Jeff Ament has been reunited with one of the most sentimental bass guitars he’s ever played, more than three decades after using it to track an iconic Pearl Jam record.
In a new post on Instagram, Ament told the tale of his 1961 Fender Jazz Bass, which he had rented from none other than Norman Harris of Norman’s Rare Guitars during the early 1990s while Pearl Jam were tracking Vs.
The band’s second studio album, Vs. introduced a handful of iconic Pearl Jam cuts to the world, including the likes of Go, Daughter, and Animal, all of which Ament recorded using the black-finished, tortoise-shell pickguard-equipped, color-matched headstock 1961 Jazz Bass.
However, as Ament explains in a lengthy post on Instagram announcing his newest acquisition, he didn’t buy the guitar outright at the time – in fact, he forgot about it, and ended up paying a rather hefty rental fee.
“The week before making VS, Brendan [O’Brien, producer] asked if I had a Jazz bass, and I didn’t. He asked @normansrareguitars to rent his best one to us and they sent the beautiful black ‘61 stack knob, at a rate of $200 per week or $4k if I wanted to buy it, which was impossible at the time.
“Three months later, I found out we had accidentally stored the bass after recording in Seattle and paid $2,500 in rental fees!”
Unable to purchase the bass – “the Ten residuals were in the Sony ‘pipeline,’” he says – Ament eventually returned the bass, which was later sold to the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, Florida, where it has remained on display ever since.
“I visited around 2000, and thought, ‘Man, that’s the one that got away!’” Ament reflects. “Fast forward to hanging out with Chris Osceola [Hollywood Councilman for Seminole Tribe of Florida] at the new Seminole skatepark, and mentioning they owned one of my favorite basses.
“The next day, he brings and gifts the bass to me. Unreal! I don’t think I’ve been happier about a material (and somewhat spiritual) thing in my whole life. The bass I played on Rats, Animal, & WMA was in my hands again, saved from the confines of the display case.
“Thank you Chris and @hardrockholly for the gift of a lifetime. Did I mention that she sounds fooooking incredible?!”
Having reconnected with his old instrument, Ament wasted no time in putting it to action, using it during Pearl Jam’s show at the Hard Rock Live venue. And, to mark the occasion, vocalist Eddie Vedder even gave the bass a shout out, reportedly changing the lyrics of Elderly Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town to “I seem to recognize your face… that bass!”
Head over to Jeff Ament’s Instagram account to read the full story.
