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How bad (or good) was your first bass?

#381
The first bass I played in a band, in 1975, wasn't mine, the guitarist (who had switched from bass) let me use his white '72 or '73 P. Not a bad start.
I needed my own bass, though, and found an Ibanez Flying V Korina. At the time they told me it was one of five built. I believe it was at the peak of the lawsuit era. P/J configuration, impossible to play sitting down (but I still did). It was a really nice bass.
After around ten years of owning it, it was stolen from me, I found it at a used guitar store, and it was returned to me.
I used it for awhile longer, until I got a Steinberger. Yes, it was the 80s. My band's light man yanked the frets for me because I missed my Ibanez Musician fretless that was also stolen from me.
A couple years later the Flying V was stolen one more time, and I've never seen it since.
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#382
SteveCS said:
My first was a Japanese Jazz copy, also 1984. The body was ply and the neck was terrible. The pickups were also junk. The first thing I did was replace the neck with a fretless Mighty-Mite, along with some Schaller BM tuners with the really long clover keys. I then swapped the bridge pickup for a Fender and installed a Shadow 'Maxibass' piezo bridge.
Here it is in action in 1985:
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The bass is long gone, but I still have the pickguard, removal of which was mandatory at the time;
View attachment 4689249
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Mine was a Kent short scale...can't remember if it was a P-Bass or J-Bass copy, circa 1979. Played pretty well, tone wasn't bad. I paid $125 for it brand new. Like others, I wish I still had it but I sold it for $75 around 1999.
 
#384
As far as first bass, this tops the list as bad. Kinda wish I still had it though.
It was a El Degas Gibson Grabber copy. Weighed over 10 pounds for sure.
1976, My Dad went down to Eatons in downtown Winnipeg, back then they had a musical instrument department.
I believe Mary Cummings had a hand in selling this to me, that sweet lady was Burtons ' Mom. All that good songwriting and musicianship that Burtin had came from here 100%.
 
#385
Better than I ever deserved… it was an Aria SB700 bought new. A wonderful, Matsumoku built bass that sounds great and was a joy to learn on. It took me 2 years to convince my M&D that I was serious about playing bass so they agreed to top up my savings to get a decent bass. The salesman was bassist in my (drummer) brother's band so we trusted his advice and guidance. He convinced M&D that going upgrade a bit was an investment as the bass would see me right well into playing, rather than buying something cheap I'd need to replace in a few years. They were convinced and it proved true as I'm still using it now, 40 years later. Being a chum of my brother's he also did us a decent deal - which certainly helped!

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#386
TrevorR said:
Better than I ever deserved… it was an Aria SB700 bought new. A wonderful, Matsumoku built bass that sounds great and was a joy to learn on. It took me 2 years to convince my M&D that I was serious about playing bass so they agreed to top up my savings to get a decent bass. The salesman was bassist in my (drummer) brother's band so we trusted his advice and guidance. He convinced M&D that going upgrade a bit was an investment as the bass would see me right well into playing, rather than buying something cheap I'd need to replace in a few years. They were convinced and it proved true as I'm still using it now, 40 years later. Being a chum of my brother's he also did us a decent deal - which certainly helped!
...
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Those early '80s AriaPro were (are) excellent, and just looking at that the memories of how those Matsumoku instruments felt in the hand come flooding back. It is quite something how consistent they felt across all ranges. brands (Aria, Westone, Washburn, Ibanez, Yamaha, etc) and price points.
 
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#387
MLtheInfidel said:
A 1978 Gibson Grabber bought used in 83 or so…. i never liked the feel of it nor the sound. The sliding pickup was kind of a neat idea, despite sounding like ass. But it was a "dad buy" and the store owner had some serious Gibson bass inventory inventory and we got offloaded. After playing a P-Bass for the first time i never wanted to see that bass again, and the Grabber sat in a closet for 30 years before i sold it.
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yeah my mate had a grabber with flats in the 80s …I thought the whole thing was the worst bass ever …can't believe the prices they fetch now.
 
