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Do you still have your very first bass?
- Thread starter Definitely
- Start date
A friend lent me my first bass, I eventually managed to buy it from him some years back. Hohner headless 'the jack' in black, passive. Safely, In its original case, in storage 
I still have my 1999 squier P bass. I basically trashed it as hard as I could so that my parents would buy me a real fender as a step up.
Their reasoning was "if he wears out his first one, then it means he's gonna keep playing" so wear it out was exactly what I did.
Their reasoning was "if he wears out his first one, then it means he's gonna keep playing" so wear it out was exactly what I did.
My first was a pawn shopp'd Ibanez SR200... and despite me selling it/giving it away a few times, I've always gotten it back somehow. My basement flooded last week and the bass was laying in 4inches of water... plugged it in and it was completely fine. I can't kill it!
Kind of a long story, but here goes:
The very first bass I played was back in 1979,and it was a friend's 1974 Jazz Bass. Wonderful instrument. My friend sold it in the mid 1980's but always regretted it, and was fortunate enough to buy it back in the 90's from the guy he sold it to ( although it cost him WAY more than he sold it for).
Sadly, my friend passed away two years ago on January due to cancer. His family wanted to sell the bass, I contacted the best guys in the UK for selling vintage basses and, as they are good mates of mine and knew the story of my friend's condition, said they'd not charge the usual sales commission. I contacted my friend's wife to tell her the story and give her the estimated sale price for the (all original) bass. She then said she was glad it was me who contacted her, as Jimmy (my friend) had said that if I had shown any interest in the bass, he ideally wanted me to have it. I explained that I wasn't in s position at that to buy a bass of that value. However, she said "no Kevin, you misunderstand, we want you to have it - this is a gift to you".
I was incredibly touched by this act. So I now own the very first bass I ever played, which set the foundation for a lifelong love of playing bass. The instrument ays and sounds amazing. In fact, my friend Paul Turner (Jamiroquai, Annie Lennox, etc) has it on loan and I'm struggling to get it back!! Hahaha
The very first bass I played was back in 1979,and it was a friend's 1974 Jazz Bass. Wonderful instrument. My friend sold it in the mid 1980's but always regretted it, and was fortunate enough to buy it back in the 90's from the guy he sold it to ( although it cost him WAY more than he sold it for).
Sadly, my friend passed away two years ago on January due to cancer. His family wanted to sell the bass, I contacted the best guys in the UK for selling vintage basses and, as they are good mates of mine and knew the story of my friend's condition, said they'd not charge the usual sales commission. I contacted my friend's wife to tell her the story and give her the estimated sale price for the (all original) bass. She then said she was glad it was me who contacted her, as Jimmy (my friend) had said that if I had shown any interest in the bass, he ideally wanted me to have it. I explained that I wasn't in s position at that to buy a bass of that value. However, she said "no Kevin, you misunderstand, we want you to have it - this is a gift to you".
I was incredibly touched by this act. So I now own the very first bass I ever played, which set the foundation for a lifelong love of playing bass. The instrument ays and sounds amazing. In fact, my friend Paul Turner (Jamiroquai, Annie Lennox, etc) has it on loan and I'm struggling to get it back!! Hahaha
A Hondo P-copy was my first as well. Got it in 2007, and took until late 2010 to finish finding parts for it. I didn't have the luxury of having split P pickups so it took awhile to find a humbucker that fit and worked well. Still have it, and she's undergoing surgery in a few weeks for some electronics upgrades.
I still have my first. I'll never get rid of it. It was given to me by the guy that introduced me to bass. It's a frankenbass, nicknamed The Frankencaster, or Big Frank for short. But the sounds that come off this thing are unreal. Plus it's so comfy! Here's a pic of him.
And one of him post op. Got the nek pickup replaced with a Seymour Duncan SPB-2 and the bridge pickup replaced with a Seymour Duncan SRB-1, their version of the 400 series Rick pickup. Sounds like an absolute monster now!
And one of him post op. Got the nek pickup replaced with a Seymour Duncan SPB-2 and the bridge pickup replaced with a Seymour Duncan SRB-1, their version of the 400 series Rick pickup. Sounds like an absolute monster now!
It was a cheap plywood Jazz copy, 20 years ago. I don't still have it but I didn't sell it, I set fire to it.
I'm jealous of everyone's first basses! They're so awesome!
I don't own my first bass in it's original form, it was a First Act starter bass my parents picked up from WalMart when I was younger(I'm 19). However, over my experience with tinkering, I've converted it to a fretless, gutted the electronics, and then finally jacked the neck and attached it (with some minor modification) to a Squier P-Bass body. Now It's somewhat of a fretless P-bass with a modified headstock (I ditched the FirstAct tag, so the headstock shape is much thinner now.)
My first bass that I played out @ gigs and in a band setting I still own however, it's a Peavey Grind 5-string. A rather rough neck, but it's improved my fingerstyle playing immensely.
I don't own my first bass in it's original form, it was a First Act starter bass my parents picked up from WalMart when I was younger(I'm 19). However, over my experience with tinkering, I've converted it to a fretless, gutted the electronics, and then finally jacked the neck and attached it (with some minor modification) to a Squier P-Bass body. Now It's somewhat of a fretless P-bass with a modified headstock (I ditched the FirstAct tag, so the headstock shape is much thinner now.)
My first bass that I played out @ gigs and in a band setting I still own however, it's a Peavey Grind 5-string. A rather rough neck, but it's improved my fingerstyle playing immensely.
pbd
Commercial User
my first bass was P bass copy that I traded for furnace work at a local music store. I looked cool but it grew legs and left one night during a party I had while my parents where away . . . .
My first bass was actually pretty cool, a semi-hollow fretless made by the relatively unknown company, Tune. I still have it, but I haven't really used it since I got my fretless Wishbass.
