1968 Fender catalog page

[Pauly 4001]

Nah; doesn't look to be larger than a twenty-pounder. There were, at least, forty-pounders, and probably still more weighty field guns.

I think a Napoleonic era heavy cannon would put this little pop gun to shame but you wouldn't want to drag one across Russia in the dead of winter while starving and freezing to death.

 

[consectaneus]

Sometimes a cannon is just a cannon.

 

[Slevage]

I hear they are especially drawn to Pachelbel's Cannon.

His canon was missing an n.

 

[rodl2005]

Sometimes a cannon is just a cannon.

It's never, just a cannon

 

[GretschWretch]

His canon was missing an n.

Losing that n probably reduced the cannon's range to that of a howitzer.

 

[Jeff Scott]

His canon was missing an n.

It's really about Pachelbel's Canon camera, people.

 

[5StringBlues]

That is wild, wacky stuff.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

Bob Perine was the photographer for many of the early Fender ads and catalog photos
Robert Perine | Vintage Guitar® magazine

I enjoyed reading that, thank you

 

[swink]

It's really about Pachelbel's Canon camera, people.

And we have a full circle...... (everything is related.)
A complaint and a rant... Opinions invited. Unwanted Photographs

 

[MegaSwing]

Not sure if you know this, but rosewood was a feature added later. They had maple only for years (most of he 50's IIRC) and then suddenly rosewood was a new, shiny feature. They probably wanted to show them off to get a return on that investment. Not to mention they probably got tired of looking at maple boards only after a while.

kinda funny considering I usually avoid rosewood at all costs these days.

I do recall hearing something to that effect many years ago—that the maple fb was relatively rare in the 60s—but I never learned why. Thx.

 

[mikeswals]

Wasn't it considered a "budget" bass back then? Maybe this is more of the "flagship" line.

Student model, but yes budget.

 

[mikeswals]

That Fender V - the blue one on the left - had only 15 frets. Apparently, no one liked it and it never caught on.

Because it was NOT an extended range bass. With 15 frets and only a low E string, it only has the same range as a 20 fret 4 string...nothing to gain.

 

[MegaSwing]

Because it was NOT an extended range bass. With 15 frets and only a low E string, it only has the same range as a 20 fret 4 string...nothing to gain.

So close, yet so far, right?

 

[consectaneus]

I do recall hearing something to that effect many years ago—that the maple fb was relatively rare in the 60s—but I never learned why. Thx.

A couple of thoughts, vague memories...
but Fender (Leo or whomever) didn't like the look of worn and dirty maple fretboards. They swithched to rosewood. Now the neck was two piece and they could insert the trussrod before gluing on the freboard. No more routing from the back to insert a trussrod and filling the channel with walnut (the skunkstripe), as on '50s guitars. I believe an added benefit was that two piece necks weren't as prone to twisting.

In the '60s maple fingerboards were a special order, and interestingly, those were two piece as well--i.e. same construction as rosewood, with a separate fretboard commonly called a "maple cap".

 

[MegaSwing]

^^^
The two-piece neck with a separate fingerboard IS structurally stronger.

 

[GretschWretch]

It's really about Pachelbel's Canon camera, people.

Well played!