Here is a list of the top ten most famous, valuable and desirable Fender basses in the world today.

 

1. Entwistle's "Frankenstein" Bass

 

 

On Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at Sotheby's Auction House, London, 350 personal items belonging to Who bassist John Entwistle went under the hammer. The memorabilia sold for a grand total of $1.6 million. One of the items for sale was Entwistle's beloved Fender Precision bass®, affectionately known as Frankenstein because it was made from the remains of five smashed guitars.

 

The Fiesta Red axe had been expected to raise about $7,000, but when the bidding closed at $100,000, everybody at the auction was staggered. The guitar, bought by an unidentified American bidder had been put together by the Entwistle himself. In an interview, he once explained the origins of Frankenstein: "The neck, pickups and circuitry are from a 'dead' slab bass, the tailpiece from a Jazz bass, the pickguard from a black P bass® and the machine heads from 2 white P basses®. Two hours with a Phillips screwdriver and a soldering iron and I was ranting around my hotel room screaming, "It's alive, it's alive!'" A collection of personal notes that Entwistle had planned to publish said of Frankenstein: "I used this baby from 1967 onwards, through Tommy and all the tours up to Quadrophenia ." All the money from the auction went to the late bassist's estate.

 

 

2. James Jamerson's "Funk Machine"

 

Jamerson was a big player in the session world. Between 1963-68, he played on a great deal of hit singles by Motown's finest, including Marvin Gaye, The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Four Tops and Jimmy Ruffin.   His credits include My Girl, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, Where Did Our Love Go, For Once In My Life, Dancing In The Streets, Standing In The Shadows Of Love, You Can't Hurry Love, My Cherie Amour, The Tracks Of My Tears, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Please Mr. Postman, Stop! In The Name Of Love, What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted, Reach Out...I'll Be There and I Want You Back.

 

His instrument of choice throughout his career was a 1962 Fender P-Bass® with a sunburst finish. On the heel of the bass's neck, Jamerson had carved the word "funk" into the wood, and the guitar that produced more hits than any other in history was officially dubbed the "Funk Machine." To most other musicians, that bass was unplayable. Jamerson kept his action very high, and his neck was bowed due to lack of truss rod maintenance. He rarely cleaned his guitar, and he never cleaned the fretboard. To Jamerson, the sweat and dirt on the bass was the secret of his sound, the essence of the funk. His nickname among his friend was "The Hook" because of his distinct and inimitable two-fingered playing style.

 

Just days before Jamerson died in 1983, the Funk Machine was stolen from his house. To this day, it still has not resurfaced. There are stories of bassists who stumble across a '62 P-Bass in pawn shops who then take them home and unscrew the neck plate, hoping to find the word "funk." It's become a legend - the holy grail of all basses.

 

 

3. Jaco Pastorius's "Bass of Doom"

 

Jaco Pastorius was unquestionably the greatest musician to ever wield a bass guitar. In his short life he managed to influence more bass players than any other bassists before or after him. He bought his first bass at 15 from a local pawn shop. By the time he was 16, the locals considered him to be the best bass player in his home county of South Florida. Later, just before his 18th birthday, Jaco declared himself "The world's Greatest Bass Player", a phrase he would often repeat as he showed up to auditions and try-outs. Many people who saw him play for the first time could see truth in his statement and were staggered by his ability. In 1970, he purchased his now famous 1962 Jazz Bass®, serial number 64437, which he defretted on his own as he considered frets to be "speed bumps".

 

The grooves on the fretboard were filled in with Duralite wood putty. To protect the fingerboard from the abrasive roundwound strings, he coated it with about ten layers of a marine epoxy, called "Pettit's Poly-Proxy", a resin used on sailing boats. Around this time, he was also becoming well known for coating his fingers with fried chicken grease before going on stage, in order to lubricate his playing.

 

Jaco takes up the story: "I have a fretless bass, so it's virtually like I'm playing a wood bass. In other words, the strings go into the wood on the neck, but being that it's a bass guitar, it gets that bright sound and direct sound. It's just legitimate vibrato. That's it - there are no tricks. It's all in the hands. It's like I'm the first guy to be using a fretless and really get down and play it. Because nobody can play it - they cannot play it in tune. I play in tune like a cello player".

Jaco also removed the scratchplate, and it is clear from screw-holes on the neck and headstock, that alterations were made to the tuning machines and bridge.

The bass was nicknamed "The Bass Of Doom" by Jaco and featured on all of his recorded work, including solo albums and collaborations with Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, and Pat Metheny, as well as side projects, like his Trio Of Doom, which featured John McLaughlin on guitar and Tony Williams on drums.

