Possibly dumb question: Does Fender make 6-7 string basses and/or Doubleneck basses?

I've certainly never heard of a six or seven string Fender product outside of their g****rs.

 

Never seen a six or seven either, but they did make a double neck P-Bass/Strat back in the 70's.



I've seen a few home-made doublenecks on eBay as well, but nothing I personally would buy - and I love doublenecks!

K.
http://www.carvinbassmuseum.com

 

They do make 7 string guitars thought.. but, I think they are made under Squier.

 

I have 2 Carvin bass/guitar doublenecks - they have dual outputs, so you can run the guitar neck into a guitar amp, and the bass neck into a bass amp...I assume the Fender is the same.

 

The Fender Custom Shop will build anything you can imagine provided you pay for it, so yes.

 

Actually guitars can sound pretty good through bass amps.. I've played many guitars through different tube and solid state bass amps.. They've always sound great.. If I'm not wrong, the only thing drivers for bass have, that drivers for guitar dont, is a bit ef extra reinforcement in the cones, and bigger magnets.. Not quite sure thouhgt, since I'm not an expert on that..
But I prefer bass amps for guitar..

 

That's why Fender are not a "high-end" manufacturer - they are generally a bulk, factory producer of instruments.

Of course in recent years they have realised the demand for high-end stuff and introduced the custom shop for this purpose - which at one time offered to make a Roscoe Beck signature bass as a 6-string (but no longer).

There was a Fender Bass VI - which was basically a guitar tuned down an octave and was used by quite a few famous players - but they are hard to find now and haven't been made for many years!

The bassist in the Cure used one and there are very clear pictures in the Fender Bass book and The Bass Book.

I found this pic on the net, which isn't so clear but gives an idea :

 

I think that Fender's marketing image has always been in the vintage-side. Most of their instruments are re-vamps from their 60's models or plain re-issues, which why you don't see much new stuff from them. And in fact, I bet you too would find it odd if you'd see their catalogue full of something even as "adventurous" as Roscoe Beck models.

You can also see how well the latest in their basic models, the Zone Bass, has catched on, and it's been on their lists for years, right?

So I don't think we are going to see 6- or 7-string Fenders anytime soon

 

They displayed a couple of 6'ers @ the last LA NAMM show. tried to post a picture, but this site is saying it's too big. I've post larger pix before. Do a search for "namm pics", and you'll find them, courtesy of , Dude, Adrian, and a few others.

 

As Bruce said, they arent really considered "High-end" by any means. Even though Fender created the bass guitar they certainly didnt perfect it.

 

Here is a Fretless 6 string Fender bass. I played it in the Custom Shop when the Sam Ash chain took a tour of the Fender Factories in Ca & Mex.

<img src="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=1038575">

 

Fender's Heartfield line had 6-string basses.

 

Fender Custom Shop will NOT build you anything you can imagine...not even close. Try to get them to change any of the standard body shapes, or to use exotic woods etc etc etc. The end result must look like a Fender, and there are a lot of other restrictions.

 

ya beat me to it...

 

I doubt the actual Fender line will ever carry a 6+ string bass. I agree entirely that a good part of the Fender Marketing is that they are the original [ok, one of the first] Bass Guitar companies who you see loads of people playing either copies [no matter how good a copy] or guitars that look really similar and have a certain vintage appeal hince why you don't see Ibanez using the same people for the most part as you do Fender in their ads.
Also,as they said the Fender Heartfield line did & so did the DeArmond Pilot as a 6 think it was the Pro basses and higher but i'm not sure on that one.
If you want something that has more strings or different there are far better companies to get to make it or buy from, imo. I don't mean anything against Fender as all of my basses w/the exception of the Ray5 [and double bass] are Fender/FMIC products.

That's all

 

There have been pics of these basses that you say dont exist on this very web site.

 

Maybe, but my search came up with nothing, and I have never seen a Fender Custom Shop bass that didn't look like a Fender. I also heard reports from folks on Fender Forum that Fender would refuse to do a number of things.