The History of Ups and Downs of Legendary Precision Bass Guitars
Fender Precision Bass's more than six-decade history, the legendary bass guitar that can't be missed in any musical genre.
SUMMARY
Undoubtedly, the innovative electric guitars introduced by Fender during the 1950s—the Telecaster (1951) and Stratocaster (1954), along with the Jazzmaster (1958) and several student models—changed the way it was made. and experience music around the world. So are the great Fender amplifiers.
That is why the Precision Bass, first produced in October 1951, is such an exceptional instrument. Because if Clarence Leo Fender is remembered for something, it's bound to be the Precision — an instrument — actually a whole new kind of instrument — that simply didn't exist before he invented it. , which will forever secure his place in history. While all the other great Fender products of the decade certainly influenced the music, the Precision Bass influenced the music deeply.
THE LEGENDARY BASS GUITAR
Precision Bass's first commercial guitar was produced in October 1951. It had an ash-colored body (without borders) with two "horns" (as opposed to the Telecaster's; this provided good balance. and subsequently adapted to the Stratocaster), a one-piece 20-key maple neck fixed to the body by four screws (“bolt-on”), a single pickup, black pickguard, tuning Kluson adjustment, one through-body with cap and two saddles of pressed yarn. It borrows several features from the Telecaster, including the head shape, boom plate, truss nut, potentiometer, two domed chrome control knobs, and strap buttons. One of the most important features of the Precision Bass is its scale length, which Leo Fender, after careful consideration and long testing, puts at 86cm. The guitar is only available in blonde.
Today, there is a Precision bass model for every type of player. There are many Precision at all levels with great sound and feel. There are special Precision models with five strings and humbucking pickups. There are high-end Precisions for more discerning players that look great hanging in the living room as well as on stage. There are classic style Precision trees.
PRECISION BASS PLAYERS:
• Jet Harris (the Shadows)
• James Jamerson
• Bill Black (Elvis Presley)
• William "Monk" Montgomery and Roy Johnson (Lionel Hampton)
• John "Shifty" Henry
• Brian Wilson (the Beach Boys)
• Carol Kaye (the Wrecking Crew)
• John Entwistle (the Who)
• George Porter Jr.
• Roger Waters (Pink Floyd)
• Donald "Duck" Dunn (Booker T. & the MG's)
• Dee Dee Ramone (the Ramones)
• Sting (the Police)
• Brian Foxton (the Jam)
• Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions)
• Paul Simonon (the Clash)
• Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)
• Tony Franklin
• Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses)
• Mike Dirnt (Green Day)
• Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters)
STORY OF A LEGEND
To fully understand Bass's role exactly in the decade it appeared, it is important to understand the time and circumstances in which it came to be. Its predecessor was the longstanding upright bass, a large, bulky instrument that took up a lot of space and became increasingly difficult to hear as bands grew louder. The bras provided the main vocals for many dance bands, the powerful volume of the drum kits and the advent of better electric guitars with better amplification, something had to be changed for the bass guitar.
THE 1950s
After the Precision was introduced, the Fender sales department wasted no time getting this novelty instrument into the hands of as many influencers as possible. Fender brochures in the early 1950s also featured bassists John “Shifty” Henry (“Shifte Henri”) and Bob Manners of the then popular Liberace television show. An early champion was the band Lionel Hampton, who were featured in promotional materials for the instrument in 1952; Both of his bass players in the 1950s, William "Monk" Montgomery and Roy Johnson, used the instrument extensively. In Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round the World, author Richard Smith describes the first time Down Beat magazine music critic Leonard Feather had initial difficulty with the new instrument at a performance in Hampton. in New York in the spring of 1952:
Feather wrote: "When the music started at this gig, something went wrong: Feather heard the bass guitar but didn't see the bass guitar player. Almost inaudible in a big band, at least not as well. bass guitar players can be easily seen". “After looking back, we noticed something even stranger. There were two guitars - but we only heard one.
Smith further recounted how Johnson, Hampton's bassist at the time, told Feather, "No problem at all. I learned to play it right away. In fact, I used it at work the day I got it. The tone is like a regular bass guitar.
