IF LEO FENDER WERE ALIVE....

[tpaul]

Every time Fender was asked what his favorite thing was he had invented his answer was always the most recent new model that had gone on sale. He thought each and every one was an improvement on the one before.

Well, he was trying to sell guitars. What would you say? "This new model is ok, but the older ones we don't make anymore were way better..."

 

[J Gold]

My first thought after reading this thread:I wonder if he were still involved in the Fender company right now, how would he feel about custom shop reliced instruments?

 

[scuzzy]

.....he would be cutting weekly checks to @Linnin for all the relentless plugs of the products that bear his name.

 

[Bassbeater]

If I were Leo I would say G&L El Toro. That bass is just stupid awesome.

 

[basscapes]

But he IS alive- he's on mount Olympus, hanging out with Jim Morrison and Elvis.

The three of them are looking down at all of us, pointing and laughing...

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Paul Tutmarc's Audiovox Model 736 electric bass predated Leo Fender's Precision Bass by 16 years.

Wasn’t the Rick next with the “horse shoe” pick up?

 

[mongo2]

Wasn’t the Rick next with the “horse shoe” pick up?

Actually, the Rickenbacker Electro Bass was 1936.

Rickenbacker Electro Bass

It was an upright bass whereas the Audiovox 736 was more of an electric bass guitar and played horizontally.

 

[Bassbeater]

WWLD?
-probably pour out a little beer for tutmarc.

 

[juancaminos]

Well, he was trying to sell guitars. What would you say? "This new model is ok, but the older ones we don't make anymore were way better..."

Exactly, exactly,exactly.

 

[Axstar]

If Leo "the true inventor of the electric bass" Fender were alive today, which of his bass creations would he be most proud?

The next one. Leo could have thrown down the set square in 1966 and lived comfortably. Instead he was always moving forwards with innovative designs. The designs he devised with G&L demonstrate that he didn't think the J and P bass were the electric bass in its final form.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Aside sorry for the derail. Why the name "caster", was it like "broadcaster"?

Yes. Gretsch took umbrage with Fender using the Broadcaster name as they sold a drum set with that name. Next period builds featured the Fender decal but left off the Broadcaster decal until the Telecaster name (and decal ) was used. These in betweens are now known as No Casters. Highly collectible and available as reissues as well.

Side note, Leo ressurected the Broadcaster name for an early model G&L Model. The ASAT G&L moniker stands for a satellite, much like the Telecaster/Telstar connection.

 

[Adam Wright]

It would be a bass with a 36v preamp that only had treble boost.

 

[Linnin]

.....he would be cutting weekly checks to @Linnin for all the relentless plugs of the products that bear his name.

No. Not a penny (which is what I get paid. Nothing. I am not an F.M.I.C. employee and never have been. I receive zero compensation of any kind from F.M.I.C. I am a 100% disabled United States Army Veteran.). Leo was a young bookkeeper during the Great Depression and lost his job and had to return penniless to his father's farm. If you are polite, you would say Leo was very thrifty in his personal and business life. He wasted nothing, and never spent a penny didn't have to. He was also a total workaholic. He was completely focused on his work. He wouldn't have known who I was. Nor would he have cared. While it was Leo Fender that invented the products that made Fender Musical Instruments great. It was Don Randall that made Fender Musical Instruments a great company renowned world wide. Even today, without the marketing genius of Don Randall we would know little or nothing of the genius of Leo Fender. While not the best article I've ever written, it is accurate and informative nonetheless. Don Randall

 

[Bassbeater]

Oh man... anytime veteran status comes into an argument things are about to get shut down...
errr. I mean.
Thank you for your service!

 

[alaskaleftybass]

No. Not a penny (which is what I get paid. Nothing. I am not an F.M.I.C. employee and never have been. I receive zero compensation of any kind from F.M.I.C. I am a 100% disabled United States Army Veteran.). Leo was a young bookkeeper during the Great Depression and lost his job and had to return penniless to his father's farm. If you are polite, you would say Leo was very thrifty in his personal and business life. He wasted nothing, and never spent a penny didn't have to. He was also a total workaholic. He was completely focused on his work. He wouldn't have known who I was. Nor would he have cared. While it was Leo Fender that invented the products that made Fender Musical Instruments great. It was Don Randall that made Fender Musical Instruments a great company renowned world wide. Even today, without the marketing genius of Don Randall we would know little or nothing of the genius of Leo Fender. While not the best article I've ever written, it is accurate and informative nonetheless. Don Randall

Thank you for your service.
HQ Battery, 3d Bn 16th FA Baumholder Germany APO NY 09036.

 

[Bassbeater]

I think it's painfully clear from all this "history stuff" that Fender invented the first bass that you could get laid for playing.

 

[gln1955]

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We'll never know how many tinkerers strung some bass stings over a magnetic pickup before any of these. Most common things were actually "invented" numerous times. Credit usually goes to who could actually make it work well enough to market.

 

[gln1955]

I think it's painfully clear from all this "history stuff" that Fender invented the first bass that you could get laid for playing.

Really? I thought Leo died still trying to make a bass that would get you laid.

 

[Linnin]

Thank you for your service.
HQ Battery, 3d Bn 16th FA Baumholder Germany APO NY 09036.

You're welcome and you too. I did a hitch with the 333rd Field Artillery in Wiesbaden in what was then West Germany. Saigon had just fallen to the Communist Red Army. Things were heating up between the free world and the commies. My unit was a tactical nuclear missile battalion based in an old Panzer battlement overlooking the Rhine. We came pretty damn close to launching against the Soviets a time or two. Maybe three.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

My point is Fender invented something that had already been invented. That doesn't take away from the fact the Tutmarc invented the electric bass before Fender, but few people knew about Tutmarc's bass.

The other possibility is Fender copied Tutmarc, but you don't even believe that unless you have changed your position since 2009.

So we can get past this...please explain what Fender did: Fender copied or was inspired by Tutmarc? Fender invented the electric bass, ignorant that Tutmarc had already done so 16 years earlier. Fender copied somebody else's electric bass design? Fender_______...please fill in the blank.

I am also curious if you have evidence that Tutmarc had any impact whatsoever on the development and evolution of the electric bass. From what I have read, the Tutmarc bass was a great idea that went nowhere and slipped into obscurity without any significant historical relevance. In other words it did not influence future designs.

None of this takes away from the historical relevance of the Fender bass, even if Fender ripped Tutmarc off directly.

No real argument that Tutmarc is credited with the first electric bass. Leo’s designs really have little in common with Tutmarc’s. The minimal argument could be made that Leo perfected the electric bass-at that time-arguably still. No one can deny he made good sounding and dependable electric basses and guitars available and affordable to working musicians and amateur musicians for a reasonable price.