A kid who wants to play bass usually gets pointed at a full-size instrument built for adult hands, and the reach alone can end the interest before the first song sticks. Fender and Loog built the other way in. Their Precision Bass shrinks the 1951 original down to a 21.6-inch scale with three strings, real wood, and one pickup, and it sells for $229.
This is Loog’s first bass, and it arrives with the 75th anniversary of the Precision Bass, the first mass-produced electric bass. Loog kept the shape, the headstock, and the hardware layout of the original and cut everything a small player does not need yet. What is left still plugs into a real amp and still sounds like a bass, because it is one.
Price: $229.00
Where to buy: Loog
Three strings and a short scale that fits small hands
Loog’s signature setup runs three standard bass strings tuned E, A, and D, the three lowest strings on a regular four-string bass. A child learns real notes in real positions from the first day, and the narrower fretboard means small hands can actually wrap around the neck instead of stretching across it.
Fewer strings also means fewer decisions. There is one pickup, one volume knob, and a standard quarter-inch output jack, so a new player spends the first weeks on rhythm and notes rather than settings. When that player outgrows the format, the tuning and the technique carry straight over to a full-size four-string.
Size is the whole point, and adults are not excluded from it. Loog pitches the compact body as a travel-friendly bass for grown players too, and at this scale it fits in places a standard Precision Bass never will. For families, though, the fit is simpler: a child can hold it correctly, reach every fret, and play in tune.
Built like a real bass because it is one
Nothing about the construction is toy grade. The body is real wood, the strings are standard bass strings, and the single pickup delivers the round, plain low end the Precision Bass has traded on since 1951. It is a quiet looking circuit, and that is the right call for a first instrument.
Fender’s side of the design shows most clearly at the top. The headstock is the authentic Fender shape, carrying both the Fender script and Loog’s mark, with three cloverleaf tuners sized to the three-string layout. A kid holding this bass is holding a small Precision Bass, not a novelty shaped like one.
Four finishes and one limited edition
White Blonde leads the line, inspired by the finish on the 1951 original, and it is the one to pick for the full anniversary effect. Candy Apple Red and Sea Foam Green cover the brighter end of the Fender catalog, and both read well against the white pickguard and maple neck.
The fourth finish is a limited edition Hello Kitty Black, sold through Loog’s own store and select retailers. It keeps the same hardware and the same three-string layout under a black body with the Hello Kitty graphic on the front. Limited finishes on kids’ instruments tend to move fast, and this one has the strongest gift logic of the four.
The app and the activity book do the teaching
Every bass ships with access to the Loog Guitar app, which carries video lessons and game-like exercises built around the three-string format. A dedicated bass section joins the app in mid-November, so early buyers get the guitar-side lessons first and the bass material follows within weeks.
A Fender-inspired activity book rides in the box too, packed with games, trivia, and creative challenges drawn from Fender’s history. It sounds like a small extra until a family is three weeks in and the practice routine needs a screen-free push. Paper, in this case, does real work.
Loog started as founder Rafael Atijas’s master’s thesis project at New York University before a 2011 Kickstarter turned it into a company, and the learning system has been the product ever since. “Launching Loog’s first bass alongside the 75th anniversary of the Precision Bass is especially meaningful,” Atijas said. “It’s also full circle for me, since bass was the first instrument I played at 13.”
Price: $229.00
Where to buy: Loog
At $229, the Fender x Loog Precision Bass is the rare starter instrument that does not ask a child to compromise on the instrument itself. It gives up the fourth string and the long scale, keeps the sound, the shape, and the name, and leaves a young player with skills that transfer the day a full-size bass enters the picture. For a family with a kid already humming bass lines, this is the easy first step.