Jaco's brilliance eventually became overshadowed by his drug addiction, resulting in an almost hobo-like existence. Just before his death at the hands of a nightclub bouncer in 1987, the Bass of Doom disappeared. No-one is quite sure what happened to it, but there are many stories. Some say that it was stolen, while others say that Pastorius left it on a park bench and walked away. The bass may well still be in existence but until it is found, we will never know. A series of exact Custom Shop replicas of the Bass of Doom were released by Fender in 1999.

 

 

4. The Beatles' Jazz Bass®

 

During the second half of the 1960's the Beatles were given various guitars and amplifiers as "gifts" from the then-CBS/Fender Corporation. One piece of equipment which was not part of any "gift package" was a left-handed 1966 Fender Jazz Bass®. This sunburst model shows up in Abbey Road studio photos from the White Album, sessions. Its oval-shaped tuners are peculiar to the 1966 model year; Fender basses otherwise featured "clover leaf" tuners. According to the author Walter Everett in his excellent book, The Beatles as Musicians (Volume 1) , this Jazz Bass® is played on five tracks: Yer Blues and Glass Onion from the White Album and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Sun King and Mean Mr. Mustard from Abbey Road.

 

Where is this bass now? It is very likely that McCartney still has it, as he is known to have kept most of his instruments. (It is interesting to note that one bass that WAS included in a CBS / Fender "gift package" was a right-handed Fender Jazz Bass®. This was used during the White Album sessions by John Lennon on Helter Skelter and George Harrison on Back in the USSR. The whereabouts of this bass is unknown).

Asked why he had never played a Precision bass®, McCartney once said in an interview that he had thought about it, but had considered himself "too much of an amateur" for such a professional instrument and found that the Precision bass® was out of his price range!

 

 

5. Sting's Precision Bass®

 

Sting's bass of choice since the early eighties has been an early fifties Fender Precision bass®. The story goes that The Police were in New York in 1981, shooting the video for their single, Demolition Man when Sting sent a member of the crew named Danny, into town to pick up what Sting described as "the oldest, most beat-up bass you can find". He came back with an early 50's Precision Bass®, which has been his main axe ever since. This much-played piece of music history has graced a number of tracks on the later Police albums, as well as several of Sting's platinum-selling solo albums. It is unlikely that he will ever sell it.

 

 

6. Roger Waters' Pink Floyd Precision Bass®

 

In the early days of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters had used a Rickenbacker 4001S However, in 1968, around the time of David Gilmour's arrival into the band, Waters switched over to a Fender Precision®. Prior to departing for a tour of Japan and Australia in July 1971, Waters purchased two new P-basses, one of which was used for the final sessions of Meddle and every album up to 1983's The Final Cut. It has a Sunburst finish and can be heard on a variety of Floyd Classics, notably Money (from Dark Side Of The Moon ), which has surely one of the most famous basslines in rock history. It is interesting to note that the Sunburst Jazz bass® was also used percussively by Waters, to form part of the sound effects in the song, Time , also on Dark Side Of The Moon.

 

 

7. The Led Zeppelin Jazz Bass

 

This instrument was purchased by Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones in 1963. It is a 1961 sunburst Fender Jazz Bass®, serial number 74242 and was used on the following Led Zeppelin albums: Led Zeppelin I (1968), Led Zeppelin II (1969), Led Zeppelin III (1970), Led Zeppelin IV (1971), Houses of the Holy (1973), Physical Graffiti (1975), Presence (1976) and The Song Remains The Same (1976). This was also Jones' main touring bass for the period 1968-77. As far as anyone knows, the bass is still in his possession and has been "retired".

 

 

8. Noel Redding's "Experience" Bass

 

Recent auctions of Hendrix's guitars have generated astronomical amounts of money. But what of the other instruments used in the Jimi Hendrix Experience? The late bassist of the group, Noel Redding was a regular Fender player. In December 1966, at Sound City, a music shop in London, he purchased what was to be his main bass throughout his years with the Experience. The instrument in question was a 1965 Sunburst Fender Jazz Bass®. It had an alder body with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard. It can be seen in several concert photographs, film footage and classic recordings such as Purple Haze, Fire and If Six Was Nine. The guitar is now owned by the Bob Terry Collection, Washington DC.

