PRECISION BASS HISTORY LESSON!

[neil___lien]

Dear Fellaz & Fellazettes!

 

Five Watt World is back with yet another great video! This time it's about the Precision Bass! 

 

https://youtu.be/3tw8Ms1Sbek

 

A lot of research done there, obviously. Learned a lot in that video about that beloved instrument ! 

 

Jazz Bass lovers: U better subscribe & hit the bell button to get notifications cuz it seems that the Jazz Bass video is already on the way! (Read the comments under the video!)

[Hobbayne]

Yes, I saw that the other day. It was quite enlightening.

[dmccombe7]

That was very interesting and well done. Enjoyed that a lot.

Dave

[yorks5stringer]

Useful back ground to the P bass. I would take slight  issue at the use of a photo of the Beatles when talking about how the British Invasion popularised the P Bass in the USA, as I'm pretty sure Paul McCartney was a Hofner then Rickenbacker user.

[Reggaebass]

Really good video, very interesting, so the first p bass had , foam under the bridge cover, flatwound strings and carbon saddles , I quite like the idea of the carbon saddles, why don’t they do them now, I’ve never seen them 🙂

[stewblack]

That was great. Lovely bit of bass geekery. 

@yorks5stringer in fairness that part of the video was talking about the rise of the electric bass in general rather than the Precision in particular. 

[Cat Burrito]

Thanks for sharing this. In a bizarre twist, my wife wants to watch it with me later 😎

[stewblack]

3 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

Thanks for sharing this. In a bizarre twist, my wife wants to watch it with me later 😎

surreal 

[BrunoBass]

Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed that, great ‘over breakfast’ viewing! 

[musicbassman]

26 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

Thanks for sharing this. In a bizarre twist, my wife wants to watch it with me later 😎

She's just getting clued up so she'll absolutely know for sure that you'd bought an original '59P for £20k, when you'd told her you were actually only buying a Custom Shop reissue for £2K....

[Hellzero]

Just watched the video, lots of mistakes and omissions in it... Even if it's interesting.

The first Precision Bass had bakelite saddles, not carbon, that had a tendency to break.

The pickguard was in wood first painted in black (over a can), then bakelite, then plastic.

The first electric bass player was indeed the vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, but the first real electric bass player to record with it was Monk Montgomery in 1953. He played the Precision Bass because Lionel Hampton insisted on it when he joined back the band in 1952. He then only played an electric bass with his thumb, just line his brother Wes playing the guitar. He is also known to have been the best Fender bass ambassador over the early years.

The 1968 Fender tuners or machine heads are referred as Lollipop tuners.

The action on James Jamerson's funk machine was high because the truss rod was broken, not because he was a double bass player, but the fact he was one pmade it happen because this higher action wasn't an issue for him. He also never changed the strings on his bass unless they broke.

The 1981~1983 era is known as the Dan Smith era.

And so on...

The reference books are forgetting The Fender bass by Klaus Blasquiz who met Leo Fender and George Fullerton to write his book about these basses. The book was published a month after Leo's death and was, at the time, the best documented book about the Fender basses, with Leo and George approval.