Fender Precision in the 70s

[merello]

[color=#000000][font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=6][b]The Precision Bass in the 1970s[/b][/size][/font][/color]


[b]An archtypal Precision Bass moment, nearly 30 years after the model was introduced: When Clash bassist Paul Simonon smashed his Precision onstage in New York in late 1979, it provided not only the cover for [i]London Calling[/i], but also a great moment in Precision Bass history.[/b]

The 1960s. What a decade, musically and culturally. And what a decade for the Precision Bass, which graduated from the root-fifth thump of the 1950s to sheer musical artistry in the 1960s in the hands of greats such as James Jamerson, Brian Wilson, Carol Kaye, Duck Dunn, John Entwistle and many others.

If the Precision achieved newfound status as an indispensable workhorse instrument in the 1960s, it cemented that reputation with seismic force in the 1970s. Although joined at the dawn of the 1960s by Fender’s second bass guitar model, the equally indispensable Jazz Bass, both instruments staked out complementary sonic territory and together ruled the world of electric bass with impunity, as indeed they still do.

Those who already swore by the Precision in its first two decades continued to do so with a newfound sense of history. And as with the change from the 1950s to the 1960s, a new generation of bassists waiting in the wings of the late ’60s would make their own indelible mark on the 1970s.

Rock music, no longer in its infancy of the ’50s or its childhood of the ’60s, now faced the turbulence of adolescence in the 1970s. It had by then established a fascinating process of evolution (mutation might be a better word) into ever more stylistically divergent subgenres, and yet, as is so often the case with Fender’s greatest instrument and amp designs, the Precision was right at home in every one of them.

The form positively proliferated. The 1970s saw straight rock ‘n’ roll, hard rock, blues rock, country rock, psychedelic rock, glam rock, progressive rock, album rock, funk rock, jazz rock, folk rock, pop rock, soft rock, garage rock, Latin rock, heavy metal, Southern rock, avant-garde rock, pub rock, punk rock, post punk, punk pop, power pop, new wave, rockabilly, reggae rock, and even more.

The Precision handled all of it with ease. It is perhaps highly telling that the same bass that percolated throughout the funky New Orleans R&B of the Meters and provided the kinetic jazz funk of Tower of Power was the same bass that stoked the filth and the fury of the Sex Pistols and the forceful melodic power of latter-’70s U.K. acts such as the Jam and Elvis Costello & the Attractions. Telling that the same bass that so supremely underpinned Pink Floyd’s 1973 psychedelic masterpiece [i]The Dark Side of the Moon[/i] was the same bass that also elegantly underpinned the Eagles’ seminal 1973 country rock classic[i]Desperado[/i]. Telling that the same bass that snarled so ferociously on King Crimson’s 1974 prog-rock heavyweight [i]Red[/i] was the same bass that less than a year later provided the much-imitated jazz-rock hook that kicked off the opening credits of hit ABC sitcom [i]Barney Miller[/i].

In the 1970s, as always, the Precision Bass did it all.

* * * * *


[b]Is a Precision without frets really a Precision? Certainly. 1970 catalog page for the most ironic of all Fender instruments.[/b]

One of the first significant Precision Bass developments of the decade seemed to be the very height of irony; a design feature that seemed to controvert the very name of the instrument at the ever-experimenting hands of Fender itself.

The late 1960s and early 1970s was an especially creative period at Fender, during which the company experimented with revisions to some of its most enduringly classic models. These mirrored the preferences of the era’s players, and were most evident in Fender’s adventurous re-conceptions of the Telecaster—the Telecaster Thinline (1968), the humbucking pickup-equipped Telecaster Thinline (1971), the Telecaster Custom (1972) and the Telecaster Deluxe (1973).

Fender was listening to the era’s bass players, too. Jazz rock had become a prominent form in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and some jazz-rock and rock bassists preferred the distinctly different sound and feel of a fretless fingerboard. Fretless bass guitars were nothing new by then (Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman fashioned his own in 1961, and the first commercial model dates to 1966), but they weren’t commonplace, either. Fender introduced a fretless version of the Precision in summer 1970, for the same price as the fretted version: $293.50 (the irony being that the Precision Bass was originally named for the precise intonation enabled by its fretted neck).

