Bass V

You may know that most of the world’s modern fretted instruments join the body at the 16th fret. Leo Fender and the popularity of the Telecaster and its family finalized and cemented this contract. But did you know that Leo’s last instrument offering to the Fender universe joined the body at the 10th fret and had only fifteen frets total?

Well it did.

Warpage had become a serious problem and was limiting the playability of instruments with longer necks. This is still a problem with most factory produced stringed instruments today yet fashion persists against rational engineering.

The Bass V solved the problem via retreat.

By shortening the neck, body join, and number of frets, (not the scale length mind you, which remained at the established 34”), and adding a higher pitched C string we preserve the range of the instrument but we eliminate the problem of playability clearance in the upper register due to neck ramp/bend. This remains the elephant in the room wearing the emperors clothes with a Cheshire grin and a silent smirk.

The Bass V was Leo Fender’s final offering to the universe. This is my opinion. He also offered up the Mustang at around the same time. Another strange beauty. Nonetheless, only 200 Bass Vs were made between 1965 and 1970 at which point they were discontinued. A commercial disaster.

The Specimen “Bass V” recovers this oddity lost to time. An avenue that could have been taken. An unexpected branch in the modus operandi of instrument design that never reached orthodoxy.

Made with precision, fortitude, and uncompromising standards of fit and finish, every Specimen is a complete story. An archeological statement ready for excavation. An expression that leads into other lifetimes. Those beyond the horizon.