The Fender Precision Bass (sometimes shortened to the "P-Bass") is an electric bass guitar, and was the first widely-available model of the instrument. It was designed by Leo Fender and brought to market in 1951. A sunburst-colored Fender Precision Bass The electric bass guitar (or electric bass[1][2]; pronounced , as in base) is a bass stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. ... Leonidas Fender (August 10, 1909 - March 21, 1991), also known as Leo Fender, was an American luthier who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, now known as Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and later founded G&L Musical Products (G&L Guitars). ... Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Background

Although the Precision Bass was first presented some 15 years after the original solid body, fretless, guitar-style electric bass produced by the Audiovox Manufacturing Company in Seattle, Washington, the Precision Bass was the first mass-produced electric bass. In its stock configuration, it is a solid body instrument equipped with a single split-coil humbucking pickup. The Precision Bass is among the best-selling electric basses of all time and is still being manufactured today. City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water 369. ... For the capital city of the United States, see Washington, D.C.. For other uses, see Washington (disambiguation). ... A solid body electric instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on its electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings. ... Traditional Open Coil (uncovered) humbucker pickup A conventional humbucker (or Humbucking pickup) is a type of electric guitar pickup that uses two coils, both generating string signal. ...

The Standard model P-Bass is sanded, painted and assembled in Ensenada, Baja California along with the other Standard Series guitars. The American Series (featuring the S-1 switching system since 2003) and Highway One (featuring '70s styling, BadAss II bridges with grooved saddles and a Greasebucket tone circuit since 2006) models are manufactured in Corona, California. Ensenada redirects here. ... Location within Mexico Municipalities of Baja California Country Capital Municipalities 5 Largest City Tijuana Government  - Governor José Guadalupe Osuna Millán (PAN)  - Federal Deputies PAN: 8  - Federal Senators Alejandro González (PAN) Rafael Díaz (PAN) Fernando Castro (PRI) Area Ranked 12th  - Total 69,921 km² (26,996. ... Nickname: Coordinates: , Country United States State California County Riverside Government  - Mayor Eugene Montanez Area  - City  35. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ...

Similar to The Beatles' effect on the popularity of the Rickenbacker 4003, the early adoption of the electric bass was in part due to Bill Black's ownership of the instrument. Black was beginning to use a Precision Bass during the filming of Jailhouse Rock. Fender also delivered an early Precision to LA session bassist and arranger Shifty Henry. The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Rickenbacker 330JG Rickenbacker International Corporation, also known as Rickenbacker (pronounced ) [1]), is an electric guitar manufacturer, notable for having invented the first electric guitar during the 1930s. ... William Bill Patton Black, Jr. ... Jailhouse Rock is an American motion picture directed by Richard Thorpe, released by MGM on November 8, 1957. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... John Willy Shifty Henry (born October 4, 1921 in Edna, Oklahoma, died November 30, 1958) was an American musician, most noted as a bass player, and blues songwriter. ...

The double bass was considered difficult to keep in-tune, physically cumbersome and difficult to transport. It was becoming hard to hear in increasingly large bands or in bands that included amplified electric guitars. With electric pickups, a small body and fretted neck, the Precision Bass overcame these problems. Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... Two different electric guitars. ...

The electric bass produces a timbre that differs from that of the double bass: it is a more focused, harder-edged sound, with less percussive thump and a more clearly articulated fundamental tone. By bringing the sound of the bass up in a band, the bass became more dominant in its role and transformed the beat and rhythm of pop music. The electric bass hallowed driving rhythms while still outlining harmonic structures and is essential to the evolution from jump blues and swing to rhythm and blues and rock music. Jump blues is a type of up-tempo blues music influenced by big band sound. ... Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that developed during the 1920s and had solidified as a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States. ... R&B redirects here. ... This article is about the genre. ...

Design updates

The original Precision Bass of 1951 was essentially a bass counterpart to the six-string Telecaster and shared several of its design features--the main difference being its then-radical double cutaway body. In 1953, the Precision was restyled with the edges contoured for comfort. Also the pickup design was changed, with a 'split pickup' or 'staggered' design being used. This design actually connected the pickups in a humbucking mode; however, Fender never emphasized this, as the Seth Lover patent on the humbucker had not yet expired. In the same year, the headstock and pickguard were redesigned. The original design, with a few updates, was reintroduced in 1968 as the Telecaster Bass. 1950s-style Telecaster with natural finish, with metal bridge cover removed. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Traditional Open Coil (uncovered) humbucker pickup A conventional humbucker (or Humbucking pickup) is a type of electric guitar pickup that uses two coils, both generating string signal. ... Seth Lover (born January 1st, 1910 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA; died January 31st, 1997 in Garden Grove, California, USA) is most famous for inventing the humbucker or hum-cancelling electric stringed instrument pickup, most often used on the electric guitar. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...

Dublin musician Rob Smith's Squier P-Bass backstage at the Empire Music Hall in Belfast.

Some Precision Basses made in the 1970s were also available with an unlined fretless rosewood or (usually) maple fingerboard. Notable bassists who played the fretless P-Bass over the years include Sting and Tony Franklin, both having their own Fender Artist Signature bass guitar. Fender briefly offered a fretless P-Bass in the mid-1990s as a part of the first-generation American Standard line, featuring a lined fretless rosewood fingerboard. The fretless American Standard P-Bass left the Fender pricelist at the end of the 20th century. The American Series Precision Bass (introduced in 2000 and discontinued in 2008) sports the S-1 switching system since 2003, allowing the split-coil pickup to be wired from series to parallel, giving the bass a brighter, snappier tone similar to a Jazz Bass. This feature has been discontinued with the introduction of the second generation of American Standard Series instruments in 2008. Rob Smith (born Robert Smith in September 29, 1982) is a singer/songwriter and former street busker based in Ireland. ...

Many variants (sometimes with 21 or 22 frets on the fingerboard) and special-edition Precision Basses have been offered in recent years. Fender made an active 5-string version as a part of the American Deluxe Series range, featuring a split-coil neck pickup and a bridge humbucker until 2007, tuned BEADG, but also a passive short-scale version tuned EADGC called the Bass V in the 1960s. It did not sell well, and after it was discontinued, Fender did not offer another 5 string until the 1980s. The originial Fender Bass V was a quirky and unusual electric bass guitar model produced by Fender between 1965 and 1970. ...

Fender has also produced several 'Deluxe' or 'Special' models over the years which feature active electronics and/or a Jazz Bass pickup or humbucker at the bridge position in addition to the normal split-coil pickup. Both of these measures are designed to increase the tonal options available to a fairly simple bass. A brief attempt in the early '90s resulted with the introduction of the Precision Plus and Deluxe Plus basses in 1989 and 1991, featuring Lace Sensor pickups, fine-tuner bridges, 22-fret necks and passive or active electronics on certain models. In 2008, Fender offered a 5-string P-Bass as a part of the second-generation American Standard Series line.

From 1980 to 1984, the Precision Bass has been redesigned with new pickups, an active onboard circuit and a high-mass brass bridge. The range included the Special (1980) featuring a split-coil pickup with white covers, gold hardware and a 2-band EQ with an active/passive toggle switch and the Elite (1983) with one (Elite I) or two (Elite II) special-design split-coil humbucking pickups.Some models were available with a solid walnut body and a stained ebony fretboard. Japanese models appeared in late 1984, sporting the same specifications as their American counterparts, except for the addition of a downsized body shape and a modern C-shape maple neck with 22 medium-jumbo frets. The Elite Precision's Schaller fine-tuner bridge has been later used on the Plus Series models of the early 1990s. Schaller is a city located in Sac County, Iowa. ...

See also

• Squier '51
• Acoustic bass guitar
• Bass guitar
• Jazz Bass
• List of Precision Bass players