“The only person to get a good sound out of that bass was Berry Oakley. It's got so many pickups!” Berry Oakley set the template for the Allman Brothers Band with a modified ’72 Jazz Bass, known as ‘The Tractor’

Berry Oakley onstage with the Allman Brothers Band.
(Image credit: Sidney Smith)

The tragically short life of Raymond Berry Oakley III was an incredibly innovative and influential one. He was born on 4 April, 1948 in Chicago and was a founder member of the Allman Brothers Band in 1969, wielding what became nicknamed the Tractor Bass – a modified 62 Fender Jazz Bass with a Hagstrom Guild pickup.

Oakley pulled the Hagstrom Bi-Sonic single-coil pickup from his Guild Starfire bass and dropped it into the re-routed neck-pickup position of his Jazz, and then re-installed the displaced neck pickup between the bridge and the bridge pickup to give him a total of three pickups and five control knobs: a volume and tone for the Hagstrom pickup, and two volumes and a tone for the Fender pickups.

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Nick Wells
Writer

Nick Wells was the Editor of Bass Guitar magazine from 2009 to 2011, before making strides into the world of Artist Relations with Sheldon Dingwall and Dingwall Guitars. He's also the producer of bass-centric documentaries, Walking the Changes and Beneath the Bassline, as well as Production Manager and Artist Liaison for ScottsBassLessons. In his free time, you'll find him jumping around his bedroom to Kool & The Gang while hammering the life out of his P-Bass.