Dusty Hill, the longtime bassist for Texas boogie-rockers supreme ZZ Top, died last year at age 72. But the band has carried on without him, with longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis taking over on bass. Francis has ensured that the instrument is a bigger part of ZZ Top’s stage show than ever — literally.

Saturday in Huntsville, Alabama, when ZZ Top began their set with a run through “Got Me Under Pressure,” Francis was playing a comically huge 17-string electric bass, much to singer-guitarist Billy Gibbons’ amusement. After that song, Francis switched back to a standard four-string bass without further explanation. But he’s now issued a statement to Ultimate Classic Rock explaining the stunt.

“I was doing night internet searching [and] turned up a picture of this crazy 17 string bass,” Francis wrote. “I sent a picture to Billy and we laughed about it and made some jokes about actually trying to use it. A few weeks later, after I had forgotten about it, Billy shows up with [the 17 string bass].” He described the situation as “one of those ‘hold my beer’ moments.”

Watch footage of the gag below.