I really love my dimension. Such a versatile but good-sounding bass, and a cool-looking instrument.
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Did it ever occur to anyone - thinking Fender Bass evolution...
- Thread starter Dlew919
- Start date
I really love my dimension. Such a versatile but good-sounding bass, and a cool-looking instrument.
I just used their categories of "Guitar" and "Bass Guitar". I didn't search for any specific term, no bias.
There’s
The point was the 1950s. And what I skipped was guitar models. There’s essentially the P bass from 51-60. Then the J. Then everything else. Read better. Stop the insults. And learn. That’s what I’m trying do.
The point was the 1950s. And what I skipped was guitar models. There’s essentially the P bass from 51-60. Then the J. Then everything else. Read better. Stop the insults. And learn. That’s what I’m trying do.
Full disclosure: I've been playing a Fender Jazz Bass since 1966.
Big difference in offering the Jazz along with the Precision is that it uses the offset sculpted body instead of the original slab-body of the P-bass, two pickups instead of one split pickup, and a slim and narrow neck that is a LOT easier to move around on than the original fat and wide P-bass neck. That neck feels to me like trying to play bass on the fat end of a baseball bat. The 60's slim C-shape neck on 7.25" radius neck with the 1½" width at the nut is very easy to play fast parts on and to shift around on - very comfortable to play. That is the neck that was on my 1965 Jazz that I bought in 1966 and was stolen from me along with all my touring gear in 1976. It took me until 1985 to find another neck with that shape, profile, and radius.
That Jazz, according to Fender, was built to appeal to Jazz players. However, it ended up appealing to rock and funk players more than Jazz bassists who didn't really want to leave their uprights at the time. In any case, I'm really glad I'm still playing one.
When you do that (I used those terms), you get 660K guitars. The number you got for guitars is what you get if you search for electric guitars.
I am not as up on various 7ender bass models as I am some other brands; was there a Jaguar Bass during Leo's reign?
Agree historical context is key. Once technology caught up and made The Big Bass Sound possible, Stax, The Beatles, and Motown (and many others) didn't waste much time exploiting it, pushing bass to the front. That changed everything and IMO it's what made many of us choose bass as a primary instrument, and why the 60's are widely considered the "big bang" explosion era of pop music. (flame suit on)
Yeah, bass was something that was played by the last guitar player who joined the band and they already had two guitarist.
QFT
Great points. Although I would just point out that although it can be claimed that "Rickebacker was making basses in the 50's"....according to my source, '57 was the first year for the Ric 4000, and around a dozen were built per year until the 4001 appeared, for a grand total of ~80 basses made between '57 and '62. So yeah technically Ric made basses in the 50's. That puts them in the "Tutmarc" category re their bass guitar involvement.
Go to Reverb, type "guitars" in the search, and you get a list - "all categories" of guitars is 658K, Electric guitars is 193K - how it's presented varies a bit by what browser you use.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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You completely forgot the Mustang, bronco, Rascal, Stingray, ASAT, L-1000, L-2000, Meterora, Contemporary HH, and many many others that everybody seems to completely overlook when they complain about fender making limited bass options
I agree with you on the times. My dad played upright, so there was a bass around the house (among all the other instruments), but I never really learned to play it. I wasn't even aware of bass guitar until 1963. I' sure I probably had heard one on records, but wasn't aware of them.
I met a guy who had a band that was 2 guitars, drums, and tenor sax. He said he really wanted to find someone to play electric bass. I asked what it was like and he described it. I said it sounded interesting and that if I could come up with a bass and he could help me learn it and I got good enough, maybe I could be the bass player. He said, "If you show up with a bass, you're the bass player."
I acquired a Danelectro short horn and started learning it. I realized I had found "my instrument".
Tom Petersson and Treena Foster used/has a 4000, and IIRC so does/did Michael Anthony. A few other, too, but yeah, it wasn't really until the 4001 that they really got more bassists using Ricks.
They sold very few basses compared to guitars because of the ratio of bass players to guitar players.
I’m thankful that I own a Dimension V. It has a great sound, very robust.
You’re seriously overthinking this, plus your understanding of the information is significantly flawed, based on how you’ve presented it.
Firstly, bass is a simpler instrument, in terms of what the market needs from the instrument. It has to cover less ground, as a musical tool. Look at practically any brand’s lineup, and they’ll probably have more variety in their guitar lineup than in their bass lineup. Why? The simple answer is because they think that’s what the market will buy…and they’re probably right.
Secondly, pro level Fender guitar designs never really advanced much beyond the Jazzmaster, which is the third major model in the Fender lineage. About the same number of major bass designs were released in the same time: Single coil P, split coil P, and J, each progressively more deluxe in terms of features.
As for the student model guitars (Duo Sonic, Musicmaster, Mustang), they’re all just variants of the Duo Sonic platform, so they count as one…just as the Tele and Esquire count as one, and the Jazzmaster and Jaguar count as one (Jag is basically a short scale JM, plus a few more gimmicks that nobody really appreciated – e.g. “strangle” switch). And Fender also introduced their two student level basses (that count as one) along the way, after Leo left – Mustang and Musicmaster.
And…that’s it. The Fender co. has not designed a significantly advanced guitar or bass since.
Leo Fender, on the other hand, is a different story entirely. If you don’t know what he did after Fender, go do some reading about it. The man didn’t stop tinkering until the day he died, and along the way, gave us great developments in his post-Fender career.
Firstly, bass is a simpler instrument, in terms of what the market needs from the instrument. It has to cover less ground, as a musical tool. Look at practically any brand’s lineup, and they’ll probably have more variety in their guitar lineup than in their bass lineup. Why? The simple answer is because they think that’s what the market will buy…and they’re probably right.
Secondly, pro level Fender guitar designs never really advanced much beyond the Jazzmaster, which is the third major model in the Fender lineage. About the same number of major bass designs were released in the same time: Single coil P, split coil P, and J, each progressively more deluxe in terms of features.
As for the student model guitars (Duo Sonic, Musicmaster, Mustang), they’re all just variants of the Duo Sonic platform, so they count as one…just as the Tele and Esquire count as one, and the Jazzmaster and Jaguar count as one (Jag is basically a short scale JM, plus a few more gimmicks that nobody really appreciated – e.g. “strangle” switch). And Fender also introduced their two student level basses (that count as one) along the way, after Leo left – Mustang and Musicmaster.
And…that’s it. The Fender co. has not designed a significantly advanced guitar or bass since.
Leo Fender, on the other hand, is a different story entirely. If you don’t know what he did after Fender, go do some reading about it. The man didn’t stop tinkering until the day he died, and along the way, gave us great developments in his post-Fender career.