Upright basses were still commonly seen in many groups in the mid-1950s, when rock 'n' roll music was starting to make its first raucous waves, but it was also clear then that Fender's Precision Bass guitar is on the way to development. It's in small, noisy groups that seem to be everywhere by the middle of the decade.
The mid-1950s also illustrate an interesting aspect of the Precision Bass's existence in its decade - it remained Fender's only bass guitar for all that time. While the company introduced a number of improved electric guitars throughout the 1950s, Fender decided to stick with the Precision Bass only - despite being modified three times - instead of introducing a complete bass guitar model. all new.
The first of these revisions came with the 1954/55 model, where the Precision borrowed body and forearm lines from the Stratocaster to make playing much more comfortable. Also new are the smaller single-layer white pickguard plate, steel saddle instead of fiber saddle, serial number on the horse instead of on the rod and a beautiful two-color sunburst finish (much like the Stratocaster).
The second and most important modification was made in 1957 and resulted in the Precision Bass design that remains to this day essentially unchanged. That year, the guitar featured the now-familiar split-coil pickup, a head shape based on a Stratocaster® guitar, and a one-piece pickguard for securing the electronics. This revision also features a mounted bridge instead of a body string, individually threaded saddles for better tone and pitch control, knurled metal knobs with flat tops instead of round ones, and pickup covers and redesigned horse.
THE 1960s
The 1960s were the decade where Precision solidified its reputation as the premier bass guitar.
However, unlike the 1950s, when the Precision reigned as Fender's sole bass guitar, the new decade saw the arrival of a second bass guitar model, the Jazz Bass, introduced this season. spring 1960. However, Jazz Bass complemented rather than competed with Precision; Together, both instruments dominated the bass guitar world throughout the 1960s and beyond. But while Jazz Bass faced a relatively short climb to acceptance when it was introduced, the Precision has long been on the ground, and the sound of rock and pop in the early 1960s was the sound. by Precision.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Detroit, where Motown Records was founded in April 1960. The label quickly began releasing a number of viral pop hits, nearly all of which were consolidated. inspired by James Jamerson's inventive and irresistible bass guitar work, and much of it built on a 1962 Precision he calls the "Funk Machine".
Meanwhile, west of Los Angeles, Murray Wilson purchased a Precision Bass guitar and an amplifier for his musically gifted teenage son, Brian, in December 1961. precocious taught himself to play it in just a few days, and Brian Wilson became the bass guitarist in the band he formed with his brothers, Dennis and Carl; cousin, Mike Love; and family friend Al Jardine. The group, the Beach Boys, had just recorded their first hit single that November, "Surfin'," and performed their first paid gig on New Year's Eve 1961/'62. Less than a year later, the Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records and released their landmark debut album Surfin' Safari in October 1962, featuring eldest brother Wilson and leader Brian on Precision Bass.
Indeed, some of Wilson's most famous and epic compositions — and the Beach Boys' biggest hits — feature Precision Bass from Los Angeles ace studio veterans "Wrecking Crew," for example. such as Larry Knechtel (Bobby Freeman cover “Do Ya Wanna Dance?”), Ray Pohlman (“Help Me, Rhonda”) and most notably Carol Kaye (“California Girls,” “Wouldn't it Be Nice,” “ Good Vibrations").
The Precision Bass was ubiquitous during the first half of the 1960s, and it remained largely unchanged during this period, in contrast to some of the periodic revisions and redesigns Fender adopted in the 1950s. Yes. some changes, but nothing significantly changes the Precision's look and feel; These include an additional strap button added to the back of the headstock (1960), a white nitrocellulose three-layer pickguard in place of the tortoiseshell pickup on most custom colorways and added patent numbers. logo on headstock (1961) and neck "circle" (radius and multilayer) instead of plate neck (1962-'63). In 1964, the frets on the neck were replaced with imitation pearl dots, the white three-layer vinyl pickguards replaced the tortoiseshell pickguards.
Also in the first half of the 1960s, Precision crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the UK. At first they were few and far between; in London, Shadows bassist Terence "Jet" Harris (nicknamed for his ability to sprint in high school) received one of the first - if not the first Precision Bass England - in 1959. He had just joined Cliff Richard's support group when his Framus bass guitar was accidentally destroyed and a London importer gave him a Precision to replace it.
