Fifty years ago this December, my Mother bought me a Kalamazoo KB-1 for my Christmas present. That was December of 1970, and the cost was $122. It was my first bass, and I was just 15 at the time. Heck of a Christmas present BTW. I was in 10th grade, and several of my classmates were already jamming Canned Heat, Chuck Berry, Cream etc. But, of course, there was no bass player; and I had been bitten by the bug for bass two years earlier when I got the Beatles White Album and shortly after that CCR’s Willie and the Poor Boys. Bass just spoke to me.
My first lessons were with a cat named Bart Fiori, who gigged guitar and bass in the Motown circles, doing gigs at the Roostertail etc in Detroit. Bart taught at a small music shop on Harper Rd on the East Side, right across the street from the Harper Theater.
The first couple of tunes I learned were Listen, by CTA (Chicago), and Something by the Beatles. And I was fascinated by Larry Taylor’s solo in the Canned Heat Boogie, recorded at Woodstock. It would be two years before I had my first amp; so, I either just played with no amp in my room or plugged into the guitarist’s Fender Twin Reverb (no, never blew the speakers).
At the beginning of Senior year, I was running off to class, and tossed the bass somewhat unceremoniously onto my bed (I was at a boarding school). And, the headstock snapped off. But, by that time, I had an amp; and our basement jams had blossomed into what was for a time a pretty successful Sha Na Na knockoff. So, I needed a bass. Just so happened that the classmate next door had a used Fender P for sale, which I bought for $225. And I moved on.
But, I took the remains of the KB-1 back to my parents house; and the case was stuffed in the back of a closet; where it sat until last summer, when my Father told me that he wanted it cleared out. So, I took the remains of the bass up to a storage unit we have in Grayling MI (another story); and that’s where things have stood since.
Thing was my Mother passed away five years ago, and I just couldn’t bring myself to throw the thing away. So, here is what is in storage.
Basically, most of it is there, except the neck.
Well, I’ve been stewing over what to do with the thing the past year, looking at replacement necks etc on eBay, and thinking I might restore it. But, when folks part out the older instruments, the parts just for the neck can cost more than a whole instrument.
So, yesterday, I pulled the trigger on what will likely be my Last Bass purchase; and this is now in my possession:
The neck looks pretty clean; and I figure I’ll just part out whatever I don’t use.
I probably won’t be able to get all the pieces together until a year or so from now; but I should be pretty well set up to restore my first bass. Which, I’m not altogether sure what I will do with it; but, as I said, I just couldn’t bring myself to go the other direction and toss it. And, it will close a 50 year circle for me. For whatever significance that may or may not have. Heck, maybe I’ll give it someday to one of my grand kids to start on.
Probably TL;DR; but, thanks for reading if you got this far.
My first lessons were with a cat named Bart Fiori, who gigged guitar and bass in the Motown circles, doing gigs at the Roostertail etc in Detroit. Bart taught at a small music shop on Harper Rd on the East Side, right across the street from the Harper Theater.
The first couple of tunes I learned were Listen, by CTA (Chicago), and Something by the Beatles. And I was fascinated by Larry Taylor’s solo in the Canned Heat Boogie, recorded at Woodstock. It would be two years before I had my first amp; so, I either just played with no amp in my room or plugged into the guitarist’s Fender Twin Reverb (no, never blew the speakers).
At the beginning of Senior year, I was running off to class, and tossed the bass somewhat unceremoniously onto my bed (I was at a boarding school). And, the headstock snapped off. But, by that time, I had an amp; and our basement jams had blossomed into what was for a time a pretty successful Sha Na Na knockoff. So, I needed a bass. Just so happened that the classmate next door had a used Fender P for sale, which I bought for $225. And I moved on.
But, I took the remains of the KB-1 back to my parents house; and the case was stuffed in the back of a closet; where it sat until last summer, when my Father told me that he wanted it cleared out. So, I took the remains of the bass up to a storage unit we have in Grayling MI (another story); and that’s where things have stood since.
Thing was my Mother passed away five years ago, and I just couldn’t bring myself to throw the thing away. So, here is what is in storage.
Basically, most of it is there, except the neck.
Well, I’ve been stewing over what to do with the thing the past year, looking at replacement necks etc on eBay, and thinking I might restore it. But, when folks part out the older instruments, the parts just for the neck can cost more than a whole instrument.
So, yesterday, I pulled the trigger on what will likely be my Last Bass purchase; and this is now in my possession:
The neck looks pretty clean; and I figure I’ll just part out whatever I don’t use.
I probably won’t be able to get all the pieces together until a year or so from now; but I should be pretty well set up to restore my first bass. Which, I’m not altogether sure what I will do with it; but, as I said, I just couldn’t bring myself to go the other direction and toss it. And, it will close a 50 year circle for me. For whatever significance that may or may not have. Heck, maybe I’ll give it someday to one of my grand kids to start on.
Probably TL;DR; but, thanks for reading if you got this far.
Last edited:
