Bass of the Week: Yamaha Billy Sheehan Acrylic Attitude LTD3

Yamaha Acrylic Billy Sheehan Attitude LTD3 Bass

This week we’re checking out a cool one-off that Yamaha built for bass shredder Billy Sheehan. Based on his signature Attitude LTD3 model, the bass brings together some interesting elements tied around Sheehan’s band The Winery Dogs.

“Before The Winery Dogs’ touring cycle in support of their second album Hot Streak, Billy asked us to build him an Attitude LTD3 that looked like a deep dark red glass of wine and for it to be infused with LED lights,” Yamaha wrote on their R&D website. “After a period of time doing some R&D and brainstorming of different building techniques materials, we decided to go with an acrylic body, but finding one in any color other than clear was proving to be difficult. With the help of Matt Haramis from Haramis Musical Hardware, we were able to mold a wooden Attitude body and found a vendor that mixed the perfect color acrylic and could hold the LED lights.”

The bass is rounded out with special wine bottle fretboard inlays, cork control knobs, and a wine bottle label pickguard. It is loaded with a Yamaha Custom Woofer Pickup in the neck position and a DiMarzio WillPower pickup in the middle position. Controls include front Volume, Front Tone, and a Woofer Hi-Cut switch. Finally, Yamaha fitted the bass with Hipshot ultralight tuners and a Babicz full-contact bridge.

Yamaha Acrylic Billy Sheehan Attitude LTD3 Specs:

Scale Length:34″ (863.6mm)
Body:Acrylic with LEDs
Neck:Maple
Fingerboard:Maple
Radius:10″ (250mm)
Frets:21
Inlays:Wine Bottle
Pickups:Yamaha Custom Woofer Pickup, DiMarzio WillPower
Controls:Front Volume, Front Tone, Rear Volume, Woofer Hi Cut Switch
Bridge:Babicz FCH
Tuners:Hipshot Ultralight
Other:Cork Control Knobs, Wine Label Pickguard

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