Bootsy Collins' inaugural J Bass surpasses auction expectations.] - Guitar | Technique

On December 5, one particular Fender Jazz Bass – bearing the serial number 266610 – belonging to arguably one of the coolest cats on bass, Bootsy Collins – and previously, James Brown – went up for auction.

Initially, the bass was up for grabs at a remarkably low price – just $5,250 – before it shot up to $40,000 during the auction’s final moments.

There’s still time to beat that amount, though: the Heritage Auction website allows you to make an offer to the new owner – but the offer will have to be more than $50,000.

To say the James Brown- and Bootsy Collins-owned 1969 Fender Jazz bass is simply “storied” is a massive understatement. The instrument was originally purchased by Brown in 1970 for Collins, who was then a young bassist in Brown’s band, The J.B’s. The bass was later wielded by Fred Thomas, another one of Brown’s longtime bassists, and was used on various records and tours.

In an interview with Fender, Bootsy clearly recalls being given this bass: “When I first joined up with the James Brown crew I had a $29 Silvertone guitar, and I thought I was awesome,” he recounts. “Until I met James Brown and he told me, ‘Son, you can’t come on my stage with that funny-looking thing right there!’

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(Image credit: Heritage Auctions)

“He broke my heart, but at the same time, I was like, ‘Okay, well, I would love to have a Fender Jazz Bass.’ He said, ‘No problem. I’ll have it for you tomorrow.’ The next day came and Mr. James Brown got me a Fender Jazz 1969 bass. And I was like a kid in a candy shop. It was the bomb!”

The bass comes with provenance tracing directly from the James Brown Band’s 1977 Miami tour through multiple eyewitness accounts, including a signed document from bandleader Hollie Farris, which confirms that, “Mr. Brown originally purchased this bass in Cincinnati for Bootsy Collins to play on concerts and recordings when he hired him in 1970. After Collins left the Band in 1972, Fred Thomas played this bass on concerts and recordings as his main instrument.”