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#388
just saw this thread. i have a story...i got an electric guitar one xmas but really enjoyed playing with my fingers and lusted for a bass. i would go to the local guitar store in town ... and they had a travis bean bass on the wall. over $1k at the time, waaaay out of my price range as a 16-year-old. i would pull it off the wall and play with it, the store peeps keeping a watchful eye on me all the time, knowing i could never buy it...

summer '79, my father and i were vacationing in houston. he liked to go to pawn shops. we went to one and they had...a travis bean bass! $400. i had about $50. in my savings acct. [member those?] and told my dad i would work all summer and longer to pay him back if he would front me the cash to buy the bass. to my surprise, he agreed.

tb-2000 # 708. i don't have a picture at hand, sadly. i sold the bas for $800. ~1998 when cash was needed for the family. well then.
 
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#389
Well I think I'm a little older than most of you guys!;-)
My first bass was a baby blue 1965 P I bought for $75 in 1967. It belonged to a sailor who bought it, never used it, put it under his bed,went to sea, came back two years later and decided he wasn't interested anymore. He was asking $100 for it but it needed new strings so I offered him $75 and he took it.
It was GREAT bass, but in the 70's it developed an S curve that wouldn't go away. :-(
I was doing a lot of session work and had to borrow basses, so I had a new neck made by an incredible luthier - birds-eye maple/ebony and I over the years customized the sh*t out of the bass - refinished, active eq, jazz pickup, bad ass bridge. Played like a dream, sounded great, but of course no vintage value, and when I switched to using 5's exclusively I ended up selling it for far less than it was worth for its sound and playability... sigh...
 
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#390
SteveCS said:
Those early '80s AriaPro were (are) excellent, and just looking at that the memories of how those Matsumoku instruments felt in the hand come flooding back. It is quite something how consistent they felt across all ranges. brands (Aria, Westone, Washburn, Ibanez, Yamaha, etc) and price points.
Click to expand...
Yup, the build is immaculate and the attention to detail… I mean, the neck "joint" design is so great and elegant!
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#392
Back in 1965 I was lucky to get a brand new Hofner 5000/1 "Beatle" bass when my dad was stationed in Spangdahlem Germany. I was using a Hofner V3 6 string electric my dad had bought off a German musician for a bass in the first band I was ever in. That of course was slightly better than no bass. One day my dad asked me to go into the "big" city of Trier to run an errand with him. After completing his "errand", he took me to a music store. We went in and all I could see was a row of Hofner Beatle basses. Long story short, I ended up getting my new Hofner bass for $90 US dollars. I was in heaven. Years later I must have been insane because I sold it for $360. It was in immaculate shape but I was convinced by other band members that it wasn't the proper bass for psychedelic rock music. I regret it almost every day for the real sentimental value it means to me.
Since then I managed to find a reissue V63 Vintage Beatle bass which I treasure now as a decent replacement.
I now own 7 other basses of various types and manufacturers.
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#399
My first bass was terrible, it was a Fender Musicmaster bass,
I was a scrawny 100ib weakling back then and it must have weighed about 15ibs, the pickguard was made of the cheapest plastic imaginable and split across the part that held the volume and tone controls ,the nut broke within months of owning it and the tone control varied the tone from muddy to muddier, I mean there was no treble response at all on this bass, just terrible tone.

I don't have that bass anymore, really wish I did because they are being sold for silly money nowadays
 
#400
Well, my first bass was actually a Sears Strat type guitar with a chrome pickguard. I'd been playing it as a 6 string, but was starting to notice the low end rumbling from restaurant juke boxes. I told my Dad I wished to switch to bass, he said,"I don't have a bass, I have two guitars. So, in a moment of resourcefulness, I converted the old Sears into a 4 string bass, using black tapeworms. It actually worked, but after years of playing real basses, I'm sure I would think the tone to be on the thin side, and weak.
 

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