Guitarists would revere Leo Fender
the world over if he’d only designed the
Stratocaster and Telecaster. But you could
make the case that popular music fans over
the last 60 years are as much indebted to
Leo for the Precision Bass. The P Bass is
the seminal electric solidbody bass, even
if companies like Rickenbacker has flirted
with the idea before Fender. Leo built the
first prototype in 1950 and full production
started a year later. The genius in Leo’s
design is evident not only in the P Bass longevity,
but in the wide spectrum of players
that have carved new musical paths with the
P Bass as a foundation—Motown Records’
James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, Black Sabbath’s
Geezer Butler, U2’s Adam Clayton, The
Who’s John Entwistle, Queen’s John Deacon,
Steely Dan’s Walter Becker, Flea, The Cure’s
Simon Gallup, Dee Dee Ramone, and Roger
Waters, to name just a few.
This particular 1958 P Bass is 100 percent
original and is said to have been used
onstage with Boxcar Willie’s band and by
rockabilly legend Eddie Cochran’s bassist
Connie ‘Guybo’ Smith [see inset photo].
1958 was a year of transition for the P
Bass. And many features and appointments
were only seen together for one year
because of the many alterations the P-bass
saw between ’57 and’59. The contoured,
second generation body has a two-tone
sunburst finish that was discontinued in
May 1958, while its one-piece maple neck
and fingerboard was replaced in mid 1959
by a maple neck and rosewood fretboard
combination. This instrument also sports
the gold, anodized aluminum pickguard
of mid ’57 to late ’59 and the P Bass’
signature split-coil pickup—a humbucking
design that’s connected in series but
magnetically inverted (N/S-S/N)—though
in this case it uses raised-A pole pieces that
were discontinued and made flush in 1959
production models.
A special thanks to Greg Mayo of Greg’s
Guitars in Atlanta, GA, for the opportunity to
feature this fine instrument and its story.