History of the Electric Bass Guitar

The modern electric bass guitar gets it's roots from the early double bass, and other bass instruments. Among the first known bass instruments are the "Viola da Gamba" from the late 15th century which was over 8 feet tall, had 6 or 7 strings, and tuned similar to the modern double bass. (E A D G, etc). A bow was used to play it, but it had a fretted neck, which were removed around 1800. The shape of a violin, or the shape of a viol was used almost exclusively. From that point, the overall evolution of the double bass' size, shape, or tone didn't change much, although the number of strings found on these early basses could range from 3 to 4 to 5, and even 6 and 7 strings for hundreds of years.
Renown Luthier Ken Smith adds:  "The Bass battled between 3 and 4 strings for about 300 years throughout Europe. Germany and Austria used Basses between 4 and 5 string from the 19th century while Italy, France and England used mainly the 3-string Bass until about 1870 when the 4-string became the main Bass." - Thanks Mr. Smith!!

This century, the double bass has played a very integral role in many musical genres such as Jazz, Blues and early Rock. First as a rhythm instrument, and later as a solo instrument thanks to the efforts of greats such as Jazz bassist Jimmy Blanton and Charles Mingus.  Both of which began playing more melodic lines with the double bass. Then, in 1951, there came a massive shift.  Leo Fender forever changed the way the world would hear bass by creating the first electric bass guitar.  And since it was shaped like a solid body guitar, it could be played easier than the large double bass. Versions of this instrument (fretted or not) have been produced by bass enterprises and bass Luthiers ever since. The electric bass and electric/acoustic basses are being played worldwide as well as electric upright basses large and small. With the advent of electric guitars and basses, pickups have also evolved throughout the years. Aside from the old "single-coil" pickups, newer technology has presented humbuckers, hybrid pickups, and other passive and active pickups which are capable of producing a wide range of tones from the grittiest dirt to a completely pure signal.

The Bass History "Highlights" Timeline

• 1490 : 6 & 7 string Bass Viola da Gamba from Silvestro Ganassi - Venice, Italy
• Late 1500's : First Double Bass from Gasparo d'Salo - Italy
• 1910 : Gibson builds for 20 years the Mando Bass (Acoustic Bass without amplification, 24" scale, 17 frets)
• 1926 : First "Electric Upright" from Lloyd Loar
• 1933 : Paul Tutmarc builds first amplified Bass guitar (article here)
• 1935 : Audiovox Electric Bass Fiddle (article here)
• 1936 : Rickenbacker Bedpost-Bass (something like a Electric Upright Bass)
• 1939 : Serenader Bass from Paul Tutmarc
• 1947 : Everett Hull builds a pick up for Double Basses (2 years later he founds AMPEG)
• 1951 : Fender Precision Electric Bass from Leo Fender
• 1952 : Kay Electric Bass
• 1953 : Gibson EB-1 "Violin-Bass", a short scale Bass (Gibson's answer to the Precision)
• 1953 : Hohner Fretless - Only 36 made it out before a fire destroyed the shop!
• 1956 : Hofner's 500/1 Bass (Beatles Bass)
• 1957 : New Design for the Fender Precision
• 1957 : Rickenbacker 4000 (THE Rickenbacker)
• 1958 : EB-2 (Semi-Acoustic Bass)
• 1959 : First 6 string Bass UB1 from Danelectro (Tuning: E A D G B E)
• 1959 : Gibson EB-0 (First Les Paul Junior Styling, later SG like styling)
• 1960 : Fender Jazz Bass
• 1960 : Gibson EB-6 6 string Bass (Tuning: E A D G B E)
• 1960 : Danelectro's Longhorn Bass
• 1962 : Fender VI (Tuning: E A D G B E)
• 1962 : First active Bass BURNS TR2 built by English Guitar maker Jim Burns of London
• 1963 : Gibson Thunderbird
• 1964 : Fender V
• 1965 : First fretless Bass Aubi from Ampeg
• 1965 : Leo Fender sells his company to CBS
• 1968 : Hagstroem 8 String Bass
• 1969 : Dan Armstrong's See-thru clear acrylic bass from Ampeg
• 1970 : Alembic founded
• 1975 : Carl Thompson builds Piccolo Bass for Stanley Clarke
• 1976 : Music Man StingRay designed by Leo Fender
• 1976 : Rocket Science meets Bass Guitars.  Aerospace Engineer/Bass Player Geoff Gould of Modulus is inspired to develop the industry's first Carbon Fiber necks.  Read more here.
• 1977 : Rick Turner of Alembic, and Geoff Gould (above) present the first limited production (graphite neck) instruments at the National Association of Music Merchants convention.
• 1978 : Hamer builds the first 12 string bass for Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick
• 1978 : Carl Thompson builds the first 6 string fretless, later owned by Les Claypool
• 1980 : Michael Tobias builds half-fretted bass (fretted to the 5th, then fretless) for Bob Greenlee
• 1981 : Steinberger Bass and Status graphite bass were shown on Frankfurt Music Show
• 1981 : Ken Smith builds the AJ6 - Anthony Jackson's 6 string (B E A D G C)
• 1983 : Ibanez MC 924 "half and half" (fretted to the 12th fret then fretless)
• 1981?: Leo Fender starts G&L Guitars
• 1987 : Guild Ashbory with 22" scale and Silicon strings
• 1987 : Michael Tobias builds his first* custom 7 string bass for Garry Goodman
• 1989 : Double neck Basses from Le Fay (Dutch site) and Jerry Jones
• 1993? : Christopher Willcox, head of LightWave Systems, begins optical pickup development.
• 1997? : Conklin builds first double neck 7 string bass
• 2003 : Noguera YC Sub Bass - Designed and tuned one octave lower than normal (E - 20.6Hz)
• 2004 : "Sub-Contra" Bass by Adler Guitar's artist, Jauqo III-X (Tuned C#,F#,B, E - low to high)
• 2004 : 11 String bass by Michael Adler. Uses the C#00 (17hz) string. First played and currently owned by Garry Goodman.

Timeline Original Source: Leo's Bass Page