But in London in 1959, a resourceful teenager in particular was undaunted by the scarcity of any really good bass guitars in Britain, let alone the Fender Precision. That year, 14-year-old John Entwistle simply built his own rudimentary homemade instrument based on photos he had gathered of Precision basses — Harris was certainly among them.
“I wanted a Fender, but they weren't available,” Entwistle told Guitar Player magazine in 1974. “I think Jet Harris was the only one who had one at the time.”
This was the first of many Precision trees for Entwistle, but this first, alas, didn't last long. He quickly sold it at the behest of guitarist Roger Daltrey of Detours, who claimed that it kept blowing up the speakers.
Back at its headquarters in Southern California, Fender worked hard to take the then-unusual step of creating the first reissue model in effect. Introduced in 1968, the Telecaster Bass has little to do with its older six-string cousin; rather, it's essentially a faithful reproduction of the original 1951 Precision Bass.
Identical features include plate body, single pickup, pickguard shape, pickup cover, control unit and two-saddle horse with crossbody design. Various features include the color of the pickguard (white rather than black), smaller and no longer flush mounts, and a maple keyboard, although some bass guitars are manufactured in Last year there is a need for maple wood a piece on time. Telecaster Bass 1968 options include the short-lived psychedelic "Paisley Red" and "Blue Flower" finishes, named for the color and pattern of the self-adhesive (!) to decorate their tops (each bass guitar has an internal pickguard).
As the 1960s drew to a close, a logo on the larger headstock replaced the Precision Bass' earlier "transition" logo in 1969, and the extra strap button on the back of the stock added in 1960 was discontinued. A notable artistic development that year was the release of Meters' self-titled debut album, which introduced the world to the impeccable Precision Bass hits by funk/soul master bassist George Porter Jr. .
THE 1970s
If the Precision achieved new status as an indispensable working instrument in the 1960s, it cemented that reputation with seismic prowess in the 1970s. Despite being joined at the dawn of those 1960 by Fender's second bass guitar model, the Jazz Bass, both instruments created complementary sonic territory and together dominated the world of electric bass.
Rock music, no longer in its infancy, now faced the teenage turmoil of the 1970s and flourished. The 1970s saw rock and roll, hard rock, blues rock, country rock, psychedelic rock, glam rock, progressive rock, album rock, funk rock, jazz rock, folk rock, pop rock, soft rock, garage rock, Latin rock, heavy metal, Southern rock, avant-garde rock, pub rock, punk rock, post punk, punk pop, power pop, new wave, rockabilly, reggae rock, etc.
Precision handles it all with ease. It's probably been said very clearly that the same bass guitar that crisscrossed Meters' jolly New Orleans R&B and rocked the jazzy Tower of Power is the same bass guitar that sparked Sex's filth and fury. Pistols and strong UK tunes of the post-70s like Jam and Elvis Costello & the Attractions. Saying that the same bass guitar that wonderfully underpinned Pink Floyd's 1973 psychedelic masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon is the same bass guitar that graced the 1973 country music classic Desperado of the Eagles. Saying that the same bass guitar that snarled furiously on King Crimson's 1974 prog-rock heavyweight Red is the same bass guitar that less than a year later spawned the much-mimicked jazz-rock hook, opening to opening of the hit ABC sitcom Barney Miller.
In Detroit, 1971 brought a major milestone for Motown in the form of Marvin Gaye's masterpiece album, What's Going On. On the landmark concept album, the label's previously uncredited house musicians - known collectively as the Funk Brothers - receive personal credit for the first time. In the end, the Motown Precision Bass masters, James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt, received the personal recognition they so deeply deserve.
Taking a cue from the decade's innovative modifications to the Telecaster, Fender engineers in 1972 unveiled a new version of the 1968 Telecaster Bass—essentially a re-release of the Precision-styled Precision. 1951 — equipped with a giant pickup. Unlike the inventor of the humbucking pickup, Seth Lover, who was attracted to Fender in 1967. Lover's new large pickup for bass guitar forced a redesign of the pickup to accommodate it; The model includes other new modifications in the form of a three-pin boom plate and a lever adjustment.
