The Mighty Hybrid

[yorks5stringer 1,983]

Anyone come across this book before?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mighty-Hybrid-Ordering-a-Fender-Telecaster-Bass-1966-Barrie-Midford-Millership/133050189364?hash=item1efa68c634:g:CWEAAOSwU1hc2ZoO

[ash 449]

Yes though I’m sure it had a different title. It’s mentioned in one of the Fender Bass Books. The author was looking for a slab bodied 66 as they were UK imports only and a limited edition. I think Entwistle had a few of them possibly used as parts for his Frankenstein bass. 

[troubadour 45]

There is another book, Fender Bass for Britain . . .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Bass-for-Britain-The-History-of-the-1966-Slab-Bodied-Precision-Bass/382933872967?epid=1319999442&hash=item5928a33147:g:UIQAAOSw4uhczP2A

. . . and, reading reviews of the latter on Amazon, maybe some “issues”  between the two authors?

Looks like there’s a story there as interesting as the one about the bass itself!

[NikNik 358]

There was a guy, Slab66, selling custom orders of the bass on here at one point.

[Meddle 395]

I had the other Slab book for a while. It was dead boring. The best bit was the fact that the author tried to get a photo of himself onto pretty much every page, and he looked like a retired bus driver from Redcar. 

 

The Slab basses just aren't interesting enough to sustain an entire book. They were P basses with ash bodies, capped maple necks and no body contours. You can't write an entire chapter on how the pickguard was 3-ply black/white/black. They were, and that is it. Regardless of whatever John Entwistle had to say on the subject these basses had the same wiring harness and pickups as any other 1966 P bass. There was no secret source of grinding overdriven tones within these basses. 

 

They look cool, and Fender didn't make too many of them. That is about it. Not enough to write a book about.A few famous bassists used them for a while.