 

 

9. Phil Lynott's Mirror Bass 

 

During Thin Lizzy's peak in the 1970's, the group's charismatic bassist/leader singer, Phil Lynott had two main basses. Both were black Fender Precision® basses, one with a maple neck and one with a rosewood fingerboard. Phil used the bass with the rosewood fingerboard as his main axe, with the other one being used as a back-up instrument. Think Lizzy crew member Mississippi Al Badaway recalls, "Philip had two main basses in the seventies, the more popular being his 'black rosewood neck Precision®'. He modified them with a 'Badass bridge'. I had seen his basses up close on several occasions and believe the rosewood neck was an early 'slab-model' (Circa 1960-62).

 

Let's not forget the fretless 'early Precision® bass' he used on the 'Chinatown video' either. The 'maple neck P-bass®' was simply a back-up instrument and once I saw him break a string (G) on the 'rosewood' during 'Jailbreak' and after finishing the song, he had his 'bass-tech'' re-string it without him ever taking it off. This was during the Mark (Nauseef) and Gary (Moore) tour in which AC/DC opened for them".

 

Both basses were fitted with shiny chrome scratchplates, which were made by a spares company called Mighty Mite. After his death in 1986, Phil's collection passed to his mother, Philomena, who still owns the basses. More recently, Phil's "Number One" bass made a rare public appearance at a one-day exhibition of rock guitars entitled "Silver Strings". The event was held from 12 noon until 5pm on 1st October 2000 at the Hot Press Irish Music Hall of Fame in Dublin, Ireland. Special guest of honour was Phil's mother. The charity event raised money for Alzheimer's disease. The bass with its distinct shiny scratchplate and black finish is recognised by Thin Lizzy fans across the world and would surely fetch a tidy sum, should it ever be sold at auction.

 

 

10. Marcus Miller's 1977 Jazz Bass®

 

Marcus Miller is one of the greatest living bass players. He has performed in various professional gigs with artists such as Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, Wayne Shorter, David Sanborn, Omar Hakim, Donald Fagen, George Benson, Natalie Cole, Bill Evans and Roberta Flack. For over two decades, he has been one of the most sought-after bassists on the circuit and his work can be heard on over three hundred albums, including numerous film scores. Throughout his impressive career, his instrument of choice has been a highly customised 1977 Fender Jazz bass®.

 

The instrument, with it's tight, focused lows, crisp highs and contoured mids has become an integral part of his sound. It has a lightweight ash body with a maple neck. The stock bridge was replaced by heavier Badass model and a Stars Guitars preamp which was tweaked by guitar manufacturer, Sadowsky. A Marcus Miller Signature Bass, based on his trusty original is available from most Fender Authorised Dealers.

 

 

11. The "London Calling" Precision Bass®

 

In recent years, there has been one image involving a Fender bass that has become a true legend. On Friday 21st September 1979, the Clash were playing at the New York Palladium. Photographer Pennie Smith takes up the story: "I'd shot so much Clash live stuff by then," she remembers, "so I was going to go out with friends, but I'm not very good at not working, so in the end, I went along. I wasn't shooting much until I twigged that Paul (Simonon, bassist) looked grumpy, so I kept my camera up to my eye, and he was looking crosser and crosser, and then he exploded."

 

Pennie's photograph ended up on the front of the Clash's 1979 album London Calling . In recent years, the image was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame as the definitive rock'n'roll icon. Looking back at the guitar-smashing incident, Clash bassist Paul Simonon says, "There have been various theories about that night. One was that I didn't like the sound and another was that I was having problems with my girlfriend, but I never took stuff like that onstage with me."

"That's not what was going on at The Palladium. We were used to getting a very exciting response from our audiences, jumping around and dancing. The Palladium had fixed seating, so the audience was frozen in place, and we weren't getting any response from them, no matter what we did. I'm generally good-natured, but I do bottle things up and then I'm like a light switch, off and on, and it can be quite scary, even for me, when I switch, because it's very sudden."

 

"Onstage that night I just got so frustrated with that crowd and when it got to breaking point I started to chop the stage up with the guitar."

"We used to get cheap Fender from CBS; they were newer models, quite light and insubstantial. But the one I smashed that night was a great bass, a Fender Precision®, (it cost about) about £160 (272 Euros), one of the older heavy, solid models, so I did regret breaking it."

The instrument was a Fender Precision Bass® with a maple neck and maple fingerboard. It was cream-coloured with a tortoiseshell pickguard and brown headstock. Simonon had placed a skull and crossbones sticker on the body and had handwritten the word "PRESSURE" on the body horn nearest the bottom E string.

Although the body and neck of the bass were damaged beyond repair, the smashed remnants were deemed important enough to be displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Ohio. The bass is now back in the possession of Paul Simonon.