Anybody can put their story on this thread, I'm sure there are some interesting stories out there.....I was asked by a friend if I had posted my story on the TBDB forum, and I told him that maybe in bits and pieces I had, so here it is:
Anyway, my DB was in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu when I came to own it. I was playing the old Hammond organ in the Church of God that we were attending in Ewa Beach, and also playing my violin, mandolin or flute on occasion. At that time, I was a 2nd class petty officer in the Navy, working in the main propulsion plant, my rating was Boiler Technician. Anyway, on with the story, this was 1977-78, my wife and I became friends with another couple in the church that liked bluegrass music. He played the guitar, and was a Navy 2nd class machinists mate (also propulsion engineering), but he had qualified as a 2nd class diver and worked in underwater repairs to ships. He was on shore duty stationed at the Naval Weapons Depot with an EOD unit, and he and his wife lived in Army housing at Schofield Barracks Army base. In his job, he had access to the Navy salvage lot and ran across this old bass violin. Now, most items in the Navy salvage lot are destined for destruction rather than re-use, so with the blessings of at least one of his superiors he took the bass home planning to learn how to play it. Neither he nor his wife were able to figure it out, and quickly gave it up, so it sat and collected dust and cockroaches.
When we had them over for lunch one Sunday and broke out the instruments, his wife noticed that I had a little two manual with bass pedals electric organ. It was a Sears Stereophonic reed organ, not electronic, but she really liked it. I had just made a bench for it out of Narra (Phillippine mahogany) at the wood hobby shop on Hickam AFB next door, so I had close to $80.00 spent on the organ and bench. They told me they had wanted a little organ like that and had a Kay bass that they'd trade for it if I wanted it. Well, they brought the bass over, I didn't even have to think twice about it, they left with the organ, I kept the bass. It came with a German bow that I still use, gut strings, and a bridge that had never been properly fitted, the strings were real high. It was great for slap bass at the time and not much else.
Over the years that I've owned it, I've replaced the bridge (doing that again too),the strings twice, refinished it (that's also going to happen again) re-glued the neck (bass dropped in our house in Pacific Beach CA, in Navy housing and seperated the neck from the body), and got two gig bags for it. I've played it more for fun than money, I've rarely ever made money playing my instruments. I played in a community orchestra in San Diego, CA, I play in a community style orchestra here in MN, it's the Heartland Symphony (they've got a web site, it's
http://www.heartlandsymphony.org/ ), if you'd like to see our orchestra. I also play in the Geritol Frolics pit orchestra (and get paid), it's an all retiree venue of performers on stage 55 and up, but those of us in the orchestra aren't all over 55. I make that milestone this year. One other venue I play in is the David Riley Orchestra where we play mainly big band music. You can google Geritol Frolics and read about that, it's a lot of fun!
Anyway, my bass is a C-1 3/4 size plywood, originally ordered for the Navy band in Hawaii as far as I can tell, though it has no identifiers to connect it to the military. I still need to actually measure it, but every conductor I've had is really impressed by it, in fact our last conductor teaches bass at St. Cloud State University, is their principal bassist, and thought very well of my bass. In comparison to the other Kay basses I played in school, it seems larger and really sounds much better too. Of course that could all be in the set-up and I do my own, I'm my own luthier.
That's my story, maybe I'll buy another bass someday if I run across one and the money is there, who knows?
How I came to own my very own DB 
