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 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) + one 2-Position Slide Switch for a Bass-Cut "Strangle" Circuit.

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.