Visiting With Chip Todd (Peavey-ish Content)

Living in Austin definitely has its perks. For example, we have access to almost every boutique bass builder in the biz, some of the most highly respected amp gurus, vintage dealers out the wazoo, etc, etc.. Not to mention, if you're feeling down on your abilities as a musician, you can walk down 6th street any night of the week and hear 20 or 30 bassists who suck worse than you do. It's great.

I've lived in Austin for 6 years now, and have come across some really cool people. But Chip is one of my favorite people on earth. I went by his place yesterday evening to see his recently relocated shop, to check out a few pieces of gear, but mainly, just to catch up. I've got lots of pictures, but they're all cell phone pics.. Bear with me

Here we go!

For those of you who don't know, Chip had a big impact on the way electric guitars and basses are manufactured. He was so effective at Peavey, that Fender lured him away to refine their manufacturing process. He built them a machine that enabled Fender to fret a complete neck in 17 seconds. Before he came along, it took them 30 minutes.


Even though he's technically "retired", his work is in high demand by local players, high profile musicians, and Peavey fanatics all over the world. Pretty much every room of his house is full of bodies, necks, cases, pickups, and pretty pieces of wood.


Custom Bass body with spalted maple top.


The Logo


More Necks and whatnot. They're everywhere!


One of the fabled lightened bodies. This one is a T-60, but you get the idea... Chip calls these "Skeleton Bodies".


Here, Chip demonstrates how to ride a Segway in his living room. I wasn't brave enough, so I took it for a spin outside. Lemme tell ya, 12 miles per hour feels FAST when you're standing on a magical moving platform!







A very very early T-40 in very nice condition (truss rod cover removed). I didn't plug this one in, but acoustically, it's amazing.

I would post a pic of the #3 prototype T-60 that was hanging next to it, but this is a bass forum!

More to come in the next post!

Out of everything I've seen at Chip's shop since I've known him, these things are probably my favorites.

The Basslet is essentially a super short scale bass (25.5" scale) (ie: Strat/Tele), hot-rodded guitar pickups (or whatever you feel like using), hipshot ultralite tuners, and a body made out of pretty much whatever you want. I've played 3 or 4 of these, and they all sound HUGE!

The following basses are a few prototypes that have been well-used, abused, and torture tested in the field (ie: he lets friends and family beat the crap out of them at gigs and random jam sessions).




This one started life as a Peavey Wolfgang guitar (body). With the tone rolled off, it sounds like a good, deep P-bass. With the tone wide open, it gives a really cool upright sort of vibe. It has a pretty thick neck on it, and the pickup appears to be a Seymour Duncan Invader.. This one was my favorite!





This little guy has the pickups, 3-way selector switch and VT/VT setup out of a T-60. Very full-sounding, plenty of thump, with a smooth top end. Chip commented that he would have used these pickups on the original T-40 if he had known that they'd work this well for a bass! Definitely the easiest one to play.





I really enjoyed this one. If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the first ones he made. I can't remember what kind of pickup it has in it, but it's extremely hot. I played it side-by-side with a Jazz with active EMG's in it about a year ago. This one had about double the output. I'm diggin' the square headstock, myself!

Webtroll said:

Yeah there's all kinds of good things over there including the only factory build T60 with a tremolo. The Segway is fun too! The skeleton T60 is fun to play and every light fully built; I keep hoping he'll do the same with a T40.

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If I remember correctly, he either told me he has one, or would happily do one. I know he's done a skeleton T-40 before though.

I can't wait to see the next version of the body-less acoustic. He's figured out how to design it to get some solid low end out of it.