Telecaster style Basses

i think g&l's ASAT models are pretty tele-ish myself, always loved the amazing tone that bass provided, though i don't have any pictures of my ASAT, i've been looking for some different interesting basses and came across this one. this is the first semi-hollow one i've ever encountered so i figured i'd throw a pic of it up just for an interesting conversational piece

 

This is a 1991 Fender MIJ '51 P-bass Reissue. I love this bass.

I don't think it counts as the beautiful bass you saw, but with pickup/bridge covers, it is quite Tele-like.

If I were to switch to a white pickguard, and make a few cosmetic changes, look out: Fauxe-caster P-bass!

 

Butterscotch, black, and maple - Baby, it was born to ruuuun....!

 

Ok, but I am corn-fuse-ed. The white/ivory tele basses had white
pickguards, right? They were telecaster basses to be "pals" with
telecaster guitars, like P-basses and strats, and jazz basses and Jazz
masters, no?

So, what would make it the "Strat version of the Tele bass"? I am just
plain corn-fuse-ed here...no offense intended. 'Splain me?

 

I have wanted one of those G & L ASTAT Basses since i first saw them!! They are awesome looking and every time i have hear one being played they just sound perfect to what I want... Just thought i would share that

 

i think part of the confusion is what people consider a tele bass. There are some basses like g&ls that are shaped like a tele body. there are alot of people though that consider a tele bass to be an early 50s Pbass, like the 51 reissue is modeled after. These are considered tele basses because they were originally designed after the telecaster, where as the later pbasses were designed after the stratocastor...

Does that clear up any of the confusion or does my rambling make it worse?

 

OH..I get it. But Fender actually produced a well-known '51 P-bass
reissue (~1968-1975?) called the "Telecaster Bass," but I suppose if one
didn't know that...yeah, OK. Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecaster_bass

 

And I'm only a marginally better bassist than I am a photographer...

 

DarkStar'd 72 Tele:


Warmoth/Norstrand/Rodent built 51 P5:


Fender CIJ 51 P4:


"Used to be a Fender A/E Precision:"

 

Here's one I made that's one of my current players. I didn't make the neck. It's poplar, basswood, walnut and mahogany. Gotoh 201, Schaller P, Novak splitcoil 51P.

I move the neck pocket and bridge back towards the tail end. I find that it really helps with balance. I get no neck dive at all with a cheapish suede strap.

 

'68

 

There was an absolutely exquisite rosewood tele bass for sale on here a while back I totally never should have passed up, lemme see if I can hunt down the pics from the thread...

 

the only "tele" style bass ive ever played was the fender sting signature..yuck. always wondered if the regular fender ones are/were nice..and that G&L with the sunburst and two humbuckers is absolutely georgous!

 

This is still a little confused. The original Precision in the early '50s was first reissued in the late '60s. Fender couldn't call the reissue a P because they already had a P, the split-coil '57 design we still call the P. So, they called the reissue the Telecaster bass. There never was a Telecaster bass, it's just what Fender called that reissue. Then, they redesigned the "Telecaster" bass in '72 I think, with the big humbucker at the bridge, and called it the Telecaster II. So, that original '51 slab body P is forever referred to as the "Telecaster" bass, but it was never that originally. It was not designed "after" the Telecaster guitar, it was just the way they made instruments at first. The contoured bodies came out in the late '50s, when they called that guitar the Stratocaster, but just continued the "Precision" name for the bass.

 

Lovely basses, particularly the 5 string. Very unique. I love a good high end, and high-end looking bass (Alembic, etc...) but also love a "back to basics bass" like these Tele-style ones.

I know there is a maker called Robin, and a model called Freedom. Robin Freedom bass.
See below:

(though I hate it when people "strum" basses in music videos. Argh.)

 

Schecter's Baron basses are Tele-esque. Here's my lefty:

 

I dunno...IMO a Tele style bass does not look like a Tele guitar, a Tele style bass looks like a Telecaster Bass which looks like a '51-'56 Precision. These single cutaway basses that look like Tele guitars aren't Tele style basses, they're basses styled after the Telecaster guitar. I'm not saying they aren't nice, they just aren't Tele style basses.