John Entwistle - Alembic Explorer Bass

John Entwistle fell in love with Alembic basses in the mid seventies and worked closely with them to design the Explorer version he used extensively with The Who and on solo projects.

 

The basses featured a bird’s eye maple body with spider web wire sterling silver inlay, which later appeared to be brass as the instrument’s lacquer yellowed with age, a graphite-reinforced neck of laminated walnut and maple, fingerboard with music-note inlays in mother-of-pearl Gothic script and LED markers on the top edge.

 

It has two master volume controls with a selector switch to choose from the presets, active lowpass-filter controls, a five-pin (Cannon) and standard jack connectors with standard Alembic electronics.

 

There were at least two of this model made, plus a “V”-shaped headstock model and an 8-string.

1976 Alembic Explorer Bass - Natural

Roger Waters - Black Fender Precision Bass

Waters has played many instruments during his Pink Floyd days and into his solo career, including Hofners and a Fireglo Rickenbacker 4001S, but is most closely associated with the black on black Fender Precision he acquired in 1971.

Roger is predominantly a pick player and uses Rotosound flatwound strings.

The black Precision features a brass nut and a Seymour Duncan Basslines SPB-3 Quarter-Pound split-coil pickup.

Fender recently brought out a Waters signature model that carries the black theme to the extreme with a single ply scratchplate, black anodised bridge and even black strap buttons.

1971 Fender Precision Bass - Black on Black

Paul Simonon - Fender Precision Bass

The Fender Precision bass immortalized on the cover of The Clash's "London Calling album was a white early seventies model with a maple neck.  Simonon had placed a skull and crossbones sticker on the body, done some drip painting on the pick guard and had handwritten the word "PRESSURE" on the top body horn.

Although the body and neck of the bass were damaged beyond repair, the smashed remnants were deemed important enough to be displayed in the permanent collection of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Early 1970's Fender Precision Bass - White

Dee Dee Ramone - Fender Precision Bass

Dee Dee played many Fender Precision basses in his career. He typically went through about three a year before he quit The Ramones in 1989.

His first Precision was a mid 60's Olympic White model with a rosewood neck and tortoise-shell pickguard.

After the Ramones equipment was stolen in late 1977, Dee Dee bought several new white Precisions with maple necks. The bridge and pickup covers were removed, as was the thumb rest.

1960's - 1970's Fender Precision Bass - Olympic White

Lemmy Kilmister - Rickenbacker 4004

Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead has used Rickenbacker 4001 and 4003 bass guitars almost exclusively since his Hawkwind days, although some of these instruments were modified with the installation of Gibson Thunderbird pickups in the neck position.

In 2001, Rickenbacker produced a 60-bass run of Lemmy Kilmister signature basses, the 4004LK, which is fitted with three pickups, gold hardware, and elaborate wood carving in the shape of oak leaves. Lemmy currently plays a customized 4004.

He uses the bridge pickup exclusively and turns all the tone and volume knobs up full. On his Marshall amplifiers, he turns off the bass and treble and turns the midrange up all the way to create a biting guitar-like tone which is somewhat distorted and well-suited to his use of open-string drones and power chords.

2001 Rickenbacker 4004 - Walnut With Carving