Sunday, 26 February 2012

Grass Roots bass mixes Gibson Thunderbird with Rickenbacker 4000 series & Ibanez Iceman

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Francis writes:
Hi, I'm a fan of the Guitarz blog. With all the oddball shapes that run by you, I thought it would be cool to share some photos of this oddball bass I recently acquired. It's a Grass Roots bass from the early 90s, I think. Previous owner told me it was MIJ but I think Grass Roots moved production to Korea at some point. My facts might be off as I'm not usually an ESP fan. It has that characteristic Firebird/SG neckdive but because of its odd Rickenbacker headstock-on-Iceman/Firebird-bass cut, the butt end of it perpetually rests underneath my elbow and maintains balance but for all the wrong reasons. Any idea where this is from and when it was made? Originally white, I believe. Yellowed clear coat. Both P-bass and Jazz Bass pickups.

Thanks for those photos, Francis. I'm afraid I know nothing about this bass nor the Grass Roots brand. You mentioned ESP, and your bass does look like it could be a relation of this ESP Phoenix Firebird-like guitar that we looked at in April 2010.

If any readers know more about this bass please let us know via the comments. Thanks!

G L Wilson

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3 comments:

  1. It looks a lot like Noisy's (ex-SEX MACHINEGUNS, now DUSTAR-3) signature model http://www.espguitars.co.jp/artist/noisy/index.html, but I didn't realise they ever made it in GrassRoots. Maybe they did while he was in SMG?

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  2. Hey Ben! Francis here. Turns out both Edwards and Grass Roots released this but for different markets. I think Edwards was for export and Grass Roots was local, but my facts might be off. It's the Noisy signature. It was identified on the old comment section here before the site change. :D

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  3. my Grass Roots guitar is the cousin of your bass!! LES PAUL shape, STRAT wiring (SSS, 1V, 2T) and TELE stringing (through body with ferrules.!! :-D

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