The Vintage Bass Guitar and Leo Fender

Playing a vintage bass guitar can bring back the feeling and sound of the era it was born in. Playing a guitar that was manufactured by the same hands and in the same era as a guitar played by a favorite musician can bring back that same rush of feelings.

Over the years large selections of electric bass guitars have been sold. Typically to be regarded as a vintage bass guitar the guitar should have been manufactured between 1920s and the 1970s. Here are just a few of those guitars that Leo Fender brought to the music world.

Fender Precision Bass (or P Bass) was released in 1951 by what is now the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Originally designed by Leo Fender, the founder, it is regarded as the best-selling electric bass of all time. Its first design resembled the Telecaster until it was redesigned in 1957 to more resemble the Stratocaster. Soon after the single-coil pickup was replaced with a single split humbucking pickup. This is a solid body guitar with a maple neck and a fixed bridge.

The Telecaster version of the Precision Bass was re-introduced in 1968 as the Telecaster Bass and has undergone numerous redesigns and reintroductions since then.

The Jazz Bass (or J Bass) was released in 1960 and was Leo's second vintage bass guitar. This is a solid-body with a fixed bridge. The pickups were 2 single-coil pickups having two pole pieces per string. This gives this vintage bass guitar a bright, rich midrange and was meant to compete with the sound of the Rickenbacker bass. It was designed to resemble and marketed alongside the Jazzmaster.

The Fender Mustang Bass was the last vintage bass guitar designed by Leo Fender before is departure from the Fender. It was produced from 1966 to 1981 although it was reintroduced in 2002 by Fender Japan and is still in production. This solid-body design has a bridge with 4 adjustable saddles and a split single-coil Mustang Bass pickup.

The Music Man Sting Ray is another vintage bass guitar Leo Fender had a played a part in. Released in 1976 by Music Man. Music Man was founded by Leo Fender and two other Fender employees in the early 70s. Like the Precision bass this is a solid-body guitar with a maple neck and fixed bridge. The String Ray was available with one or two high-output humbucking pickups and was the first mass produced bass guitar with active electronics. These active electronics gave the ability to add a 3 band equalizer and along with its higher quality made it preferred choice for slapping.

Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender was born in 1909 and died in 1991 is often regarded as one of most influential figures in the birth of electric instruments. He ultimately founded 3 music companies, G&L Musical Products not mentioned above, and in addition to designing the vintage bass guitars above but also designed guitars and amplifiers.