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The Fender VI or Bass VI is a six-string electric bass by Fender.
Model history
The Fender VI was released in 1961, and followed the concept of the Danelectro 6-string bass released in 1956, having six strings tuned E-E, an octave below the spanish guitar. Its other ancestor was the Fender Jazzmaster, with which it shared many styling and technical details. Its body and electrics so closely matched those of the Fender Jaguar, released the following year, that in all but name the Fender VI was the first model of the Jaguar line released.
It departed from the concept of the Fender Precision Bass not only in having six strings, but also in having a shorter scale and thinner strings.
The original issue had similar body, electrics and whammy bar to the Jazzmaster (released in 1958), but three pickups as opposed to two for the Jazzmaster. The third pickup was accommodated by using three pickup on-off switches rather than the more conventional three-position switch. Later a fourth bass cut switch was added. Following the example of Jack Bruce, the whammy bar was removed sometime in the 1960s, giving better tuning stability.
Like the Jaguar, the VI had a pronounced curve for such a wide fingerboard, which made them all tricky instruments to set up without buzzes, and required some adjustment of playing technique. The electrics and extra strings were ideal for a soloist, but in the 1960s few electric bass players played solos. The close string spacing and light strings might have made guitarists more comfortable, but were an annoyance to string bass players.
For whatever reason, the bass VI never caught on to the extent that the four string precision bass and its derivatives did, even among surf music and country and western bands for which its tone colours would have seemed ideal. This was especially true of the early models with a whammy bar, a feature unique in the history of electric bass.
The original Fender VI, along with the rest of the Jaguar line, was discontinued in 1975.
In 2005, a new Fender VI was released as the Fender Jaguar Baritone Custom. The Baritone Custom is made in Japan, and has two pickups and no whammy bar, but is otherwise a Fender VI both in appearance and specification.
In 2006, Fender reissued the original Bass VI as a custom-shop model. Based on the early-60s VI model, it has three single-coil pickups and identical electronics.
Specifications
Solid body (alder) fretted electric bass guitar, 6 strings in 6 courses tuned E-A-D-G-B-E an octave below the normal guitar tuning.
Scale length 28.5” / 723.9 mm
- as opposed to 34” / 864 mm for the Jazz and Precision basses
Curved fingerboard (rosewood), radius 9.5” / 241 mm
- identical to the Jazz and Precision basses
Standard strings .095 .075 .055 .045 .035 .025 inches, Fender stainless steel, P/N 073-5350-000.
Fender floating tremolo arm on early models, fixed bridge on later models of the original issue. Reissues exist in both versions.
Electrics
All passive, with single pole magnetic pickups with notched polepieces. The upper ("rhythm") circuit when fitted used only the neck pickup, while the lower ("lead") circuit made all pickups available. Some authorities reverse the naming of the circuits, referring to the upper circuit as "lead" and the lower as "rhythm", but the more common naming is to refer to the upper circuit as rhythm.
Upper circuit (when fitted):
- Circuit selector slider switch.
- Volume control thumbwheel.
- Tone control (treble cutoff) thumbwheel.
Lower circuit:
- Two or three pickup on/off slider switches (number depending on the number of pickups).
- Tone control slider switch (bass cutoff, also known as "strangle") (not on very early models).
- Volume control potentiometer.
- Tone control (treble cutoff) potentiometer.
Tremolo arm
When fitted, the tremolo arm was the "floating" type with a locking device. This mechanism was developed for the Fender Jazzmaster, and also used on the Fender Jaguar. It was more elaborate than the synchronised tremolo of the earlier Fender Stratocaster, and was claimed by Fender to be superior, but it failed to achieve the same popularity. Unlike the synchronised tremolo, it was rarely copied by other makers, and disappeared from the Fender catalogue with the withdrawal of the Jaguar line in the 1970s. It has since appeared mainly on Fender reissues.
Players
The most famous exponent remains legendary bassist Jack Bruce of Cream. John Entwistle of The Who also played one briefly in the early '60's.
A Fender VI can also be seen on Beatles' videos for "Hey Jude", "Let it Be", and "The Long and Winding Road". It was played by both George Harrison ("Hey Jude"- though Paul McCartney played bass on the single version) and John Lennon ("Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road") when the band's bass player, McCartney, played piano.
Peter Green made extensive use of the Fender VI as a solo instrument during his live performances of 'The Green Manalishi' with Fleetwood Mac from 1969-1970, and also as a session musician with Duster Bennett (AKA 'Peter Blue') and Peter Bardens, among others.
Years later, the Fender VI was embraced by Robert Smith from The Cure. Originally a guitarist, Smith uses the Fender VI as a lead instrument, playing phrases and even chords on it. The Fender VI can be heard on songs such as "Pictures of You" and "Lullaby".
It was also used by Saul Davies of the band James, as a lead instrument (visible in the concert video "Getting Away With It" on the song "Someone's Got It In For Me"), and Stefan Olsdal of Placebo as a regular bass. Mark Hoppus from blink-182 also used a Fender VI on their untitled CD. During the infamous "Dont' touch it" scene of Spinal Tap Nigel's extremely special guitar is actually an original foam green Fender VI.
External links
- History of the Jazzmaster and Jaguar lines, including the Fender VI.
- Unofficial Danelectro page, showing their 1957 model bass VI.