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Cheap bass changed my life!!!

#21
Great story, man. I got my first bass like 3 weeks ago. I'm a drummer at heart, but something about the bass really captivated me and I just can't stop playing.

Anyway, my family is going through harsh financial times right now, so they couldn't afford a birthday present for me. I understood and I'm a minimalist person so it was fine. My friends, however, decided that I needed a present on my 15th birthday so a good handful of them pitched in to buy me this cheap bass that took me a while to find out the brand. It was the Austin Bazaar EB43-TB model. Best present I ever got, hands down. One of the best birthdays I've had too.
 
#22
Mine was a Peavey Milestone II :) Played that bass for years and it was fantastic. I just recently used it's body with the neck of an old Washburn bass that I have and turned it into a Franken P (added some custom Lindy Fralin's :D)

Wouldn't trade my old cheap basses in for anything!!!
 
#23
My mom got me my first bass even after my dad telling her not to since I already owned a guitar and he wanted me to play that. She ordered me the Single Soapbar pickup dean and I was enamored with it! Still have it!
This was like...6 or 7 years ago.
I remember her lying to me about it not arriving. I would call home everyday from school asking if the bass had been delivered and everyday she'd reply in the negative. Then one afternoon I got home and went into my room and there lied a giant cardboard box! Oh man! It was a great day!
 
#25
I don't know if this pic showed up or not, if it did this is the same exact bass but mine was black. I kept the bass until the final days of my senior year. I sold to to another kid wanting to learn to play. I now wish that i had kept it. The bass had seen better days as I pretty much packed it back and forth to school everyday for jazz band and to all of the b-ball home games we played at and all of the jamming sessions with fellow musicians. The neck toward the end became so bowed and you couldn't adjust the truss rod anymore. I lasted me a good five years and took alot of abuse. Just a side note. I am a proud owner of a Squier C.V. Jazz and 60's p. I got the Jazz as a scratch and dent for about $260 and I traded a spare guitar even for the 60's P. Both are wonderful instruments and I am not ashamed at all to tell people that I play a Squier. Also, I have pics of the actual Harmony that I owned but they are all of me with it and I am not about to post my ugly mug on here.
 
#28
Deja vue 2x :p

I got a Harmony P bass way, way back in HS - black/black/maple and they do weigh a ton. My Hondo double cutout wa so much lighter to learn on; odd thing is I still have them both, but in horrid shape.

I haven't played in 25 years. So I thought I'd buy a newer one and ended up getting an Austin Bazaar bass (purple) two weeks ago; so much lighter than the Harmony - and harmonics sustain foreverrrrrr it seems :bassist:
 
#31
Man, that just shows you how most of us (including me) got started bass. I started when I was about 10 and I got a cheap beginners package with a Hartke SB-15 P/J Bass and a 15W B150 Amp, since then I've had multiple basses but that amp is the bomb, I still use it when I feel like it, it just has a wonderful tone, and gives a great power to me when I play. But it's obviously no comparison to the GK stack I have nowadays, but still, it's lasted me this long! :D

It still just amazes me that I had wanted to play bass just suddenly, but I had a really expensive piano that my parents wanted me to play, but I really wanted bass, and even when on countless birthdays I asked for one, I never got it. When I turned 10, I asked a bunch, and the day came, and my mom said, "You know your not getting what you wanted, Right?", and I was shocked. I went to school, and came back, I waited till my dad got home and he brought down a huge cardboard box, and my mom said, "I meant the one you wanted." ;D

memories galore....
 
#32
milkman-27 said:
I was looking at some old high school photos the other day, alot of which were with me and my first bass. It was a cheap Harmony P copy that I got for Christmas when I was
13. Just 6 months prior to that I never had any thoughts of being a musician until one night the Kiss meets the phantom of the park(or something like that) movie came on T.V. The opening credits were accompanied by Rock and Roll all Night and scenes of all of the members playing the song. I still remember it like it was yesterday, when I saw Gene Simmons playing his bass something inside me just clicked and from that moment on all I wanted to do was play bass. When the Holidays drew closer I asked my grandmother for a bass for Christmas. She wasn't to sure about it as she thought I would lose interest quickly but when Christmas Eve came she gave me the biggest present that I had ever recieved. I had an idea what is was, but when I unwrapped the present I was actually in shock for a few moments. I was in absolute awe of the J.C. Pennys $89 Harmony bass that my grandmother bought for me. I kept that bass until I graduated high school were I played it (along with a Peavey bass I got a few years later) in my high school jazz band and in several garage bands with friends. To some of you it might sound like a cheap piece of junk, but that $89 bass was a pivotal part of my life and helped shape me into who I am today. It gave me confidence that I didn't have at the time and it sure helped keep me out of alot of trouble that I probably would have gotten into. Why I posted this I am not sure, I guess just to tell my story that a $89 Christmas present was one of the best things to happen to me and I will ever be thankful to a loving Grandma who encouraged a young boy to follow a dream.
Click to expand...

Right on....
 
#33
robkphoto said:
It's funny how small things that push you in one direction or another can have MASSIVE consequences years down the road.
Click to expand...

You bet!

When I played acoustic, then electric rhythm, then bass in a couple garage bands, I was always the guy that figured out the electronics problems, what "fuzz box" to buy, the right wah pedal, how to get rid of ground hum, why isn't this cable working, etc.

Became an electrical engineer. 40 years ago.

You should see the size of "rigs" I build for DoD.:ninja:

SO a year ago, I started my mental planning for retirement in a few years....guess where I decided to take up where I left off?:bassist:
 
#34
This is an awesome story. THANKS GRANDMA!

I was really interested in DJing back in high school and with my first paycheck from my first job I bought 2 turntables and a mixer and taught myself to scratch records. After a lot of practice and a nightly gig at a local bar a band got in touch with me and we did nu-metal stuff for about 5 years. After that we split up but I became best friends with our guitar player and since then I have picked up bass. My first was a traben array 4 then a traben choas obsession 5. We got a new band going and I honestly love playing bass.

Since then my son has picked up bass his first was a dean 4 string he saved up his own money for. He is now in jazz band in 8th grade. He played last year in 7th grade a year before they are supposed to let kids in jazz band play bass.

Its great music is so worth the hassle of band politics because in the end when you are playing a tune and its clicking nothing can give you that feeling.

Great story bro. Happy banging.

Mooch
 
#35
tight.still have my first bass,my dad bought it for me.i could never get rid of that bass,i learned almost everything i know on it.it'll probably be there still in ten years,a $179 bass, sitting there with a bunch of basses that cost over a grand...
 
#36
I barely knew what a bass was when I bought my first one, a '78 Fender Musicmaster short-scale in black with a b/w/b pickguard. I just knew I wanted to be in a band so I waltzed into that music store as a gangly 13-year-old kid and said, "I don't want to play guitar, drums, or keyboard, so what's left?" The clerk kind of looked at me funny and handed me that bass. I bought it on the spot for $125.00 and never looked back.
 

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