Bass Tales (Excerpt)
From Fender's Online Publication BassStreet.com
by Bryan Beller
Posted April, 2001

I fondly recall being 13 and shopping for my very first bass with my father at a Sam Ash in New Jersey. I didn't know a P-bass from Jazz bass, 4-string from a 5-string, but I'd heard of Fender somehow. It was out there in the general consciousness, like GM, NASA, PacMan. So I picked up the first Fender I saw, a good old Precision, and played it. Moments later I whined to my Dad, "This thing hurts. It's too big, I can't even get my hand around it!" And I walked out of the store with a bass whose neck resembled a wiffleball bat. Years later, on one of my first pro sessions, I was replacing an existing bass track. I'd now graduated to a 5-string, but it was still, shall we say, "neck-friendly." The producer heard the tone and shook his head. "We need a heavier sound. You hear that sound on the track? That's what I need." He then summoned a tech, who promptly removed the 5-string from my hands and shoved a P-Bass into my gut. "Here," he growled, "play this. This is a MAN'S bass."

This copyrighted article was first web-posted on Fender's online publication BassStreet.com in April of 2001.