Dusty Hill’s Furry Bass, ’53 Precision, And More Up For Auction

Two years after his passing, ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill’s collection is going up for sale. Julien’s Auctions has announced “The Collection of Dusty Hill of ZZ Top,” which features nearly 1,200 lots of his items. The auction will be a three-day event on December 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Among the goods up for sale are one-of-a-kind instruments, custom western style outfits, gear, creative documents, memorabilia, and more. The auction house states that the headlining item will be the iconic fur bass used in the “Legs” music video, which they estimate will fetch between $80,000 and $120,000.

“The 1983 Dean Explorer style bass, in sheepskin finish with ZZ Top logo painted on the fretboard, was attached to a rig worn around Hill’s waist to make it spin,” they share. “Dean Zelinsky of Dean Guitars who created the instruments, wrote about them on his website’s blog stating that he received a 3am phone call from Billy Gibbons while ZZ Top was on tour in the UK. At the very end of their conversation Billy said to Zelinsky, ‘I’m sending you some sheepskins I purchased while in Scotland, I want you to put them on some guitars.’ Weeks later, the sheepskins were delivered and Zelinsky made a matching pair of Dean Z guitar and bass, painted them white including the fingerboards with the Eliminator album logo down the necks and applied the sheepskins. ‘I remember we were still gluing the fur on the tuning keys when the FedEx driver showed up to pick up the guitars,’ said Zelinsky. ‘He waited while we boxed them up, they had to make it to the video shoot the very next day.'”

Hill’s 1953 Fender Precision is also on the block alongside an MTV Moonman award, his bald eagle jacket by Manuel, a black leather motorcycle jacket, and more. A portion of the auction will benefit MusiCares, which offers preventive, emergency, and recovery programs for musicians and music industry professionals.

To peruse the full collection, visit Julien’s Auctions.