Fender Precision Bass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Precision Bass | |
|---|---|
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| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | 1951 — present |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Bolt-on |
| Woods | |
| Body | Alder and ash (poplar and basswood on many Mexican and Japanese models) |
| Neck | Maple |
| Fretboard | Maple, rosewood, ebony, and Pao Ferro |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Fixed |
| Pickup(s) | One single-coil (1951 — 1957); One split pickup, pieces connected in humbucking mode (1957 — present); One split "P" pickup and one eight-pole "J" pickup (2 magnets per string) connected in humbucking mode (some later models); One split pickup and one humbucker (some later models). |
| Colors available | |
| (Standard Series: as of 2008) Black, Brown Sunburst, Midnight Wine, Arctic White, Chrome Red, Electron Blue
(American Deluxe Series): 3-Color Sunburst, Amber, Montego Black Metallic, Chrome Silver (American Standard Series): 3-Color Sunburst, Olympic White, Black, Candy Cola, Blizzard Pearl, Charcoal Frost Metallic (American Vintage Series): 57: White Blonde, 2-Color Sunburst 62: 3-Color Sunburst, Olympic White (Highway One Series): 3-Color Sunburst, Flat Black, Honey Blonde, Midnight Wine (Classic Series): Butterscotch Blonde, 2-Color Sunburst, Black, Honey Blonde, Candy Apple Red (Deluxe Series): Black, Chrome Red, Blizzard Pearl, Natural, Crimson Red Transparent, Blue Transparent |
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The Fender Precision Bass (sometimes shortened to the "P-Bass") is an electric bass guitar, and was the first widely-available model of the instrument. It was designed by Leo Fender and brought to market in 1951.
[edit] Background
Although the Precision Bass was first presented some 15 years after the original solid body, fretless, guitar-style electric bass produced by the Audiovox Manufacturing Company in Seattle, Washington, the Precision Bass was the first mass-produced electric bass. In its stock configuration, it is an alder or ash-bodied solid body instrument equipped with a single split-coil humbucking pickup and a 1-piece maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard and 20 frets. The Precision Bass is among the best-selling electric basses of all time and is still being manufactured today.
The Standard P-Bass is sanded, painted and assembled in Ensenada, Baja California along with the other Standard Series guitars. The American Standard (featuring a high-mass vintage bridge and Hipshot lightweight staggered tuning machines), American Deluxe (featuring a J-style humbucking pickup in the bridge position and an active 3-band EQ with an 18V power supply), Highway One (featuring '70s styling, BadAss II bridges with grooved saddles and a Greasebucket tone circuit since 2006) and American Vintage series models are manufactured in Corona, California.
Similar to The Beatles' effect on the popularity of the Rickenbacker 4003, the early adoption of the electric bass was in part due to Bill Black's ownership of the instrument. Black was beginning to use a Precision Bass during the filming of Jailhouse Rock. Fender also delivered an early Precision to LA session bassist and arranger Shifty Henry.
The double bass was considered difficult to keep in-tune, physically cumbersome and difficult to transport. It was becoming hard to hear in increasingly large bands or in bands that included amplified electric guitars. With electric pickups, a small body and fretted neck, the Precision Bass overcame these problems.
The electric bass produces a timbre that differs from that of the double bass: it is a more focused, harder-edged sound, with less percussive thump and a more clearly articulated fundamental tone. By bringing the sound of the bass up in a band, the bass became more dominant in its role and transformed the beat and rhythm of pop music. The electric bass hallowed driving rhythms while still outlining harmonic structures and is essential to the evolution from jump blues and swing to rhythm and blues and rock music.
[edit] Design updates
The original Precision Bass of 1951 was essentially a bass counterpart to the six-string Telecaster and shared several of its design features--the main difference being its then-radical double cutaway body. In 1953 the Precision was restyled with the edges contoured for comfort and in 1957 the original single-coil pickup was replaced with a new split-coil pickup with staggered polepieces, connected in a humbucking mode; however, Fender never emphasized this, as the Seth Lover patent on the humbucker had not yet expired. In the same year, the headstock and pickguard were redesigned. Two years later, a rosewood fingerboard glued on a maple neck featuring "clay"-style dot position markers replaced the 1-piece maple neck. The rosewood neck became a standard feature until 1966/67, when the CBS-owned Fender companies began to offer a separate laminated maple fingerboard capped on a maple neck. By 1969 to the present day, the 1-piece maple neck option is a standard feature on many Fender basses, with the rosewood fretboard offered as the second neck wood option. The original design, with a few updates, was reintroduced in 1968 as the Telecaster Bass.
Some Precision Basses made in the 1970s were also available with an unlined fretless rosewood, ebony or (usually) maple fingerboard, popularized by endorsees Sting and Tony Franklin. Fender briefly offered a fretless P-Bass in the mid-1990s as a part of the first-generation American Standard line, featuring a lined fretless rosewood fingerboard. The fretless American Standard P-Bass left the Fender pricelist at the end of the 20th century. The American Series Precision Bass (introduced in 2000 and discontinued in 2008) sports the S-1 switching system since 2003, allowing the split-coil pickup to be wired from series to parallel, giving the bass a brighter, snappier tone similar to a Jazz Bass. This feature has been discontinued with the introduction of the second generation of American Standard Series instruments in 2008.
Many variants (sometimes with 21 or 22 frets on the fingerboard) and special-edition Precision Basses have been offered in recent years. Fender made an American Deluxe 5-string model featuring a split-coil neck pickup and a bridge humbucker until 2007, tuned BEADG, but also a passive short-scale version tuned EADGC called the Bass V in the 1960s. It did not sell well, and after it was discontinued, Fender did not offer another 5-string bass guitar until the 1980s.
Fender has also produced several 'Deluxe' or 'Special' models over the years which feature active electronics and/or a Jazz Bass pickup or humbucker at the bridge position in addition to the normal split-coil pickup. Both of these measures are designed to increase the tonal options available to a fairly simple bass. A brief attempt in the early '90s resulted with the introduction of the Precision Plus and Deluxe Plus basses in 1989 and 1991, featuring Lace Sensor pickups, fine-tuner bridges, 22-fret necks and passive or active electronics on certain models. The Custom Shop 40th Anniversary model of 1991 was a luxurious version of the Precision Plus Deluxe bass with gold hardware, a quilted maple top and an ebony fretboard with side dot position markers. In 2008, Fender offered a 5-string P-Bass as a part of the second-generation American Standard Series line.
From 1980 to 1984, the Precision Bass has been redesigned with new pickups, an active onboard circuit and a high-mass brass bridge. The range included the Special (1980) featuring a split-coil pickup with white covers, gold hardware and a 2-band EQ with an active/passive toggle switch and the Elite (1983) with one (Elite I) or two (Elite II) special-design split-coil humbucking pickups and a fine-tuner bridge made by Schaller. Some models were available with a solid walnut body and a stained ebony fretboard. Japanese models appeared in late 1984, sporting the same specifications as their American counterparts, except for the addition of a downsized body shape and a modern C-shape maple neck with 22 medium-jumbo frets. The Elite Precision's Schaller fine-tuner bridge has been later used on the Plus Series models in the early 1990s.
