Fender Precision Bass - Design Updates

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 Bass received contoured edges for comfort while otherwise retaining the existing Telecaster-like styling.

In 1957 the Precision Bass received a major restyling; the headstock and pickguard were redesigned to closely resemble Fender's recently introduced, ultra-modern Stratocaster guitar, with a rounder neck heel replacing the original square shape introduced in 1951. The redesigned P-Bass pickguard was made of a single layer of gold anodized aluminum with 10 screwholes (1957–59) and then changed in 1960 to a 13-screw celluloid "multilayer" with 3 or 4 layers of black, white, mint green, aged white pearloid and brown tortoise shell. The original single-coil pickup was replaced in 1957 with a new split-coil pickup with staggered polepieces, connected in a humbucking mode; however, Fender never emphasized this, as the Seth Lover patent on the humbucking pickup had not yet expired. Two years later (1959), a rosewood fingerboard glued on a maple neck featuring "clay"-style dot position markers replaced the 1-piece maple neck. The rosewood neck became a standard feature until 1966/67, when the CBS-owned Fender companies began to offer a separate laminated maple fingerboard capped on a maple neck. Rosewood fingerboards were made of a veneered round-laminated piece of wood; pearloid dot markers replaced the "clay"-style inlays introduced in 1959. Since 1969, the 1-piece maple neck option is a standard feature on many Fender basses, with the rosewood fretboard offered as the second neck wood option.

Meanwhile, the original Telecaster-derived design, with a few updates, was reintroduced in 1968 as the Telecaster Bass. Within a few years, however, it had evolved into a distinctly different model from the contemporary Precision Bass, and continued to be manufactured alongside the P Bass until the early '80s. There are two artist designed models using this Telecaster Bass body style. The Mike Dirnt Precision Bass using today's standard single split coil Precision Bass pickups, and the Sting Precision Bass using only a single coil Precision Bass Pickup.

Some Precision Basses made in the 1970s were also available with an unlined fretless rosewood, ebony or (usually) maple fingerboard, popularized by endorsees Sting and Tony Franklin. 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. As of March 23, 2012, the American Standard Precision Bass (except the 5-string version) comes with a Custom Shop 60's P-Bass split-coil humbucking pickup.

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, TBX tone circuit and a fine-tuner bridge made by Schaller. 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 in the early 1990s.

Fender has also produced several 'Deluxe' or 'Special' models over the years which feature active electronics and/or a Jazz Bass pickup or humbucking soapbar 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. Some P-Basses with J-style bridge pickups usually feature the traditional Jazz Bass control layout of 2 volumes and master tone and a side-mount jack socket; others had the front pickup volume control moved a step forward, leaving room for the top-mounted output jack. Other variants include dual stacked control knobs similar to that of an early 1960s Jazz Bass or a 3-way pickup selector switch (as used on the Tony Franklin Signature and Plus Series P-Basses).

The 1990s saw 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. The Custom Shop 40th Anniversary model of 1991 was a luxurious version of the Precision Plus Deluxe bass with gold hardware, a quilted maple top and an ebony fretboard with side dot position markers.

Other variants (sometimes with 21 or 22 frets on the fingerboard) and special-edition Precision Bass guitars have been offered in recent years. Fender made an American Deluxe 5-string model with a split-coil neck pickup, a humbucking J-style bridge pickup and a 3-band active EQ between 2001 and 2007 and currently produces a passive American Standard with a high-mass vintage bridge and a gloss-coated maple neck with satin back and vintage tint as of 2008, tuned BEADG, along with a Squier Standard version sporting two J-Bass pickups with alnico magnets. The company has also built a Korean-made Squier ProTone 5-string Precision with dual humbuckers and gold hardware in the mid-1990s and a short-scale passive 5-string tuned EADGC called the Bass V during the CBS period in the mid-1960s. The Bass V did not sell well, and after it was discontinued, Fender did not offer another 5-string bass guitar until the 1980s.