Fender HMT Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader Ryan Coons saw this on Craigslist and commented, "I've seen my share of Fender basses, but nothing quite like this one."

It's a Made in Japan Fender HMT Bass circa 1989/90, has an F-hole in a Thinline-inspired P-Bass body, an active TBX tone control and a piezo pickup in the fixed acoustic-style bridge. Very unusually for a Fender, it doesn't sport their trademark headstock shape or familiar logo. The name "HMT" and the headstock shape would imply "Heavy Metal", but the f-fole and acoustic pickup/bridge do not quite fit in with this image.

I remember around this period at a music show in London seeing a similar Fender bass, but fretless and with the more usual P-Bass headstock and in natural finish. I guess that was a Japanese-built sibling of the bass we see here. That one I could understand. This one seems to have identity issues.

G L Wilson

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