Bass Collection The Guy Pratt Betsy Bass

A tribute to long term Bass Centre comrade, Guy Pratt, this new addition to our British Bass Masters range is a glorious recreation of “Betsy”, the storied 1964 Jazz Bass which has been Guy’s go-to instrument for many years.

As he enthuses, “Betsy is the best bass guitar in the world. I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise! It has a little date carved inside it — June 7, 1964 — which I love because it’s my dad’s birthday, and it was him who gave me my first bass.” 

Purchased from the legendary John Entwistle in 1987 after Guy’s mate Johnny Marr insisted that if they were going to play together he needed a Fender — a good one! (it was also Marr who inspired the nickname ‘Betsy’), Guy collected the original 1964 Burgundy Mist beauty from the Bass Centre’s Wapping HQ in London, after a set-up by the store’s long-serving, in-house tech Chris Ward.

“IT’S A FAB INSTRUMENT!”

Fast forward to 2019 and Guy was searching for a new road-worthy, high performance instrument for his touring commitments with Saucerful of Secrets. Suitably impressed with the quality of the vintage themed Bass Collection range Guy, and Bass Centre MD Barry Moorhouse, struck upon the idea of a modern, commercial recreation of Betsy in all her glory, incorporating the Bass Centre’s “Super Slim Sixties” neck profile, period accurate detailing, and beautifully balanced, lightweight construction.

Like its namesake, the new Betsy is loaded with EMG’s superb, active, low-impedance J pickups. The original received an active upgrade during early rehearsals with Pink Floyd in August ’87, although not without controversy : “I said to my tech, Syd Price, one day, ‘These pickups are a bit quiet, maybe we should think about getting some new ones?’ — and the next morning, it had EMGs in it. I shouted ‘What the f*ck have you done? You can’t put EMGs in a ’64 Jazz!’ but when I plugged it in, it sounded amazing!”

Needless to say, the Betsy also comes complete with Guy’s strings of choice : “I play Elites roundwounds and have done for decades. They’re utterly reliable.”

Completing the circle, every new Betsy bass will have its pickups installed and be set up by none other than Chris Ward, still taking care of business in the Bass Centre workshop after 35 years!!

A versatile, stage and studio workhorse, The Betsy has been designed for Guy, not just to appease his own exacting standards, but also to deliver a superb, competitively priced instrument to modern players. The fact that Guy is using one for the demands of Saucerful Of Secrets is testament to the success of the project… “It’s a fab instrument, and very reasonably priced.”