The cast body of a Staccato MG. The four screw holes in the front is where the Allen screws attach to the fiber glass body. Note the placement of the 9V battery.
The Staccato was a weird beast. They were cast using a magnesium alloy where the entire neck and front was one piece that affixed to a fiber glass body, and upon this neck/body combo all the hardware and electronics were added. An earlier version of the Staccato had had interchangeable necks but for the MG that Gene would play that was no longer the case. Instead the fingerboard—which was also a space-age combination of carbon fiber-based plastic—was actually screwed onto the neck and could be swapped out if need be. Although not headless the tuning was handled by the massive screws at the back of the bridge.
Gene was introduced to the Staccato MG by Kerrang. When the band was in London for one of the Asylum video shoots they posed for Ross Halfin. Kerrang had a feature called Killerwatt where they presented instruments to the reader and as part of that they would simply hand unsuspecting rock stars an instrument just so that the magazine could get a photo of the guitars or bass with a famous person. In 1985 Gene was handed a Staccato MG. Gene apparently took a shine to it because he actually used the bass when shooting the video for "Uh! All Night". Look closely at the second photo below and you'll see the slightly unorthodox bar which the MG used for the strap button.
When the band later embarked on the Asylum Tour Gene had a Staccato in tow. But here's the catch. It wasn't the same instrument he had "used" in London. The "Uh! All Night" bass had two Kent Armstrong humbuckers with staple-like pole pieces (which was the only part of the pickups that showed) and Gene's touring Staccato had two J-style EMG pickups. Gene and his tech probably preferred to have the same type of pickups in all his basses so the active EMGs would fit better with the other basses. Plus, the chrome body looked better than the matte silver. Alas, despite these details the touring Staccato wasn't used much. So far I've only seen it in photos from two live performances and one soundcheck and I suspect that the bridge—even though Gene put a bridge cover over most of it—and the strap buttons was one of the reasons it was usually left out.
In the photos below you can see how the strap button has been moved. In the photo from Madison Square Garden it's placed on the inside of the upper horn while it had been moved to the back of that same horn in the second photo. Judging by how the strap appears in the Toronto photo I would guess that there is a screw-in loop on the back there even if it's usually a little hard to secure one of those in fiber glass (it has a tendency to crack).
But Gene liked the Staccato. Whether it was the shape or the fact that it was relatively lightweight is anyone's guess. (Maybe he just wanted an "updated" axe-style bass.) But when the time came for the Crazy Nights photo shoot and video cycle, the original touring Staccato was still around. Take a gander at the "Crazy Crazy Nights" promo video and you'll see the Staccato. But by August 1987 it had been modified ever so slightly. Look at the photo shoot image and you'll see the same twin J-style EMG pickups it has in 1985-86. But for the video shoot and photo shoot for the tourbook the "neck" pickup has been replaced with an EMG humbucker.
In the end that small change proved to not go far enough. Gene knew what he wanted and although the shape of the Staccato was it, the rest was not. So when the touring began in November 1987 there was a new Staccato in the ranks. This one had a single EMG humbucker, a volume knob, a side output jack and a regular bridge—most probably a Leo Quan Badass—under Gene's standard bridge cover. It also had a regular headstock with black Schaller tuners. It was, for all intents and purposes, just a regular bass that happened to be shaped just like a Staccato MG. It even had a screw-in loop to secure the strap.
Since it now had the no-frills construction that Gene loved the Staccato was one of the basses that Gene used most throughout the tour.
After the Crazy Nights Tour the Staccato fell out of favor. It doesn't seem to have even been considered for the Hot In The Shade Tour. Once the Revenge era rolled around Gene had created the perfect weapon in the Punisher so even if the Staccato was brought out for an early 1992 photo shoot which was used for a GHS strings ad, it was quietly discarded shortly after this. (Interestingly the screw-in loop on the upper horn had been moved since it was last used in 1988.)