Halfway across the country, in Detroit, 1971 brought a Motown milestone in the form of Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece album, [i]What’s Going On[/i]. On the landmark concept album, the label’s previously uncredited house musicians—collectively known as the Funk Brothers—received individual credit for the first time. Finally, resident Motown Precision Bass masters James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt received the individual recognition they so richly deserved.

[b]Two seminal early-1970s Precision Bass albums: 1971 Marvin Gaye masterpiece[i]What’s Going On[/i] (above) and 1973 Pink Floyd classic[i]The Dark Side of the Moon[/i](below).[/b]


Taking a cue from the turn-of-the-decade creative revisions to the Telecaster, Fender engineers in 1972 unveiled a new version of 1968’s Telecaster Bass—essentially a reissue of the 1951-style Precision—armed with an enormous humbucking pickup designed by none other than the inventor of the humbucking pickup, Seth Lover, who’d been lured to Fender in 1967. Lover’s large new pickup for the bass necessitated redesigning the pickguard to accommodate it; the model included other new revisions in the form of a three-bolt neck plate and bullet truss rod.

An enduringly endearing Precision Bass recorded moment hit the charts in 1973 with the release of Pink Floyd’s massively successful eighth studio album, [i]The Dark Side of the Moon[/i]. Its lead single, “Money” boasted an irresistibly infectious Precision Bass riff by the song’s author, Roger Waters, while simultaneously accomplishing the unusual feat of becoming an enormous international hit that happened to be in an oddball (for rock music, anyway) 7/4 time signature.

Further design modifications were afoot in 1974, when Fender introduced black pickguards as a Precision Bass standard and moved the thumb rest from the treble string side to the bass string side.

Another seminal Precision Bass recorded moment that brought the pure sound of the instrument to millions came from an unexpected angle in January 1975. That month, a new sitcom debuted on ABC television about a New York City police precinct captain and his detectives. The opening credits of [i]Barney Miller[/i] featured a solo bass intro to what had to be the funkiest theme song in TV history. It was a riff that launched a thousand ships—for many years hence, bassists of all stripes would demonstrate chops and cred by busting out the [i]Barney Miller[/i] theme.

The famous funk-bluesy line was played by veteran Los Angeles session bassist Chuck Berghofer, who took his 1959 Precision to the session. When the producer suggested departing from the written chart by starting with a solo bass line, Berghofer—who had also played the famous string bass part on 1966 Nancy Sinatra hit “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’”—improvised on the spot what subsequently became one of the most imitated bass lines (and grooviest TV themes) in electric bass history.

On both sides of the Atlantic bombs detonated mid-decade in popular music that would have resounding repercussions for decades to come, and the ever-reliable Precision Bass figured heavily in the attack. It could be summed up in one word: Punk.

In New York in 1976, bassist Douglas Colvin set the tone for much punk bass playing with a visceral, no-frills machine-gun style driven home using an impossibly low-slung Precision Bass. That year, his iconoclastic band released its seminal eponymous debut album, which inspired legions of imitators. The album, [i]Ramones[/i], sent shock waves through the rock world and heralded the large-scale arrival of a reactionary new musical movement that had been brewing since rock was born two decades earlier. And Colvin, under the stage name Dee Dee Ramone, never missed a single pumping sixteenth note.

[b]The twin pillars of mid-’70s punk and the Precision’s role in it; one from each side of the Atlantic: [i]Ramones[/i](1976) and [i]Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols[/i] (1977).[/b]


Meanwhile, an even more incendiary debut was in the works across the Atlantic in London. A year after the Ramones’ debut album, punk’s ruder, spikier U.K. movement was spearheaded by the Sex Pistols, whose debut (and only) album, [i]Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols[/i], appeared in fall 1977 and promptly became the most important punk album ever and an extremely important and influential album in rock history in general.

Most of the pumping Precision Bass work on the snarling, gutturally magnificent [i]Never Mind the Bollocks[/i] was played by the Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, despite the fact that 10 of the album’s 12 songs were co-authored by original Pistols bassist Glen Matlock (who did in fact play on one of the album’s biggest tracks, “Anarchy in the U.K.,” previously released as the Pistols’ first single). Matlock could actually play—a dangerously subversive risk for anyone who called himself a true punk—and he was succeeded in the lineup by John Ritchie, who went by the stage name Sid Vicious and was far less proficient on the instrument. Although Ritchie created an iconic (to use a term much too corporate for any discussion of punk) look with a Precision, his tenure with the band was short-lived—from April 1977 to January 1978—as indeed his life was—he died in February 1979 at age 21. Matlock returned to the Pistols lineup in subsequent reformations.

