First Bass… does anyone remember going there?

[nixdad]

Hawkin's shop was the first time I'd ever seen or heard of a store just for bassists. It was very cool and I appreciated what he tried to do.

First Bass was one of the early "bass-only" stores in the country. The very first bass only store in the U.S. was The Bass Centre in L.A. (we opened in Calabasas from '86 and moved to Studio City in '88.) We were the sister store to The Bass Centre in London which opened in '84, which was the first bass only store in the world.

Here are a few of our ads that appeared in Bass Player Magazine beginning in 1988:

 

[spike42]

First Bass was one of the early "bass-only" stores in the country. The very first bass only store in the U.S. was The Bass Centre in L.A. (we opened in Calabasas from '86 and moved to Studio City in '88.) We were the sister store to The Bass Centre in London which opened in '84, which was the first bass only store in the world.

Here are a few of our ads that appeared in Bass Player Magazine beginning in 1988:
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I have your gig bag!

 

[nixdad]

I have your gig bag!

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HA! Too cool!
That must be one of the later bags, as I believe our early ones featured a horizontal logo. What year did you purchase it?

 

[spike42]

Wish I knew....it's all a blur at this point!

 

[B-Mac]

My first "bass" was this one:

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It was the situation of three guitarists and somebody had to step up!

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Once I found out that trying to play an 18" scale fretless bass and sing at the same time was a little difficult, I got my first real bass!

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Your first real electric bass was a Guild 301?
Nice!

 

[Lord Kornholio]

I liked the shop.

I bought a Gallien Krueger MB150E … Mike had to special order it for me.

I still own it and love that little amp.
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He had some really cool stuff.

Those were the days where you could try out some high quality basses.

A friend bought a nice Alembic from him.

Wish he was able to keep it open.

I liked the shop.

I bought a Gallien Krueger MB150E … Mike had to special order it for me.

I still own it and love that little amp.
View attachment 4455039

He had some really cool stuff.

Those were the days where you could try out some high quality basses.

A friend bought a nice Alembic from him.

Wish he was able to keep it open.

Hello it's 2024!!! I bought my first bass at First Bass... second hanb Peavey with a little amp, I also bought 2 T-shirts that posed a problem when some time later I was on stage for the first time wearing one of the t-shirts. At the break a friend said to me: "dude, change the t-shirt, your strap cover the letter S and all we read is First Ass"...

 

[Lord Kornholio]

Hello it's 2024!!! I bought my first bass at First Bass... second hand Peavey with a little amp, I also bought 2 T-shirts that posed a problem when some time later I was on stage for the first time wearing one of the t-shirts. At the break a friend said to me: "dude, change the t-shirt, your strap covers the letter B and all we read is First Ass"...

 

[mongo2]

Never been to Denver but my first "basses" were a '63 Fender Jaguar guitar followed closely by a Telecaster guitar.

 

[J R Knots]

I guess some of us will never forget the First Bass Shop in Denver… it definitely didn’t lack character.

 

[ebo]

I bought my first bass at an independent used store called Musicians Trading Post. It was in a rundown Victorian home on a busy street in Santa Cruz. A ‘65 Gibson E-BO that is my avatar. Still have it. Never really play it but can’t seem to part with it. If it was worth ‘65 P bass money I would have an easier time passing it along.

 

[SteveCS]

1984, Japanese Jazz copy with replacement Mighty-Mite neck and a (sadly discontinued) Shadow 'MaxiBass' piezo bridge: