Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI
Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI in Fiesta Red will have you wondering is this a Bass or guitar… Answer is YES and YES and maybe NO!
Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI 6-string Electric Bass VI is a nice recreation of 1963-64 instrument that Fender sent to the Beatles. Sporting an Alder Body, 7.5-inch radius C-carved Maple Neck, slab Rosewood Fingerboard, and 3 Single-coil switchable pickups that allows for any combination of tones PLUS a Bass cut or what is sometimes referred to as a “strangle circuit.”
The Bass VI allows access for rich chords, bass lines, solos, or phrasings which is tuned down an octave from a your six string guitar and is in the territory of a Bass guitar. Oh, did I mention the “wiggle stick” floating vibrato? The Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI comes stock with round wound strings that Fender makes for this instrument. Flat rounds can be installed. I likely will keep these string as I am a guitar player and only play around with Bass.
I doubt the Bass VI would replace you Bass if that is your main instrument and it will likely not replace an electric guitar, but it will give inspiration between the two. Playing the Bass VI thru a guitar amp it tends to sound like a guitar playing lower notes especially on the bridge pickup and the bass-cut on. Connect it to bass amp and sound more like a short scale bass guitar.
Fender American Vintage ’65 Jaguar 24-inch scale (top), Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI 30-inch scale (middle) and American Vintage ’65 Jazzmaster 25.5-inch scale (bottom) from my collection
It’s not a guitar, it’s not a Bass. It is a Fender Bass VI! Unique instrument. Oh it is NOT a Baritone either.
So will this instrument replace a 4-string or 5-string Bass? Well even though it sure can play in the Bass registers it may not for most Bass players. The Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI is a short 30-inch scale (Fender P-Bass or Jazz Bass have 34-inch scales) and the string spacing and string thickness are quite different. It features vintage tall frets (smaller than Fender P-Bass or Jazz Bass) and vintage-style tuning machines. The string spacing and thickness allows players into the big-bend territory, opening up a whole new world of musical fusion in the bass frequency realm.
The Fender VI is a unique instrument and is sometimes confused with a Baritone guitar. Most Baritone guitars have a shorter 27-inch scale as opposed to Bass VI 30-inch scale. Another important difference is the Bass VI is tuned to standard E-A-D-G-B-E tuning (like a guitar) and Baritones guitars are usually tuned either a a perfect fifth (A D G C E A), a perfect fourth (B E A D F♯ B), or a major third lower (C F B♭ E♭ G C). The string size and scale make a huge difference.
The three vintage style pickups are reminiscent of the Fender Jaguar. The body is “off-set” like the Jazzmaster, Jaguar, and some other Fender instruments from the 60s era.
The Fender Bass VI may be best to play with a pick and the strings have a different tension than a standard 34-inch scale 4-string bass. Fingerpicking like on a 6-string guitar is very doable.
Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI
Fender has had an on/off on production of the Bass VI due to its popularity or lack of. For sometime the Fender Bass VI was only available as an expensive Custom Shop model or finding a “vintage” used instrument. However, due to Peter Jackson’s Beatles “Get Back” Documentary this model has reemerged and is cool again. Outselling the P-Bass and Jazz Bass in 2022!
Squier came out with a budget priced Bass VI that makes this instrument more available to masses and guitar players that want to use this on a limited basis. Nothing at all wrong with these. However the Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI costs almost three times the price and is a bit more vintage correct.
Classic Vibe Bass VI
The Squier Bass VI has a 9.5 fret radius, lacks the vibrato lock button and has a much narrower bridge that can lead to some intonation issues. Obviously being more budget minded instrument its build quality and selection of tone woods is a bit lower. The Classic Vibe Bass VI is still a fine guitar.
History
The Fender Bass VI was Leo and company’s answer in 1961 to the innovative Danelectro 6-String Bass called the UB-2 first to brought to market around 1956. The Danelectro Bass VI was uses extensively on country recordings in Nashville many times used to double the upright bass allowing for the “tic-tac” or “click” bass sounds. LA studio musicians used the Bass VI on many recordings and is heard on many surf tunes.
Well known country tunes by Patsy Cline, Ernest Tubb, and others. Duane Eddy and Richie Valens used the “tic-tac” bass sound on their records.
Fender famously sent a truckload of equipment to the Beatles in order to get them to play Fender instruments. These included Fender amps that the Beatles used in the studio, George Harrison quite heavy Rosewood Telecaster he played on the “rooftop” concert. The Fender Bass VI was also give to the Fab Four and John Lennon and George Harrison made good use of the Fender Bass VI. When Paul McCartney was playing guitar or piano (sometimes even drums) it was common for John or George to pickup the Fender Bass VI to play the low notes. This may have been as Paul was lefty and his bass guitars were not easy for them to play. The Fender Bass VI added a fundamentally different vibe such as what is heard on “Helter Skelter.”
Leo Fender and company felt the Bass VI was the next step after creating the P-Bass and the JazzBass. Unfortunately the Bass VI was no where near as successful as the Fender bass guitars. Leo may have been a bit ahead of his time. Fender only shipped 100 per year up to 1965 when Fender sold to CBS. Bass VI stayed in production until 1975. They were reissued in the ‘90s including the very nice Fender Japan Bass VI that sold fairly well.
The Bass VI did however fill a nice niche and many famous and hit records where created using one. Some famous ones would be on several Beatles tracks on the White Album and Abbey Road.
Cream’s first album saw Jack Bruce playing a Fender Bass VI and well as The Who’s John Entwistle. One of the most famous tracks for the Bass VI that was a perfect melodic use was Glen Campbell on 1968 recording (and some live performances) of Wichita Lineman.
Here is Glen Campbell playing a nice Fiesta Red Fender Bass VI on the old Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968!
Loads of Surf tunes and Beach Boy hits featured the Bass VI. Rick Danko (The Band), Randy Bachman, Jet Harris, Klaus Voorman (while with Manfred Mann) and the original bass player Eric Haydock with the Hollies all played Bass VI at times. Even Hank Marvin (The Shadows) dabbled with one.
Great Review on the Bass VI by YouTuber Rhett Shull below
Nice comparison from one of my favorite YouTubers “Ask Zac”
The Cure’s Robert Smith, Andy Pyle (Blodwyn Pig), Peter Hook, Johnny Marr, and a few other bands are known to use a Bass VI. So modern players have also discovered the Bass VI as well.
Some examples for Bass VI:
Fender Vintera II ’60s Bass VI Features:
- Offset alder body brings out the resonant low end
- Maple neck with mid-’60s “C” shape for comfortable grip along its length
- 30-inch scale length with rosewood fingerboard featuring 21 vintage-tall frets
- Rosewood fingerboard with 7.25-inch radius ready for chords, bass lines
- 6-saddle vintage-style adjustable “floating” tremolo tailpiece for rad bends
- 3 vintage-style Bass VI single-coils bring sweet and sparkling plus warm and woody tones
- 3 pickup on/off switches plus low-cut switch
- Fender gig bag included