Punk—[i]real[/i] punk—was over almost as soon as it started, but its effects were far-reaching. Its spiky-haired, safety-pinned anti-establishment ethos influenced a snowballing wealth of subgenre descendents, and the late 1970s blossomed with new acts, particularly in the U.K., that put the Precision Bass to exciting and musically riveting new use.

Take, for example, Elvis Costello. Literate, angular, angry and bespectacled, he appropriated a decidedly punk-ish image that belied the obvious fact that he was an able and important new singer-songwriter. Costello assembled a ferociously formidable backing band in late 1977, the Attractions, that featured the nimble and melodically adventurous Precision Bass work of Bruce Thomas. Irresistably energetic early singles such as 1978’s “Pump it Up,” “Radio Radio” and “(I Don’t Want to Go To) Chelsea” and 1979’s “Oliver’s Army” and “Accidents Will Happen,” are all great examples of Thomas’s propulsive Precision Bass mastery.

The 1970s ended, however, with possibly the greatest Precision Bass moment in all of rock history. After the early 1978 implosion of the too-volatile-to-last Sex Pistols, the more serious Clash assumed the mantle of most important U.K. band and was at its creative and popular peak at the turn of the decade. When the “Clash Take the Fifth” U.S. tour rolled into the Palladium in New York City on Sept. 21, 1979, bassist Paul Simonon, angered by staff treatment of the audience, smashed his Precision to pieces onstage.

Simonon’s moment of fury just happened to be caught by U.K. photographer Pennie Smith, and the resulting photo was immortalized as the cover of what many consider the Clash’s greatest album, 1979 magnum opus [i]London Calling[/i] (with a title track launched by Simonon playing what is surely one of the most apocalyptic bass riffs of all time, also on a Precision). The photo has subsequently become revered as one of rock’s greatest images ([i]Q[/i] magazine, for example, deemed it the greatest rock ‘n’ roll photograph of all time in 2002).

* * * * *


Not all musical instruments weathered the 1970s nearly as successfully as the Precision Bass. The business of musical instruments changed; the business of rock music changed; and there were winners and losers. The Precision Bass was a winner, as indeed it had been all along since its 1951 introduction. It didn’t just roll with the punches—it provided the punches, as it always had.

Rock and pop continued to splinter, evolve, reinterpret and reinvent themselves yet again as the 1980s dawned. And while all was not necessarily well at home base early in its next decade, Fender would eventually find the wherewithal to re-energize and redefine itself; to engineer a steady and remarkable comeback that would see the Precision Bass enter the modern era as revered, as powerful and as indispensable as ever.

http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?display_article=809

[merello]

Barney Miller Theme tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roHYXrLhmHc&feature=related

[bremen]

Nice writing. I liked 'nimble and melodically adventurous Precision Bass work of Bruce Thomas', spot on.

[Jacqueslemac]

With tongue in cheek, I like the caption under the ad for the fretless!

[BigRedX]

Errr... didn't Glenn Matlock play play a Ricknebacker in the Pistols?

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='merello' timestamp='1322167926' post='1447578']
The 1970s ended, however, with possibly the greatest Precision Bass moment in all of rock history.
[/quote]
The supreme level of hyperbole in this statement is very rock ...nice article though!

[Muzz]

No Jean Jacques Burnel? Tsk tsk...

[Lozz196]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1322174226' post='1447688']
Errr... didn't Glenn Matlock play play a Ricknebacker in the Pistols?
[/quote]

He was pictured with one, at, I think, a gig in France (don`t think they could get their regular gear across), but his main go to was a Precision, which was given to him when he joined the band, by Steve Jones & Paul Cook. It`s unlikely that they actually bought it however......

And in all the gigs with the Pistols since they did their reform, it`s been a trusty Precision too.

[BigRedX]

Interesting. The Rickenbacker pics are what I remember from the press coverage of the Pistols when they first appeared, and they were the ones that showed up from a quick Google search. Shows the importance of being seen with the right instrument.

Back to the original subject...

