Fender Precision Bass
The
Fender Precision Bass, known as "
P-bass" for short, is an early model of the
electric bass designed by
Clarence Leonidas Fender on the electronics and his team crafting the body and neck, and brought to market in
1951.
Although the Precision Bass was first presented some 15 years after the original solid body, fretted, horizontal, electric bass produced by the Audiovox Manufacturing Company in
Seattle,
Washington, the Precision Bass enjoys the status of being the first mass-produced and commercially successful electric bass. In its stock configuration, it was a solid body instrument equipped with one single-coil electronic
pickup. The Precision Bass is the most popular electric bass of all time , and is still being manufactured today. The Standard model P-Bass is sanded, painted and assembled in
Ensenada, Mexico along with the other Standard Series guitars.
Similar to
Jimi Hendrix's effect on the popularity of the Stratocaster, the early adoption of the electric bass was in part due to
Bill Black's ownership. Double bassist on the first Elvis Presley recordings, Black was beginning to use a Precision Bass during the filming of
Jailhouse Rock. According to legend, Black had difficulty with the integral bass line; he threw down the bass in anger and left. Elvis then picked it up and played the part himself. Bill later made a complete transition to the electric bass and never looked back. (
RAB Hall of Fame)
The electric bass had a major effect on popular music. The
double bass (also called Bass viol, Contrabass, or upright bass) is a very difficult instrument to master, is physically cumbersome, difficult to transport, and by the late 1930s was increasingly hard to hear with big horn sections or next to
resonator or amplified
electric guitars. With electric pickups and a small body, the precision bass was easy to move around and simple to amplify. The electric bass also produced a different timbre than the double bass: a more focused sound, harder edged, with less percussive thump and more clearly articulated. By bringing the sound of the bass out front of a group or combo, the bass became more dominant in its role and transformed the beat and rhythm of pop music.
James Jamerson, the legendary
Motown bassist, is a primary example: what became known as the Motown beat would not have been possible without the electric bass. Overall, the electric bass made for more driving rhythms and was essential to the evolution from
jump blues and
swing to
rhythm and blues and
rock music.
The electric bass is perhaps the most significant of the Fender company's innovations in terms of the way it changed popular music, allowing for the groundbreaking innovations of players ranging from
Jack Bruce and
John Entwistle to
Larry Graham and
Jaco Pastorius.
In
1954, the body design was changed to more resemble that of Fender's then-new
Stratocaster guitar, with the edges contoured for comfort. In
1957, the pickup design was changed, with a 'split pickup' or 'staggered' design being used. This design actually connected the pickups in
humbucking mode; however, Fender never emphasized this, as Gibson's patent on the humbucker had not yet expired. In the same year, the headstock and pickguard were redesigned. The original design, with a few updates, was reintroduced in 1968 as the 'Telecaster Bass.'
The Precision Bass has long been a favourite of rock bassists because of its fat, punchy, driving sound, especially when combined with roundwound strings and an aggressive pick-style playing technique (where the player uses a pick to pluck the strings rather than his fingers). One particularly notable player in this style is
Jean Jacques Burnel of UK punk band
The Stranglers, who on the group's early records developed what could even be called a "lead bass" technique, making the instrument stand out at the forefront of the group's sound.
Many variants and special-edition Precision Basses have been offered in recent years. Fender even offers a special order 5-string version which is quite pricey, but still offers the handsome style and comfort of the 4-string version while providing tones below the standard E
1 - (41.2 Hz), extending the range down to B
0 - (30.87 Hz), a perfect fourth below. Early models are quite sought-after.
Available in other styles
[[image:5Ps.jpg|frame|center|left to right:
1. '57 Vintage model 3-color sunburst in "full dress" with metal pickup and bridge covers and finger rest.
2. "Tony Franklin" signature model fretless version with tobacco sunburst and white fleck tortoise shell pickguard and features the regular "P" split pickup with a "{{Fender Jazz Bass|J}}" pickup in the bridge position.
3. 5-string enhanced maple grain with aged cherry sunburst with one split pickup and a dual ({{humbucker}}) pickup in the bridge position.
4. Classic '62 model with 3-color sunburst and tortoise shell pickguard in full dress.
5. American Deluxe 5-string with split and dual pickups in tobacco sunburst.]]
*
Acoustic bass guitar*
Bass guitar*
Jazz Bass*
List of Precision Bass players
