Rolling Stones
This is a special, one-of-a-kind bass built for Wyman in a short scale by arrangement through Alan Rogan.
Steinberger L-Series basses were all built with 24 frets. Wyman’s custom Steinberger has only 22 frets by eliminating the last two frets.
Designed and manufactured by Ned Steinberger, who was awarded “Design of the Decade” by the prestigious Designers Society of America for his creation of the XL bass, this Steinberger XL-Series bass was constructed from the trademarked “STEINBERGER BLEND,” a reinforced composite material.
A framed commemorative ticket to a November 13, 1981, Rolling Stones show at Madison Square Garden, New York. Framed together with a plaque reading “Presented To / Bill Wyman / To Commemorate The Sale of More Than / 260,000 Tickets at Madison Square Garden / 1969 – 1981 / An Official Madison Square Garden Award.”
12 1/4 by 10 1/4 inches
A blue road case on casters with the Rolling Stones tongue logo stencilled on both sides.
Used by Bill in the late 1970s-early 1980s while touring with the Stones.
A case with identical decoration and colouring was photographed holding up Wyman’s black short-scale Steinberger guitar during the Stones 1982 tour.
Yamaha Amp G100 Mark 2, serial number 3737, and Yamaha cabinet S215, serial number 2673, 2 x 15 speakers.
Used in a Bill Wyman Yamaha ad and promotional posters
This Yamaha G100II amp head is a 100-watt solid-state guitar amp with 2-channel parametric EQ reverb.
The amp was designed by Paul Rivera and made in Japan by Yamaha.
The matching S215 speaker cabinet is a side reflex cabinet fitted with two 15-inch speakers.
A gift from Yamaha to Bill Wyman in 1983.
Bill used this amp on tour at many of the 900-plus shows he performed with the Rhythm Kings throughout 1993-2016.
Yamaha SBG1000 model electric guitar, serial number 089640.
This black SBG1000 has a set neck with double cutaway, thin and light wood body with carved maple top, two humbucking pickups and standard volume/tone knobs.
This guitar was a gift from Yamaha to Bill Wyman in 1983.
A wool red tartan jacket with shawl collar and double-breasted front closure.
Interior label reads, in part, “M.Berman Ltd / Film & Theatrical Costumes.”
Bill wore the jacket on January 20, 1984 as the Rolling Stones recorded the music video for their single “She Was Hot” in Mexico City.
1985 Staccato MG bass with case.
Pat Townshend designed this magnesium alloy Staccato bass featuring a neck and bridge system that could be swapped out.
This bass features Kent Armstrong custom-made pickups, special T-clamp tuning pegs and a unique bridge with a fine-tuning mechanism. The instruments were built in Norfolk, England, in the 1980s by Townshend.
Wyman as well as Chris and Mick Jagger invested in the business.
This is a very rare instrument, as only about 200 were ever made.
Bill used a Staccato bass in the music video for the Rolling Stones single “One Hit (To the Body).”
1985 Fairlight CMI keyboard system, serial numbers SNA 0284251, SNB 0184247, SNC 0384269.
This Australian-built Fairlight Computer Music Instrument (CMI) was a state-of-the-art synthesizer/sampler workstation when it was produced in 1985.
It was one of the first samplers with 28 megabytes or more of memory, a full 73-note velocity-sensitive keyboard, complete synthesis and editing of digitally sampled sounds, three different on-board SMPTE sequencers and storage to various disk mediums.
A Bundesverband Musikindustrie “gold” record mounted to burgundy velvet matte. The award is presented to Bill Wyman in appreciation of more than 250,000 sold in Germany of the LP Dirty Work.
1989 Wal MB4 Custom Series MIDI bass, serial number W3213.
The Wal MB4 was a relatively short-lived collaboration between Electric Wood, the manufacturer of Wal basses, and Australian bass player/designer Steve Chick.
Recording engineer Chris Potter, who worked on the Steel Wheels LP, described the Rolling Stones studio gear, remembering a new Wal MIDI bass that Wyman had for the sessions: “On ‘Almost Hear You Sigh,’ Bill used his Wal bass with a combination of DI and FET 47 mikes in front of a small Ampeg B15 Porta-flex bass amplifier placed in the stall next to Charlie [Watts]; this typified his setup for the duration of the session.”
This bass was also on the road for the Rolling Stones 1989-1990 tour.