Luthiery Laboratories

The Fender Bass VI was a bass for guitarists. It was basically a Jazzmaster body with a 30" short-scale bass neck and six mid-weight strings tuned EADGBE one octave below a guitar, or the same as a bass. The string spacing is such that it can only be played with a pick. You can look up the rest of the details. Danelectro actually invented the Bass VI, they were always willing to try new things while Fender and Gibson were just determined to deepen the rut they were in. Rickenbacker's rut is so deep they can't even see out of it.

The Bass VI got used quite a bit more than people realize. On many Beatles tracks, you're actually hearing John or George pick out the bass line on a Fender Bass VI while Paul does something else, or isn't in the studio at all! The Bass VI and its close cousin the baritone guitar also saw a lot of use in country music, doubling the main bass on "tic-tac" basslines.

On the right is my Bass VI. Six bass strings over-stressed the Stratocaster tremolo. It barely worked, so I blocked it. On the left is the Bass IV, with the bottom four strings of the VI. The modified tremolo works perfectly. Both are custom 30" maple necks on eBay bodies.