Eastwood La Baye 2X4 DEVO Owned by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (2015)
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Eastwood La Baye 2X4 DEVO Owned by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco Model Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (2015), made in China, serial # 1502257, red finish, mahogany body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black tolex hard shell case.
Here's a delightfully zany bass formerly owned by a delightfully zany bassist (and eventual guitarist), Mr. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Originally a quick flash in the pan in 1967, La Baye guitars (and the even rarer basses) were the brainchild of one Dan Helland, a guitar teacher in Green Bay, Wisconsin. To Helland the body of an electric guitar was unimportant, no more than a block of wood with a neck. The (perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek) concept of the La Baye 2X4 came to Helland around 1965 when he was working at a local music store chain. The La Baye might have slid into oddball history if not for a long association with Ohio surrealists Devo, who saw in the 2X4 a guitar already "devolved" to fit their aesthetic without use of a saw!
Devo's Bob Mothersbaugh has employed several original La Bayes since the late '70s and is responsible for Eastwood's reissue of his 6-string La Baye and this bass as well; only about 45 La Baye 2X4s were ever made, and the bass is all the more rare with only 2 or 3 originals known to exist at all. Lovers of vintage guitars will certainly recognize Eastwood's modern factory-made "vintage tribute" instruments styled after rare, prohibitively expensive, or otherwise wacky relics of the past. This example has a hot rod red lacquered mahogany body and maple Fender-ish neck as the original with a rosewood fingerboard as well as a chrome Fender-style adjustable bridge and tuners.
Twin tone and volume controls are still mounted laterally on the top if the body, but this (like the guitar reissues) feature one rather practical change to the position of the 2-way pickup selector. It is also mounted on the top of the body rather than on the bottom by the output jack, the original questionable La Baye placement right in the path of the player's knee. From what we know, the original basses seemed to have some version of La Baye's "Sensi-Tone" single coil pickups; these are replaced here by a pair of Music Man-esque bass humbuckers. Overall, this is a fun if not exact replica of a virtually impossible to find fretted curiosity.
Overall length is 45 3/4 in. (116.2 cm.), 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm.) across at the widest point, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 30 1/4 in. (768 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This 2X4 comes to us in like-new condition from the Wilco loft showing very few signs of use; there is even still a thin plastic film covering the pickguard and jack plate. It is all original from the finish to the electronics to the unscathed frets and all other hardware. This guitar comes in a well-kept original Eastwood hardshell case with special Devo art and the Wilco Loft markings on the bottom edge; inside the case lives a spare case candy cable from Eastwood as well as our certificate of authenticity from the Wilco Loft validating the provenance of this piece. Overall Excellent + Condition.
Here's a delightfully zany bass formerly owned by a delightfully zany bassist (and eventual guitarist), Mr. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Originally a quick flash in the pan in 1967, La Baye guitars (and the even rarer basses) were the brainchild of one Dan Helland, a guitar teacher in Green Bay, Wisconsin. To Helland the body of an electric guitar was unimportant, no more than a block of wood with a neck. The (perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek) concept of the La Baye 2X4 came to Helland around 1965 when he was working at a local music store chain. The La Baye might have slid into oddball history if not for a long association with Ohio surrealists Devo, who saw in the 2X4 a guitar already "devolved" to fit their aesthetic without use of a saw!
Devo's Bob Mothersbaugh has employed several original La Bayes since the late '70s and is responsible for Eastwood's reissue of his 6-string La Baye and this bass as well; only about 45 La Baye 2X4s were ever made, and the bass is all the more rare with only 2 or 3 originals known to exist at all. Lovers of vintage guitars will certainly recognize Eastwood's modern factory-made "vintage tribute" instruments styled after rare, prohibitively expensive, or otherwise wacky relics of the past. This example has a hot rod red lacquered mahogany body and maple Fender-ish neck as the original with a rosewood fingerboard as well as a chrome Fender-style adjustable bridge and tuners.
Twin tone and volume controls are still mounted laterally on the top if the body, but this (like the guitar reissues) feature one rather practical change to the position of the 2-way pickup selector. It is also mounted on the top of the body rather than on the bottom by the output jack, the original questionable La Baye placement right in the path of the player's knee. From what we know, the original basses seemed to have some version of La Baye's "Sensi-Tone" single coil pickups; these are replaced here by a pair of Music Man-esque bass humbuckers. Overall, this is a fun if not exact replica of a virtually impossible to find fretted curiosity.
Overall length is 45 3/4 in. (116.2 cm.), 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm.) across at the widest point, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 30 1/4 in. (768 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This 2X4 comes to us in like-new condition from the Wilco loft showing very few signs of use; there is even still a thin plastic film covering the pickguard and jack plate. It is all original from the finish to the electronics to the unscathed frets and all other hardware. This guitar comes in a well-kept original Eastwood hardshell case with special Devo art and the Wilco Loft markings on the bottom edge; inside the case lives a spare case candy cable from Eastwood as well as our certificate of authenticity from the Wilco Loft validating the provenance of this piece. Overall Excellent + Condition.