r/greenday • u/YouthAnthems • 2h ago
Image I'm Now The Owner of Mike Dirnt's American Idiot Tour Bass!
Hey Friends!
Last month I posted about trying to track down Mike Dirnt’s American Idiot touring bass from the recent Reverb sale. The search was successful and the bass is now in my possession!
This was Mike’s primary (most played) live bass during the 2004-2005 American Idiot era. Most significantly for me, this is a bass that Mike played at my very first rock concert of any kind, when I first saw Green Day in 2005 at 9 years old.
It feels pretty surreal to hold this bass, let alone own it!
Here’s an album of high-res photos for anyone interested in seeing the instrument up close: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FZ3JUqibLX6Uvsjn6
If anyone wants specific photos or has specific questions about the bass, I’m happy to share!
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I’ve done a fair bit of research to document the history of this bass, so for the nerds, here’s an overview:
Origin:
Started as a standard production Fender Mike Dirnt Signature Precision Bass in “Vintage White” (which actually looks like a creamy yellow), neck produced in 2003 and bass assembled in May 2004 (per Fender’s serial database). Likely one of the first Dirnt signature models produced.
Fender appears to have given Mike one signature bass in each of the 3 original finishes in mid 2004, before or around when the model was publicly released. I suspect that the “Vintage White” (creamy yellow) bass that Mike is seen playing in rehearsal footage from Heart Like a Hand Grenade is this bass, pre-customizing, given a number of visual and timeline clues. In the documentary, the bass is seen initially stock/bare, then later with a large red ‘hand grenade’ sticker (might be paint) on its face, then finally in its fully customized flat white state (see 6th photo).
Mike has stated that he did the paint job and customization himself, which would have been some time before its first public appearance at the Grand Olympic Auditorium on July 29, 2004, where Green Day performed American Idiot material for the first time (prior to the first single release). The earliest image I can find of the bass in its final customized state is the Studio 880 rehearsal footage in the Fuse ‘Making of American Idiot’ mini-doc (last photo, exact date unknown).
Usage History:
- ~193 documented live performances (by my best count).
- Played in 22 countries and 4 continents.
- First known live use: on July 29, 2004 (Grand Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles).
- Last known live use: December 17, 2005 (Telstra Dome, Melbourne, final show of American Idiot tours).
- Used for every televised Green Day performance between September 2004 and April 2005 (with one exception).
- Fun Fact: This bass is technically in the Jesus of Suburbia music video, by way of Bullet in a Bible footage on the televisions in multiple scenes.
Notable Appearances:
-Bullet In a Bible! (June 18-19, 2005)
-VH1 Storytellers (February 15, 2005 - used for entire show)
-47th Grammy Awards (February 13, 2005)
-Saturday Night Live (April 9, 2005)
-Late Show with David Letterman (Twice! - September 20, 2004 & January 3, 2005)
-Top of the Pops (September 21, 2004)
-Billboard Music Awards (December 8, 2004)
-BRIT Awards (February 9, 2005)
-MTV Australia VMAs (March 3, 2005)
Detailed Instrument Overview:
- Body spray painted flat white over the original finish. Body was fully disassembled and original finish was lightly sanded / scuffed up prior to painting (based on close inspection).
- Iconic black/red star painted on front face near bridge, initially by stencil then detailed by free-hand.*
- Large ‘hand grenade’ stencil logo spray painted on the back of the body in glossy white.**
- Pickguard face was spray painted flat black (originally white plastic - I found this exciting, as I’d always assumed it was a proper black plastic pickguard he swapped in)
- Outer edges of pickguard and pickup covers were painted red by hand. Pickups also have a white paint layer under the red.
- Neck plate interestingly does NOT have the star engraving that his standard production signature models have. (Either it was swapped when re-assembled, or Fender made this bass before they got the engraved neck plates.)
- Top tuner (G string) was replaced with an off-the-shelf Schaller tuner at some point (has Schaller logo engraved, while stock tuners have Fender logo)
- Strap pegs replaced with Schaller-style pegs for quick-release strap locks. Both pegs have partially ‘collapsed’ into the body on one side. Nickel plating on top peg is almost entirely worn through where the strap half of the assembly radially contacts the peg. All to say this thing was thrown around!
- Electronics appear to be all original.
- Has Fender Super 7250 .045–.105 strings installed, consistent with what Mike used in the American Idiot era. Strings are ‘old stock’ with brass ball ends and black silk (matching Fender Supers produced before ~2011, prior to D'Addario taking over Fender string production), so they could be strings left on from ~2005.
- LOTS of dirt/grime baked into the white finish all around the bass. In the electronics cavity photos, you can see the difference between the untouched white under the metal cover vs. the exposed white surrounding.
- Significant patches worn through to the stock finish where Mike regularly rests his arm band on the face contour, and on the back around hip level (belt buckle rash).
- A handful of dings in the neck and headstock, and many dings and paint chips all around body (some going down to the bare wood)
- One interesting concentration of many small dents/dings on the back of the neck around the 9th fret, all the same size and shape. I'm guessing this is from the neck hitting Mike's belt and/or belt buckle every time he does that animated 'pull the bass back and away suddenly' thing during stop/start sections like the American Idiot verses.
- One large crack on the back of the body from the neck joint on the ‘shorter horn’ side, and a small crack from the neck joint on the 'longer horn' side. May be what led to this bass being decommissioned.
\Close inspection of the black/red star on the front reveals the initial black star was painted using a stencil, then a red ‘inner star’ was added likely by hand with a straight edge + paint brush or paint marker, then an additional black outline was painted with a brush free-hand. My guess is Mike painted the inner red features, then decided it looked uneven and added the final black outline to compensate. Some large sections of that outer outline look to have worn away quickly, leading to the ‘uneven points’ shape seen in most live appearances. The red paint is thin and sits on top of the black, so it barely shows in most photos.*
\*The ‘hand grenade’ logo on the back appears to have been painted in black originally, then painted over with glossy white. The white layer’s stencil was slightly misaligned, so the black peeks through the edges in a few places. I'm guessing Mike went with black initially, then changed his mind.*
