Geezer Butler

In this article, Geezer Butler says, "Because I saw Jack Bruce play with his fingers, and I said, that’s the way you play bass. After we got the first gigs out of the way, I swapped my Telecaster for my first Fender Precision Bass."

Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath and Heaven & Hell is seen here playing his custom Yamaha BB1024X. Visual differences between his custom and the average series is his Heaven and Hell logo on the 12th fret and the lack of pick-guard.

Maybe looking for some lower tuning and more versatility, Geezer started to use some handmade basses. This white one is a John Birch, very similar to the Rickenbacker El Dorado. The White John Birch handmade bass was using during the "Black Sabbath Vol 4" and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" tour. There are few details about the logotype. You can see the word "Cocaine" in cocacola style.

"This is the custom BC Rich bass I only ever played at Live Aid. Signed "Screaming Leaming, '84" on the back of the body." ... "About a question I received on the bass..

The BC Rich switches were on/off active/passive, plus phasing. The bridge had a tremolo arm on it [not in pic]."

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In this video Geezer can be seen playing his custom Lakland bass.

This photo is taken from the 1980's. Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath and Heaven & Hell was seen many times when he played with Ronnie James Dio with a white BC Rich Eagle Bass. This bass was a cream white which sported a "Enjoy Cocaine" sticker placed by Geezer and designed to look like the "Enjoy Coca-Cola" logo. Oddly enough, shortly after this photo was taken the band fell apart due to drug problems. Go figure.

Geezer can be seen in a photo on this site playing an Ampeg Dan Armstrong Lucite Bass.

In this photo, Geezer Butler is seen playing a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar.

Geezer Butler is noted for using the Vigier Passion 5-String Bass, as detailed on Vigierguitars' artist page.

Geezer Butler had this JayDee bass made by John Diggins, which can be seen in the music video for Black Sabbath's "A Hard Road." Also, it can be seen in the "top of the tops" appereance, 1978. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q6gPouusHs

In this Black Sabbath performance, Geezer Butler can be seen playing a 4-String Lakland Jazz Bass. At approximately 7:31 of the video, you can see a faint Lakland logo on the head of the bass. Specifically, this bass model is most probably a 44-60 Lakland, as the Geezer Butler signature Lakland is a P bass and there are only two 4-string J basses of this style in the Lakland website: the 44-60 and the DJ-4, but the DJ-4 has block inlays on the fretboard, and what Geezer uses in the video is a fret inlay which can be found on the 44-60 series. (It's a miracle Geezer used a Jazz instead of a Precision)

Listed on Vigier website. Geezer Butler is said to have 4 Excess basses.

Completed in April 1978 by John Diggins and used by Geezer until 1980. Both bass body and head stock are a laminate of Maple and either Walnut or Rosewood. Pickup were custom made also and possibly known as Superflux. This was available for a short time as a re-issue, apparently no longer.

In this pic you can spot Geezer playing a Lakland Skyline 5 string

In this twitter post you can check the story behind the bass

Of all of the basses we've made for Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath, this one was the most heartfelt. Terry Welty (Geezer's bass tech) contacted me about the possibility of a special "End of Sabbath" bass for Geezer; and since he is a huge Aston Villa fan, he floated the idea of painting the bass with AVFC colors, as a surprise, for the last Sabbath gigs ever. With some design collaboration from Markus Lewtschuk, I personally painted up this beauty just before I left for the NAMM show 2 weeks ago. We subsequently shipped it to London just this past Monday, and sure enough it was on stage with Black Sabbath just hours ago at the O2 Arena and was a huge hit with Geezer and the band. Congratulations to our friend Geezer Butler and Black Sabbath for an incredible career! All of us at Lakland are honored to be associated with such a legendary band and musician! -JP

In this pic Geezer is playing a Lakland 44-51M

In this pic you can spot Geezer playing a Lakland 44-60

In this pic you can spot Geezer with a PJ bass from Lakland

Geezer Butler, acclaimed bassist, is confirmed to have utilized the Spector NS-2 bass guitar during his performance with Ozzy Osbourne at the Moscow Music Peace Festival on August 13, 1989. This is evidenced by footage provided by ThatRemasterGuy on YouTube, showcasing Butler playing a white Spector NS-2 throughout the event.