Fender Precision Bass - Standard - Sunburst
The first guitar style electric bass was developed by Paul Tutmarc from Seattle. His company, Audiovox, sold a solid body, 4 stringed fretted electric bass, which was simple to transport, compared to the normal standing bass.
No further development took place until the 1950s when Leo Fender and George Fullerton developed the first mass produced electric bass, the Fender Precision Bass. The first bass player to use the Fender Precision Bass while touring was Monk Montgomery of Lion Hampton’s big band.
Roy Johnson and Shifty Henry were other early Fender Precision Bass users, and so was Bill Black, who played with Elvis Presley.
The Gibson company produced the EB-1 Bass in 1953, a violin shaped instrument, and in 1959 they followed with the EB-0 Bass, a more conventional looking instrument, looking a bit like the Gibson-SG guitar.
A few other companies produced bass guitars in the 1950s among them Kay, Danelectro, Hofner and Rickenbacker.
When the rising popularity of rock music in the 1960s, a lot of companies started to produce bass guitars, although till today the Fender Precision Bass is still a favorite with many bass players.