That day Fender added a 6th string to its JazzBass with Steve Bailey
In 2009, Fender must have been one the few guitar builders that did skip that innovation : the 6 string bass. As the 5th had taken a long long time to be integrated to the standard line of Precision and JazzBass series, the 6th was still missing at that time until Fender and Steve Bailey decided to release a signature 6 string JazzBass in two versions : one fretted, the other fretless.
A radical new design ?
The Fender’s Steve Bailey Jazz Bass VI® is a monster of a bass. It's a phenomenal bass with an almost limitless tonal palette: from singing cello-like tones to the seismic low end of the B string.
It features a select alder body, a quartersawn maple neck with asymmetrical profile, two-octave compound-radius (9.5”-14”) ebony fingerboard, some custom Fender® pickups, a 18-volt active electronics, an onboard mute switch and active EQ typical from the most professional series by Fender at that time. You can tell that the sleek JazzBass design has been deeply adapted to keep the instrument balanced. The Steve Bailey's Fender model weighs 10lb/5kg which is as heavy as it gets. The headstock is a bit larger than the original (2" nut vs 1.5") but overweighted by the 6 tuning keys. It was produced for two years only. Not sure Fender was the adequate brand to promote that kind of bass dedicated to ultra experimented and technically skilled bass players (like Ibanez or Yamaha). To this day, this is the only 6 string bass ever produced by Fender with a traditional design (the first one was part of the Heartfield line - exclusive to the Japanese market - the DR6, which looks like the Yamaha TRB-6). They had to conceive a special set of strings and pickups for this occasion.
"Atypical" is the word, but some other signature basses made their way between traditional design and the artist's personality. That was the case for Roscoe Beck and his 5 string double humbucker Dimension-look alike, or Stu Hamm 3-pickup medium scale bass.
The Roscoe Beck's Fender
Stu Hamm's Fender
About Steve Bailey
Steve Bailey is considered as a bassist’s bassist. He's been recording and performing with an impressive list of artists, like Dizzy Gillespie, Jethro Tull and as a solo artist. He's mostly identified as a fretless player with a large tonal palette due to his 6 string use. His technique is impressive, considered as extreme.
Have a look at his "Bass Extremes" performance with bass player virtuoso Victor Wooten!
Comments