VG Overdrive is sponsored by SonoTone Premium Guitar & Bass Strings! 1957 Musicmaster with custom black finish. Guitar photos courtesy of George Gruhn. Often forgotten amongst Fender’s classic line of vintage electric guitars, the definitive (and diminutive) Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic student-grade models were conceived to capitalize on the fact teenagers were taking up the guitar in droves. As a product of the '70s (with a brief reissue in 1997 headed by Squier), the Fender Musicmaster Bass is a shorter-scale, stripped-down version of the Fender Mustang Bass. Compare prices on Fender Musicmaster Bass Guitars on Reverb.com.
The Fender Musicmaster bass was a new instrument for the 1970s, being launched in the second half of the first year of the decade. The bass pictured is completely typical example of an early Musicmaster. Have a look at the 1972 Fender catalogue, which has an almost identical guitar pictured. The only real difference is the position of the thumbrest, but then, this catalogue does re-use the image from the 1970 catalogue - the first appearance of the Fender Musicmaster bass.
The Musicmaster was Fender's least expensive bass model (in 1973, it had a list price of $139.50, compared to $293.50 for the Precision), and with the shorter 30' was scale perfect for student musicians. It was an easy-playing good quality, solid, reliable bass. Although very simple, it does have some sturdy components, especially the bridge, and was certainly a more substantial instrument than many other 'entry-level' basses.
Although a good functioning bass, it could perhaps be considered a little limited tonally, having only one single-coil pickup. This was scratchplate mounted in a fairly central position, resulting in a pretty gritty midrange sound (listen to soundclips here) with just the usual tone and one volume controls to give a little variation - for the right band how much more would you need? Can you league of legends on mac.
Fender Musicmaster bass soundclips
Www.musicmaster.com
Here are some soundclips of this bass through a few of my favourite vintage bass amps: Did roy orbison sing wicked game.
Vintage Guitar Soundclip:
1973 Fender Musicmaster bass
through a
1964 Ampeg B-15N
Recorded with a Shure SM57 microphone, into an M-audio mobile pre USB interface.
Amp settings volume 5/10, treble 5/10, bass 5/10.
Bass has Labella Deep Talkin' flatwound bass strings.
more vintage guitar soundclips Propellerhead reason 6 free for mac.
Volume 10, tone control 10
Funk with the odd slap and pop - then a straight walking jazz/blues bass. Both played fingerstyle.Played with a pick - some real punch for more aggressive basslines.
Volume 10, tone control rolled down to 0
Fingerstyle. About as fat as it gets on a Fender Musicmaster.Played with a hard pick right down at the bridge. Nice.
Musicmaster 7