Fender Precision (1957)
With the 1957 model Leo Fender, together with his collaborators, reinvents the electric bass guitar making important improvements to his creature, first of all the ingenious new magnet that from single coil becomes split coil, that is to say separate coil, two parts of a single pickup to eliminate noise and obtain a deeper sound, then the bridge which, with the new concept of a saddle for each string (another feature that has become universal), allows a better adjustment of the intonation. Also from the aesthetic point of view, decisive changes take place, the headstock takes its soft and sinuous shape borrowed from the Stratocaster, a new pickguard for shape and material (anodized aluminum until the late 1960s) and a different arrangement of the output jack (from side to front).
The 1957 Fender Precision was and is an extremely solid, reliable and versatile instrument. It made the history of the electric bass and music determining with his sound the renewal and affirmation of entire musical genres. This model has continued and continues to be produced, replicated and, above all, copied in countless instances.
Among the infinitely many existing clones, for example, this one by Eko.
EKO VPB100 BK
As we saw in the previous chapter, analyzing the modified 1978 Fender bass model, it is not uncommon to find a P-Bass or a copy of it that features the addition of a single coil pickup near the bridge. This configuration, called P/J, for which you often went to modify your Precision in the eighties, increases the versatility of the sound giving more brilliance, but can generate some problems, which can be eliminated with a suitable shielding, of unwanted hums.
The same Fender produced some models between 1989 and 1992 as part of the Fender Plus and Plus Deluxe series, these Precision had 22 frets (instead of the classic 20 of the Fender tradition), a sturdier Shaller bridge and, in the case of the Deluxe, active magnets (a preamp equalization powered by a 9 volt battery).
In 1995 the Fender Precision Plus Deluxe was replaced by a bass with similar characteristics, the Fender American Deluxe Precision Bass.
Many basses are inspired by Precision with the P/J configuration. One of many, for example, is a model belonging to the Yamaha BB series.
