The History Of The Bass Guitar

In this material we take a look at the history of the electric
bass guitar. When talking about bass history the first person
that people normally think of is Leo Fender. He is credited with
introducing the world to the Precision bass in 1951. The bass
was called a Precision bass because of the accuracy of the
notes. Players were able to play notes that were perfectly in
tune because of the presence of frets on the electric bass
guitar. To many people, this was the first real electric bass.
This bass was mass-produced and very recognizable when it was
created by Fender and up to this day it still is.

But while we give Leo Fender his dues for creating the modern
electric bass, it must be said that way before 1951 there were
at least five other prototypes that resembled the design of
today's electric bass guitar. In talking about the history of
the bass guitar we must talk about the double bass. In fact,
today's bass is a direct descendant of the double bass, dating
way back to the 17th century. Although it was really in the 20th
century that one with a more practical design was created.

When talking about bass guitar history mention must be made of
Lloyd Loar, known for designing the first electric double bass
in the 1920s while working for Gibson. The bass used an
electro-static pickup but there was no practical way of hearing
it play. Unfortunately, bass amplification still had a long way
to go.

The evolution of the bass guitar now takes us to the early 1930s
when Paul Tutmarc built a more practical bass in terms of size.
The first one came with a pickup and was the size of a cello but
was too heavy, so the designed was changed to that of a guitar.
This 42 inches long solid body bass was made of black walnut and
came with piano strings and a pickup. A few years later, in the
mid 1930s, established firms like Lyon & Healy, Rickenbacker and
Gibson began selling basses that, although less bulkier than the
standard double bass, were still tall, unfretted and upright.

Around 1940 was the first time a large distributor handled the
electric bass. The distributor was L.D.Heater Music Co. in
Portland Oregon, and the basses were manufactured by Paul
Tutmarc. This was a fretted instrument that was no longer to be
played upright, but horizontal. It came with a pickup and was
much smaller than earlier versions.

It was only then that Leo Fender came up with the modern
electric bass. As said at the beginning of our discussion on
bass guitar history, it was the year 1951. In the year 1957 the
pickguard and headstock were redesigned and the pickup was
changed to a split pickup. This took us to the year 1960 when
the Jazz bass was designed. Unlike the Precision bass, it came
with two separate pickups. The modern bass guitar became very
popular.

The first 6 string bass was created in 1959 by Danelecto and the
first 5 string in 1964 by Fender. The first fretless was created
in 1965 by Ampeg, and in 1968 an 8 string bass by Hagstroem.
Carl Thompson is credited with building the first fretless 6
string bass in 1978.

Many developments have taken place since then. For instance, Ned
Steinberger introduced a headless bass in 1979. In 1987, the
Guild Guitar Corporation launched the fretless Ashbory bass.
This bass used silicone rubber strings and a piezoelectric
pickup to achieve a "double bass" sound. The bass was very
short, only 18 inches long.

Throughout the years, pickups have also evolved. In addition to
single coil pickups, you now have several others such as
humbuckers, hybrid pickups, passive and active pickups. These
seem to be capable of producing every tone imaginable, from pure
signals to the grittiest dirt sounds.

The electric bass seems to have become more popular today than
ever before. For instance, when someone refers to a bass it's
more common to think of the electric bass than the upright
acoustic.