The Fender Telecaster Bass (also referred as the Tele Bass) is an electric bass introduced in 1968 by

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturer of instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equipment, however it is best known for its ...

. With few physical changes through the 1970s, it was discontinued in 1979 and reissued in 2007 by Fender's subsidiary

Squier Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, ban ...

as the Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass TB, which was discontinued in 2014. Released as a rebranding of the original version of the

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "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 instrum ...

, it was named as "Telecaster" after the Telecaster guitar model. The Telecaster Bass differs in shape from the original Telecaster guitar in that the latter is a single cutaway guitar and the bass is double cutaway.

History and details

Early version (1968–1971)

The Telecaster Bass was introduced in May 1968Brosnac, Donald. ''Guitar History: Guitars Made by the Fender Company Volumen 1 de Guitar history''. Pg. 14. Bold Strummer, 1987. , being essentially a straight reissue of the original 1951

Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "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 instr ...

design (which was in fact influenced by the

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bod ...

guitar), with a large pickguard, small Telecaster-shaped headstock, single pickup, and separate chrome control plate. Early versions had a two-piece maple-capped neck with no "skunk stripe" on the back of the neck and some also had the rare paddle-style tuners that were most commonly seen on the Jazz Bass. The pickguard on the 1960s Telecaster Bass was slightly more slender and employed more mounting screws than the originals of the 1950s. There were also three different headstock decals in the early version. The earliest had a regular silver Telecaster guitar logo with the word "bass" added underneath. Only prototypes are known to have this decal. The earliest prototypes were partially constructed from leftover 1952 Precision Bass parts. The second decal was the larger Black (gold outlined) Telecaster Bass logo (bass being in the same style of script as Fender). The third and most commonly used decal had the silver Fender script with the words Telecaster Bass written in a sans-serif type font underneath. In the early 1990s, Fender Japan reissued the '51 Precision Bass, which is in essence, a reissue of the first-version Telecaster Bass. The earliest "Made in Japan" versions vary slightly from the later "Crafted in Japan" model. For example, the early 1990s version uses the larger, more historically accurate string ferrules that were used in the 1950s.

Second version (1971–1979)

In 1971, the Tele Bass was modified in some aspects. A new neck plate with Micro Tilt system for a more precise neck adjustment. The old-style pickguard was redesigned to eliminate the control plate, and the single-coil pickup was replaced with a larger, more powerful, humbucking unit. The Telecaster Bass was produced alongside the contemporary

through all the 1970s. The decal logo had changed from silver to gold, with black outlining. It was the final version of the Telecaster Bass, which was discontinued in September 1979 and reintroduced in 2011 as a part of the Modern Player series, featuring two Modern Player Wide Range Precision Bass pickups, three-ply parchment (Sunburst model) or single-ply black (Butterscotch Blonde model) pickguard, three knurled "chrome-dome" control knobs (neck volume, bridge volume, master tone), vintage-style bridge with four brass saddles, open-gear tuners and nickel/chrome hardware. Available in 2-Color Sunburst and Butterscotch Blonde.

Reissued Versions: Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass TB and Classic Vibe '50s Precision Bass (2007–present)

is a subsidiary of Fender and features less expensive versions of Fender instruments. The Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass TB was released in April 2007. It is based on the second version of the Telecaster Bass, featuring a similar Telecaster Bass headstock, pickguard and humbucking pickup. Squier has also issued a 1950s Precision Bass model in the style of the original Fender 1951 Precision Bass as part of their 'Classic Vibe' series. It comes in three finishes: A Butterscotch Blonde with a black pickguard, a Lake Placid Blue metallic with a white pickguard, & a White Blonde with a white pickguard. All have maple fretboards as well as contoured edges & front & back comfort contours, making them similar to the 54-57 Precision Bass design. The pickup on these models is a single-coil similar to that at the bridge position on a Telecaster guitar.

Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Bass & Telecaster Bass Special

Modeled after the Telecaster guitar, the Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster and Telecaster Special basses feature a Telecaster guitar-shaped basswood body, Telecaster-style control plate and a 32"-scale maple neck/fretboard with 20 frets. The Vintage Modified Telecaster Bass sports a Duncan Designed PB-102 SCPB single-coil pickup and three-way switching among special tone circuits, which feature a modern bass sound (middle switch position, volume and tone controls), softer "double bass" sound (neck switch position, volume control only) and authentic tic-tac "baritone" sound (bridge switch position, volume control only). The Telecaster Bass Special has a large chrome-covered Fender-designed Wide Range humbucking neck pickup paired with a Duncan Designed JB-102B single-coil Jazz Bass bridge pickup and three-way blade switching. Other features include black "barrel" switch tip, knurled chrome control knobs, vintage style bridge with four chrome saddles, vintage-style tuners and strap buttons and a single-ply white or black pickguard. Available in Black and White Blonde finishes. Introduced in August 2012.

Notable users

Jimmy Bain James Stewart Bain (19 December 1947 – 23 January 2016) was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo ...

used a Telecaster Bass among his basses with

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Charlie Tumahai Charles Turu Tumahai (14 January 1949 – 21 December 1995) was a New Zealand singer, bass player and songwriter who was a member of several noted rock groups in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. He is best known internationally as the bass ...

of English

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and New Zealand reggae band

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, played a 1968–1971 version of the Telecaster Bass. * Paul McGuigan of

britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

band

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played the 1968–1971 version. *

Dusty Hill Joe Michael "Dusty" Hill (May 19, 1949 – July 28, 2021) was an American musician who was the bassist of the rock band ZZ Top for more than 50 years. He also sang lead and backing vocals and played keyboards. Hill was born in Dallas, Texas, an ...

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. *

Doug Stegmeyer Douglas Alan Stegmeyer (December 23, 1951 – August 25, 1995) was an American musician who was best known as the bassist and back-up vocalist for Billy Joel. Stegmeyer also performed as bassist for Debbie Gibson and Hall & Oates. Biography ...

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

's band used a blonde 1968 Telecaster Bass. * George Porter Jr. of The Meters used a '68–71 Telecaster Bass in the band's early years. *

Chris Squire Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes. He was the longest-serving original memb ...

of Yes, used a '68 Telecaster Bass (with a single-coil bridge pickup added) on several occasions from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s. *

Jill Emery Hole was an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989. It was founded by singer Courtney Love and guitarist Eric Erlandson. It had several different bassists and drummers, the most prolific being drummer Patty Sch ...

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

plays a 1971 Fender Telecaster Bass *

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of the

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used a Telecaster Bass. *

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and Beck, Bogert and Appice used a Telecaster Bass. *

Rick Kemp Frederick Stanley 'Rick' Kemp (born 15 November 1941) is an English bass player, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and record producer, best known for his work with the British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Projects In the 1960s, he shot to prom ...

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, used a Telecaster Bass. * Composer and multi-instrumentalist

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used a Telecaster Bass on his debut album ''

Tubular Bells Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

''. *

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave,Rockpile Rockpile was a British rock and roll band of the late 1970s and early 1980s, noted for their strong pub rock, rockabilly and power pop influences, and as a foundational influence on new wave. The band consisted of Dave Edmunds (vocals, gui ...

and can be seen holding one on the cover of his 1978 album ''

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''. *

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Notes

References

* Peter Bertges. ''The Fender Reference''. Bomots, Saarbrücken. 2007. . {{Fender basses

1968 musical instruments Musical instruments invented in the 1960s