Here's a question for Fender buffs. In January 1970 when I bought my '69 Precision it had a strap button on the front of the headstock, near the tuners. I couldn't see any use for it and just took it off when I took the ashtrays and everything else off. I've never seen another Fender with a strap button there, so I assumed it was added by the previous owner. Any reason to think otherwise, i.e. is this something Fender might have done?
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'69 P bass - strap button on headstock?
- Thread starter bben
- Start date
Are you sure it wasn't just a flat disk to run your strings under? Fender uses those to give your strings a bigger break against the nut, helping prevent the string from being pulled out while playing.
That strap button was an ABSOLUTE stock item on Fenders for years. I've seen it (or the hole left behind) on many, many pre-70's Fenders. To tell which ones isn't something I remember(duh!)but it was there for sure.
I bet Treena's old P has something like this.
I bet Treena's old P has something like this.
Good thought, Gabu, but it wasn't a string retainer, it was an honest-to-goodness strap button.
The follow on question, of course, is what was it there for? I have never seen anyone use a bass strap out to the headstock.
The follow on question, of course, is what was it there for? I have never seen anyone use a bass strap out to the headstock.
Oh, cool. I never knew that. So, the initial idear being that one would keep the bass angled nearly vertically... It didn't make sense before because I had been thinking that putting a strap on the head would create a lot of pressure on the neck joint.
Memory being the frail thing it is, the strap button must have been on the back, not the front like I originally said.
I couldn't then, and still can't imagine now, using it. I had visions of the bass, once vertical, sliding down slowly as a song progressed, unable to stop the slow slide, until the tuners were touching one's shoulder and the body banging at the knees, the song clanging to a halt, the whole world staring in disbelief.
And at the risk of repeating myself, I have never, as in not ever, seen anyone using the headstock strap button on a Fender.
I couldn't then, and still can't imagine now, using it. I had visions of the bass, once vertical, sliding down slowly as a song progressed, unable to stop the slow slide, until the tuners were touching one's shoulder and the body banging at the knees, the song clanging to a halt, the whole world staring in disbelief.
And at the risk of repeating myself, I have never, as in not ever, seen anyone using the headstock strap button on a Fender.
Exactly bben! Im picturing the strap coming off and the bass crashing to the floor! Well its obvious why they stopped using them! 
Through the 40's 50's and 60's is was common to be wearing guitars or basses strapped to the headstock. (like the guy above)
If you look in past issues of Bass Player, you may find old pictures of guys wearing basses that way.
I was pretty sure that Fender stopped putting on the headstock mounted strap by 1968.
Yes, they were stock until about the late 60's.
I will try to take a couple of pictures and show you mine. Both the Jazz and P basses have them.
This is a 1966 Fender Jazz Bass, that belongs to....MadAnthony..it's identical to my 66 Jazz bass. You can also see the strap button is on the head stock.
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MA's 63 P bass
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You might check out the Vintage Fender sites for more info.
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html#spec
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Treena
Now don't quote me on this, but, (O'hell, quote me on it), up to about 66/67, before CBS screwed up Fender, Fender shipped their instruments with "STRAPS" (Da Da). ..... And the strap lock, as pictured on the back of the 60's bass headstock, was used for when the player would wear a tux., or (band matching)suit. ... Because, believe it or not, before punk came along, people would actually "dress up" to be on stage. The straps Fender sent out with their instrument were a long leather strap(kinky), that looped through a felt filled leather shoulder pad.(Adding to the comfort and fashion fit that todays modern musician needs for those grulling long nights under the lights). My first 66 P bass came with one in the case, though that was 30 years ago, and I don't know what happened to it. .... But, shorty after CBS took over Fender they stopped shipping out straps with the instruments, which soon meant, they didn't need to put the strop lock on the head stock. Which soon led to more corporate cut-backs, that lead Fender(CBS)into a 70's nose dive that saw the company near bankruptcy by the late 70's. ... But that a story for another day.
... Why did the bass player drive around town with a set of drum sticks on the dash of his car?
So, he could park in the handicapped zone.
Da D.
... Why did the bass player drive around town with a set of drum sticks on the dash of his car?
So, he could park in the handicapped zone.
Da D.
Yeah, that's the little sucker, Treena, in your pictures. My neck has a January '69 date on it, so they used them at least that long.
Lots of guitar players (like Bill Turner) use headstock straps, especially with fat bodied electrics or acoustics. But bass players? So far I have been told of two 1) One of the Partridge family members 2) A Fender employee whose name I unfortunately disremember in a "Hawaaian-style band".
That's two...
Lots of guitar players (like Bill Turner) use headstock straps, especially with fat bodied electrics or acoustics. But bass players? So far I have been told of two 1) One of the Partridge family members 2) A Fender employee whose name I unfortunately disremember in a "Hawaaian-style band".
That's two...
- Nov 14, 2003
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- Endorsing Artist: Aguilar Amplification, Sadowsky, D.Markley, Spector
Fender and most fenderphiles call this strap button a hootenanny. I dont know for sure that the idea was to play it vertically as much as it was there as an option for the player to put his/her strap wherever they felt the most comfortable. If you have ever noticed, most acoustic guitars are shipped from the factory without a strap button at the neck. This is because some players, more tradionally, will tie a string or leather strap around the headstock as they believe putting a screw in the neck tampers with the sound. I personally dont believe that is hurts the sound one way or another, but the hootenanny existed on Fender instruments from the earliest 50s basses, until the late 1960s, and then would be later discontinued. You can read more about the hootenanny in the Fender Bass Book, and Jim Miller's "How the Fender bass changed the world."
This still doesn't explain why Fender DIDN'T put a hootenanny on their guitars, just the basses?
And to ask a GUITARD question yet!
Good God, man, let the dead rest with dignity! :scowl:
