Steely Dan – Gaucho
The music gear and equipment used by the artists, producers, engineers, and more involved in the making of the 1980 album Gaucho.
Music from Gaucho
Artists on Gaucho
Gear Used On Gaucho
Explore the instruments, equipment, software, and production tools used in the making of Steely Dan – Gaucho (1980). Click more on each item to see exactly how it was used.
Chuck Rainey
Roles:
Bass Guitars used by Chuck Rainey on Gaucho
Avg price: $1,236.49
Per this press release from The National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM), dated Aug. 14, 2025, the most detailed history of Chuck Rainey's original Precision Bass, the one heard on all those classic tracks in the '70s, is revealed:
In 1961, when the electric bass was only 10 years old as an instrument, Chuck's mother purchased this '59 Fender using her sofa as collateral. Eventually, her sofa was repossessed when Chuck stopped making payments - a mother's sacrifice for her son's musical dreams. Decades later, that same bass would be stolen, lost on an exit ramp, shattered into pieces, and painstakingly reconstructed over two years by craftsman Jimmy Coppola. It's still being played today.
There has been conflicting info for years as to exactly what factory-year Precision Bass this was, and when Chuck purchased it. Given the bass has now undergone a forensic reconstruction, I think we can finally be sure that it was, indeed, a late 1959 Precision Bass. I can't find any documented cases of Precisions leaving the Fender factory with rosewood fretboards before 1959... so the various claims that this bass was a '57 or '58 were always at odds with the physical evidence.
Interestingly, this bass was originally blonde, as seen here, which means it very likely had an ash body (chuck has claimed as such, elsewhere) as well. All the scars from the reconstruction probably made a semi-transparent finish a non-starter.
Note: there's an earlier entry on Equipboard for the 1957 American Vintage Reissue Precision Bass that Chuck played in more recent times, but this submission you're reading now is for "the bass (he) rode in on"... the OG instrument that went missing years ago... and has somehow (amazingly) been returned and forensically restored.
A shortlist of albums featuring Chuck on this particular p-bass:
- Every Steely Dan Album between 1974 and 1980, including 6 of the 7 tracks on Aja.
- That Aretha Franklin album you didn't know you loved, and also that one in the church.
- A whole lot of prime Quincy Jones
- Marvin Gaye? Yes, of course.
- Donald Byrd's Places and Spaces
- aaaand a few thousand more...
Basically, if it was recorded in the 70s, it's funky, and you're not sure who is playing bass, there's a good 75% chance it's Chuck, and most likely on this exact 1959 Precision Bass.
