Posted on 07/18/2024 5:21:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Elwood Francis reveals the origins of his preposterous 17-string bass – and why he’s disappointed it went viral
In 2022, ZZ Top guitar tech-turned-bassist Francis Elwood made headlines throughout the guitar press and beyond when he whipped out an almighty 17-string bass guitar with the Texas blues-rock legends.
And although Elwood has since admitted he feels uncomfortable in the role he has occupied since Hill’s passing in 2021, his new addition to the ZZ Top arsenal continues the band’s great tradition of wacky instruments (the spinning fur guitars that starred in the Legs video being their most famous examples).
Now, in a new interview with Guitar World, Francis has detailed the origin story behind the unlikely extended-range behemoth, which started life as a cheap knockoff of YouTuber Jared Dines’ 18-string Ormsby creation (and is most definitely not a Fender, no matter what that gargantuan headstock logo says).
“I did it to myself,” Elwood laughs. “I hate playing that bass. I found it late at night while internet surfing on one of those Chinese websites. I couldn't believe they were making something like that.
“I found this guitar, took a screenshot, and sent it to Billy, saying, ‘We should order one of these, and I'll play it. It'll be hilarious.’ And three months later, we got it. It came in all the way from China, and Billy pulls out this big-ass yellow 17-string bass and is like, ‘Okay, we'll play it for a song, right?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I guess I can do this…’”
Unsurprisingly, the instrument proved somewhat challenging to play, not least because the very first time Francis used it was on stage – to tackle, appropriately enough, ZZ Top classic Got Me Under Pressure.
“Man, the guitar tech barely got the thing ready for the show,” he says. “And we don’t do soundchecks; I didn’t even play the guitar until the first time, so it was a baptism by fire while we were out on stage. I was like, ‘God damn, this thing is hard to play.’
“I was seriously struggling because you don’t always know where you are, and if you look at it from the bottom, it’s a big blank neck; I was having trouble finding the frets to play.”
Once it was all over, Francis breathed a sigh of relief – “Okay, cool. Hope everyone laughed” – thinking he’d never have to play the monstrosity again. Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t the case.
“I thought it was over, but the son of a (female dog) went viral, and I woke up to all these messages and links to all this (expletives),” he says.
“I was cringing because I knew I was struggling to play that piece of trash. I’m like, ‘Great. Of all the things to happen… Now that I got this reaction, Billy’s never going to let me not play it.’ I was thinking, ‘If I can just get through this… it’s just one song, and I’ll never have to play it again.’ But now I’ve got to play it [every night].”
And it looks like it could stay that way for some time – the 17-string bass has attained such notoriety, it has even surpassed some of ZZ Top’s most iconic guitars in fans’ estimations.
“At this point, more people ask me about the 17-string bass than they do the fuzzy guitar,” Francis laughs. “Now, the 17-string bass is the thing they want to hold!”
Stay tuned for Guitar World’s full interview with Elwood Francis, where he discusses stepping into Dusty Hill’s shoes, and his teching years with Joe Perry and Steve Vai.
The only person who could replace Dusty.
My ZZ Top story is that I was friends with Billy Gibbons.
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!
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.
That thing is out of a nightmare. All l can say is better you than me Elwood.
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
That’s awesome. This is first I heard about it. I saw them open for The Rolling Stones in 1989 or so.
Elwood...just say no.
They don’t still play the fuzzy guitars!
LOL.
As a lifelong bassist I have one word for that... NO!
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!
It sounds like he might have to add a word and get a bit more forceful - Hell No!
Forty-two strings! Must be fun to tune!
Just looking at that thing makes my hands cramp up.
Man..... that is one knarly looking guitar. Prolly be easier to lay it down like a steel and git after it.
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.