fender p-bass vs strat body size

A little detour: I think I read once that the P-bass was the first production musical instrument to have both an upper and lower horn. This was even before the Strat (obviously). Can anyone confirm this?

 

Difficult to place the bodies exactly over each other due to the strings, but I tried my best.

 

Smaller body and shorter upper horn might produce some neck dive.

 

Close enough for Rock & Roll

 

Oh no no no. The Fender marketing department will read this and will offer a Fender Stratobasster next year.

 

Well that isn’t a Stratocaster.

 

Fender's marketing department already missed that ship, it set sail without them. Fender was supposed to do a model with Stanley Clarke back in 2018/19, it never happened. So Stanley Clarke went to Luthier Thomas Lieber in Fly Creek, NY and they now offer a "Spellcaster" through Lieber Guitars and Lieber's online Reverb Shop. It's 30.5" scale though, not 34" and I'm not sure who it's built by. Lieber's instruments sell for more than the Spellcaster goes for. $1835 on Lieber's site, $1635 on his Reverb store.

Stanley Clarke Spellcaster Bass - Lieber Guitars

There's been a couple of TB'ers that grabbed one not long after they came out this year.

 

Landing Bass Guitars have been making strat basses for an even longer time. This pic is courtesy of their fb page.

 

What is a Stratocaster bass? Three single-coil pickups and "tremolo" bridge, or...?

(Incidentally, you know "Stratocaster" is one word, right?)

 

The Fender Classic Player Rascal Bass gets close to a Strat

And Godin's Shifter Bass is more or less inspired by the Stratocaster.









Ibanez made the JTKB300 Jet King Bass, which lends more towards Jaguar/Jazz master/Jazz Bass design.

 

That Ibby looks delicious !

 

Except for the "body style" part.

 

Yeah, looks more Jag to my eye.

 

The first production instrument, yes.

[First overall, no. Alas, rarely do purportedly Fender Firsts stay counted as legit Leo inventions upon closer scrutiny: he only introduced the extended-upper-horn double cutaway.

Billy Byrd's solid-body electric guitar, by Paul Bigsby, 1949:

Bigsby vs. Fender: The Merle Travis Guitar Story | Ledger Note
THE UNIQUE GUITAR BLOG: Paul A. Bigsby; His Guitars and Inventions
Bigsby Merle Travis Electric Guitar
The Bigsby Files

Also worth a look - not double-horned, but certainly a double cutaway -
Vissenaire, early 19th century:

Builders of the early 19th Century
Early Guitar,Romantic Guitar,Laprevotte,Staufer,Fabricatore,lacôte,Voboam,Panormo,expertise, ]

 

They’re different.

 

Or Bass VI, that looks like a Jag...



Now as I think of it, the Bass VI is very Strat / Fender guitar like, besides the lower horn. You only have to angle the bridge pick-up. But two strings too many.
Although I own one and love it.