Fender Bass VI

The Fender Bass VI, originally known as the Fender VI, is a six-string electric bass guitar made by Fender.

Design concept and history

The Fender VI was released in 1961, and followed the concept of the Danelectro six-string bass released in 1956, having six strings tuned E to E, an octave below the Spanish guitar. Its other ancestor was the Fender Jazzmaster, with which it shared styling and technical details, notably the Fender floating tremolo. The Bass VI had a similar but not identical body to the Jazzmaster.

It departed from the concept of the Fender Precision Bass in having six strings, a shorter scale and thinner strings, and a mechanical vibrato arm. The Bass VI never caught on to the extent that the four string Precision Bass and its derivatives did. The model was discontinued in 1975.

Reissue

In 2006, the Fender Custom Shop released a recreation of the Bass VI, featuring three single-coil pickups and identical electronics. This format was previously available as a 1962 vintage reissue model made by Fender Japan in 1995.