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For more than 15 years, New Zealand musician Nick Sceats would occasionally take an old bass guitar out of its case. Its strings had been replaced several times, there was a scratch on the back and a couple of nicks on the sides, but it still sounded good. He also liked its teardrop shape and for a time it hung on his bedroom wall. He would play it, but more often it was borrowed by other musicians. But this was no ordinary bass. For years Sceats, from Wellington, had heard stories from other local musicians about the instrument. But he did not know if any were true. The instrument had the words "Wyman Bass" on its head. Guitar maker Vox made a few hundred of the bass guitars in the 1960s. It was endorsed by Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman - the only guitar Vox has adorned with an endorser's name. The story went that this bass guitar belonged to Wyman and had been stolen when the Stones played in Wellington in 1966. Now, after some investigative work, a stunned Sceats has discovered the truth. Last week, a letter from Wyman confirmed the guitar
really did belong to the multimillionaire rock musician. "I was so delighted to read your email regarding my long-lost, but not forgotten Vox bass guitar," Wyman wrote. "I just couldn't believe that it had 'turned up' and that you were trying to make contact to return it to me - my profound thanks to you." With the guitar's history confirmed, it could be of considerable value. But Sceats air-freighted the bass back to Wyman on Thursday. He expects nothing in return. "I'm just kind of doing the right thing in closing the loop. I don't see why he should pay for something that was stolen from him." Sceats decided to get to the bottom of the legend late last year. The guitar's previous owner, Shane Tibby, had been in Wellington band the Bluetts with Sceats and had owed him $NZ400 for a 1980s recording session. When Tibby left for Britain in the late '80s he gave Sceats the bass to look after in lieu of payment. Tibby had acquired it from a flatmate. He did not know about its history until Bluetts drummer Tim Robinson recognised it, saying: "Ah, you've got the Wyman bass, then." Sceats said the story went that it had changed hands several times when its owners went broke. At least once in the 1970s it was sold in a music shop. "I wondered: 'Is this really Bill Wyman's bass?' How do you get a hold of Bill Wyman?" Sceats said he learned of a Wyman fan club on the net and was able to contact the man himself. That Wyman could remember the bass did not surprise him. The rocker, now retired from the Stones, is known as the authority on the band's history. He has many diaries and is meticulous about dates. - Dominion Post
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