Talk to me about tic toc bass

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Quite an interesting recording technique. Are a bass VI and a baritone guitar two different things? Does it matter which you use?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Bob from Brooklyn

Quite an interesting recording technique. Are a Bass VI and a baritone guitar two different things? Does it matter which you use?

In order:

• Yes, and a common one from the late-50's through the mid-60's, where it either doubled a stand-up bass (to add definition) or played a contrapuntal bass line of its own;
• Yes - a Bass VI is a 30" scale (same as a short scale bass) instrument tuned E-E (one octave below a guitar), a baritone guitar usually has a 26-29" scale tuned B-B (a fourth below a guitar) or A-A (a fifth below);
• I've heard of the Bass VI and A-tuned baritone used interchangeably, but IMO they're two distinctly different instruments - the former has more of a "bass" timbre thanks to the heavier strings (traditionally 26-95 flatwounds) whereas, thanks to its thinner strings (usually roundwounds in contemporary use) and shorter scale, to my ears the baritone rests more squarely in the "guitar" camp in spite of its extended lower register...

While both the Beatles and Jack Bruce made good use of the Bass VI during their respective careers, it was Neil Levang - who shared the guitar chair with the late Buddy Merrill in Lawrence Welk's orchestra - who brought the instrument to the attention of the general public, playing a Daphne Blue prototype on Welk's 1961 million-seller "Calcutta" in a textbook example of "tic-tac" bass:



TMK the instrument remained the property of the Welk orchestra (who would, thanks to their So-Cal location and Lawrence's executive position at Dot/Dolton/World Pacific Records, receive other unusual gear over the years - including one of the first Mandocasters, various amplification equipment, and the decidedly non-Fender-built electric harpsichord also featured on the recording); here's Buddy Merrill using the same Bass VI in a 1971 TV performance:

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Good info Steve. Somehow I figured you'd be one of the guys responding to this.

I was listening to an interview with Tommy Alsup (the guy who lost the coin flip with Richie Valens) and he said he played tic toc on this:

[12barBill]

Great info and great response Steve! And thanks for the Lawrence Welk Show flashback and the memories of my grandmother (Nana) that provides. She died in 1983 at the age of 74, played the organ in her church until her death, and never missed The Lawrence Show.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

So I guess they call it tic tac also. This is a pretty good example of what it is.

[FrankHudson]

I'm a Squier Bass VI owner and player. I like mine a lot. My understanding (less informed than Steve, but then who isn't ) is that folks do play the Bass VI with various strings and tunings, some think of it as a baritone, some as a bass.

Glenn Campbell, "Galveston" is an example of one sounding like a baritone or low tuned guitar. I think Robert Smith/The Cure uses one more as low tuned guitar range too. Fresh Cream is mostly all Bass VI played by Bruce I think.

Mine's strung with fairly light round-wounds (I often, but not exclusivly, play flatwound strings on electric bass). I tune E to E, an octave below guitar. Within that 6 string neck there's a lot of range there. Playing up the neck on the thinner strings is well into baritone or even low-end guitar range, while sitting on the E and A down by the nut is firmly in the land of electric bass soundwise. In that way it's almost like a "double neck" in that you can cover a lot of sonic territory.

One odd thing I've found with mine: it can really sound more like a Jazz guy bass solo-break lines high on an upright bass than most electrics. I use all three pickups on when I want that sound. Up the neck and thinner strings let one simulate fretless vibrato with string bends, which is part of the impersonation.

As Steve points out, classic Tic Toc bass doesn't involve short portrait orientation videos with nutty dance moves but a doubling of a lower bass part, or occasionally counterpoint lines.

I played with a guy who used a DanElectro baritone for awhile. He played chords mostly on his. I did a conversion neck bari myself (27" scale as I recall, I tuned B to B) but I never used it as much as I thought I would. I thought "cello range, but with guitar fingerings and plucked" and I use bowed cello and the like a fair amount, but it just didn't get the call as much as figured it might. I used a Warmoth bari conversion neck with guitar tuners and existing guitar bridge on the body (note: it should be a sturdy bridge, higher string tension). Easy to do.

[Howard Emerson]

The first recollection I have of that particular studio technique combining an upright bass with an electric bass of some sort was hearing this in 1962:



He made a lot of money with that sound.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Chickee]

I can’t say with any honesty I have knowledge of what a Tic Toc Bass is or does, but I do know all about A Tic Toc Tach!
If you had a well optioned muscle car in the late 60’s or early 70’s this gauge was in your dashboard. Definitely the king of cool when it comes to hot rod gauges!
It’s a clock! No, it’s a Tachometer!