Wow this brings me back, first bass encounter was a Japanese 60's Teisco jazz and it was a short scale, it was my best friends older brothers. My buddy just recently pulled it out saying he did some tile work for him and big bro asked him if he wanted to take it with him since it had been a wall hanger since the late 80's was missing an inlay so I reshaped one out of an old quarz stone for it. This is the bass and notice the missing inlay?
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First bass you ever touched.
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The first one I can remember is my first bass that I got for Christmas when I was 9 or 10y/o
It was a Univox HI Flier bass
Unsure of the YOM but I would say early 70's
Looked like the picture below but with a maple fret board
It was a Univox HI Flier bass
Unsure of the YOM but I would say early 70's
Looked like the picture below but with a maple fret board
My 1st bass. 78 Fender Musicmaster, Black, Black guard and Rosewood board.
My dad’s 1970s Rickenbacker. It was my first exposure to bass as a small child. I loved them look and the sound.
Oh man, I'm dating myself here! I believe it was in 1966 or 1967 (while in junior high school) when a friend of mine had a Vox Phatom bass that his parents bought him. He was a huge fan of Paul Revere and the Raiders and just had to have one. I didn't play at the time, but I remember the neck dive it had and the neck felt like a baseball bat. Looked just like this one.
Hi John 
I love the posters! I think we all had them in our first rep rooms.
Our drummer had Nicko McBrain (Maiden), Ian Paice and as far as I can remember Cozy Powell.
I was a big fan of Steve Harris!
But I had a Suzie Quatro poster in my corner! (for obvious reasons)
Wise
Purchased a ‘no-namer’, in 1976 (woodgrain contact paper on the pg
View attachment 3977325 View attachment 3977326 View attachment 3977327
I love the posters! I think we all had them in our first rep rooms.
Our drummer had Nicko McBrain (Maiden), Ian Paice and as far as I can remember Cozy Powell.
I was a big fan of Steve Harris!
But I had a Suzie Quatro poster in my corner! (for obvious reasons)
Wise
The first bass I ever played, and later bought, was this monster, I was about 24 and had just sold my drums. I got it from a good friend who owned a few back then and needed some $$. I think I paid $150 for it at the time. It was an Ibanez copy and it was huge, almost as tall as I was (am) 
And as if that wasn't heavy or big enough, this was my first bass amp. It weighed about the same as I did (not so much now)
It had a 15" and 2 10's all built in that indestructible road case. Ridiculously big but I got it cheap and it sounded pretty cool back then. I literally could not manhandle that monster into the trunk of my '76 Cutlass I was driving at the time. Actually I should say, I stopped trying after breaking out a tail light cover once.
Stock photo, I have no photos of mine and honestly can't remember what happened to it.
And as if that wasn't heavy or big enough, this was my first bass amp. It weighed about the same as I did (not so much now)
It had a 15" and 2 10's all built in that indestructible road case. Ridiculously big but I got it cheap and it sounded pretty cool back then. I literally could not manhandle that monster into the trunk of my '76 Cutlass I was driving at the time. Actually I should say, I stopped trying after breaking out a tail light cover once.
Stock photo, I have no photos of mine and honestly can't remember what happened to it.
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An upright when I was about 7 years old in the late '50s. I remember it being very big.
1966 Hagstrom FB. Through one of those fabulous Gibson Thor amps: 50 watts in a 2x10 cabinet. My main axe (um, my only axe) in the teenage years!
Some pos Japanese bass.
Truly awful, like my haircut.
Truly awful, like my haircut.
Gibson EB-0. It belonged to my high school. I failed the audition for bass guitar, so that was the end of that. I played the Sousaphone instead.
I started on guitar. I took ear training lessons and when the next school year began, I enrolled in Music. First semester it was focused on my guitar. For the second semester, the requirement was to take a different instrument which read a different clef. I chose Bass since the fretboard layout was similar. The class had an old Vantage bass that I liked and later I bought my own Vantage (albeit a Flying V shape.) I immediately felt the love and Bass became my main instrument.
A 1960s Gibson EB-0 in Pelham Blue owned by Greg Shadoan of Zipper, Fred Cole fame back in da 70s
A picture of one...
A picture of one...
Hi John
I love the posters! I think we all had them in our first rep rooms.
Our drummer had Nicko McBrain (Maiden), Ian Paice and as far as I can remember Cozy Powell.
I was a big fan of Steve Harris!
But I had a Suzie Quatro poster in my corner! (for obvious reasons)
Wise
Haha... yea- I had lots more (posters) scattered about my room... and some lava lights... and a few strobe lights...
Beat up string bass in high school
The one I learned on.
My first electric? A school chum had a Hagstrom and an Ampeg SB-12. He showed me how to play Zep bass riff: How Many More Times... My parents My first electric was a used (probably Kay) single pup short scale.
I don't remember exactly. I was probably 14. Could be this:
Or this:
Or this:
