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Jamerson's '62 Precision - Most Valuable Electric Ever?

Jamerson played a few Ps during his lifetime, as they kept getting stolen. I think he owned 3 or 4 from his first, a black '57, on to the S/B early '60s ones, but there was the one 'Funk Machine' that I think was played on a majority of his hits.

This bass was gone long before he died, and the one stolen from his house a few days before he died was not the same one.
 
This bass was gone long before he died, and the one stolen from his house a few days before he died was not the same one.

According to my Standing in the Shadows of Motown book, The funk machine was indeed the bass stolen from Jamerson in his last days. The Jamerson family only has his German upright and his blue sparkle Kustom amp - the B15 was stolen too. :scowl:
 
:hmm: Who could authenticate that bass if it did turn up? James Jamerson Jr., perhaps!?

I dunno, I think I'd be pretty sceptical if "The Funk Machine" suddenly surfaced now. Especially if it had a 7-figure price tag :p!


James Jamerson Jr. has said that he could identify his fathers bass by certain "things" only he knows about. So a fake would not pass his inspection.

this is a cool sight all about Jamerson...Invalid Link Removed
 
The most valuable bass (money wise) would definitely be Sir Paul's; absolutely no doubt about it.

McCartney is a Beatle, so clearly anything having to do with them is truly going to draw a load of interest. But I believe he played dozens of different basses throughout his career. So the considerable value of any one of his instruments is diluted by this total number. There just isn't one Holy Grail McCartney axe that I know of, unless you're referring to the Hofner he played when they were in Germany...,

Maybe that's the one, if it was on their first three albums... But I don't know much about McCartney's basses.
 
According to this ... you CAN own one of Jacos basses


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:eek: ... Invalid Link Removed



:hmm: ... That is if you have a spare 45k laying around
 
Most of the world didn't even know who Jamerson was until Standing in the Shadows of Motown was released.

Regardless of how many hits he used the bass on, he wasn't a "pop" icon.

While a music collector/historian would pay good money for that bass, it wouldn't come near the value of any bass McCartney used for anything when the Beatles were on the charts.

Sad truth, but truth none the less.
 
I didn't know that Jamerson is know outside of the bass community...he is not known around here at least. And I know that Paul had at least 2 Hofners...i think that both would be valuable, since the first one was well, the first one and the second was more widely used I think.