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I think the first three Rickenbacker basses were imported around 1964. Pete Quaife, the bassist for The Kinks, bought one. Then John Entwistle from The Who bought one. As for the third one, I asked the manager of the store if I could get an employee discount. He said I could, and so I picked up that one.

Bass guitar is the engine of the band.

Before moving to Pennsylvania in 1999, I played bass in a newsroom rock band in South Florida for several years.

I've had to replace parts in the basses when they've gotten old or worn out, so everything isn't absolutely original.

In 1972, I got my first electric bass and started playing the kind of instrument I play now. I found that the majority of musicians couldn't bear that. They are not used to listening to the bass because they think the bass is in the background to support them.

I wasn't originally a bass player. I just found out I was needed, because everyone wants to play guitar.

A bass should sound like a bass with the thump of the finger against the wood, like it began with stand up.

I was not a great guitarist, so I sold my 1960 Fender Stratocaster in exchange for a Shure Microphone, made in Chicago, and a flute.

The bass should be the note of the bass drum, and then you've got the engine of the band that everything else builds on. Everything else, the guitar, the keyboards, is a colour.