There is a feature article on JPJ in the July edition of Bass Player. Available on line at http://www.bassplayer.com/0703_Features2.htm
 
No mention of Alembic!

Yeah...JPJ was and always will be one of the most incredible bassplayers ever!!!  You can see him playing a couple of Alembics on the new Led Zep two DVD set during the '79 Knebworth gigs...which is totally incredible to watch.  Brings back amazing memories...

 
Hey everone, I thought this picture would be a good addition to this thread. JPJ is my biggest influence.

Doggy, great pic; I don't recall seeing that one before. Any date of that shot? Must be '79 or '80, considering the haircut and Triple O body shape. Ditto on the influence...I'll never forget June, 1977, Madison Square Garden, NYC.....saw Led Zep on the 5th night of seven sold-out shows.  
Been playing bass ever since..............

Yeah the pic must be from that era since i believe he only had it from 79-80 on tour. I actually saw this bass in person at the rock n' roll hall of fame.  I went to cleveland to see family in March, so I decided to go to the hall of fame. Wow,,, I saw  this 8-string, the outfit he wore during the Song Remains The Same, concert. and the organ he used on Zep IV and on that tour. That bass is the most amazing Alembic I have ever seen, it has the most intricate inlays both on the neck and the body, it would nice to get some close up shots so everyone could see.

That bass seems pretty ornate.  Is that the BecVar one he has?  From the looks of it, I would say it is a 1974 or 1975 bass.  It only has one screw per side on the pickups.

LED zepplin recieves grammy nomination,JPJ with his alembic on MSN.heres link .http://music.msn.com/netcal/default.aspx?netcal=3995

Thanks for the link, Keavin.

OggyDoggy, the first time I saw that 8 string was on a poster from the same tour (maybe even same gig; same hair and clothes). It started an obsession that lasted 20-odd years, until I finally got my own Triple O in 2004 (wish I could've stretched to all that inlay work!). Can't believe you've seen the real thing, I would LOVE to see that. That is my all-time favourite bass. Is that Cleveland Ohio? (wish it was Cleveland in England, it would be a bit easier for me!) I also always wondered why there weren't more pictures of that bass. It took me years to find any after that first poster, and they were poor. Does anyone have any close-ups? Mica? Susan? JP? Pretty please??

Man am I late on this one!, but- here it goes... JPJ did not start using Alembics 'til the album Presence in 1977,the JPJ pics shown w/short hair are from the 1980 tour in Europe & I have seen an ad in a 1977 issue of Guitar Player(I believe w/ Page on the cover), of that 8 string bass which is billed as Bec-Var and Alembic was nowhere to be found on the ad! Very strange... Could anybody offer up some history of Bec-Var? I'm very interested. Take care guys.

He is a former employee and worked @ alembic back in the day, here's one of his, well (alembics???)http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=18&viewMode=0&item=1980.544

There have been several quite interesting threads; start with this one.  Then go here and scroll down to the bottom and read Val's post.  For more, run a search on Becvar.
 
(Message edited by davehouck on December 09, 2005)

Just wanted to keep this thread fresh since Jones is such a huge musical influence. By the way his Alembics are real Killers!

Yes, the ill-fated Germany show, where Clint Eastwood was forced to fill in for JPJ, after a minor traffic accident delayed the Led Zep bassist until halfway through 'No Quarter'.  
 
But seriously....great pic, Jimmy, I've not seen this one before, and a classic shot it is. As I type this message, I've right-clicked on this pic, and selected set as background, so I see it every time I power up or exit Explorer. Many thanx........
Chris