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Fender's lack of bass evolution

#227

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#228
SJan3 said:
Oh, I see. Since the 17th century the pattern for violins has been established. It only took Leo about 4 years to establish the current P Bass.
Click to expand...

Oh, since you're probably not in the other thread, take a gander. As you can see, continued evolution.

Modernization around 1800
The upheavals that followed the French Revolution also had far-reaching repercussions in the world of music. The responsibility for organizing and financing musical events shifted from the aristocracy to the bourgeoisie and concerts became a regular feature of society life. Since these were held in ever larger halls, louder instruments with thicker bows were required. Violin makers were therefore forced to make those alterations to the instrument which resulted in the development of the modern violin at the turn of the 19th century; old instruments were "modernized" to meet the new requirements: the bridge was raised to increase string tension and thereby the volume. This also altered the angle of the strings to the fingerboard, so that the musician would have had to apply more pressure to play the high notes. This difficulty was counteracted by placing the neck at a backward angle, thus maintaining equal distance between strings and fingerboard along its length. At the same time both the neck and the fingerboard were lengthened. To cope with the increased pressure of the strings on the table the bass bar and sound post were also reinforced.

The strings were made stronger too, so that they could withstand the increased tension. It had long been customary to cover the G strings, which had a gut core, with metal. Nowadays the G string is often silver-wound. It is not completely clear whether the D and A strings were also covered in the 19th century; today aluminum-wound gut strings are generally used. The E string was also made of gut in the 19th century and was not replaced by a steel one until the 20th century. Nylon and steel strings are currently in use.

The modern bow was developed within the space of a few decades, the French bow maker François Tourte (1747–1835) playing a leading role: the bow became longer and stronger; its weight was changed, the center of gravity moved and the tension increased, which made more powerful strokes possible, such as martelé (hammered, short powerful strokes).

In around 1820 the German composer and violin virtuoso Louis Spohr (1784–1859) invented the chin-rest, which facilitated the sliding movement of the left hand.
 
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#231
Actually this is interesting. A lot of thought must have gone into electric bass design in just a few years in the 1950s. It hasn't really been improved in 60 years, despite the technological advantages available to inventors and tinkerers, like electricity, machine tools, calculators/computers, telecommunications, etc.
 
#234
g-dude said:
Oh, since you're probably not in the other thread, take a gander. As you can see, continued evolution.

Modernization around 1800
The upheavals that followed the French Revolution also had far-reaching repercussions in the world of music. The responsibility for organizing and financing musical events shifted from the aristocracy to the bourgeoisie and concerts became a regular feature of society life. Since these were held in ever larger halls, louder instruments with thicker bows were required. Violin makers were therefore forced to make those alterations to the instrument which resulted in the development of the modern violin at the turn of the 19th century; old instruments were "modernized" to meet the new requirements: the bridge was raised to increase string tension and thereby the volume. This also altered the angle of the strings to the fingerboard, so that the musician would have had to apply more pressure to play the high notes. This difficulty was counteracted by placing the neck at a backward angle, thus maintaining equal distance between strings and fingerboard along its length. At the same time both the neck and the fingerboard were lengthened. To cope with the increased pressure of the strings on the table the bass bar and sound post were also reinforced.

The strings were made stronger too, so that they could withstand the increased tension. It had long been customary to cover the G strings, which had a gut core, with metal. Nowadays the G string is often silver-wound. It is not completely clear whether the D and A strings were also covered in the 19th century; today aluminum-wound gut strings are generally used. The E string was also made of gut in the 19th century and was not replaced by a steel one until the 20th century. Nylon and steel strings are currently in use.

The modern bow was developed within the space of a few decades, the French bow maker François Tourte (1747–1835) playing a leading role: the bow became longer and stronger; its weight was changed, the center of gravity moved and the tension increased, which made more powerful strokes possible, such as martelé (hammered, short powerful strokes).

In around 1820 the German composer and violin virtuoso Louis Spohr (1784–1859) invented the chin-rest, which facilitated the sliding movement of the left hand.
Click to expand...
Again, tweaks to improve the format. This is hundreds of years ago. You're spitting in the wind, g.
 
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#235
Other tech changes that are not revolutionary but evolutionary like chambered bodies are catching on, such as at Sadowski. I don't see Fender offering this anytime soon if ever. But Fender's never-ending infinitesimal model changes usually seem much ado about nothing to me.

The best Fenders I've played in stores recently were Players (3 out of 5 were nice) and one Elite that was nice but the neck wood had a weird appearance of pressureboard.
 
#236
SJan3 said:
Again, tweaks to improve the format. This is hundreds of years ago. You're spitting in the wind, g.
Click to expand...

Those aren't tweaks, you're just being difficult because you weren't aware of the history and don't want to admit it. You even disregard changes that happened in literally the 20th century during the lifetime of people who are still playing.

An instrument produced in 1750 which was unmodified would sound totally different to an 1850 one, and one in 1950 would sound different to an 1850 one which was set up period correct.

Over the course of the past 500 years, there were changes to the instrument in virtually every century of its existence.

Meanwhile, you're going to argue that the Fender P-Bass is the perfect iteration of the instrument, and there shouldn't and won't be an evolution?

Hell, the bass guitar is just finally around long enough for the first inklings of evolution to take place.
 
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#237
You could do the mod shop and make your own:
Invalid Link Removed

I've been wanting to check out the Professional II though.


lucas303 said:
Anyone else notice Fender's lack luster efforts to come up with new designs? The "new" models are just P and J re-treads or re-configurations. When's the last time they introduced a new through
Click to expand...
lucas303 said:
Anyone else notice Fender's lack luster efforts to come up with new designs? The "new" models are just P and J re-treads or re-configurations. When's the last time they introduced a new through neck model?
Click to expand...
 

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