What type of bass is this, anybody got a clue?

[uwe]

Rob posted this in another thread dealing with singing bassists and jokingly asked whether Herr Hill was playing a Thunderfalcon, i.e. a Gretsch Falcon with a TBird neck. But to me, this bass cries Gibson and especially Phil Jones' handwriting all over. The headstock is obviously a TBird replica and a close one at that. The body of the bass looks just like my acoustic Super 400 Custom Shop acoustic bass which Phil Jones built. The diamond holes are straight from the design of the EB-650, another Phil Jones creation. Even the period seems to fit, the vid is from the early nineties when Phil had his greatest influence on the bass design of Gibson: Les Paul Special, Standard, De Luxe, EB-650 and -750 were all masterminded by him.

[Chris P.]

This a short post, cos I'm eating boerenkool with worst at the moment.

I have this book about Billy Bo's guitars and cars. Most guitars have a matching bass and most of them are custom made. I look this one up. This book is a must have though.

My favorite: In the eighties when the headless hype was going on Fender made a headless Strat and a headless P for a ZZ Top video. Those instruments had no tuners at al!!!:D

[gweimer]

I wonder if they ever regret pissing off Dean Zelinski.

[eb2]

Those were Gibson custom jobs they had.  The necks and diamond holes are straight from the Gibson Trini Lopez Standard and Custom, a non-Phil Jones creation.  They were early in the ZZ Top custom matching instruments phase - mid 80s/early 90s.  Pretty cool I think, although I could do without the albino look.  A nice Gibson cherry would be more expected, but I guess that was what they were avoiding.

http://www.garysguitars.com/product_pics/332b.jpg

[gearHed289]

This a short post, cos I'm eating boerenkool with worst at the moment.

I have this book about Billy Bo's guitars and cars. Most guitars have a matching bass and most of them are custom made. I look this one up. This book is a must have though.

My favorite: In the eighties when the headless hype was going on Fender made a headless Strat and a headless P for a ZZ Top video. Those instruments had no tuners at al!!!:D

You can see in one of their bad 80s videos that the strings are held on at the nut by capos!

[Saf]

the guitar/bas featured here are made by bolin in '89. Bolin made lot's of special guitar voor zz-top. Indeed I looked it up at the rock 'n' roll gearhead book by billy f gibbons. A must have.

[Blazer]

Anyway, to give you the real answer here, that bass (and the matching guitar) were made by Luthier John Bolin.

http://www.bolinguitars.com/indextemp.html

And he also made a pair of them in "My-eyes-hurt" green.

[Chris P.]

Okay, I have the description out of the book 'Billy F. Gibbons - Rock 'n Roll Gearhead'

Quote:

This is the ZZ Top Crazy Cowboy, another Bolin, made in '89. A giant Switchmaster neck-thru body coupled to a Firebird reversed headstock. rear-mounted single knob, and pick up with Trini Lopez's diamond body cavities from the '60s. It's a big player.

On the all-white bass I see one control, one red open coil pick up and the diamond f-holes which seem to be filled with some silver foil or something.

This guitar has a brother: A same body-headstock combination, but this time no sound holes at all and the body is completely covered with a layer of 24 carat gold. This one has a closed, chrome covered humbucker and also one pick up, reversed Friebrid headstock, ....

Bolin Guitars also made the Jellybean. Like a white Explorer whish is very rounded and has a V headstock. Same white colour and red open coil pick up.
Another Bolin guitar is an ebony Explorer with V-headstock, with again a red pick up and covered with sparkling stones. Most guitars have a matching bass, which aren't in the book. Only some furry ones.
The last Bolin I found in the book is a Tele.

One of the nicest guitars in the book is an SG with one pick up, maestro vibrato and a V-headstock! Looks very good!

[Chris P.]

While I was typing two of you guys said the same! That snake design first appeared on a Muddy Waters guitar Gibbons gave to a museum.

[Saf]

I really like the bo diddley leopard skinguitar and ofcourse the olde fenders and mss pearly gates. On of the coolest things in the book is on page 102/103 men I shure like that one.

[OldManC]

While I was typing two of you guys said the same!

The difference being that you and Saf said it like gentlemen... Thanks to both of you for the info.

[Highlander]

Turn down that bright light... it's not m tahm ter go...


something I tweaked from an 10x8 B&W shot by a nice lady called Pennie Smith - ex NME house photographer - unpublished...?

[Blazer]

The difference being that you and Saf said it like gentlemen... Thanks to both of you for the info.

I'm sorry I didn't know that my reply came across as rude, it wasn't my intention. What I meant with "To give you the real answer here" was that the first posts in this thread were of speculation of those instruments being made by the Gibson Custom shop which was not the case.

Also if you look closely at the time I posted my reply you'll find that Saf was just a little earlier, we almost posted our replies simultaneously.

Again, it was not my intention to come across as rude.

[EvilLordJuju]

These are called Johnny Firesmiths (guitar and bass)- according to Walter Carters book they were made of Balsa wood, by Mathew Klein at the Gibson custom shop, and were used on the Recycler tour

[Dave W]

These are called Johnny Firesmiths (guitar and bass)- according to Walter Carters book they were made of Balsa wood, by Mathew Klein at the Gibson custom shop, and were used on the Recycler tour

I think we have a winner here. Thanks, Jules.

Take a look at the fine print, upper right.




According to what little I could find (searching for Johhny Firesmith), these were solid balsa but painted to look like (hollow) Johnny Smith models.

That's the era when Gibson started putting "chromyte" blocks in some models. Chromyte = Gibson marketing department's name for balsa.