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Bill Wyman's gear

#41
Which bass is this one?
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#45
GM60466 said:
didn't keith play bass on most of the studio recordings. I have a DVD the shows him playing a Fenderr P Bass.

G
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Not at all, Keith played bass on a number of their big hits, and other members have played bass on various tracks as well, but they have an enormous catalogue and Bill Wyman played bass on the vast majority of it. Usually, if Keith's on bass it' because the session went on for 2 or 3 days and Bill left. Keith was kind of notorious for making people wait for him to start and then wanting to play for 12 or 14 hours. It depnds on the era, of course. In the early days, they were allotted the same 3 hours to record a single as everybody else.
 
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#46
5BA9D6F4-05BE-485E-B935-5C5E0C3F9D94.jpeg 30228CEE-E798-49A8-B93F-AE7330234A53.jpeg CBB1F51F-04CD-44BE-87F9-1296778F6040.jpeg
Pictures here show Bill’s first bass as it looks now (red & black, double cutaway) plus how it would have looked when he bought it (in ‘61?). It is a UK-built Dallas Tuxedo bass from 1959 or 1960. Bill heavily modified the body shape, the paintjob, and filed down the frets to make it “fretless”. It has a Hofner pickup, and 30” scale. This type was also John Paul Jones’ first bass, and according the book “Led Zeppelin Gear” has a mahogany body.
 
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#51
According To Bill's book, "A Stone Alone", he played (overdubbed to my ears) six string bass on the songs Pain In My Heart and Down Home Girl. I've seen no pictures of him with the instrument, which is cited as a Fender Bass VI in The Rolling Stones: All The Songs by Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon.
I suspect that Bill's self-admittedly small hands found that neck comfortable.
 
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#52
JTE said:
Most of his recordings were done on a cheap older bass he got when he first started playing bass (I think it's a Framus, but I'm not certain). The neck was in such bad shape that he filed the frets down flush with the fingerboard, and most of the classic Stones stuff was recorded on that fretless bass.

Early on it was Vox amps. He had a day job when he hooked up with Keith, Brian, and Mick. Keith Richards said once that he first time they jammed with Bill, he brought two Vox AC-30s with him as well as his bass amp, and said they could plug into them. It was like going from a no-name practice amp to a Twin Reverb. Keith and Brian said that they didn't think he was the best bass player they'd heard, but he had those amps they could use, so that's how he originally got the gig...

Sorry for the side-track there.

Later the Stones were among the first to use the SVT (and the bass predecessor the SBT), and Bill's been through just about every short-scale bass except for Gibson and Guild. A Mustang is featured in the photos of "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out", and around 1981 in a Guitar Player Magazine interview he was using a custom made Kramer with a short-scale aluminium neck. in that interview he mentions how Keith kept telling him he should have a Fender, but that he just couldn't play a long-scale neck.

jte
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Bill was also known to use a Gibson EB-3 and he used SVT's at least all throughout the 1970's, probably longer.

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#53
corinpills said:
Not at all, Keith played bass on a number of their big hits, and other members have played bass on various tracks as well, but they have an enormous catalogue and Bill Wyman played bass on the vast majority of it. Usually, if Keith's on bass it' because the session went on for 2 or 3 days and Bill left. Keith was kind of notorious for making people wait for him to start and then wanting to play for 12 or 14 hours. It depnds on the era, of course. In the early days, they were allotted the same 3 hours to record a single as everybody else.
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Or because later, when Keith pretty much lived in the studio, he was the only Stone around for months. Bobby Keys wrote about the late 60s early 70s Stones recording process in his book Every Night’s A Saturday Night. Good read, by the way. I think Keith and Taylor played bass on some tunes not because Bill couldn’t but because he wasn’t there.
 
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#54
Undigging this 20 year old thread: 2 contributions to Bill's gear history:
1)
An official Wyman signature bass is sold by Bass Centre in UK, still available in 2023.
That bass is said to be the exact copy of the bass Bill used in the 70s and was designed according to the specs indicated by Wyman himself.
Bill used it at the 2012 reunion concert for the 50 years of the band.

The Bass Centre Wyman Bass

2)
In 2020 Bill sold most of his gear in auction: bass, amps, wardrobe, etc.
That auction featured his legendary Vox, which allegedly was his entry ticket in the band since the others did not have such a decent amp. That amp reached the highest price ever for an amp (30k$ I think)
He also sold his most iconic basses he used live: Framus, Mustang, Steinberger, Kramer, etc.
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I have been playing in several Stones Tribute band for the last +10 years, and I currently use a 68 EB3 SG bass. Shortscale and slothead.
I mostly use the neck PU (the infamous "Mudbucker"), but also the bridge PU on some songs (Miss you, Emotional Rescue etc.).
 
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#56
halloweenfiend said:
Hey guys just wondering if anyone here knows a thing or two about Bill's gear throughout the years. Stones era and after. I have not had the oppurtunity of seeing him and his band nowadays (besides Youtube vids). But it looks like he uses some kind of headless short-scale (Steinberger mayb?). Neways, if anyone knows about his basses, amplification, strings, and whatnot please tell.

-Jon
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I've a book, Rolling Stones Gear, that follows them all through their career. It's a big fat coffee table type book. Here's the link https://www.amazon.com/Rolling-Ston...84&sprefix=rolling+stones+gear,aps,106&sr=8-1
 
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#57
Something got messed up with your post, but yes, Ronnie was on bass for “ER”, but Bill played synthesizer. But Keith played bass on much more than “Sympathy”, “Live With Me” being a standout example. Mick Taylor occasionally as well, plus Wood(who is no slouch on the low end himself).
 
#58
halloweenfiend said:
Hey guys just wondering if anyone here knows a thing or two about Bill's gear throughout the years. Stones era and after. I have not had the oppurtunity of seeing him and his band nowadays (besides Youtube vids). But it looks like he uses some kind of headless short-scale (Steinberger mayb?). Neways, if anyone knows about his basses, amplification, strings, and whatnot please tell.

-Jon
Click to expand...
Invalid Link Removed
 
#60
design said:
View attachment 2790054 View attachment 2790040 View attachment 2790041
Pictures here show Bill’s first bass as it looks now (red & black, double cutaway) plus how it would have looked when he bought it (in ‘61?). It is a UK-built Dallas Tuxedo bass from 1959 or 1960. Bill heavily modified the body shape, the paintjob, and filed down the frets to make it “fretless”. It has a Hofner pickup, and 30” scale. This type was also John Paul Jones’ first bass, and according the book “Led Zeppelin Gear” has a mahogany body.
Click to expand...
Love the mod! I was just checking out

and was wondering what model of bass (red) he was using. Thanks for posting up the pics.
 

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