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
Eight-string bass guitar are usually fretted; however, fretless 8-string basses have been known to exist, though would usually be a custom make. Though once rare, many well-known guitar manufacturers now make 8-string basses commercially available, such as Dean Guitars, ESP Guitars, Hamer Guitars, Schecter Guitars, Washburn Guitars, Rickenbacker and Hagström among others. Warmoth Guitars also offers an 8-string conversion neck that allows a normal 4-string, 34" scale bass to be converted to 8 strings. Often, the 8-string bass guitar is played with a plectrum so to have a better attack and to increase the 'ringing' of the higher-register strings, but is not essential.