How Big Is Your Bass? Show Me Yours And I'll Show You Mine!

byFrankB-1

6.6K followers

2 years ago

Hi, WA Friends!

Have I gone a little crazy? Well, I've been posting some "non-musical" WA blogs of a rather technical nature, and my wife said that has to stop! Hahaha

What's The Point Of This Post?

To give you a little break from the day-to-day rigors of what most WA community members do, of course!

So, let's talk about the 17-string bass guitar that Elwood Francis plays with the band ZZ Top. Elwood, who has been the band's longtime guitar tech, replaced Dusty Hill as the bass player after his untimely death back on July 28, 2021.

He first used the guitar during a 2022 concert in Huntsville, Alabama. The bass is more of a prop than a serious playing tool, but it adds a fun visual element and a touch of absurdity to ZZ Top's already wild live shows.

Check out the video!:

https://youtu.be/n75DAmwInhE?si=3lxYMlEx3nlAjfWL

Elwood has admitted that he only uses the outer five or six strings.

Elwood playing "Got Me Under Pressure": 2023 Raw Whiskey tour

Elwood apparently found the guitar while surfing the internet. He says it is a Chinese-made knockoff of the 18-string Ormsby that Jared Dines plays.

Dines criticized the bootleg guitar on Instagram, to which Francis replied: “The joke’s on me ‘cause I have to play that bootleg POS!” Lol

Check out this video of Jared playing his 18-string bass!:

https://youtu.be/hYrN7EIeXmY?si=pVAXZinEgVr4JjHG

If I had that guitar, I'd use it for two-handed tapping (tapping the strings on the fretboard with the fingers of both hands), sort of like a Chapman stick!

Check out this video of Tony Levin playing a Chapman stick!:

https://youtu.be/AGdUlRRQm4Y?si=pM3Gn_akCQnjW8aO

What About My Bass Guitar?

So, NO, I don't have a 17-string guitar! 😕

I only have one bass guitar. It's a Fender 1969 Musicmaster bass that I got in high school. I used it to play in a "World Music" band featuring drums, keyboards, saxophone, accordion, and bass (me). They weren't interested in a guitar player, and I was just learning, so it worked out great. We actually sounded pretty good! Lol

The Musicmaster Bass is a variant of the Fender Mustang Bass (which was introduced in 1966 as a companion to Fender's shorter-scaled, 2-pickup Fender Mustang guitars). The Musicmaster Bass was introduced in the mid-60s and was originally marketed as a short scaled, easy to play student model. Rather than the split-coil design of the Mustang Bass, it featured a single-coil pickup, which was actually a 6-pole Stratocaster guitar pickup under a solid plastic cover.

And, yes, I still have it! I use it now and again to record bass tracks to something I'm composing, and my bass-player friends love its "punchy" sound, which comes from the fact that Fender used a Stratocaster (six-string) guitar pickup in its construction.

Fender 1969 Red Vintage Musicmaster Bass

Musicmaster Bass Specs: (for all you WA "gear-heads" out there!)

* Year Made: 1969 Fullerton, California, USA

* Body Style: Fender Mustang-Like Shape

* Body Wood: Alder

* Body Finish: Polyurethane Over Fiesta Red Paint

* Controls: 1 Volume; 1 Tone

Electronics: Passive

* Pickup: One Six-Pole Single-Coil Stratocaster Type Pickup With Black Cover (Fender Special Design)

* Bridge: 2x2 Saddles

* Neck: Maple

* Fingerboard: Rosewood

* Neck/Scale: Short Scale - very easy to play, Narrow, Thin & Fast

* Frets: 19 Vintage

* Tuners: Fender Jumbo

Original Price: $260 (1969)

Current Value: Approximately $1,500 to $2,500 (depending on condition and provenance)

Until Next Time!

So, I hope you had a little fun reading this, assuming you made it down this far! Lol

Well, I might be back with a more "useful" post when my wife isn't watching me (haha). 😎

Let me know what you think in the comments AND ...

Keep On Rockin! 🤘
Frank 🎸

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