String instrument maker was notable bass player
He was known as a “genius luthier” among niche mandolin communities across the nation and a notable bass player who helped enliven southwestern New Mexico’s music scene.
Those who encountered William “Bill” Bussmann were often as struck by his wit and dry sense of humor as his genuine love of music.
“He certainly lived his life to the fullest — worked hard, played hard,” said Ted Eschliman of Lincoln, Neb., a writer who reviewed some of Bussmann’s instruments and owns one.
“The JazzDola Bill built for me was magnificent,” Eschliman said. “I was always blown away at how prolific he was. He crafted an unbelievable amount of instruments.”
Bussmann, who handcrafted over 600 instruments — dulcimers, steel string guitars, electric basses, electric upright basses, mandolins, mandolas and mandocellos, to name a few — died May 8 at age 74.
While his home was on a small family farm near Caballo, south of Truth or Consequences, Bussmann’s musical talents and instrument-making skills reached across the state and nation.
“He was definitely a solid bass player,” said Susie Bussmann, his wife of over 40 years. “And he was always very self-effacing about his talents as a bass player. You know, he used to say, ‘I could teach a rhesus monkey how to play bass in six weeks.’ ”
Bill Bussmann was born in St. Louis in 1949.
He took an interest in music from an early age and taught himself to play the electric bass in high school.
The first band he was part of, Floyd Davis and the Illusions, played local sweet 16 parties for modest charges but mostly for fun.
During his time at the University of Wisconsin, he crossed paths with Susie while sneaking into a Luther Allison blues guitar concert in the student union.
Soon after they moved to Arizona, where Bill earned a teaching certificate and taught on the San Carlos Reservation.
The couple married, moved to Animas Canyon in Southern New Mexico and started Gopher Broke Farm growing organic garlic.
They quickly discovered a bustling and vibrant acoustic music scene there.
Bill Bussmann delved into the music scene playing folk, blues and bluegrass. He performed as an accompanist for local fiddlers on the upright bass, which is how he met Bob Crawford, a fiddler and fiddle maker with a small workshop, who inspired him to try his hand at making instruments.
After attending an apprentice-master program to study fiddle making, Bussmann determined he could make multiple mandolins in the time it took to make a single fiddle. He saw a demand in the market for quality instruments amid an acoustic music revival, and his renowned shop, Old Wave Mandolins, was born.
Not only did Bussmann replicate the designs and models of instruments of luthiers who preceded him, but he also designed an original octave mandolin.
He would often incorporate artistic and humorous twists in his one-of-akind works, notably his watermelon mandolins and his fish-shaped bass guitar.
Mike Rosso, who played in picking circles with Bussmann, recalled his generosity and contagious humor during a visit to Old Wave in 2016. Bussmann proposed Rosso stay in his basement while visiting.
“Well, the basement turns out to be above ground. But when you walked in and opened the door, there were bass guitars hanging all over the walls,” said Rosso, who lives in Salida, Colo. “That’s why he called it the basement.”
The Bussmanns raised two sons, now both adults, who picked up their parents’ love of music.
When the boys were 6 and 9, they formed the Vegematics, with Bill on the upright bass, Susie on the banjo, Ezra on the fiddle and mandolin, and Silas on the guitar and lead vocals.
Ezra Bussmann later went on to become a champion mandolinist and multi-instrumentalist.
To members of the picking circles, Bill Bussmann was known as “Lester Hassle.”
As some jam sessions turned into long nights, it was also common to hear him proclaim he was feeling “less and less Hassle,” Susie Bussmann said.
Bill Bussmann’s legacy in music includes the Pickamania acoustic music festival, founded by his family on their farm in the mid-1980s.
“It was just a real down-home Woodstock type experience,” Susie Bussman said. “Wherever [Bill] went, he was playing music. He had so many networks, and so that was the whole idea: Having a nice, big music party and celebrating music all weekend — and that’s exactly what we did.”
The first Pickamania drew about 80 attendees. It quickly turned into an annual event that outgrew the Bussmann property within seven years.
The festival was picked up by Silver City and then the Black Range Lodge in Kingston in 2017, with the Bussmanns’ approval, and has drawn crowds of musicians and tourists every year since.
In 2022, Bill Bussmann served as the festival’s master of ceremonies and performed with some acts as a bass accompanist.
A celebration of his life will be held at this year’s event in September.
“He didn’t feel the need to be the frontman or, you know, outperform anybody,” his wife said. “His ego wasn’t on the line by any means. I think that’s a lot of why people enjoy playing with him. Because it was about the music.”