The long-beloved Precision Bass' recorded moment hit the charts in 1973 with the release of Pink Floyd's hugely successful eighth studio album, The Dark Side of the Moon. Its lead single, "Money" boasts an irresistible Precision Bass riff by the song's author, Roger Waters, while also achieving the unusual feat of becoming an international hit. big economy.
Other design modifications were made in 1974, when Fender introduced black pads as a standard on Bass Precision and moved the thumb rest from the treble side to the bass side.
In New York in 1976, bassist Douglas Colvin set the tone for many punk bass guitars playing in a no-frills, "machine gun" style, controlled using an impossibly low-pitched Precision Bass. That year, his iconic band released a popular debut album of the same name, which has inspired countless imitators. The Ramones album sent shockwaves across the rock world and heralded the large-scale emergence of a new musical movement that had been brewing since the advent of rock two decades earlier.
Meanwhile, an even more sensational debut was in the transatlantic productions in London. A year after the Ramones' debut album, the rougher, stronger punk movement in the UK was spearheaded by the Sex Pistols, whose debut (and only) album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, appeared in the fall of 1977 and quickly became the most important album. The punk ever album and an extremely important and influential album in the history of rock music in general.
However, the 1970s ended with what may have been the greatest Precision Bass moment in rock history. After the early 1978 boom of the Sex Pistols, the more serious Clash took on the role of the UK's most important band and was at the height of its creativity and popularity early in the decade. When the "Clash Take the Fifth" United States tour took place at the Palladium in New York City on September 21, 1979, bassist Paul Simonon, angered by the staff's treatment of the audience, smashed the car. His precision to pieces on stage.
Simonon's moment of fury was incidentally captured by British photographer Pennie Smith, and the photograph has since immortalized the cover of what many consider Clash's greatest album, the 1979 masterpiece London Calling ( with the title track released by Simonon undoubtedly one of the best bass riffs of all time, also on Precision). The photo was later voted one of rock's greatest photographs (Q Magazine, for example, named it the greatest rock photograph of all time in 2002).
1980s - CURRENT
The modern era of Precision Bass, which began in the 1980s and continues today, began during a particularly fertile period in rock and pop history, a particularly unsettling period in history. Fender history. Even as seasoned veterans and a new generation of capable and adventurous players continue to use the Precision, the quality of Fender instruments in general is said to have diminished over the years. 1970s and early 1980s under the rule of media giant CBS.
The Precision Bass probably performs a bit better than other Fender instruments under the cost-cutting CBS mode. Precision is designed to do one thing and does it very well; it produces a pure and basic sound which it produces very well. While capable of expressing musical flair for the experienced, the Precision is perhaps the least refined of all Fender instruments. In a very real sense, CBS is much less of a hassle on the Precision than it is on a Jazz Bass, Telecaster, Stratocaster, or Jazzmaster.
Meanwhile, players continue to love Precision. With a renaissance of post-punk British rock and pop music, the great British bassists who emerged in the late 1970s continued to perform exemplary Precision work in the 1980s, such as Bruce Thomas with Elvis Costello, Bruce Foxton with Jam, Sting with Police, Jean-Jacques Burnel with Stranglers and Paul Simonon with Clash.
Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" became a major international hit in 1980; anchored by an instantly recognizable and viral Precision Bass riff by the song's author, bassist John Deacon. That same year, the new wave of British Heavy Metal was launched in earnest with the release of Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album, which introduced the world to Steve Harris' Precision Bass prowess.
Back at Fender's US headquarters, the early 80s were a busy time. The company introduced the first bass model with active electronics, the Precision Bass Special, in 1980, and Fender soon abandoned the three-pin rod mounting system adopted in the early 1970s; Back to the classic four-pin approach for all of the company's bass guitars.
Most notably, CBS appointed William Schultz, a former Yamaha executive, as president of Fender in 1981. Passionate about the brand and eager to turn the tide, Schultz immediately suggested modernizing the facilities. Fender's manufacturing facility in the United States, this largely means pausing production while machinery is updated and staff stable. retraining. At the same time, he proposed to build Fender instruments in Japan for the large Japanese market. This will keep Fender's instruments in production and counter the cheap copies that are eating up Fender's Far East sales.