I'm not entirely sure about the validity of making a big deal about the popularity of the Precision Bass in the 70s. After all there was hardly the massive range of instruments that we have today to choose from. Unless you were determined to use something unusual, if you were after a big name bass you had a 1 in 5 chance of walking out of the music shop with one if you just picked at random.

[casapete]

And probably a 1 in 5 chance of getting a good Precision around that time too......... (runs for cover)

[BigRedX]

Not even that by the end of the decade.

Every new Fender that my local music shop got in 1979 had issues that meant they couldn't go straight on display. The freelance guitar tech loved them since it meant a lot more money for him to get them display worthy.

[eddiehoffmann]

Nice writing! I love my Precision!

[chris_b]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1322239925' post='1448531']
....Every new Fender that my local music shop got in 1979 had issues that meant they couldn't go straight on display....
[/quote]
[size=4]By the end of the 60's the term pre-CBS Fender was already in use so the quality was already an issue. [/size]

[size=4]But what else could you play? Fender had a clear run because the competition didn't compete.[/size]

[BigRedX]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1322241756' post='1448571']
[size=4]By the end of the 60's the term pre-CBS Fender was already in use so the quality was already an issue. [/size]

[size=4]But what else could you play? Fender had a clear run because the competition didn't compete.[/size]
[/quote]
At the time all bands I was interested in had bass players who played either Thunderbirds or Rickenbacker 4001s. Had I had the cash available at the time to buy a bass I would have most likely bought a Rickenfaker. Given unlimited funds it would have been the John Birch version.

Edited November 25, 2011 by BigRedX

[jezzaboy]

[quote name='casapete' timestamp='1322212501' post='1447894']
And probably a 1 in 5 chance of getting a good Precision around that time too......... (runs for cover)
[/quote]

This can`t be right as EVERY 70`s P bass that pops up for sale sounds fantastic and is quite light as well

Jez

[Lozz196]

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1322254082' post='1448758']
This can`t be right as EVERY 70`s P bass that pops up for sale sounds fantastic and is quite light as well

Jez
[/quote]

Except mine. It sounds fantastic, agreed, but weighs over 10lbs.

[Telebass]

Only 10lbs? Lightweight for a 70s. Although my 75 was lighter than 10, so who knows? Sub 9lb Precisions aren't that common even now!

[4-string-thing]

My 70's P also sounds fantastic and it just weighed in at exactly 10lbs...

Were 70's Fenders really that bad? I've owned mine since 1979 and would never sell it unless I was in a financial mess or had decided to give up playing.

As for the competion back then? Guild, Ricks, Gibson, Hofner, Shergold, Ibanez, Yamaha + loads of Jap crap copies. No wonder Fenders were considered the best!

[eddiehoffmann]

Mine is a 77 one. Heavy, but very comfortable. Makes sound engineers very happy all the time.

[Musky]

[quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1322313937' post='1449225']
My 70's P also sounds fantastic and it just weighed in at exactly 10lbs...

Were 70's Fenders really that bad? I've owned mine since 1979 and would never sell it unless I was in a financial mess or had decided to give up playing.

As for the competion back then? Guild, Ricks, Gibson, Hofner, Shergold, Ibanez, Yamaha + loads of Jap crap copies. No wonder Fenders were considered the best!
[/quote]
It's not so much that 70's Fenders were terrible, more that their quality control was all over the shop. That the average weight of the instruments was creeping up was only part of the issue. Poor neck joints were fairly common place by the late 70's, which while not so much a problem with 4 bolt necks could be fairly disastrous with a 3 bolt. There have been instances of instruments of that time with an almost 'butcher's block' construction as well, and some from the period seem to have been scrimping on the contours. So nothing that necessarily made them a write off, but definitely not as they should have been. Then there was the '76 neck I had the misfortune of owning with the warped and slightly twisted neck - as the luthier who looked at it said, "it should never have left he factory".

And of course there were others with no issues whatsoever.

It has to be said, with the possible exception of Gibson (who had their own issues at the time), all of the instruments you mention would have been a match for a Fender. Whether you liked their tone would have been a different matter.

