What’s up with Jack Casady's original Starfire headstock?

[lungimsam]

Looks like a piece of metal jammed under the tuner? The tuner is tilted. Field repair I guess.
Also, looks like a plastic or leather receiving loop is screwed to the back, too.
It also looks like it had a bad neck break repair.
Wonder if it was still that way when it was stolen.
I amazed it could stay in tune.

 

[fronobulax]

Source might help since Jack had two Starfires. I think the white angling from the A tuner to the headstock is a reflection but there is definitely something else going on.

 

[mellowgerman]

Looks to me like in the middle there is some kind of leather strap with one of those snap buttons? Maybe to hold something in place? Or a little add-on clip to make it possible to lean the bass up against an amp? Just spit-ballin here.
In the third photo it looks like you can see a little bit of shade under the white thing, Looks like a bit of paper... rolling paper? Is it a hand-rolled cigarette perhaps?

 

[lungimsam]

It is seen in many different angles and in many of the different Woodstock song clips so I think it is something jammed in there. It is the brown Starfire.

 

[Minnesota Flats]

The "leather strap with a snap button" is probably the fob on Mr. Casady's locker key which he needed to change back into his street clothes after bathing at Baxter's (a public swimming pool next door to Winterland).

At least, that seems like the most likely explanation...

 

[lungimsam]

I could see it being clipped to an cabinet handle as a makeshift guitar hanger.
BTW, does anyone know if Jack was really into the hippie movement or was the hair and clothes during the JA years just for the stage persona?

 

[mgod]

Were you?

 

[Minnesota Flats]

I could see it being clipped to an cabinet handle as a makeshift guitar hanger.
BTW, does anyone know if Jack was really into the hippie movement or was the hair and clothes during the JA years just for the stage persona?

I have a hard time picturing him wearing a belted, polyester leisure suit in 1970...

I bumped into Jorma in the produce section of a health food store in the Sunset district of SF about that time and that not what he was wearing...

 

[lungimsam]

Were you?

No. I was born in 1968. So I was too young anyway. But I would not have agreed with their ideals/values anyway.
Though hippie "fashion" and music seemed to influence clothing and hairstyles and musical tastes in the Baltimore area back then, I never really knew anyone who actually was a hippie.

 

[mgod]

Well, to answer your incredibly irrelevant question, Jack was fully immersed in it. He was not wearing a costume.

 

[mavuser]

Jack looks like he is tripping harder now than he was back then! not Jorma though ha. pretty sure they started the hippie movement.

i never understood the costumes with KISS or any bands like that. those guys really took one for the team. whatever puts dinner on the table

 

[Happy Face]

Were you?

Yes. Mildly so.

 

[walrus]

i never understood the costumes with KISS or any bands like that. those guys really took one for the team. whatever puts dinner on the table

Jefferson Airplane, CSN&Y, The Beatles, etc. etc. were wearing their everyday clothes. Fashion of the times!

For KISS, the key phrase is "business model". They knew from the beginning (Gene Simmons in particular) the merchandising possibilities of being "characters". And let's face it, they were right.

walrus

 

[walrus]

BTW, back to the OP, I like mellow's thought of a "cigarette" stuck under the tuner. A common move in those days was to put it under the strings of a 6-string, not sure it works the same on a bass.

And the leather loop - could it be not a loop but a "cup" of some sort? When he's playing it would be upright, and could hold a few little items that he wants to get at during a show?

I'm just guessing, I'd love to see ca clearer picture!

walrus

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

For KISS, the key phrase is "business model". They knew from the beginning (Gene Simmons in particular) the merchandising possibilities of being "characters". And let's face it, they were right.

walrus

Actually, that's no true. I just finished reading Paul Stanley's autobiography and originally Gene and Paul had no concept or even thought of merchandising. It was all their managers idea. Gene was never a businessman. He just plays one on TV.

 

[walrus]

Actually, that's no true. I just finished reading Paul Stanley's autobiography and originally Gene and Paul had no concept or even thought of merchandising. It was all their managers idea. Gene was never a businessman. He just plays one on TV.

Ah! Good point - Bill Aucoin, right?

Although I will stand by my comment that Simmons has been very involved in the merchandising side - although not "originally" as you correctly corrected me.

How was the Stanley autobiography, by the way?

walrus

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

How was the Stanley autobiography, by the way?

walrus

While I was very much aware of KISS, I really didn't know much about them. I enjoyed Paul's book very much!

When we moved my wife got a new library card. I have really gotten into rock and roll autobiographies. So far I have read:

Bruce Springsteen
Carmine Appice
Kathy Valentine
John Fogerty
Flea Paul Stanley

It's weird, they all have one thing in common, a really screwed up childhood! I think it's what makes these people driven.

Currently reading Peter Frampton, we'll see if he holds suit.

 

[mellowgerman]

While I was very much aware of KISS, I really didn't know much about them. I enjoyed Paul's book very much!

When we moved my wife got a new library card. I have really gotten into rock and roll autobiographies. So far I have read:

Carmine Appice
Kathy Valentine
John Fogerty
Flea Paul Stanley

It's weird, they all have one thing in common, a really screwed up childhood! I think it's what makes these people driven.

Currently reading Peter Frampton, we'll see if he holds suit.

If you like rock and roll autobiographies, I highly highly recommend Phil Lesh's book, "Searching for the Sound" -- to anyone really, even if not particularly a Grateful Dead fan. Amazingly well-written and a bonus is that he makes reference to specific shows along the way, that you can typically look up online easily and listen to since just about every one of them was recorded and is floating around for free on the web. Phil kept a detailed journal throughout the years, so you really get an immersive deep dive into the unbelievable touring grind that was the Grateful Dead.

 

[walrus]

+1 on the greatness of library cards! So many years of library books, a big part of my childhood. My wife and I have been watching a lot of movies on DVD that we missed earlier. I thought Frampton's bio could have been more detailed. "Frampton Comes Alive" messed him up!

The two best I've read are "One Train Later" by Andy Summers, and "Life" by Keith Richards.

I have "Set The Boy Free" by Johnny Marr on my library list to read.

walrus

 

[SFIV1967]

and "Life" by Keith Richards.

+1 !

Ralf