Unofficial History of the 12-String Bass

Boxcar Willie is shown here in a newspaper story from the Nashville Register in January of 1959. Willie, whose real name was Lecil Martin, started playing country music in the early 1950's and was still performing at the time of his death in 1999.

The original name of his band was "The Boxcar Willies" which referred to a specific type of paranoid psychosis that was common among hobos who had been confined inside of darkened railroad cars for extended periods. The illness manifested itself in terrifying delusions of being attacked by monsters, violent flailing of the arms and legs, and vocal outbursts similar to Tourette's Syndrome.

After all the other members of the band started exhibiting symptoms of the disorder Martin hired new players, shortened the band name and assumed center stage. (After extensive psychotherapy and electro-shock treatments all of the original band members eventually recovered from their illnesses except for the lead singer. He adopted the stage name Joe Cocker and incorporated the symptoms into his performances.)

While Boxcar Willie played an acoustic 12-string bass exclusively during every performance throughout his long career, it appears that nobody ever noticed. He was plagued by a string of albums that never generated a single hit, but thanks to television advertising he eventually became known as The World's Favorite Hobo. Willie's 12-string bass now resides on permanent display at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

News Date: November 12, 1961
Headline: Man Seriously Injured at Rock & Roll Show
(AP Wire Services Story - Reprinted with Permission)

News Story: Charles "E.K." Van Halen is lucky to be alive after suffering severe injuries at a rock music show last Tuesday night. Van Halen, shown shortly after awakening from a three-day coma, was injured after the bassist with the band The Ernest Borgnine Project started playing a 12-stringed electric bass guitar. The instrument generated such a massive wall of sound that Van Halen suffered internal injuries, ruptured eardrums and two broken arms when he tried to cover his ears to prevent further damage.

"There ought to be a law against those 12-stringed things," states Van Halen, "and one thing for sure, I'm never going to let my kids have anything to do with rock music!" Van Halen is expected to be released from the hospital late next week.

Editors Note: This incident immediately prompted a Congressional investigation of the 12-string bass, which led to the passage of HR69: The Rock & Roll Protection Act of 1962. Due to the provisions of the Act new technologies were developed and incorporated into the design and construction of all 12-string basses, greatly limiting the frequency and severity of 12ver-related injuries. Today most injuries caused by the 12-string bass are self-inflicted and thoroughly enjoyed.

The Beatles - 1963

The Beatles are shown here performing at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. This is the first of only two documented performances with the future Sir Paul McCartney playing his Hofner 12-string bass.

The only other time this bass was used in a live appearance was on February 8, 1964 when The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. Before the show Sullivan, an aspiring bassist himself, repeatedly asked McCartney, "What in the hell are all these strings for?" After spending nearly ten minutes trying to explain the intricacies of the instrument Paul finally told him, "They're just in case I break a string while I'm playing, I always carry plenty of spares." That answer seemed to satisfy Sullivan's curiosity and the show proceeded as planned.

While seldom played live, this bass saw extensive use with the Beatles in the recording studio several years later. Many of the instrumental parts presumably played on the sitar were actually played on the 12 in combination with a variety of innovative studio effects.

The Who - 1965

In this photo taken at the Richmond Jazz and Blues Festival, John Entwistle is shown playing a unique Danelectro Long Horn 12-string bass, the only 12 ever made by the company. It was smashed by Entwistle during the encore, with a piece of the shattered bass striking drummer Keith Moon's face and leaving a large permanent scar. Band insiders have privately stated they believed it was this disfigurement and the failed cosmetic surgeries that followed that started Moon on the slow downward spiral towards his untimely death.

Don Ho is shown rehearsing with Barbara Eden for an episode of the television show I Dream Of Jeannie that was filmed on location in Hawaii. The next day when the time came for filming the scene Don realized he had left his 12-string bass at home. The show's producer decided to go ahead and shoot the scene using the only instrument available on the set, an inexpensive ukulele. Audiences responded so favorably to Don Ho's performance that he abandoned his budding rock music career in favor of acoustically-based island music. The song "Tiny Bubbles" that Don had performed on the show, originally written as an acid rock anthem, quickly established his sound and set the tone for his career for the following three decades.

David Crosby only played the 12-string bass at this one performance in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had planned on playing the 12 at Woodstock the previous year but had put a numerical lock on the case and he couldn't remember the combination. After spending nearly a year trying every number in sequence to find the correct "9876" setting, the case finally popped open right before the Tulsa gig. Crosby spent the entire performance yelling, "What in the hell are all these strings for?" and "Can we hire that Neil Young cat to play bass?" during Graham Nash's guitar solos. The next day Crosby went back to playing acoustic guitar and never picked up the 12 again. Rumor has it this bass is stored at the Tulsa International Airport in a locker with a 12-digit combination that nobody remembers.

Due to guitarist Ace Frehley's habit of disappearing at any given moment KISS bassist Gene Simmons was forced to do whatever it took to ensure the show went on. Simmons is shown playing the custom 12-string bass made for him by Charlie Labue, who is famous for making the 4-string bass Gene played for much of the1970's. This is the only known photo of the 12-string Labue which is unusual due to the number of times Simmons had to use it. By playing the 12 Gene could cover most of the bass and rhythm guitar duties which allowed Paul Stanley to cover Ace's parts. A little-known fact is that Paul played both solo parts on the studio version of "Detroit Rock City" which was a direct result of his years filling in for Ace live.

Simmons discussed the 12-string in his autobiography, Love Tongue: Confessions of a Rock & Roll Warrior. Gene writes, "It was great until I spit blood which would dry on the bass and the octave strings would stick together. That was a problem. Also, the girls loved it and ended up paying more attention to the bass than they did me. That was the bigger problem." Simmons admits that his mega-promiscuity may have been directly related to the insecurities surrounding his 12-string experience.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts performing in Reno, Nevada in 1982. She is shown here playing a previously unrecorded white Hamer Quad Bass, which is also unique in that the switches for the quadraphonic electronics are below the knobs instead of being positioned above them. While Jett, the first reported female 12-string bassist, usually played guitar, she switched to bass for the song "Fake Friends" which was released as a single in early 1983.