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Bass VI

1962
Not on view
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
Dutch artists Marijke Koger and Simon Posthuma painted this six-string electric bass for Cream’s Jack Bruce as part of a set of psychedelic instruments that also included a decorated drum head for Ginger Baker’s kit and an electric guitar for Eric Clapton (on view nearby). Koger and Posthuma founded a collective known as the Fool and went on to create designs for many top bands. For the Beatles, they designed and painted costumes, an automobile, and the mural on the Apple Corps music building in London. The Fool released their own psychedelic folk album in 1969.

Technical description:
Alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard; 30 in. scale length; rainbow psychedelic designs in oil-based enamel paint; bolt-on neck with dot inlays; three single-coil pickups with individual on/off switches, volume and tone controls; chrome Jazzmaster-style bridge, vibrato tailpiece, and control surfaces, nickel tuners, black plastic knob; cosmic design painted onto pickguard, headstock painted over, vibrato arm removed, volume knob missing

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bass VI
  • Artist: Fender
  • Artist: The Fool Collective
  • Date: 1962
  • Geography: Fullerton, California, United States
  • Medium: Alder, maple, rosewood, chrome, nickel, plastic, oil-based enamel paint
  • Dimensions: Length: 44 3/4 in. (113.7 cm)
    Width: 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)
    Depth: 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)
    Weight: 7-9 lbs.
  • Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted
  • Credit Line: Courtesy of Hard Rock International
  • Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments