History of The Electric Bass

Hey Gang, Larry Kimpel here... Welcome to my new blog!

I'm going to be posting many items here that will more in line with the
beginning to intermediate bass player. However, advanced players are more
than welcome to also chime into the conversation and comment or ask me
questions here. I'll be more than happy to address your concerns too and
will also posting things here for you as well. It's going to be a potpourri of stuff
that has helped me to advance in my career and now I get the awesome opportunity
to pass it along to you my fans and the bass curious. With all that in mind... Let's get started!

In order to know where we're going, we've got to know where we've been...
And with that in mind, I offer you this brief history of our instrument...

I hope it informs and enlightens you! Peace and Light, LK

*Note: This is a re-post of an article from a previous Internet Blog.
Most of us have been told through the years, that the legend Leo Fender
(1909-1991) single-handedly created the modern electric bass guitar.
However, I have found out that there were at least five other prototypes
resembling the now well-known design of the modern bass, each created well
before Fender introduced the world to the Precision Bass in 1951.The
modern bass is a kissin' cousin of the upright acoustic bass, which dates
way back to the 17th century. Not until the early twentieth century though
did that the design evolve to become more practical and of course,
portable... Thank God!!!

In the 1920’s, Lloyd Loar, (1886-1943) while working for the Gibson instrument company, designed the first 'electric double bass’. The bass used an electro-static pickup, but amplification of bass

frequencies was as yet undeveloped, so there was no practical way of hearing the instrument. In the early 1930’s, Paul Tutmarc (1896 - 1972) became the first known individual to refine the double bass to a more practical size. The first prototype was about the size of a cello, and featured a rudimentary 

pickup, but this was found to be too heavy, and the design was refined to be more like a guitar. This new bass was 42 inches long, solid body, made of black walnut and piano strings and, like the previous, featuring a
pickup.In the mid ’30s, several established musical instrument firms - Lyon & Healy, Gibson and Rickenbacker to name a few - began marketing experimental electric basses that were, like Tutmarc’s prototype bass, much less bulky than a standard double bass. However, these were all still tall, unfretted, upright instruments held in the standard vertical position.

Around 1940, Paul Tutmarc Jr. began manufacturing guitars and basses, including the Serenader bass. This was distributed by L.D. Heater Music Co., in Portland, Oregon, and was the first time a large distributor
handled the electric bass. The genius was that this new instrument was a
bass Guitar - a compact, fretted instrument that could be held and played horizontally. The main features of the design were:
# The pickup - designed because the double bass was often drowned out by he brass sections of jazz bands. # The size - the double bass player had to travel alone because of the instrument’s size, and often got lost on road trips to shows, due to being separated from the rest of the band. The new compact design meant that the bass player could travel with the rest of the group.

There was very little progression until Leo Fender famously created the
Precision bass in 1951. This was named the Precision bass as the frets on
the instrument allowed the notes to be played with precision. This was, to
many people, the first real electric bass, as it was the most mass-
produced and recognizable bass guitar at that time, and still is. Its
design is the most copied in bass guitar history. In 1957, the pickup was
changed to be a split pickup, and the pickguard and headstock were
redesigned.

In 1960, Fender designed and created the Jazz bass, with two separate
pickups rather than a split pickup like that of the Precision. The
popularity of the Fender basses meant that later followed bass guitars
from Gibson, Rickenbacker, and Hofner. This led to a surge of popularity
in the modern bass guitar, and led to it being known as it is today - an
important part of rock, blues, jazz, funk, reggae and countless other
genres of popular music.

In 1959 Danelectro created the first 6 string bass, tunes E A D G B E, and
Gibson and Fender used this idea to make the Gibson EB-6 in 1960, and the
Fender VI in 1962. Fender created the first 5 string in 1964, with the Fender V.

In 1965 came the first fretless Bass Aubi from Ampeg and in 1968, there
appeared an 8 string bass from Hagstrom. The first fretless 6 string bass,
(later owned by Bassist Les Claypool) was built by Carl Thompson in 1978.

Special Thanks to "Bass_Maiden" for the research that went into this article!!!