More nostalgia in the next of our occasional series; this time, Paul Trynka takes us back to basses

Maybe it's because the bass guitarist is a steadfast and less excitable creature than his six-stringed counterpart, but there's never been the same interest in weird or vintage basses as there has been with guitars. More likely a reason than the bassist's natural temperament, though, is the fact that when Leo Fender created the bass guitar, he originated a design that was purely functional, and apart from a little cosmetic tinkering, couldn't really be improved upon. It's almost like Wilbur and Orville Wright's first creation being a Douglas Dakota that would still be flying today. Thirty years on, Fender derivatives still flood the market, with about the most extreme innovation being that of combining a Precision and a Jazz pickup on one guitar.

The original Precision bass was a totally unique instrument for its time; although the subject of who created the first true solid body electric six-string has always been cloudy, there's never been any doubt that the sole originator of the electric bass was Leo Fender; it was fitting, therefore, that for many years the term 'Fender Bass' was used generically, like Hoover or Sellotape. The term 'Precision' referred to the fact that this instrument was fretted, and notes could thus be easily and accurately located. The presence of frets was not the only radical departure from the upright bass; this instrument, with its 34" scale length and magnetic pickup single-handedly freed bass players from the problems of transportation and amplification that they had suffered for years.

The Precision bass first appeared in 1951, and shared a lot of features with its contemporary the Telecaster; namely a slab uncontoured body, a narrow headstock, and a black non-laminated Bakelite scratchplate. The neck was Maple with no separate fingerboard and the bridge was a simple, two-saddle arrangement. There was one small single coil pickup, and the volume and tone control utilised turned aluminium knobs on their own control plate. All these original fittings are imbued with many romantic associations; somewhat more prosaic is the fact that Leo Fender selected most of his components according to what was readily available from radio part wholesalers, thus cutting down the need for specialist items. Similarly many of the other design features were there to facilitate mass-production of the instrument, like having controls mounted on detachable plates, and a bolt-on neck. These original Precisions remained in production for around three years, until they were given some of the features found in the Stratocaster, introduced in 1954, to become the more familiar model with a contoured body, split pickup and large headstock.

The idea of the contour body was further extended with the introduction of the Jazz Bass in 1960. The body was offset for better balance, and like the later model Precisions, the pickups utilised two polepieces for each string in order to give a less percussive sound which would be easier to amplify. Early models, like the one pictured here, have dual concentric control knobs for volume and tone, which changed to the present three control configuration around 1963. Thereafter the design remained largely unchanged up to the present day. There's less of a market in pre-CBS Fender basses than for the corresponding guitars and for this reason their prices are not so inflated; it's not too difficult to pick up a pre-CBS Precision or Jazz for around the price of a new contemporary design.

One Fender which wasn't so successful was the six-string bass, or Bass VI which was introduced in 1961. This guitar strongly resembled a stretched Jaguar; it had the same body and tremolo unit and was intended as much to be used like a tenor guitar as a bass. It was never very successful but even today stands out as a great example of sixties surfing wackiness. The model shown here is a particularly rare one of around 100 made, as it has the early features of Strat-type pickups, and three selector switches. Later models, made after 1963, had three Jaguar-type pickups and an extra bass cut switch. The Bass VI is one of the most senior members of the club of treasured guitars which were complete commercial failures. This wasn't too serious for Fender though, as they found it impossible to keep up with their orders until well after their takeover by CBS in 1965.

Fender's competitors in the guitar market found it difficult to keep up, not least because their designs were significantly inferior. Gibson in particular concentrated on short-scale basses, which strongly limited their instruments' popularity. However, throughout the sixties there was always some demand for semi acoustic basses and the Gibson EB2 was a good example of its type which remained in production with the odd hiccup from 1958 until 1972. The early models had a single pick up and perpendicular tuners. There are certain Mancunians who still insist that the EB2 is the best bass to be played slung round your knees, using a rackfull of effects, and indeed in such a configuration they can look and sound quite devastating. Later EB models utilised the SG body shape and went on to be reasonably popular, although even now second-hand prices are fairly low. Many people would regard these low prices as entirely justified but even so, if you prefer short scale necks there's the possibility of picking up something a bit more interesting than your average copy for around the same price.

The sixties were a successful period for Rickenbacker, largely on the back of their associations with George Harrison and Roger McGuinn, and it was towards the end of this decade that their 4001 bass became the only serious competitor to the Precision. The 4001 was based on the earlier 4000 which differed by having a larger scratchplate and a single pickup, and it became popular largely because it offered quite a number of original features for its time; the neck was exceptionally flat and thin due to the truss rod design, and the sound was much toppier and clangier than any of its contemporaries. Rickenbacker always had less of a tendency to plagiarise than their competition and were thus rewarded with a model which remained popular throughout the seventies when the rest of their guitar line was starting to look a bit old fashioned. The situation now is somewhat different, as it's the semi acoustic range which is currently fashionable, whilst the 4001 is rarely seen. Still, it's a cyclic ol' world we live in.

Over the past few years there has fortunately been a limited awakening of interest in older models, with wonderfully naff instruments like the Danelectro Longhorn, Hofner semis and Burns or Hayman weirdos gaining in appeal and value. Unfortunately bassists have always been shackled, because there seems to be a misconception around that basses aren't supposed to sound tinny and rough. Even if you stick to convention, though, there's still a lot to choose from.

Thanks to Tony Beasty, Robin Guthrie, Barry at the Bass Centre and John Entwistle