Dusty Hill’s furry bass from ZZ Top’s Legs music video is going under the hammer
The instrument is the highlight of an upcoming auction featuring instruments and memorabilia from the late bassist’s collection.
Image: Al Pereira / Getty Images
The iconic fur-covered bass from ZZ Top’s Legs music video is set to go under the hammer this December.
Organised by Julien’s, the sale is part of a massive auction featuring instruments and memorabilia from the collection of late bassist Dusty Hill.
Featuring alongside Hill’s famed four-string is an equally furry Dean Z model electric guitar wielded by ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons in the band’s 1983 MTV hit.
According to the lot description, the 1983 Dean Explorer style bass was attached to a rig worn around Hill’s waist to make it spin. The instrument’s creator Dean Zelinsky apparently received a 3am phone call from Gibbons while ZZ Top was on tour in the UK.
At the end of their conversation Gibbons told the luthier, “I’m sending you some sheepskins I purchased while in Scotland, I want you to put them on some guitars.”
“Weeks later, the sheepskins showed up and I got to work,” Zelinsky recounted in his blog. “I made a matching pair of Dean Z guitar and bass, painted them white including the fingerboards, painted the Eliminator Logo down the necks and applied the sheepskins. I cleared a path down the centre with an electric horse sheers to accept the pickups, tailpiece and strings.”
“I remember we were still glueing the fur on the tuning keys when the FedEx driver showed up to pick up the guitars. He waited while we boxed them up… they had to make it to the video shoot the very next day.
Hill’s fur-covered Dean bass is expected to fetch up to $120,000. The auction will take place from 7-9 December in the bassist’s birthplace of Dallas. A portion of the proceeds will go to MusiCares.
”Dusty treasured all of the items in this auction and it means so much to me that the fans, who he loved, will have an opportunity to own something from his personal collection,” said Dusty’s wife Chuck.
Check out the full catalogue at Julien’s Auctions.