Geddy Lee took part in a question-and-answer session with Daniel Richler at a signing for the RUSH bassist/vocalist’s “Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book Of Bass” Tuesday night (June 4) at the Rialto Theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Check out a video of the discussion below (courtesy of The Metal Voice).

“Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book Of Bass” was released in December. The standard edition of the 408-page hardcover tome sells for $75 and showcases the bulk of Geddy‘s personal collection of bass guitars.

Among the instruments showcased in the book are by Fender, Gibson/Epiphone, Rickenbacker, Hofner, Ampeg — and lesser-known-but-influential global luthiers such as Antonio Wandr Pioli, Dan Armstrong and Tony Zemaitis.

Interspersed in the book are interviews by such high-profile players and technicians as John Paul Jones, Adam Clayton, Robert Trujillo, Jeff Tweedy, Bill Wyman, Les Claypool, along with Pete Townshend‘s legendary guitar tech, Alan Rogan.

In a recent interview with Q104.3‘s “Out Of The Box With Jonathan Clarke”, Lee talked about what he loves about collecting instruments and named a few of his favorites, including a 1961 Fender Precision Bass that was owned by THE WHO‘s John Entwistle and which Lee acquired with Rogan‘s help. The other gem of Lee‘s collection is a pair of 1964 Fender Jazz Basses in decoder red.

“One spent its life under a bed. It’s barely been played; it’s pristine,” he explained. “And the other one pictured beside it I found in Ireland, and it was owned by a single bass player who played in his own Irish show band for 45 years. And when I open the case of that, the first thing that comes out is the smell of cigarettes and beer. And that thing has war wounds, and, oh my god, it took my tech [John ‘Skully’ McIntosh] weeks to clean that thing up and make it playable. But when you see the two side by side, it really tells such a wonderful story.”

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net