<P> In the 1930s , musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle , Washington , who was manufacturing lap steel guitars , developed the first electric string bass in its modern form , a fretted instrument designed to be played horizontally . The 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc 's electronic musical instrument company , Audiovox , featured his `` Model 736 Bass Fiddle '' , a four - stringed , solid - bodied , fretted electric bass instrument with a 30 ⁄ - inch ( 775 - millimetre ) scale length . The adoption of a guitar 's body shape made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments . The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily than on fretless acoustic or electric upright basses . Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period . </P>
<P> In the 1930s , musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle , Washington , who was manufacturing lap steel guitars , developed the first electric string bass in its modern form , a fretted instrument designed to be played horizontally . The 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc 's electronic musical instrument company , Audiovox , featured his `` Model 736 Bass Fiddle '' , a four - stringed , solid - bodied , fretted electric bass instrument with a 30 ⁄ - inch ( 775 - millimetre ) scale length . The adoption of a guitar 's body shape made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments . The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily than on fretless acoustic or electric upright basses . Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period . </P>
who was the inventor of the electric bass
who was the inventor of the electric bass
Paul Tutmarc
Paul Tutmarc