Derived from the double bass, which several manufacturers tried to electrify from the 30’s on, the electric bass guitar was created by Audiovox in 1933 and then perfected by Gibson, Rickenbacker, Höfner, and especially Fender in the 50’s and 60’s. Similar to the guitar in form, the original bass guitar had 4 strings stretched over a fretted neck but soon underwent many changes. Today, acoustic basses, acoustic-electrics or electrics, fretted or fretless, 5, 6, 8 and even 12 string bass guitars are not uncommon.
