Bass Guitar Instruments
Bass Guitar Fast Facts
Leo Fender's first solid-body electric bass guitar - the Fender Precision - went into production in 1951, and within a couple of years he had a runaway success on his hands. The name was chosen because his bass had frets on the fingerboard - unlike the fretless double bass - and therefore allowed guitarists to play notes with "precision". The first Precisions had a single-coil pick up and were fitted with single volume and tone controls. In 1957, the pick up was split into two halves, each with four pole pieces, and staggered slightly. This was designed to prevent the signal of the vibrating string from fading and to reduce its "attack" - thus cutting down on loud speaker casualties. Although other bass guitars have been produced by Fender and other manufacturers, the Precision still continues to provide the pulse of most rock music.
A Brief History of Bass Guitars
By the end of the 1940s, amplification was playing a dominant role in popular music. Amplifiers, Pas, pick-ups and the Fender Telecaster guitar were the main elements of a trend towards louder music.
Some double bass players – limited to their huge acoustic double basses – fitted pick-ups to their instrument sand put them through adapted amplifiers. Others followed Les Paul’s example and played bass runs on the bottom strings of electric guitars.
It was Leo Fender who first came up wit the idea of a solid-body bass guitar. Realizing the problems that bass players were facing, and feeling certain that they would prefer a les cumbersome, more manageable instrument, he went to work on a prototype bass guitar in 1950. by changing from the “stand-up” design of the double bass to the idea of a bass guitar supported by a shoulder strap, he thought that guitarists would be better able to “double” on bass when necessary.
The bass is tuned to E, A, D and G- like the bottom
four strings of a guitar, but one octave lower. This means that all basses
need a consequently extra strengthening.
Gibson’s answer to the Fender Precision appeared in 1953. It was designated
the EB-1, but Hofner’s copy of it - the model used by Paul McCartney in
the early days of the Beatles – made it more popularly known as the “violin
bass”. Gibson followed it in 1958 with the EB-2, a bass version of their
successful ES-335.
In 1960, the EB-0 and EB-3 basses appeared with the new Gibson “SG” body – the sharp, hornlike double cutaway. The EB-0 had one humbucking pick-up and the EB-3 had two. When Gibson introduced their Firebird guitars in 1963, they had a bass equivalent – the Thunderbird.
Other Gibson basses have included the Melody Maker
bass (1968), the Grabber (1974) with its single sliding pick-up, the Ripper
(1974) and the RD series (1977).
Among the other manufacturers that pioneered the development of the electric
bass guitar, Rickenbacker stands out as being almost as important as Fender.
Their first bass guitar, the 4000, was introduced in the late 1950s. Several
years later, it was joined by the twin pick-up 4001, which has become
one of the most popular (and most recognizable) of all basses. Listen
to any early recording by Yes to hear the distinctive Rickenbacker sound.
During the 1970s, the American Alembic company established itself as one of the leading makers of bass guitars. Alembic was among the firs manufacturers to build preamps and “active” electronics into commercially available instruments.
Their guitars are very expensive – due to the fact that they are hand-crafted to the highest specifications, using the best possible materials and components. Some Alembics might be accused of “gimmicky” features – for example, the “dummy” middle pick-up or the LED fret markers inset into the side of the finger board. However, this does not detract from their undoubted quality. Stanley Clarke is the most prominent user of Alembics.
The story of Japanese manufacturers holds as true
for bass guitars as it does for standard electrics. No longer written
off simply as producers of cheap copies based on Fender and Gibson designs,
Aria, Ibanez and Yamaha have all moved on the make bass guitars that are
excellent in their own right. The American companies, Guild, Kramer and
B.C. Rich, and the British companies, Shergold and Vox, all produce good,
popular basses.
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