Fender the Sound Heard round the World Review
Accept a wait at why this instrument changed music in the 1950s and how the American Original version authentically pays homage to its predecessor.
It'southward certainly truthful that the innovative electric guitars introduced past Fender throughout the 1950s — the Telecaster (1951) and the Stratocaster (1954), plus the Jazzmaster (1958) and some student models — changed the way music was created and experienced. And so also with the bang-up Fender amps of the decade.
That's why the Precision Bass, first produced in October 1951, is such a special instrument. Because if Clarence Leo Fender were to be remembered for nil else, surely it would be the P Bass, a whole new kind of musical instrument that simply didn't exist earlier he invented information technology, that would forever ensure his place in history. For while all the other great Fender products of the decade certainly afflicted music, the Precision Bass profoundly affected music.
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The 1950s were some of the most critical years when establishing the nascent P Bass. Once the Precision was introduced, Fender's sales arm wasted no fourth dimension in getting the unusual new musical instrument into as many influential hands as possible. Fender promotional literature of the early 1950s also featured bassists John "Shifty" Henry ("Shifte Henri") and Bob Manners of the and then-popular Liberace TV bear witness. I early champion was bandleader Lionel Hampton, who was featured in 1952 promotional materials for the instrument; both his bass players in the 1950s, William "Monk" Montgomery and Roy Johnson, used the instrument extensively. In Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round the World, writer Richard Smith describes Down Shell mag music critic Leonard Feather's offset initially puzzling encounter with the new instrument at a Hampton performance in New York in jump 1952:
"When the music started at this gig, something seemed amiss: Plume heard a bass but saw no bass player. About inaudible in a loud band, a bass player at least was like shooting fish in a barrel to run across," Feather wrote. "On second glance we noticed something fifty-fifty odder. In that location were two guitars — but we only heard one.
Smith further relates how Johnson, Hampton'due south bassist at the time, told Feather, "It'due south no problem at all. I learned to play it correct away. In fact, I used it on the job the same day I got it. Tunes the same every bit a regular bass."
Thus began the Precision Bass'due south steady ascent toward indispensability. Upright basses were all the same often seen in many groups by the eye of the 1950s, when rock 'due north' roll was starting to make its beginning raucous waves, simply information technology was also articulate by then that Fender'due south Precision Bass guitar was well on the way to supplanting information technology in the small, loud groups that seemed to be popping up everywhere past mid-decade.
The middle of the 1950s also illustrated an interesting facet of the Precision Bass's beingness in the decade of its introduction — it remained Fender's only bass guitar for the duration. Whereas the company introduced several innovative electric guitars throughout the 1950s, Fender elected to stick solely with the Precision Bass — modified iii times, admitting — rather than introduce an entirely new bass guitar model.
The first of these revisions appeared with the 1954/55 model year, in which the Precision borrowed torso and forearm contours from the Stratocaster that fabricated it much more comfortable to play. Likewise new were a smaller single-ply white pickguard, steel bridge saddles in place of pressed fiber saddles, serial numbers on the span instead of the neck plate, and a handsome 2-color sunburst stop (like the Stratocaster).
The 2d and nigh substantial revision was implemented in 1957 and resulted in the Precision Bass design that endures today basically unchanged. That year, the instrument was given its at present-familiar separate-curl pickup, headstock shape based on the Stratocaster® guitar, and jumpsuit pickguard assembly to which the electronics were fixed (the pickguard itself was gilded anodized aluminum with a cutout for the new pickup). This revision also featured bridge-mounted rather than through-body strings, private threaded bridge saddles for better intonation and acme adjustment, a 2-screw plastic thumb rest replacing the single-screw wooden 1, knurled metal knobs with apartment rather than rounded tops, and redesigned pickup and bridge covers.
To this 24-hour interval, the Precision Bass continues to exist the bass of choice for artists and coincidental players around the world. What was a radical idea almost seven decades ago has go an essential role of making music.
To celebrate the legacy of the Precision Bass, Fender created American Original '50s Precision Bass, which was designed to recreate the look and experience of instruments of that era.
Every bit such, here is a list of the features y'all need to know on the American Original '50s Precision Bass:
Vintage Pickups
The American Original '50s Precision Bass boasts a Pure Vintage '58 split-coil P Bass pickup that is as period-correct every bit possible. The pickup is specifically voiced to reproduce authentic Fender sound.
Vintage-Manner Hardware
From the bridge to the string tree and tuning machines, every piece of hardware is just similar the original. The four-saddle bridge provides fantabulous string tension and control.
Vintage Neck
The thick "C"-shaped neck profile will fit comfortably in your hand and suits any playing style. The ix.5"-radius fingerboard is slightly flatter than a vintage-way seven.25" radius, providing a comfortable fret-hand feel. In addition, vintage-tall frets brand it easier to add vibrato to your basslines
Vintage Wait
The nitrocellulose lacquer cease non only lets the bass' body breathe with its truthful tonal character, it also ages and wears in a distinctively personal mode.
Store the American Original Series here.
Source: https://www.fender.com/articles/gear/breaking-down-the-american-original-50s-precision-bass
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