Phil Lynott

In this image Phil Lynott is playing a black Fender Precision bass. Acquired between 1973 and 1974.

And then I went to a Fender, and the Fender was ideal, you know? A Precision, yes [a rosewood-board model and then also a maple-board one]. A great knockabout guitar. But they slipped for a while, Fender—they didn't improve. And there were all these other guitars coming up that were passing them by, and they were sort of going, "But we're Fender." And they never did jack shit fire, you know? You could have a hundred of them, and nobody would even say thanks. That's what I'm used to, honestly, that's what I was used to.

Lynott can be seen in this photo playing an Ampeg Dan Armstrong Lucite Bass. Mentioned in 1981 interview with Lynott

See, when I started playing the bass, I had a perspex Dan Armstrong. It was very flash, but if you hit too hard [laughs], the strings got bent out of tune. So then I found that this bass was playing me. I thought I was playing much faster than I was, but when I got on a big-neck bass guitar, I couldn't play, because that Dan Armstrong had two octaves or something.

Lynott can be seen in this photo playing an Ibanez Blazer Bass.

In this image Phil is using a Rickenbacker 4003 bass.

Here we can see Phil with a BC Rich Mockingbird bass. Even though a large part of the body is obscured by his arm, it is still unmistakable. If photobucket doesn't let the image be displayed in Equipboard, here is a link: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y146/190968/my%20basses/1978USATJMockingbirdPhilLynott.jpg

The darker coloured bass on Phil's left is without a doubt an Aria Pro II TSB (Thor Sound Bass) Special II. The bass on the right is some variant of this bass with different switches, but I cannot find out what the exact model is.

In this performance by The Greedies, Lynnott can be seen playing a Yamaha BB1024X.

This image shows Phil using a Rick in his signature black with mirror pick guard setup. Mentioned in 1981 interview with Tony Bacon:

Then I went on to a Rickenbacker. First of all, it was to learn an original tone, to get an original sound that was mine. Rickys have this habit of giving you an original sound. It was also good for the fingering—because it's so big, I had to get all my fingering right.

Custom version of the Roland G88 Bass used during the Thunder and Lightning tour in the 1983

Phil Lynott with a Fender Jazz bass on a televised TopPop performance with Thin Lizzy on March 1st, 1974.