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Fender |
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The initial founder of the electric bass guitar is Leo Fender who, after having a huge success with electric guitars, built the ‘precise bass’ for bass players, naming it the ‘precision bass’ or ‘P-bass’ around 1950. Unlike the double bass it had frets, which allowed every bass player to play the low notes “precisely”. That aside, nobody wanted to play a double bass by that time because it couldn’t compete against the loudness of the new electric guitars. In fact, the first models of the P-bass shared similarities with the double bass, for example the machine heads, however it soon became a unique instrument based on the shape of the Telecaster guitar. Up till 1957, bass shapes went through some rapid changes. The legendary Jazz-bass featuring two single coil pickups emerged round 1959. It took Fender three years to develop the standard model including the three control knobs. It was after that, in 1965, that the misery began. Leo Fender sold his company to multimedia conglomerate CBS and it is popularly believed that from this moment on the quality of the manufactured instruments promptly became worse. I don’t know if it’s really that simple, but it remains a fact that Fender guitars and basses from the pre-CBS era are being traded for humongous prices. By this time most of the distinguishing instrument features, for example the font for the brand’s writing, the shape of the headstock or the display of the serial number had been worked out. There is quite an amount of literature available exclusively devoted to discussing these details which can be helpful if you’re planning on buying an old Fender bass or guitar - you can easily classify the age of an instrument and don’t need to rely on the word of some old fraudster trying to sell you an overpriced “super oldie” or something. Finally, Fender started to copy themselves under the name of Squire. Squire guitars and basses were produced in Japan putting an end to copies manufactured by other southeast Asian producers. The Squire guitar range is really well done and remains an affordable alternative to the originals. In 1985 CBS sold Fender to another group. The range was being updated and production increasingly took place in the USA. Great importance was attached to the so-called “vintage” models – reproductions of the old hits that remain true to the original production values. People who can afford it, however, still prefer to buy the real oldies. In the meantime everyone is now making “Fender basses” – these types have now asserted generally. Admittedly, many brands and manufacturers have made innovations in terms of electric parts and electronics meaning that nowadays there are countless unique types of bass guitar available which are worth mentioning and testing. So if you’re planning to buy a bass you mightn’t do better than to skip the oldies and take a look at modern bass guitars which possibly work better with the musical genre in question. But first what happened to Leo Fender? Well, he built the “new Fender” ‘Stingray’ basses at Music-Man and passed away in 1990.
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Höfner (Hofner) |
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If it wasn’t for Paul McCartney in his Beatles-era (and still today) the Höfner would probably have disappeared long ago. However, the Höfner 500/1 is still being produced and sold in large quantities today. It is a beautiful instrument too, by the way; with its medium scale neck making it light, handy and easy to play. The Beatles bass has, however, become an expensive item and is also sought after as a used instrument. A luxury-version of it, the 5000/1, is available as well. Comparable with the 500/1 is the similarly distinctive violin-shaped Epiphone Viola, which was, historically speaking, the first of the two to have been created. However, while the Höfner bass features an arched top the Viola-top is flat and laminated (glued veneer). They are similar in terms of sound and playability although the Viola has slightly more presence and is truly a bargain by comparison.
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| | Höfner 500/1 | Epiphone Viola |
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Others |
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Apart from the traditional bass manufacturers, a whole bunch of new companies have taken their slice of the bass guitar-pie. The evolution of the market is similar to that of the guitar market. You have Asian manufacturers led by Ibanez and Yamaha from Japan providing quite good and affordable instruments whilst aiming for higher things, on the one hand, together with the big name side brands operating from Mexico, Korea or Taiwan on the other. The Fender Squire Jazz-bass is also available. A brand like Rickenbacker has a long tradition as a guitar maker (think of the Rickenbackers The Beatles used), but as a bass maker it only came into musicians’ consciousness when bands like Genesis began sporting Rickenbacker basses in the early 70s and suddenly bass players preferred Rickenbackers. The 4001- and 4003-series became a notable success. The story of the Alembic basses took a similar route. These are the legendary luxury-instruments made from selected woods featuring sophisticated electronics. Their sound drew the attention of musicians when bass genius Stanley Clark presented his own custom-made model. High class basses mainly originate from small, classy sound-forges and tend to be hand-made resulting, of course, in tremendously high prices. The American manufacturer Pedulla from Massachusetts can be mentioned here as an example. In Germany, Warwick made a name for themselves as manufacturers of premium bass guitars. The company is renowned for the large variety of wood finishes and colours offered.
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| | Rickenbacker 4003 | Gibson Thunderbird | Epiphone Rivoli |
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Gibson |
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Basses made by Gibson don’t even come close to the success of their guitars although Les Paul basses are really fine and recommendable instruments. The Thunderbird, for example, has survived over the years and it still remains true to the ’63 original in its construction;. its weird shape, however, probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Gibson’s subsidiary company Epiphone produces a bass model whose Gibson-predecessor was very popular in the 60s. The Rivoli has a big sound enhanced by a neck humbucker and a special bass-boost switch. The instrument is well worked out, looks really cool and is affordable for beginners too – unlike the Gibson model.
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