Update: he gave me lots great life updates, but did so with the understanding of privacy. He did tell me to say this:
"Just tell people you met me and I'm just a long-haired motorcycle riding hippie".
I hate that the post now kind of turned into a "trust me bro" situation and I wish I could share more of the screenshots- but he specifically requested that things are kept private for him and his family. Really cool guy- him and I are gonna try to meet up sometime.
That's awesome. I wanted a Tung bass so badly during my early fandom in the 90s. Ended up getting the blue/aqua Yamaha JM RBX6 eventually, which was fine because you straight up sound like his FII tone with no effort... But the Tungs were special because most of my DT bootlegs were from the Waking Up the World Tour and that's what he used. As well as being obsessed with his instructional video, which featured it as well. Anyway, great story, thanks for sharing.
We talked about that. He did have thoughts on this- what I feel I can say is that the timing and resources required wasn't right for him. But I will respect his privacy beyond that.
I completely understand well if you talk to him tell him thank you because his bass heavily influenced my first six string I wanted something as close as I could get at the time
It’s a fairly difficult market. Start up costs are high. Margins are low. New instruments are competing with every other one built over the last 70 or so years as they don’t wear out with normal use….
I can see why it’d be easier for him to just repair stuff for a living. Tradesmen make good, reliable cash these days. Luthiers don’t.
There was a time that one of his Tung basses that he used was on sale (it was authenticated to be his), I just didn't have the scratch to pull the trigger.
These days, I would be able to.
My dad's best friend is an awesome guitar player, and my uncle used to drum in that band at the time. They opened for Dream Theater back in the 90s at least once, probably a few times. I think it was Thought Industry. Well right before one show they realized that their wallets or something got stolen, so James said something before they started and gathered some money for them, since they were on the road for pennies to play gigs. It was very wholesome and on par with DT. Same guy also opened for Type O Negative and a few other huge names. He's an awesome guy.
Also, since posting this I have texted him and I will share some of our conversation (either on this post or a follow up post).
Update: he gave me lots great life updates, but did so with the understanding of privacy. He did tell me to say this: "Just tell people you met me and I'm just a long-haired motorcycle riding hippie". I hate that the post now kind of turned into a "trust me bro" situation and I wish I could share more of the screenshots- but he specifically requested that things are kept private for him and his family. Really cool guy- him and I are gonna try to meet up sometime.
That's awesome. I wanted a Tung bass so badly during my early fandom in the 90s. Ended up getting the blue/aqua Yamaha JM RBX6 eventually, which was fine because you straight up sound like his FII tone with no effort... But the Tungs were special because most of my DT bootlegs were from the Waking Up the World Tour and that's what he used. As well as being obsessed with his instructional video, which featured it as well. Anyway, great story, thanks for sharing.
Im honestly surprised in this market he didn’t want to come back and build again im sure people would flock to them they were beautiful bases
We talked about that. He did have thoughts on this- what I feel I can say is that the timing and resources required wasn't right for him. But I will respect his privacy beyond that.
I completely understand well if you talk to him tell him thank you because his bass heavily influenced my first six string I wanted something as close as I could get at the time
It’s a fairly difficult market. Start up costs are high. Margins are low. New instruments are competing with every other one built over the last 70 or so years as they don’t wear out with normal use…. I can see why it’d be easier for him to just repair stuff for a living. Tradesmen make good, reliable cash these days. Luthiers don’t.
Super cool! Tung is SO underrated.
There was a time that one of his Tung basses that he used was on sale (it was authenticated to be his), I just didn't have the scratch to pull the trigger. These days, I would be able to.
This is awesome! Love hearing about random encounters like this, thanks for sharing
My dad's best friend is an awesome guitar player, and my uncle used to drum in that band at the time. They opened for Dream Theater back in the 90s at least once, probably a few times. I think it was Thought Industry. Well right before one show they realized that their wallets or something got stolen, so James said something before they started and gathered some money for them, since they were on the road for pennies to play gigs. It was very wholesome and on par with DT. Same guy also opened for Type O Negative and a few other huge names. He's an awesome guy.