Fender Precision Bass

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Fender Precision Bass
Manufacturer	Fender
Period	1951–present
Construction
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Bolt-on
Woods
Body	Alder Ash Poplar Basswood
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Maple Rosewood Pau Ferro Ebony
Hardware
Bridge	Fixed
Pickup(s)	One single-coil (1951–1957, occasional reissues) Usually one two-piece split-coil humbucker (1957–present) One split-coil humbucker and one Jazz Bass single-coil ("PJ" configuration) One split-coil humbucker and one humbucking Jazz Bass pickup (1995-2009)
Colors available
Various 2- or 3-color sunbursts Shades of blonde Various shades of white, blue, red, green, etc.

The Fender Precision Bass (or "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument usually equipped with a single split-coil humbucking pickup and a one-piece, 20-fret maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard.^[1]

Its prototype, designed by Leo Fender in 1950, was brought to market in 1951.^[2] It was the first electric bass guitar to earn widespread attention and use, remaining among the best-selling and most-imitated electric bass guitars with considerable effect on the sound of popular music. Leo Fender designed the Precision bass for big band guitarists, although upright bass players sometimes took umbrage when first asked to play the Precision Bass. Wes Montgomery's brother, Monk, was almost fired by Lionel Hampton when he said he would only play double bass. Lionel offered him two weeks' pay and a one-way ticket back to Indiana. Quickly embracing the Precision bass, Monk became an early endorser of the it.

The double bass is difficult to hear in large bands or alongside amplified instruments, requires specialized skills to play that are distinct from those required to play the guitar, and is large and physically cumbersome. The Precision Bass was designed to overcome these drawbacks. In particular, the name "Precision" came from the use of frets to play in tune more easily than on the fretless fingerboard of the double bass.

As the electric bass guitar provides different tonal qualities than the double bass, players and bandleaders needed some time to incorporate the new instrument into their musical visions. Subsequently, the more solid, harder-edged sound with more sustain of the electric bass guitar became increasingly dominant and an important factor in the transformation of the beat and rhythm of pop music from jump blues and swing to rhythm and blues, rock music, soul and funk.

Upright bassists initially looked at the new instrument with similar contempt as guitar players did with its solid-body sibling, the Telecaster, with vibraphonist/drummer Lionel Hampton's band among the first to incorporate the new instrument. Elvis Presley's bass player Bill Black, was beginning to use a Precision Bass during the filming of Jailhouse Rock and the recording of its soundtrack, but became so frustrated over his initial inability to get used to playing it, he angrily threw it on the floor. Presley picked up the bass and finished the bass track for "You're So Square (Baby I Don't Care)". Bill Black eventually overcome his frustration, playing on the single "Jailhouse Rock",^[3] and played a Precision onstage with Presley. Black continued using the Precision with his own band, the Bill Black Combo, until his death. On "Jailhouse Rock" there is an early example of detuning: the bass is tuned down a halfstep to Eb-Ab-Db-Gb with a low open-string E flat clearly audible on the track.^{[citation needed]}

Fender delivered an early Precision to Los Angeles session bassist and arranger Shifty Henry. Monk Montgomery became the second jazz player to popularize what would be widely referred to as the "Fender Bass" at the time, first with Lionel Hampton, and then with his brother, guitarist Wes Montgomery. By 1954, Henry and Montgomery were appearing in Fender's advertising.^[4]

By the end of the 1950s the Precision gained acceptance with rock and roll and country bassists and with guitarists who doubled on the instrument. The most notable of the latter was Carol Kaye, originally a jazz guitarist, who as a bassist became best known for her work as part of the consortium of Los Angeles based session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.