Rare Candy Apple Red Bass Vl

This "Candy Apple Red" custom color 1963 Bass VI weighs in at just 8.90 lbs. Offset asymmetrical solid alder body and matching Candy Apple Red headstock. Maple neck with a veneer Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 21 original medium frets and clay dot position markers. Individual Kluson 'single-line' Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons (stamped "D-169400/Patent No." on the underside). This guitar has an "A" neck with a nut width of just over 1 1/2 inches and a short bass scale length of 30 inches. Single "butterfly" string with nylon spacer. Headstock decal with "Fender VI" logo in gold with black trim and "Electric Bass Guitar" and three patent numbers in black below it. Small circular "Offset Contour Body" decal on the ball end of the headstock. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number "L70852" between the top two screws. Three Jaguar-style (white six-polepiece) pickups with serrated chrome surrounds and outputs of 6.43k, 6.28k, and 6.34k. Three-layer (white/black/white) ABS plastic pickguard with bevelled edge and fourteen screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and jack input on lower metal plate adjoining pickguard and four two-way pickup selector switches (one for each pickup, the fourth being a 'frequency' switch) all on a metal plate inset into the pickguard. Seven-sided black plastic knobs with white markings, stamped on the underside "S 647". Six-saddle bridge with adjustable mute and separate vibrato tailpiece. The neck is stamped "6 MAY 63A" and the potentiometers are stamped "304 6512" (Stackpole, March 1965). Complete with the original tremolo arm with white plastic tip. This super rare custom color Bass Vl is in excellent plus (8.75) condition. There is a large area on the bottom edge of the body where the finish is worn/chipped away. There are also a few small surface chips/marks on the back and sides of the body. The face of the headstock has a few surface chips on the edges and there is a cigarette burn? just by the low 'E' tuner peg. There is some varnish loss on the sides of the neck simply due to playing, however the original frets and fretboard show very little sign of wear. There is some finish checking but overall this is one of the best Candy Apple Red Bass Vl's that we have seen. Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with black leather ends and burnt orange plush lining (8.50).

The Fender Bass Vl was produced in very small numbers, usually to special order. On this very fine example the 'veneer' Brazilian rosewood neck (with clay dots) is dated May, 1963, yet the electronics are dated March 1965. It was quite common for the factory to have "unused" completed parts "lying about," which explains the disparity between the neck date of May 1963 and the potentiometer dates of March 1965. In our opinion the guitar was probably manufactured in 1963 but had the electronics fitted just prior to being shipped in 1965. Nothing has ever been altered or changed on this guitar and all of the solder joints are totally original. In fact we have now handled three custom-color Bass Vl's - all with the same neck date of "6 MAY 63A" and all with similar pot dates (Burgundy Mist, Serial # L98109, and Sea Foam Green, serial # 147725 - both with pots dated the same week of July 1965).

Jet Harris of The Shadows played a Fender Bass VI. His first solo single was a six-string Fender Bass VI guitar version of the Latin standard "Besame Mucho" (May 1962). The follow up to "Besame Mucho," again featuring the Bass VI, was Elmer Bernstein's "Main Title Theme" from "The Man with the Golden Arm" (No. 17 in September 1962). His other big hits included "Diamonds" (No. 1 in February 1963), "Scarlett O'Hara" (No. 2 in May 1963), and "Applejack" (No. 9 in September 1963). Other players include Jack Bruce, Graham Maby, Robert Smith of The Cure and Eric Haydock of The Hollies. Curiously, George Harrison and John Lennon played a Bass Vl on "Hey Jude", "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road". Peter Green made extensive use of the Fender Bass Vl as a solo instrument during his live performances of "The Green Manalishi" with Fleetwood Mac from 1969-1970. Noel Redding used one when he played with The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Robert Smith from The Cure uses one in writing many Cure Albums, Disintegration for example. Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 and +44 used two Bass Vl's on the writing and recording of Blink 182 and during live shows. And finally, one of my personal favorite Jazz/Fusion bassists, Roy Babbington who played with The Soft Machine from 1973-1976. Roy often coupled the guitar with a fuzz box and a wah-wah pedal - take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njVcutKBPTo

"After noting the popularity of the Danelectro 6-string bass (tuned EADGBE, like a guitar, but an octave lower) in the Nashville studios, Leo decided to build his own version. He introduced the Fender Bass VI in 1961. The original version looked vaguely like a Jazz Bass but had a 30" scale length, three pickups, and three sliding switches that allowed seven different pickup combinations. That wasn't enough for Leo, apparently, so a year later he added a fourth switch -- the so-called 'strangle switch' that cut low frequencies. The pickups were also modified and a mute added. The Bass VI was never very popular, but it remained in the catalog until 1975 and was later revived, in a Japanese-made reissue, in 1995" (Jim Roberts, American Basses, p. 55).

"Every musician will readily recognize the potential of the New Fender six-string Bass Guitar inasmuch as it offers an entirely 'new sound' to every playing group. Tuned one octave below the standard guitar, numerous new tone combinations are made possible with three full range pickups. The circuit incorporates three two position switches enabling the player to select the pickups individually or in any combination. In addition, a tone control positioned adjacent to the volume control permits further tone modifications of any selector position. The Bass Guitar is a fine addition to the Fender line and answers the demand for a high-quality six-string bass" (July 1961 Namm Daily advertisement in J.W. Black and Albert Molinaro, The Fender Bass, p. 31).