“I said to Billy, ‘We should order one of these, and I’ll play it. It’ll be hilarious.’ Then it went viral. I hate playing that bass. Now I’ve got to play it every night”: Elwood Francis on why he regrets his 17-string bass becoming a ZZ Top staple

Guitar World ^ | 7/18 | Michael Astley-Brown

[DoodleBob]

I think Elwood is a fantastic addition to ZZ Top. God bless him.

[dfwgator]

The only person who could replace Dusty.

[ansel12]

My ZZ Top story is that I was friends with Billy Gibbons.

[cuban leaf]

I have four, five and six string basses and mainly gig with the five and six string. Just looking at that picture forced me to up my Fentanyl dose!

[Manic_Episode]

Hanging out with royalty!

As a guitar player Billy is the guy I want to play and sound like and I cover half a dozen of his tunes.

Got to see ZZ Top with Dusty 3 times over the years. Great fun.

[gibsonguy]

That thing is out of a nightmare. All l can say is better you than me Elwood.

[Organic Panic]

I use to go to the NAAM show every year. There are all kinds of whacky show pieces like that. But nothing compares to Steve Vai’s guitar (in my opinion)...

https://youtu.be/46qjDJ0lLdE?si=tuquO5s2zgJab3yl

[lefty-lie-spy]

That’s awesome. This is first I heard about it. I saw them open for The Rolling Stones in 1989 or so.

[xoxox]

Lots of things in Rick Nielsen's collection do.

[Adder]

Elwood...just say no.

They don’t still play the fuzzy guitars!

LOL.

[dfwgator]

Pat Metheny's 42-String Pikasso Guitar

[Bullish]

As a lifelong bassist I have one word for that... NO!

[BradyLS]

I guess you only play the bottom four (or maybe) five strings traditionally? The rest would be by tapping?

I would have guessed it had to have three or four necks!

[Gil4]

As a lifelong bassist I have one word for that... NO!

It sounds like he might have to add a word and get a bit more forceful - Hell No!

[BradyLS]

Forty-two strings! Must be fun to tune!

[P.O.E.]

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

[Disambiguator]

Just looking at that thing makes my hands cramp up.

[LastDayz]

Man..... that is one knarly looking guitar. Prolly be easier to lay it down like a steel and git after it.

[DAC21]

I saw ZZ Top on their Degüello Tour (cheap sunglasses) at the National Orange Show grounds, San Bernardino CA. The Floor was festival (standing no chairs) so you could get up real close, if you got there early, which we did. I don’t recall what song it was, but Billy blew out his high E string at the beginning of that song. He didn’t miss a beat, I was 15 feet away and amazed how he worked the fretboard on his leads working around no E string.