Accordingly, Fender Japan was founded in March 1982 and began making quality Fender instruments while production in the US was reorganized. One of the earliest results was the Vintage Reissue line, a high-quality new line featuring two well-built and largely historically accurate Precision Bass models, the '57 Precision Bass and the '62 Precision Bass. These Japanese-made Vintage Series instruments were soon introduced to the European market as the Squier.
The short-lived Elite Precision Bass came out in 1983 in several configurations with special hardware and electronics, but only lasted a year.
On the other hand, the first sign of Fender's own recovery came in 1984, when CBS decided to sell off all of its non-media holdings. Fender stepped in, and Schultz, backed by a group of investors he recruited, acquired the company he had run since 1981 in a sale that closed in March 1985, ending ending CBS's 20-year rule.
Possessing very few resources - only brands, distribution channels, and some leftover inventory and machinery (no US factories) - Schultz set out to rebuild and revive Fender. While Fender Japan has now become the major Fender instrument manufacturer in the world, Schultz and his staff established the headquarters for the newly renamed Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in Brea, Calif., and acquired a home 14,000 square foot machine in Corona, Calif., in October 1985.
At this point, the modern-day history of the Precision Bass really begins.
In the mid-'80s beginning under Bill Schultz, Fender began by focusing on quality rather than quantity, starting with a small number of re-released classical instruments and modern guitars and basses. Redesigned basic templates are called American Standard templates. Production began in Corona in 1987 for the first new US-made models, the American Standard Precision and the Precision Bass Plus with 22 frets (up from 20 traditional frets), Active Pickup Threaded sensor with serial/parallel conversion and an elongated top trumpet for improved balance (this last one gives the instrument a noticeable weirdness, but still fails to result) much until this model was discontinued in 1993).
Also in 1987, the Fender Custom Shop was founded, with one of their first creations (order number 0003) being a 1962 “Mary Kay” style Precision Bass with ash body and hardware. Yellow; this guitar was released on May 15 of that year and quickly “log out” less than a month later, on June 22. From that point forward, the Custom Shop will continuously upgrade Levels Precision Bass from a "pack horse" into a work of art.
The dawn of the 1990s saw increased production on new Precision Bass models. Several new instruments were introduced in 1990-1991, including the Precision Bass Plus Deluxe, the limited edition 40th Anniversary Deluxe Precision Bass, the limited edition 1951 Precision reissue, and the limited edition James Jamerson Precision ; the following three models from the ever-growing Custom Store.
Fender overhauled the entire American bass line in 1995, introducing new models including the US Deluxe Precision with 22 frets and active electronics, and the American Standard Precision returning to 20 frets and electronics. passive death. The Fender American Standard Precision 50th Anniversary Limited Edition appeared in 1996.
US Deluxe Precision became American Deluxe Precision in 1998, with upgraded features. In 1999, Fender introduced the Hot-Rod Precision and the 5-wire American Deluxe Five Precision.
Precision Bass started in the 2000s with the conversion of the American Standard model into the American Series Precision, upgraded with a solid wood construction and a parchment pickguard. Celebrated five decades of this instrument with the release of the 50th Anniversary Precision Bass in 2001, and the Deluxe line was upgraded with new recording units and electronics.
By this time, Fender had been well re-established as the market leader, and the Precision Bass - which still closely resembles its 1957 ancestor - had been used throughout the years. 2000 as a basically indispensable bass guitar. Perhaps better than any of Fender's other instruments, it weathered the struggles of the late 1970s and much of the 1980s and remains the world's top bass guitar.
After the turn of the new millennium, Precision has blossomed actively with a multitude of instruments, special editions, and artist-specific models. These include Sting Precision Bass (2001); Mike Dirnt Precision Bass (2004); Tony Franklin Fretless Precision (2006); Duff McKagan P Bass (2007); Steve Harris Precision and Road Worn '50s Precision basses (2009); Roger Waters Precision Bass (2010); Nate Mendel P Bass (2012); and 2016 saw the introduction of both the Flea Bass line and the American Professional line, which saw a number of innovative features brought to the classic Precision Bass line.
More recent models from Precision Bass include instruments in the American Elite, American Performer Series, and Player Series.
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