The change to the guitar form factor and the addition of frets made the instrument much easier to play. Fender's Precision Bass was first sold in 1951, with the single split pickup design that is still widely available (both Fender Precision basses and innumerable copies) being introduced in 1957. Also, the likes of Rickenbacker, Gretsch, National and Epiphone, which have increased less quickly until recently, now seem to be making up for lost time. However, they are relatively quiet compared most other acoustic instruments and many ABGs retain pickups to enable them to function with louder ensembles while still maintaining some of the acoustic characteristics of the sound. See The Violent Femmes' first album for an example of acoustic bass playing in modern rock music. Hendrix played left-handed, so he converted standard right-handed models by restringing them. According to Stephen Stills, Hendrix told him "they play a lot better upside-down." The buzz was Kramer and Jackson in that mid-’80s era. But when George Blanda and Dan Smith came up with the American Standard, it seemed to be the right thing at the right time. The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument similar to an electric guitar but larger in size and with a deeper tone. It is also closely related to the double bass and shares things in common with a range of bass instruments. A new Strat was developed in 1986, unveiled to key dealers, and introduced to critical raves at the January 1987 NAMM trade show. Details included typical features (three-layer pickguard, one-piece maple neck, etc.), plus a small headstock, 4-bolt neck, a 9 1/2” radius fingerboard with jumbo frets, a TBX tone circuit, a redesigned tremolo with two bearing points instead of six screws, flat-polepiece pickups, a hum-reducing, reverse-polarity pickup in the middle position, a silver transition logo, and a urethane finish. Classical.
