How bad (or good) was your first bass?

[wysiwyg248]

I first played a borrowed bass from a colleague until I saved enough to buy my own: CIJ Fender Jazz Bass Special in Pearl White, which was my only bass for more than 10 years. It is incredibly good and I still take it to some gigs.

 

[lordradish]

Mine was a total piece of crap, a 1984 Peavey Patriot. But it gets worse - I threw an old Gibson mudbucker in it, making it sound even crappier, then a year later I defretted it and did a horrendous line job on it. Don't miss that one.

 

[Bluesrock]

My first bass was a new 1976 Olympic white Fender Musicmaster. I recall the neck being somewhat thick and round, and the action was a little high. I never adjusted the neck, saddles or pickup. Nonetheless, I gigged with it often until I traded it in when I purchased a new Rickenbacker 4003, which I still have.

 

[Ggaa]

First bass I actually took home was a pawn shop early 70s P. It was a lot better than I was at the time....

 

[CochinoBass]

to be fair Cochino bass,this qustion or one like it has been asked a gazillion times..but it is a good topic,,well done!

Well, I did do a search before I created this to see if there was one of the TB mega threads about people's first bass and I didnt really find a topic exactly like this. That being said, I am really enjoying everyone's stories.

 

[truand85]

I got my first bass at 16 in 1984, it was a Goya GX-23, a Korean P Bass copy with two P pickups I have no idea when it was made, but I think it was no more than a few years old when I got it. There is a thread here on TB from about five years ago where someone found one exactly like mine. I cant even remember if I paid anything for it, if I did it was not much. Goya basses and guitars seem to be, sort of, collectable, but if they play anything like mine (I still have it) people dont collect them to play them. I played it for 3 years before I got something decent, and while it sounded pretty good, its a miracle that I didnt quit, its by far the worst playing instrument I have ever put my hands on. It has string through body and the saddles cant really be lowered enough to get the action right. The string tension is super high and the action is super high. When I got it the bridge P pickup was gone and the E-A string part of the rout had been filled in with wood filler and the other chiseled out (apparently with a screwdriver) for a J pickup which was not there. The G tuner had been moved to the bottom of the head stock I guess to copy a Music Man configuration for some reason, I moved it back to the original position. I can only blame myself for the ugly '80s "splatter" paint job, it was brown when I got it. The first pic is showing what it looked like originally and the others I took today of mine.

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Nice sounds like all it needs is a new bridge.

My first was a Fender Precision Bass Deluxe Special P/J active I bought on a whim in my late teens. That was over 20yrs ago. The rest is history.

 

[mindwell]

Early 1980s Fender Musicmaster. Heavy as a tank, played like cardboard, neck twisted. Amazes me they've become coveted.

 

[bmusic]

Very, very bad. Of course, I was still 7 years from knowing the term "set-up", and 35 years from knowing how to use a router and swap out a pickup. It had low notes and meant that I no longer had to record bass parts into my Portastudio on a guitar with the tone turned down.

I wish I still had it today, just to tinker with and see if I could make something usable out of it.

 

[Matthew_84]

Mine was a Stagg Jazz copy, very similar to this (though the headstock logo was different).

Seemed nice in the store and worth my $300 CAD for a new bass (when I knew nothing about basses anyway).

Over a couple of years, I realized how crappy it was. The frets weren't level at all and the electronics weren't very good (not surprising), but the bridge plate metal was so weak that the saddle screws were denting it and giving them an uneven footing.

Also, mine didn't have any sort of grain in the body. It was basically a slab of glued sawdust.

After I upgraded, I gave it away to a young band so they could use it for their music video that was to be filmed on the beach and likely ruined (which I don't know if that video ever came to be).

I should have kept it honestly, it would have been a great project bass. The rosewood board was thick and would have made a great fretless with new hardware, electronics, and paint. Oh well…

 

[feterpatch]

A late sixties, early seventies(?) Japanese jazz bass-ish copy. Plywood body, no brand name on it anywhere. At that time I had no concept of good action, tone, or otherwise. It did however start me on what has become a 45 year journey of playing the electric bass guitar.

 

[Thumpin6string]

Mine was an old Kay hollow body with lipstick pickup and the strings were 1/2 an inch off the fret board. It was a major piece of . My second was a 73 Fender Jazz. A definite upgrade.

 

[TomB]

Mine was a Japanese P-copy, well, P-sized neck anyway. The rest was typical of its genre in '65. $40 at the pawn shop. The best thing I can say about it is that it made my next 2 short scale basses seem like toys to play . A '64 jazz wasn't far ahead. It had such a nice neck that I never figured out the scale differences. Those discoveries came later in life.

