Linn LP12......That good??

Not only did Wyman play it as if it was an acoustic (vertical), but contrary to popular lore and Jaco's own claim of being the inventor of the fretless he actually played a fretless on some early Stones recordings.  Jaco, of course, was the one who really popularized the fretless; amazing player.  

Love the LP12, btw.  Owned one years ago (TNT6 currently) and agree that properly setup it is an excellent table.  

Agree, but it’s not difficult to see how and why the "bass guitar" designation came about. First of all, the electric bass gained prominence at first, and mostly, in ensembles in which the electric guitar was already in use. It is shaped like a guitar and is played horizontally like a guitar; and, importantly, it has frets like a guitar which the acoustic bass does not. Obviously, its musical function is that of simply BASS; but, not hard to understand why it was referred to as bass guitar and some still do. Like you say, it’s mostly a matter of semantics and, to a degree, musicians’ pride and respect for their "axe" (applicable to any instrument); and ensuing "lingo". For me this falls in the camp of something like the use of "sax" instead of "saxophone". C’mon, man, it’s a saxophone not a "sax"....yuk!