Bootsy Collins

James Brown bought the bass sometime in 1970 for his young protégé, William Earl Collins, better known as Bootsy Collins, and it would go on to be played by another one of his bassists, Fred Thomas

Following Bootsy’s departure from the JBs in 1972, the bass continued its life on stage with Fred Thomas, another of Brown’s longtime bassists

Legendary sideman and film composer Lyle Workman recounts how he managed to reunite the legendary funkateers for 2007’s Superbad – by approaching Bootsy at NAMM

Collins talks and Buckethead riffs in the strangest guitar interview of 2025

James Jamerson's immense contribution to Motown Records in the ’60s and ’70s went largely uncredited – but his game-changing adoption of the P-Bass, coupled with his off-kilter technique, makes him an electric bass pioneer

Back in 1975, the funkateer had a larger-than-life vision for his dream bass – one which would see him knock on the door of many a luthier and music store before it became a reality

Before he became ‘the’ Bootsy Collins, William Collins was a young guitarist who desperately wanted to join his brother's band