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1322315365' post='1449273']
It has to be said, with the possible exception of Gibson (who had their own issues at the time), all of the instruments you mention would have been a match for a Fender. Whether you liked their tone would have been a different matter.
[/quote]

Hmmm, not sure about that. Ricks may be good, but are certainly an aqquired taste, Gibsons bass of the late 70's was the Grabber (I think) and I don't think anyone has ever said that they were any good. The Hofner was a relic from the early 60's and played like one. Ibanez made cheap copies at the time and didn't really hit the big time til the 80's. Yamaha didn't really get known til the 80's either. Guild did build a bass that was ok, but was certainly no better than an average P. I played a Shergold in the 70's and while it may have been ok, it seemed a bit of a gimmicky (had some weird plug in electronics iirc)

I would still say that the only basses that were better than a P or J were a lot more expensive. I remember trying an Ovation Magnum which was good, but it was a bit weird and 30% more than my P.

Edited November 26, 2011 by 4-string-thing

[BigRedX]

I don't know about earlier in the 70s because I didn't closely look at any instruments cost over £75 as I had no way of affording them at the time. However in 1978 and 79 I was helping out at my local musical instrument store who were in the process of going up market from their Grant, Kimbara and Columbus Jap-crap copies with the occasional second-hand oddity such as Microfrets and Hayman, to becoming a full Fender, Ibanez and Aria Pro II dealer.

The instruments we were getting from Ibanez and Aria were then new original designs and were immaculate in fit, finish and playability. They looked and sounded stunning. What arrived from Fender by contrast was seriously underwhelming, at least half of the first delivery should have gone straight back to Fender because they were not fit to be sold. If these had been sub £100 instruments I could have understood the poor quality as in many cases the Grant copies were better made.

Given the money I'd have had one of the Aria Pro IIs. In fact, I'd have probably taken one of the old Jap-crap instruments before I would have considered the Fenders.

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1322331898' post='1449585']
I don't know about earlier in the 70s because I didn't closely look at any instruments cost over £75 as I had no way of affording them at the time. However in 1978 and 79 I was helping out at my local musical instrument store who were in the process of going up market from their Grant, Kimbara and Columbus Jap-crap copies with the occasional second-hand oddity such as Microfrets and Hayman, to becoming a full Fender, Ibanez and Aria Pro II dealer.

The instruments we were getting from Ibanez and Aria were then new original designs and were immaculate in fit, finish and playability. They looked and sounded stunning. What arrived from Fender by contrast was seriously underwhelming, at least half of the first delivery should have gone straight back to Fender because they were not fit to be sold. If these had been sub £100 instruments I could have understood the poor quality as in many cases the Grant copies were better made.

Given the money I'd have had one of the Aria Pro IIs. In fact, I'd have probably taken one of the old Jap-crap instruments before I would have considered the Fenders.
[/quote]

Actually, I'd forgotten about the Aria Pro lls, probably the first decent Japanese bass...

[Highfox]

Bit of a Sunday morning [i]Jack[/i] a [i]Nory[/i] from me ...
Back in the late 70's I started out playing bass and always looked up to Fenders being the holy grail of basses, I could never afford one(even second-hand) having just started out on my working life as an apprentice on £20 a week. Once I'd managed to save up some money I had to settle for an Ibanez Blazer that I bought brand new from Macari's in London to replace my 4Kay short scale that was my substitute for a Fender P at the time.
I then moved onto a customised Wal pro1 a lot of the bass players I liked were using Wals at that time (I had the idea then that Fenders were just too one dimensional).
Next up I wanted an MM Ray real bad and went to the bass centre in Wapping with all my hard earned and my Wal as part exchange, couldn't believe they had no Rays in stock when I got there and heartbroken I started trying out other bass's in the shop and fell straight away (or as soon as I plugged it in) for a brand new (89) Warwick Streamer. I used that as my only bass for near on 20 years and funny enough on selling it (it was a great bass I just got tired of the tone) I went full circle and picked up a passive Fender J.
I now have a couple of Fender P's, the latest one I only picked up last week is a 77/78 model, as well as sounding great and totally different to my 2000's model it also makes me feel real happy that I finally got hold of the bass I had been lusting after all those years ago.
Looking back now if Money had been no issue (which it was) I'd of liked to of kept the Wal.
P Bass's do it for me now and when they don't there is always the Jazz

[Billy Apple]

Good piece. I'm trying to get my 70's style P together, but in the mean-time, how about a picture of Sid? Yes, he couldn't play, but in '77 to an 11 year old boy, this was it!

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/393Ra.jpg[/IMG]