James Jamerson allegedly used a Fender Bass V in the studio... he actually did!

Documented!

 

Wha!!!!.....

 

Like the Zapruder Film, for bassists.

 

Looks like he smoked (at the end of clip)

 

All my years spent mocking 5 string players for what??? For nothing!!!

 

His had a high C. There's still room to mock.

 

This. Changes. Everything.

 

Whew, thnx! I thought my whole life's work was down the sh*tter.

 

The Fender V also had only 15 frets! Take that all you 24 fret fans!

 

Nothing to do with Jamerson but I saw a guy use one of those once when I was a kid in 1969, he also had a Kustom with 3 15's stacked. Jhis guy was good he played the solo in Take Me For a Little While by The Vanilla Fudge. Was in a band called The John Does. Rest easy friends, it sounded just like a Precision.

 

But Jamerson only needed... Um. He only needed um...

What again?

Cool video, I'd read he owned a Bass V at one point, didn't know there was actual footage of him playing it. What a strange strange animal those things were.

 

Keep repeating, “It’s the player, not the bass...” Repeat.

Maybe, it will eventually sink in...

Oh, and thanks for the cool link!

 

v cool, a '65 like mine, the only year they made the dot neck

 

That was so usual in those days, nobody complained... Look at Miles Davis during 'So What' on National TV live (youtube v=zqNTltOGh5c at 3:10 onwards).

 

The fender bass V was to be a better studio tool. The high C string lessened the need for shifting and having fewer frets kept the same range as a P bass but less fret clank from the right hand.

All design concepts to help facilitate studio musicians, especially when sight reading.

It never caught on. Very cool bass that demands a decent price for collectors but holds little value for the working bassist IMO

 

I would be more surprised if he didn't! I think every musician did back then.

 

here's another who may take issue with that last bit...

 

All my Fenders had burn marks under the E string on the headstock back then, quit 29 years ago, if you want a REAL relic bass you need that burn mark because half of them had them..

 

... not compelled to look for one, but anyone know if any of the couple hundred that were made have sold in recent years? ... I can't say that anything about it would really look like fun to play ..