The Bass VI was introduced in 1961 as a six-string bass (the 1961 Fender catalog referred to it simply as the “New six-string Bass Guitar”) and it occupies its own special ground somewhere between a guitar and a bass.

The Bass VI has a bit of a split personality. It is perhaps best described as an elaborate cross between a Jazz Bass and a Jaguar guitar (which debuted in 1962, a year after the Bass VI), with a guitarist-friendly 30” scale (the standard length for short-scale bass guitars) and a Jazzmaster/Jaguar-like tremolo bridge/tailpiece assembly.

It has a sleek and unmistakably Fender-y offset body, with a narrow 21-fret neck that made for tight string spacing that appealed more to guitarists than bassists. It has three single-coil pickups with smooth chrome mounting rings, with controls resembling that of the subsequent Jaguar guitar: a single volume and single tone control on the chrome input jack plate, and three pickup on/off slider switches on a hexagonal chrome plate on the stubby lower horn (one for each pickup). It originally came in a three-color-sunburst finish on its 1961 introduction, with custom color finishes available in later years. Interestingly, the headstock logo said “Fender IV” in gold (not “Fender Bass VI,” as might be supposed), with “Electric Bass Guitar” in small black all-caps letters just below.

After the Jaguar guitar appeared, the Bass VI was modified with some of that guitar’s elements, most notably re-designed pickups with notched chrome rings, and a fourth slider switch that offered a deeper tone (often called the “strangle” switch), and foam rubber string mutes. It received fingerboard binding in late 1965 and block inlays in 1966. A polyester finish replaced nitrocellulose lacquer in 1968, which is also when the headstock logo changed from gold to black.

Its original production run lasted 14 years, from 1961 to 1975.

Notable Players: Jet Harris (the Shadows) | Rick Danko (the Band) | Jack Bruce (Cream) | John Entwistle (the Who) | John Lennon (the Beatles) | George Harrison (the Beatles) | Eric Haydock (the Hollies) | Robert Smith (the Cure) | Robin Guthrie/Simon Raymonde (the Cocteau Twins) | Steve Kilbey (the Church) | Peter Holmstrom (the Dandy Warhols) | John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) | Brian Molko/Stefan Olsdal (Placebo) | Sergio Vega (Deftones) | Wes Montgomery | Doug McCombs (Tortoise) | Dan Auerbach (the Black Keys)