerseyguitarandbasscenter ... anded.html

Why did the Lakland not make it to Sir Paul?

Don't know the entire story, but according to Dan Lakin (the former co owner of Lakland ) the bass had been built specifically to be given to McCartney gratis. After about 6 months of trying to contact "his people" Dan gave up and offered it to his dealers. Jay at NJG&B could supply more details if you're interested. Besides that bit of history ,it's a really great bass. I was the second owner (bought it used in 2003, sold it to board member Geoff (BBL) who sold it to Bryan Dean (Dark Kent) who then sold it back to me about 2 years ago. I'm just more of a P bass guy ,but I can honestly say it's the best Jazz style bass I've ever owned.

Too bad for Sir Paul, he missed out a great bass!

And with his reputation of being a cheapskate when it comes to buying instruments I'm sure the price (free) would have appealed to him.

When I owned the Lakland I tried to confirm the Sir Paul story with Dan Lakin - he didn't know anything about it.

But... that Lakland JO is possibly the finest bass I ever owned.

Don't want to question Jay's credibility and as I said I don't know the entire story. If his statement is questionable, or if you really care, you could contact him directly. He may be able to shed some light on this.

Definitely a kick ass bass.

I had a friend who used to date Kirk Hammett's sister after the Black Album exploded... he's the guitarist in Metallica, for those who don't know.

Anyway, she would house-sit for him and take care of the place while he was on tour and they would stay there a lot.

I have no idea if this is true or not... and I'm certain he was exaggerating a little bit, at the very least... but he said that UPS and FedEx would make daily stops at the house and just drop off boxes of free shit.

Food, clothes, guitars, amps, effects... anything you can imagine... people just sending him stuff for free, with hopes that he'll like it and talk about it in an interview or have his picture taken using it or wearing it or whatever.

An assistant would sort through it all, figure out what stuff was actually Kirk's, decide what stuff Kirk might be interested in... and then just give the rest away to friends and local charities.

My point is... if that story about Kirk Hammett is true... can you imagine all the people who are lining up to give McCartney free shit?

If Dan really was trying to give him that bass, my guess is that he was one of dozens of bass builders trying to give Paul a bass, and Paul probably had no idea.

There's my story for the day.

Yeah giveaways are a big part of the business. My friends brother Pete Browne ran the East Coast operation for the original Center Staging outside of Philly. http://centerstaging.com/?fullsite=yes Almost all manufacturers would give him free equipment to get the exposure of having their logos seen on national tv shows. They provided backline for all the major award shows (Grammies,ACM'S,R&R HOF etc.) as well as backline for major artists such as Clapton,Beck, Billy Joel (well you get the idea) Once we were visiting the rehearsal studio in Pa. and an 18 wheeler pulled up and off loaded a dozen Ampeg SVT cabs gratis. Unreal.