Bass Tales: The Ghost/Bastard Bass Guitar

The Birth of a Mystery Bass

At some point in the distant past—let’s call it the later mid-80s—a black Fender bass, a hybrid Jazz-Precision, came into my possession. Far from being considered top-shelf, its low-end quality made it the perfect instrument to experiemnt with as a “canvas.” With each of those early L7 shows, I would add to or subtract from its menacing look. Over the first year, I spray-painted it, masked out stencil designs, and sanded away the sticky, gross finish to expose the raw wood.

Murder Ink and the Crimson Ghost

Around 1989, I was working in a screen-printing shop called Murder Ink. We provided silkscreen shirts to many local LA bands as well as touring bands from the UK like The Damned and GBH. Among the designs we created, there was one featuring the emblem of the Crimson Ghost—a figure from a serialized film from 1946. The punk band The Misfits had famously adopted it for a flyer in 1979. I liked The Misfits well enough, but what I really loved was how they collaged kitschy, iconic images from pop culture and repurposed them to create their own aesthetic and mood.

The Birth of “The Ghost Bass”

One evening while screening the Crimson Ghost image in sticky white ink onto black cotton T-shirts, I asked my friend Karl, the owner of Murder Ink, if he thought the screen print could be applied to my Fender bass. He said probably not, but we tried anyway. Slowly, we pushed the ink through the screen, rocking it carefully to lay flat against the bass’s curves. And… it worked. “The Ghost Bass” was born.

The Evolution of The Bastard

That bass went everywhere with L7. However, I quickly grew tired of the design and tried to preserve it by covering the Ghost with tape. By 1992, the Ghost had become a Frankenstein of a bass, with tuning pegs replaced multiple times and a bridge missing critical components. That year, L7 had an amazing road crew, including a talented guitar tech who kept our instruments in working order. They respected that I played this cobbled-together bass but couldn’t resist teasing me about it. I told them they could do whatever they wanted to the Ghost, and they took me up on it. They bolted on the craziest pieces of metal for the strap holder and installed tuning pegs that looked straight out of Mad Max. To top it off, they renamed her “The Bastard” and wrote it on the headstock where the Fender logo would normally be.

“The Bastard” Makes Its Mark

Now as The Bastard, this bass toured the United States and Europe. It even made an appearance in a memorable moment on French national television, Canal+ show “Nulle Part Ailleurs” (watch the video) where my amplifier broke mid-performance. In frustration and humor, I threw The Bastard off the edge of a cliffside stage into the sand below while I danced. The bass stuck upright like an anchor, and though the moment shocked many, including the show’s producers, it became legendary. Actor Will Smith later told me he’d always remember that moment, laughing at the chaos while others saw it as a disaster. The Bastard was fine, retrieved that same day, and went on to finish the tour.

A New Chapter for The Ghost/Bastard

After leaving L7 in 1996, I turned to singing, playing guitar, and keyboards full-time with Other Star People and put The Ghost Bass in a case under my bed. Eventually, it was moved to my garden shed, where it sat for ten years. When we gals in L7 started talking about a reunion, I was certain I wouldn’t be able to revitalize The Ghost/Bastard. I had left the strings on and a 9-volt battery in the pickups, which I assumed had corroded the insides. When I finally opened the case, I was both surprised and hesitant. As I plugged her in, I discovered not only was the battery still working, but the tuners still moved, the strings weren’t even rusty, the bridge was intact, and—unbelievably—she was still in tune! I took her to our first L7 reunion practice, and no one even suspected.

The Return of The Ghost Bass at No Values Festival

During the reunion, I removed the black vinyl covering the Ghost design but re-covered it for the 2024 No Values Festival, where L7 played alongside The Misfits. I didn’t want to come off like a suck-up, so the Ghost remained hidden under the vinyl for that show, although some of the black vinyl had started to peel off.

The Legacy of The Ghost/Bastard

So, this is the tale of the bass whose origins I cannot recall, that appeared as “The Ghost” and has proudly persisted as “The Bastard”—seen so much and still standing strong.