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Bass guitar: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Bass guitar
In 1935, a solid-body electric bass guitar with four strings and a single pickup was built in Seattle, Washington, yet fewer than one hundred of these instruments ever existed. Paul Tutmarc, a musician and inventor, had created the Model 736 Bass Fiddle, a device that defied the acoustic limitations of the double bass by allowing musicians to play horizontally like a guitar. This early innovation remained a niche curiosity for two decades, overshadowed by the massive, unwieldy upright basses that dominated jazz and orchestral stages. The instrument was quiet acoustically, requiring external amplification through electromagnetic pickups to be heard, but its existence proved that the future of low-end music lay in electronics rather than wood and air. The design featured a scale length that allowed for a more comfortable playing position, yet it was the sheer rarity of these early models that kept them from changing the musical landscape immediately.
The Precision Breakthrough
October 1951 marked the beginning of the modern bass guitar era when Leo Fender and George Fullton began mass-producing the Precision Bass, an instrument that would eventually replace the double bass in popular music. Unlike the acoustic double bass, which was acoustically imperfect and required a body twice the size of a cello to be truly resonant, the Fender design used a simple slab body and a single coil pickup to amplify the sound electronically. The addition of frets solved the intonation problems that plagued upright bass players, allowing guitarists to adapt to the new instrument with ease. By 1957, the design evolved to include beveled edges for comfort and a split coil pickup, resembling the Fender Stratocaster. This revolution was not just about technology; it was about portability and reliability. Working musicians could now transport their instruments in a car trunk rather than a case, and the risk of audio feedback was drastically reduced compared to acoustic basses. The first bassist to tour with this new instrument was Monk Montgomery, who played with Lionel Hampton's postwar big band in 1953, followed by early pioneers like Roy Johnson and Shifty Henry who brought the electric sound to the mainstream.
The Guitarist's New Voice
The electric bass guitar was explicitly designed to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, a strategy that reshaped the demographics of the music industry. Many of the instrument's early pioneers, including Joe Osborn and Paul McCartney, were originally guitarists who switched to the bass because the new instrument offered a familiar playing style. Bill Black, who played with Elvis Presley, made the switch from upright bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957, demonstrating the instrument's versatility across genres. In 1953, Gibson released the EB-1, the first short-scale violin-shaped electric bass, which featured an extendable end pin allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. This was followed by the EB-2 in 1958, a hollow-body electric bass with a pushbutton for two different tonal characteristics, and the EB-0 in 1959, which looked similar to a Gibson SG. The Fender and Gibson versions utilized bolt-on and set necks, respectively, offering different construction methods that would influence future designs. The instrument's ability to be played by guitarists meant that the bass line could become more melodic and complex, moving beyond the simple root-note patterns of the upright bass.
Who invented the first solid-body electric bass guitar in 1935?
Paul Tutmarc invented the first solid-body electric bass guitar in 1935. He created the Model 736 Bass Fiddle in Seattle, Washington, which featured four strings and a single pickup. Fewer than one hundred of these instruments were ever built.
When did Leo Fender and George Fullton begin mass-producing the modern bass guitar?
Leo Fender and George Fullton began mass-producing the modern bass guitar in October 1951. They introduced the Precision Bass, which used a simple slab body and a single coil pickup to amplify sound electronically. This instrument replaced the double bass in popular music by 1957.
Which company established the boutique electric bass guitar market in 1972?
Alembic established the boutique electric bass guitar market in 1972. The company created custom-tailored instruments featuring unique designs and premium hand-finished wood bodies. Musicians like Phil Lesh, Jack Casady, and Stanley Clarke used these instruments with innovative construction techniques.
What year did the first commercial fretless bass guitar appear on the market?
The first commercial fretless bass guitar appeared in 1966. The Ampeg AUB-1 was introduced that year to allow for a more vocal, sliding sound that mimicked the double bass. This design contrasted with the precise, staccato nature of fretted basses.
Who commissioned the first six-string bass guitar in 1975?
Bassist Anthony Jackson commissioned the first six-string bass guitar in 1975. He asked luthier Carl Thompson to build an instrument tuned B0, E1, A1, D2, G2, C3. This design added a low B string and a high C string to the standard four-string configuration.
1972 saw the establishment of Alembic, a company that defined the boutique or high-end electric bass guitar market with custom-tailored instruments featuring unique designs and premium hand-finished wood bodies. These expensive instruments, used by musicians like Phil Lesh, Jack Casady, and Stanley Clarke, incorporated innovative construction techniques such as multi-laminate neck-through-body construction and graphite necks. Alembic also pioneered the use of onboard electronics for pre-amplification and equalization, allowing players to control tonal flexibility in ways previously impossible. Active electronics increased the output of the instrument and allowed for the boosting and cutting of specific frequency ranges, improving the overall frequency response to include more low-register and high-register sounds. In 1974, Music Man Instruments, founded by Tom Walker, Forrest White, and Leo Fender, introduced the StingRay, the first widely produced bass with active electronics built into the instrument. This era of innovation was further expanded in 1975 when bassist Anthony Jackson commissioned luthier Carl Thompson to build a six-string bass tuned B0, E1, A1, D2, G2, C3, adding a low B string and a high C string to the standard four-string configuration.
The Shape of Sound
The physical design of the bass guitar has evolved to address the compromises of the double bass, which is acoustically imperfect and requires a body twice the size of a cello to be truly resonant. The scale of a bass is defined as the length of the vibrating strings between the nut and the bridge saddles, with modern 4-string electric bass guitars ranging from short scale at 30 inches to long scale at 35 inches. The pickups, attached to the body beneath the strings, convert the vibrations of the strings into interference of a magnetic field, which is then converted into analogous electrical voltage sent as input to an instrument amplifier. Bass guitar strings are composed of a core and winding, with the core being a wire made of steel, nickel, or an alloy, and the winding being a smaller gauge wire wrapped around the core. Common string variants include roundwound, flatwound, halfwound, coated, tapewound, and taperwound strings, each with a significant impact on the sound of the instrument. The choice of winding has considerable impact on the sound, with certain winding styles often being preferred for certain musical genres, allowing players to tailor their tone to the specific needs of the music.
The Fretless Frontier
The first commercial fretless bass guitar was the Ampeg AUB-1, introduced in 1966, opening a new chapter in the history of the instrument. This design allowed for a more vocal, sliding sound that mimicked the double bass, contrasting with the precise, staccato nature of fretted basses. In the late 1960s, eight-string basses with four octave paired courses, similar to a 12-string guitar, were introduced, such as the Hagström H8, expanding the range of the instrument even further. The Fender VI, a 6-string bass tuned one octave lower than standard guitar tuning, was released in 1961 and was briefly favored by Jack Bruce of Cream. The Fender Jazz Bass, initially known as the Deluxe Bass, used a body design known as an offset waist, which was first seen on the Jazzmaster guitar in an effort to improve comfort while playing seated. The Jazz bass, or J-Bass, features two single-coil pickups, providing a more Gibson-scale instrument rather than the Jazz and Precision. These innovations demonstrated that the bass guitar was not a static instrument but one that continued to evolve to meet the demands of musicians and the changing landscape of popular music.