Fender HMT Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader Ryan Coons saw this on Craigslist and commented, "I've seen my share of Fender basses, but nothing quite like this one."

It's a Made in Japan Fender HMT Bass circa 1989/90, has an F-hole in a Thinline-inspired P-Bass body, an active TBX tone control and a piezo pickup in the fixed acoustic-style bridge. Very unusually for a Fender, it doesn't sport their trademark headstock shape or familiar logo. The name "HMT" and the headstock shape would imply "Heavy Metal", but the f-fole and acoustic pickup/bridge do not quite fit in with this image.

I remember around this period at a music show in London seeing a similar Fender bass, but fretless and with the more usual P-Bass headstock and in natural finish. I guess that was a Japanese-built sibling of the bass we see here. That one I could understand. This one seems to have identity issues.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Jim Hevesy's Hembry "Hevy" doubleneck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader and guitar enthusiast Jim Hevesy tells us about his Hembry doubleneck:

The double neck was built by Scott Hembry in Washington state. I live in Maryland near Washington DC and I found Scott through another guy on E-bay. I sent Scott what I was looking for and he built it for me. When I would play at church, I never knew what other players I might have so I wanted a 4x6. I was on a Telecaster kick so I wanted to see if he could incorporate a ‘fat’ Tele and a Fender P. I used to have a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda muscle car when I was growing up and I always like the plumb crazy color they had. After talking with Scott we decided on "flip/flop" paint that changes from green to purple depending on the light. He also painted a racing stripe on it for me changing the original "Hemi" to "Hevy" which is what most people call me. I sold a bunch of old stuff I had on e-bay and had this made. It is the fattest Tele I have ever heard (add all that wood and metal and what do you expect?) and plays like a dream. Here are some pics of it. One cool one you will see is the back with a reflection of a giant pine tree from the pacific northwest where it was built.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Jim.

We've previously looked at another Hembry doubleneck, this one a double fretted/fretless Jazz Bass style. For more Hembry guitars see www.hembryguitars.com.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Fender Precision Bass with fretless maple neck from 1978

guitarz.blogspot.com:
This fretless Fender Precision Bass from 1978 is a thing of beauty, and I'm saying that even as a non-fan of sunburst finishes. However, I always do a double take when I see a fretless bass with a maple fingerboard instead of the more usual rosewood or preferably ebony. It looks totally weird to my eyes, which isn't to say that it's unattractive.

I think I'd upset a few Fender collectors if I ever got my paws on a bass such as this because the very first thing I'd do would be to rip off the dreadful flatwound strings that people insist on putting on fretless basses and replace them with proper roundwounds.

I know WHY fretless basses got saddled with flatwounds - it's so as not to mark the fingerboard. However, they totally kill the tone. Put roundwounds on and the bass will sing and sound glorious. I'd rather have a bit of fingerboard wear rather than a bass that sounds dead.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Fender Precision Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I'm happy to share today something I just learned yesterday (maybe I'm just dumb and was the only one who didn't know but still it's worth telling) about electric guitar genesis.

Probably even more important that his contribution to solid body guitars, Leo Fender developed the electric bass (invented by Paul Tutmarc in the 30s). But the chronology of it is interesting. The Esquire/Broadcaster/Telecaster guitar came first (1951), then the Precision Bass, for which Leo Fender invented the double-horn design to reduce and balance a bigger body. And this lead to the design of the iconic Stratocaster.

But the P-Bass came first.

Bertram

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Holy bass on eBay

The owner of this Precision bass copy has done a really interesting custom job on it. The quality of the finish looks most professional. I don't care much for the way he's trimmed the body and the headstock, but I do very much like the holes. It could be a companion for my own Feline "Holy Panther" Strat.

And before someone else says it, I'm so glad that he didn't finish it in yellow so it ended up looking like a piece of swiss cheese.

UPDATE: Sold for £156.30.

Fender Tony Franklin Signature Fretless Precision Bass Guitar