{"id":492,"date":"2017-11-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?post_type=bass&#038;p=492"},"modified":"2026-09-13T08:46:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:46:51","slug":"bass-of-the-week-gretsch-g6199-billy-bo-bass","status":"publish","type":"bass","link":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?bass=bass-of-the-week-gretsch-g6199-billy-bo-bass","title":{"rendered":"Bass of the Week: Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo Bass"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week we\u2019re checking out a hip Gretsch bass that had its start as a blues guitar. The Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo Bass is a four-string version of the company\u2019s recreation of Bo Diddley\u2019s classic Jupiter Thunderbird guitar he designed in 1959. When he gifted it to Billy Gibbons, the ZZ Top frontman didn\u2019t dare to take such a rare instrument on the road. The duo teamed up with Gretsch to create the \u201cBilly-Bo\u201d model, and eventually the bass version. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.notreble.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Gretsch-G6199-Billy-Bo-Bass.jpg?resize=1183%2C297\" alt=\"Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo Bass\" width=\"1183\" height=\"297\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-51826 img-fluid\"><\/p>\n<p>The bass\u2019s funky body shape is cut out of laminated maple with mahogany for its back. The company also made the short-scale bass\u2019s neck out of mahogany and topped it with a bound rosewood fingerboard marked by neo-classic thumbnail inlays. For electronics, the Billy-Bo Bass is fitted with a pair of TV Jones Thunder\u2019Tron pickups with a three-position toggle switch, independent volume knobs, and a master tone control. Hardware includes the Gretsch Space Control bridge with a rosewood base, Gotoh locking tuners, and a \u201cG\u201d cutout tailpiece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week we\u2019re checking out a hip Gretsch bass that had its start as a blues guitar. The Gretsch G6199 Billy-Bo Bass is a four-string version of the company\u2019s recreation of Bo Diddley\u2019s classic Jupiter\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1719,"template":"","meta":[],"builder":[],"class_list":["post-492","bass","type-bass","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/bass"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"builder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fbuilder&post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}