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Post subject: strings for 52 p bass
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:06 pm
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hello, anyone know what the original strings were on the 1952 p bass? were they flat wound and what size were they? any help would be appreciated. thanks ber enright


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Post subject: Re: strings for 52 p bass
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:30 am
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They were flatwound strings from the low bidder. Leo Fender was a very thrifty man and would bid out, by today's standards, very small quantities. Think one-hundred sets of strings instead of 25 gross. He was only building hundreds of P-Basses per year at first.

There were no roundwound bass strings until Rotosound introduced the first rounds in 1962 which are still in production today as the Swing Bass 66 set. All basses before that had flatwounds. You couldn't get anything else but flats until 1962. Fender was still putting flats on basses long after 1962, but I'm not exactly sure when Fender switched to rounds.

As to exactly WHAT flatwounds were on the 1951, 52 and 53 Precisions this is only a guess. I have no evidence. But there was a longstanding relationship between Leo Fender and the V.C. Squier Company of Battle Creek, MI.

I suspect that since V.C. Squier won the bids to supply strings for Fender's earliest guitars that Leo Fender would have likely given them a crack at developing the first electric bass strings, at least for the few prototypes. He would not have wanted word to get out what he was specifying, so he would not have talked to a lot of different companies. Probably he would have went to just one that he was already dealing with that he felt would keep it quiet, else lose him as a customer. I really don't think he would have put out a lot of bids on the prototypical electric bass strings. It was sort of a secret at this point after all.

Developing strings to his specifications would not have been a challenge for V.C. Squier as one of the leading string makers in the USA at that time. Then, after having made the prototypical sets they would also be in the best position to supply them in quantity quickly and at a much lower bid than any other maker of the day. All the others would have to do the developmental work which the prototype contractor had already done.

V.C. Squier strings were handmade in Battle Creek, MI and the company had been in business there since 1890 and became the foremost violin string maker in the USA by 1900. (Their primary USA competition was Black Diamond.) V.C. Squier Company broadened first to a wide range of string production for classical orchestral instruments including cellos and basses. By the 1930's they were making strings for about any stringed instrument you could name and quickly developed strings for use on the earliest electric/acoustic (Jazz-Box) guitars in the 1930's.

Leo Fender settled with V.C. Squier also as the first official OEM supplier of strings to be branded as "FENDER" starting in 1963.

Then, through the first two months of 65 Leo Fender finalized a buy out of the V.C. Squier Company lock, stock and barrel. V.C. Squier now was a division of FENDER. When Leo sold FENDER to CBS the V.C. Squier Company went to CBS too since it was a FENDER division.

By 1965 CBS began relocating all guitar/bass string manufacturing to Fullerton and the banjo/mandolin strings would follow in turn and then in 1975 CBS suddenly killed off all remaining Battle Creek production including V.C. Squier Company's still viable violin, acoustic bass and cello string production.

The V.C. Squier brand goes totally dormant until resurrection in 1982, minus the "V.C." as Fender's budget SQUIER line of guitars and basses introduced to compete with Asian knockoffs of USA Fenders.

Thus, it is my best guess that the 51 through at least the 53 Precision bass strings were most likely made by V.C. Squier and in fact most, if not all, of the guitar strings through 1964 and into 1965 were mainly made by V.C. Squier as well. But if someone underbid V.C. Squier on a few orders then Leo Fender would be just the kind of astute businessman looking to save a few dollars here or there that he would go with the lower bid as he figured he was not only saving a dollar or two, but was also keeping a major supplier in line.

Labella's first electric bass string, the 760M's, debuted in 1954. Says so on the package. I'm not sure exactly when they were first used as stock strings on Fender Precisions but I am sure they were used for a while. For Leo Fender to switch makers, either Labella underbid Squier or the Labellas sounded totally amazing. Not sure which, but my money would be on them undercutting V.C. Squier by a few dollars per gross. But just maybe it was both?

Leo Fender was a genius, but unlike some geniuses who have no comprehension of supply and demand, he understood the nature of business. He knew how to get the components and raw materials he needed at the lowest possible cost. That was the purpose of his strategy of bidding out smaller quantities. He knew a really large order would have the appearance of driving up demand which in turn would drive up the cost.


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Post subject: Re: strings for 52 p bass
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:18 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:48 am
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Thanks for the thorough reply. Fender tended to stick with people and companies and develop long-term relationships (note the longevity of George Fullerton at Fender and G&L, despite obvious shortcomings in his managerial abilities, and Fender's nearly symbiotic relationship with Race & Olmstead).

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