He's such a good player, and you can always hear his sound no matter what he's using.
Personally he always sounds like he's using a Rickenbacker, even though it's often a Fender.
I recently bought Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Bass Guitar book and thought I'd share a few pics for anyone interested. It's a beast of a book at 30cm by 30cm and 4.5 cm thick. Well written, beautifully illustrated and photographed, with lots of fascinating little nuggets and great interviews with some bass legends.
What I find particularly fascinating is up until 2012 Geddy Lee had no interested in vintage basses at all, with just 5 working instruments to his name. Then he got the bug and now has over 250! He admits to having an obsessive nature and that really comes through in the book, along with his enthusiasm and love for the instrument.
All in all it's an essential tome for anyone interested in bass guitars, however remotely and it's currently just £21 on Amazon, which is frankly a steal!
There's lots of youtube footage of Geddy being interviewed about the book, if you want a glimpse at his obsession.
Cheers,
Gary
He's such a good player, and you can always hear his sound no matter what he's using.
Personally he always sounds like he's using a Rickenbacker, even though it's often a Fender.
Ordered that book myself on Amazon on New Year's Eve and managed to get it for £16, albeit it took a couple of months to arrive.
It's a fabulous piece. Geddy has a gobsmacking collection; just unreal. I mean - I have a nice guitar collection myself, or perhaps 'accumulation' might be a better word. But Geddy has some amazing stuff.
One disappointment though, for me : I was hoping that his 'teardrop' Fender Precision would be featured. I've always had a soft spot for that one since I only ever saw him play it once, at my first Rush gig in June 1977.
But he had this to say about it in an interview a few years ago so perhaps it's not surprising:
"It was very trendy for a while for Toronto bass players to have teardrop-shaped Precisions, It 's got a monster sound, but it's totally uncontrollable. I put a set of Jazz pickups on it, and it's wild; it's the loudest bass you'll ever hear - totally in your face. But I ruined it by cutting the horns off and painting it like a '57 Chevy in a fit of mental retardation! I hate when that happens: "Wouldn't it be cool if I did this?" Yeah, for about 5 minutes... I pulled it out the other day, and it looks so awful. It's baby blue and white-just a gross thing."
Bernie Marsden has a similar book coming out soon, featuring his own gobsmacking guitar collection.
He could do a book with just The Beast (his '59 Les Paul), and it would be enough. Have you seen this interview with Lee Anderton? He seems like a really nice, unaffected guy. A high point of the video is at about 19:20, when he takes the poker chip off to reveal the original cherry sunburst finish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6V8htfnkvc