 

[JimB52]

I've seen that bottom picture 1,000 times, but just now noticed the reverse load base cab behind you. What is the rig you're running there?

That was an ARB Solid state head, 150w I think. Only ever saw them around New England. Covered in colored flocking, with different colors for type.ie blue for PA Red for bass, etc. Can't find any info of them. A victim of 3 letter google results.
I believe the cabinet was a sound City product with the grill removed I think it had a Cerwin Vega 18 in it it could shake the neighborhood and for some reason keep up with that Marshall sitting next to it. In other news I apologize for the repeated posting of that picture there aren't many from that era

 

[Bass-aholic]

It was an SX P-Bass copy that cost $99 in the mid 2000's.
To be honest, it was pretty good for what it was. I wasn't really into playing bass at that point, I just recorded bass parts for songs I wrote. It was an okay first bass.

Then came my Warwick 5 (which is when I decided I didn't like 5's) and then my real P-Basses.

I actually have one of those SX P-Basses still. Routed two Jazz bass pickups into it and threw in a 5 way switch for the poopie of it. Things are heavy as poopie.

 

[Michael Favata]

That was an ARB Solid state head, 150w I think. Only ever saw them around New England. Covered in colored flocking, with different colors for type.ie blue for PA Red for bass, etc. Can't find any info of them. A victim of 3 letter google results.
I believe the cabinet was a sound City product with the grill removed I think it had a Cerwin Vega 18 in it it could shake the neighborhood and for some reason keep up with that Marshall sitting next to it. In other news I apologize for the repeated posting of that picture there aren't many from that era

Don't apologize.
I love seeing that Tele bass everytime.
Wish I had it!
Do you still have it?
(Btw did grown up Danny Partridge sit in that night? )

 

[Malak the Mad]

It was easy to play, to wear and lasted me several years until I sold it for $100 to a single mum for her sons Christmas present.

After I'd been playing for a year or three, the daughter of a friend/co-worker expressed interest in learning bass. By then, I'd already heard a number of "my first-ever bass was a hot, poopy mess!" stories on the forum and I didn't want her to go through that. Fortunately, during our discussion, the daughter's eyes just lit up when she saw a pic of a Candy Apple Red Squier Jaguar.

Fast-forward a month or so later, her mother told me her daughter's birthday was coming up. I can't remember if I offered to hunt down a bass and amp she'd like or if I was asked to help out on that front, but either way, within a couple of weeks, I'd traded one of my Squier Jazzes locally for her first-ever bass, a red Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Special (full-scale, not short-scale), and a decent, used Fender Rumble amp...both by way of separate listings on Craigslist.

After getting her Jag, I picked up a set of brand-new D'Addario .100-gauge Chromes, figuring they'd be kinder to her fingers like they were to mine when I started, and had a local guitar tech give it a proper setup. I also threw in a gig bag, tuner and cable of mine that I could do without.

After presenting her with her gear, the mother started paying me back in installments. But, by the time she'd paid about half of it off, I told her not to worry about the rest, just to consider it my contribution to her birthday and that it was my pleasure to get her started right.

Last I heard from her, she hadn't been playing it much, but still has it in her closet. Fortunately, she also mentioned how she hasn't forgotten about it and every now and then, the urge to pull it out and re-embrace it weighs on her mind, so there's hope yet.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

Here's what I know: it was a white Dixon P bass with white pickguard. I paid $80 for it. This would be early 90s. I knew even less about bass than I do now. So any evaluation of the instrument would be that of an ignoramus.

 

[Mr Matt]

I still own my first bass, got this here '72 Rickenbacker 4001 when I was just a punkass kid in '76. It was may main bass for many many years, though I was broke & hungry dressed in rags I could never give this one up.
It's counterpart here is my brothers '83/'84 Squier Stratocaster, these old pals got the cops to our mom's house countless times back in the day, ahh the good old days...

 

[Jeff Scott]

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You're the real Danny Partridge!

When I was a wee lad during my first year of bass playing (1971) my friends and I used to visit a music shop near us that had a bunch of ARB amps we'd use to jam with. The owner of this shop was none other than Bill DeArango. It wasn't until decades later that i learned about who was was beyond being a music store proprietor (and excellent guitarist). He was very eccentric so that should have tipped me off.

 

[rufus.K]

1983 or 84 Fender Japan Jazz. E series serial number.
Still have it. Still love it. Will probably be in my coffin with me.