Bass guitar in 1958. 1956 saw the appearance at the German trade fair "Musikmesse Frankfurt" of the distinctive Höfner 500/1 violin bass made using violin construction techniques by Walter Höfner, a second generation violin luthier. The instrument is often known as the "Beatle Bass", due to its endorsement and use by Beatles bassist Paul McCartney. In 1957 Rickenbacker introduced the model 4000 bass, the first bass to feature a neck-through-body design in which the neck is part of the body wood. The Fender and Gibson versions used bolt-on and glued-on necks. With the explosion of the popularity of rock music in the
Vox Bass Guitar for Distortion ("Dance to the Music") and Treble/Bass Boost ("Happy Jack") effects and a 440 Hz LC controlled "E-Tuner" circuit which crossfades with the Volume Control knob. The Apollo bass featured a single neck pickup and a single cutaway design similar to the Gibson ES-135 guitar, and the Vox Distortion and Boost active electronics. It was available in Sunburst or Cherry finishes. The Saturn bass is the identical but without the active electronics. The Panther, Bassmaster and the Hawk were solid body instruments similar in style and neck scale to the Fender Precision Basses (respectively), featuring a rosewood fingerboard on