Who Invented the Bass Guitar?

[Aussie Player]

I recall seeing a bass guitar IIRC, found in the Smithsonian and made by Slingerland archived back in the mid 1930's but need some Gibson historical wisdom here......even had a 2 octave neck......

What is this and when was it made?

 

[B-Mac]

I recall seeing a bass guitar IIRC, found in the Smithsonian and made by Slingerland archived back in the mid 1930's but need some Gibson historical wisdom here......even had a 2 octave neck......

What is this and when was it made?
View attachment 4292089
View attachment 4292090
View attachment 4292091
View attachment 4292092
View attachment 4292093

@Basvarken might know
He wrote the Gibson Bassbook

 

[jd56hawk]

PAUL TUTMARC & The Mystery of Who Invented The Electric Guitar – Jive Time Records
Of course, if you're talking about the first viable bass that changed the music world, we all know who that is.

 

[b/o 402]

I've been interested in vintage guitars for over fifty years, and I've NEVER seen that before.

Honestly, hard to see any Slingerland connection there - it doesn't resemble anything they made, and Gibson and Slingerland were ruthless competitors at that time. It does look like a relative of the Gibson Electric Hawaiian (EH-150) line. My guess is it could have been a one-off custom, made for a member of a Hawaiian steel group?
For reference, here's a 1936 EH-150:

1936 Gibson EH-150 Hawaiian Guitar | Picker's Supply

 

[Aussie Player]

Fascinating stuff JD, thanks for listing that.

 

[jd56hawk]

Fascinating stuff JD, thanks for listing that.

You're welcome.
Rather well-known here at Talkbass, comes up every few months, but I was totally unaware of it only a few years ago.

 

[Aussie Player]

I've been interested in vintage guitars for over fifty years, and I've NEVER seen that before.

Honestly, hard to see any Slingerland connection there - it doesn't resemble anything they made, and Gibson and Slingerland were ruthless competitors at that time. It does look like a relative of the Gibson Electric Hawaiian (EH-150) line. My guess is it could have been a one-off custom, made for a member of a Hawaiian steel group?
For reference, here's a 1936 EH-150:

View attachment 4292129

1936 Gibson EH-150 Hawaiian Guitar | Picker's Supply

Yeah, and I was also intrigued at the what look like fret markers rather than frets for intonation and also the dampener in front of the bridge which was so common in the 50's and 60's so this Gibson had a lot of features for its time.

The stand fitted, indicated just as with the EB1, that it could be played upright, so with that double octave neck we have no scale to adequately indicate whether it also played conventionally.

 

[Killing Floor]

Jaco

 

[LBS-bass]

Has anyone posted this link yet?

Gibson 1938 Electric Bass | Vintage Guitar® magazine

 

[Matt O]

I recall seeing a bass guitar IIRC, found in the Smithsonian and made by Slingerland archived back in the mid 1930's but need some Gibson historical wisdom here......even had a 2 octave neck......

What is this and when was it made?
View attachment 4292089
View attachment 4292090
View attachment 4292091
View attachment 4292092
View attachment 4292093

1938 or there about, I believe.

Although it represents a step toward what would be called a bass guitar with all of the obvious design references to a guitar, it's actually one of the first electric upright basses. Upright scale with an endpin, played vertically. It's way bigger than it looks in those pictures.

Gibson was known for playing around in the bass space with some interesting stuff:

 

[LBS-bass]

Never mind. I put more info here but took a second look at the pics in the article and concluded it might be the same one.

 

[Aussie Player]

Has anyone posted this link yet?

Gibson 1938 Electric Bass | Vintage Guitar® magazine

You nailed it.
Thank you,
John

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

Cool bass. I'm referring to the giant banjo.

 

[Pirate Captain]

the actual instrument? Debatable

the concept of electric bass in music as we would come to understand it? Jamerson (no contest)

 

[Matt O]

Also, as stated above, in the late 30s Tutmarc was already modifying lap steels with thinner/longer necks and heavy gauge strings tuned to bass and played horizontally. I think it's pretty well agreed that was the birth of the electrical bass "guitar". Although, some still like to debate it…

 

[dan1952]

the actual instrument? Debatable

the concept of electric bass in music as we would come to understand it? Jamerson (no contest)

Except that when I was a kid, I didn't like Jamerson, or Motown records. Much preferred the Duck Dunn/David Hood sound myself...

 

[doran.dragic]

 

[Yellow Bang66]

I recall seeing a bass guitar IIRC, found in the Smithsonian and made by Slingerland archived back in the mid 1930's but need some Gibson historical wisdom here......even had a 2 octave neck......

What is this and when was it made?
View attachment 4292089
View attachment 4292090
View attachment 4292091
View attachment 4292092
View attachment 4292093

Typical of gibson to have in their shop & not develop it at all!
I know he didnt invent th bass guitar, but i'm gonna give the credit to Leo Fender who sucessfully mass produced & Developed what we know today as the Bass guitar! with many iterations (3 companies) still popular today!

 

[GretschWretch]

1938 or there about, I believe.

Although it represents a step toward what would be called a bass guitar with all of the obvious design references to a guitar, it's actually one of the first electric upright basses. Upright scale with an endpin, played vertically. It's way bigger than it looks in those pictures.

Gibson was known for playing around in the bass space with some interesting stuff:

View attachment 4292164

Thank you for setting the record straight.

 

[GretschWretch]

Typical of gibson to have in their shop & not develop it at all!

Um, there was this little matter called World War II.