1963 Fender Bass VI
1963 Fender Bass VI
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100% original 1963 Bass VI in Olympic White with a "6MAR63A" neck stamp! Notably used by legendary artists including Jack Bruce of Cream, John Lennon, John Paul Jones, John Entwistle, Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, and the Cure, these oddball guitar/bass hybrids are tuned a full octave below the guitar and work well as standard basses or as an offbeat creative tool with a wide range of sounds available thanks to the switchable PU configuration. This example is in fantastic overall condition with some buckle wear, dings, and finish discoloration from age/use. Plays smooth with a comfortable medium C-neck profile capped with a lovely, thick Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard and sounds fantastic producing a warm and well-rounded sound with charming Fender single-coil qualities. This vintage Bass VI is Ready to be played or added to your collection! Includes original hardshell case.
"For my money, the Fender Bass VI might be the most intriguing and agnostic model released during the pre-CBS era. Is it a guitar? Maybe. Is it a bass? Who’s to say? It’s a solid body offset but is certainly more than just a baritone Jaguar; sports a trio of single coils, but is in no way a Strat. The Fender VI is everything and nothing, all at once. This ambiguity has caught the interest of many influential musicians over the years, and opened the door for the VI to become a formidable studio tool on many classic records. It has been a favorite of John Lennon, John Paul Jones, John Entwistle, John Frusciante, as well as dozens of musicians not named John.
The VI was made to be tuned to EADGBE, but a full octave down from our standard guitar variation. This of course flattened the learning curve to nearly zero for most guitarists, and made the model a no-brainer for those looking to beef up their lower registers.
This stunning Olympic white example has remained 100% untouched, now into its 60th year of faithful service. While the VI is definitive its own model, you might recognize many of the components from other Fender models of the period. The pickups would have come directly off the Jaguar assembly line and has a similar control layout on the treble side upper bout. The control plate itself would look right at home on the (at the time) newly released Jazz Bass. The bridge assembly and floating vibrato tailpiece, very unusual for a bass, came right from the Jazzmaster’s playbook. Only a few hundred of these monsters were built prior to the CBS takeover in 1965, and only a tiny percentage of these have remained unmodified. Even though the model has seen a resurgence in the form of several Fender/Squier reissues, there really is no comparison to the real thing."
