There have been a couple of follow-ups to this in magazines that I subscribe to. "Vintage Guitar" did indeed run part 2 in the September 2010 issue. Bassist Dave Roe lost "26 basses and quite a few amps." He also had flooding in his house, as many did. There is other information.
The new "Bass Player" magazine (also September 2010) has an article in "Retro-Rama" about the iconic 1960 Fender Jazz prototype played by Joe Osborn on many classic hits by the 5th Dimension, Mama's and the Papa's, America, etc., being water damaged as well. The Musician's Hall of Fame (where the bass was displayed) had lost its building, so many of the exhibits and instruments were unfortunately stored at Soundcheck as well. I think I noted above that many of those instruments were also damaged or destroyed.
Dave Pomeroy related that he was first to tune up the 1960 Jazz and give it a go, and that famous tone is still there - although some cleanup work is needed. I saw some rust on the bridge. We've talked about how much McCartney's 4001S might be worth, but I'd guess that Osborn's 1960 Jazz would have quite a value as well. It was apparently played by Joe on over 200 Top 40 singles and many other tracks.
It was Joe playing on those tracks and coming up with those lines, but his musical "tool" certainly played a part.
