watt's thudstaffs

here's the machines I work to make the low flow






2021 reverend guitars 'wattplower' mark II

2021 reverend guitars "wattplower" mark II bass
design is a total joe naylor/mike watt collab
short scale neck, twentyone frets
passive volume/tone controls
joe naylor designed "p-blade" pickup
hipshot 'a style' bridge w/solid brass spacer
strings are loaded through the body
hipshot 'ultralite' tuners
via three way switch is wattplower mark I mode
(low strings pblade pickup closer to the neck on)
+ reversed mode (low strings pblade pickup closer
to the bridge on) - the high strings pblade pickup
is always on in these two settings. the third setting
is for the neck pickup which is a rio grande pitbull
pickup w/alnico magnets (the pblade pickups have ceramic
magnets which have more mids than alnico magnets)






watt's '56 fender-p w/curtis novak pbird pickups

1956 fender precision bass
got it in hermosa beach, ca from beatle bob real econo
cuz it was missing its pickup, got a curtis novak "pbird"
pickup replaced missing one, another added at the bridge
("pbird"is a split pbass pickup in a thunderbird case, curtis
created at my request!), this has a 'v' neck and also has
"thunderbroom" carved into the back of the body. opened
up a beastie boys tour using this w/fIREHOSE in the
early 90s. now I do lots of my recording w/this baby
along w/my moon bass and "bluey"
strings: thomastik-infeld jazz round
wound set jr344 (43-51-68-89)
weight: 8.6 lbs






watt's moon bass (larry graham model)

1997 moon jj-4-240b (larry graham model) bass
replaced the original bridge w/a hipshot kickass 4
switched out the original single coil bartolini pickups
w/split jazzs from lindy fralin and removed original onboard
preamp, now running passive w/controls like a orig fender jbass.
got this in the mail from chicago, il - yeah, the fucking
mail... never it played it 'till I got it! well worth the dice
roll though: incredible sound, action and intonation, love it!
strings: d'addario half rounds enr70 (40-60-75-95),
weight: 9.4 lbs






watt's 1966 non-reverse thunderbird II bass 'bluey'

1966 gibson thunderbird II (non-reverse) bass
"bluey" - my main bass from 1995 - 1999
got in nyc at 'we buy guitars' on 48th street while
on tour, first gig w/it: snapped its headstock off so
had to have it grafted back on and replaced original
tuners w/grovers. I recorded my first opera
"contemplating the engine room" w/this!
also did first stooges reunion gig w/it at coachella
in 2003 and after didn't play it again for eighteen years,
crimony! then when we lost bassbrother dusty hill I had
curtis novak wind me a fender 1951 pbass-type pickup
in honor of him to replace the humbucker (tore out all
the preamp stuff I had in before also so now it's passive),
hiwatt scott out in rochester, ny made me a pickguard
to go w/it (MUCH respect to him! he also flowed me a
replacement bridge that's fuckin way bitchin) and along
w/some la bella low tension flats ltf-4a (42-56-75-100),
"bluey" is back in the ring for recording w/watt
again who is MOST grateful, truly!
weight: 8.2 lbs






watt's china-made 2015 hofner 'ignition' violin bass

2015 hofner violin ignition bass
got this china-made version of what hofner
calls their violin bass expressly to do the
"whistle blower" tour for tav falco as one
of the panther burns in the fall of 2015.
I put la bella flat wounds 760fhb2 (39-56-77-96) on
and took off the pickguard. also had to flip the
jack plate over so the jack nut would
screw down tight. real fun bass to play.
sits right next to me where I konk at my pad,
ready to translate my ideas into bass!
UPDATE! as of june 25, 2023 this
baby's got a curtis novak pickup in
the neck postion which is the only
one I use on this this baby these days.
whoa, THIS PICKUP... crimony!
weight: 4.4 lbs






watt's early to mid 1970s gibson les paul signature bass

early to mid 70's gibson les paul signature bass
replaced original pickup w/a curtis novak
humbucker version of his 'dark star' pickup
and wired it directly to the output jack after
removing all the original controls and then
replaced the original bridge w/a hipshot.
I use halfround strings on this bass.
years ago I got les paul to sign it
behind the bridge, joke is on me though -
ironically, it says "to mike, keep on pickin' les paul"
(I pretty much lost being able to play w/a pick!)
this is the bass I keep at casa hanzo
got it on tour in smyrna, ga






watt's early to mid 1970's gibson sb-450 bass jeff ament gave him

early to mid 70's gibson sb-450 bass
this was a gift from very kind bassbrother jeff ament.
he had the original pickups replaced w/mike lull tbird ones
and he also replaced the original bridge w/one from hipshot.
I keep this bass also at casa hanzo, am using now (feb
2024) to record the next missingmen album "static"






1965 gibson eb-0 'the dan bass'

1965 gibson eb-0 "the dan bass"
given to me by a very kind man named dan
after all the stooges stuff was stolen
one rio grande pitbull pickup
(original pickup removed)
schaller 'bass bridge 2000'
custom pick guard






watt's rig for most gigs he does these days

watt's rig for most gigs he does these days:
one forte hp amp and
one nxtse 212 speaker box,
bof from bergantino audio systems








loop back to mike watt's hoot page




this page created 27 apr 99