Building a Custom Thunderhorse for Billy Sheehan

Every so often, a message lands in our inbox that stops us in our tracks. A few months ago, that message came from Billy Sheehan. Billy reached out wanting to order a Thunderhorse, and from that very first conversation we knew this was going to be a special build.

Designing the Layout

Billy knows exactly what he wants from an instrument, so we sat down together and talked through every detail of his custom layout. The headline addition is a three-way toggle switch mounted right by the top knob. It lets him flip between the P and J pickups (or run both) instantly, without ever taking his hands far from where they need to be on stage.

His Signature Setup

The rest of the layout follows the signature setup Billy has refined over decades of playing:

• A push-push tone pot for the neck pickup, giving him a quick way to shape his sound on the fly.
• His famous dual output jacks, which let him split his signal and send the pickups to separate rigs for that huge, unmistakable Billy Sheehan tone.

Pairing those proven features with the Thunderhorse platform gave us a bass that feels unmistakably like ours while playing exactly the way Billy expects it to.

A Dream Come True

We won't pretend to be cool about this one. Working with Billy has been a dream come true for us. He's been an inspiration to bass players everywhere for as long as we can remember, and having the chance to build an instrument for him is something we'll never forget. Thank you, Billy, for trusting us with your Thunderhorse.

Build One Like Billy's

We've loaded Billy's spec into our Bass Builder: a P-style 4-string Thunderhorse in Black Sands with DiMarzio Relentless pickups and Billy Sheehan-style controls. Start from his build and play it as is, or change the finish, pickups and hardware to make it your own.

Start from Billy's build in the Bass Builder →

Reserve your build slot with a 25% deposit, which is fully refundable until we've confirmed every detail with you. Bass Builder prices go up on January 1, so a deposit now locks in today's price.

Want one sooner? Take a look at our in-stock basses, ready to ship. Interested in a custom Thunderhorse of your own? Get in touch and let's start designing it together.