How bad (or good) was your first bass?

[pbass2]

Mine was horrible, but I wish I still had it just for nostalgia. It was sold by Montgomery Wards, '71-'72, looked like I dunno what, vaguely Mosrite-shaped. I seem to recall very light flatwound strings and mile-high action on a neck suitable for archery practice (but I didn't know what I was doing at that point at 11 years old). My brother had a matching guitar. I can't even find a picture of one online--I think they were so bad nobody bothered!
My second bass however was a Jetglo 4001, new off the rack, '75. Made quite a step up with that one!

 

[bobyoung53]

When I was playing bass right handed the below colossal piece of crap was the worse bass geetar my hands had the displeasure of playing. I think it's a 66-67 Hofner and once I got all the parts put together, the action was just too high and it now sits in one of my brothers closet with a few other of my guitars. Maybe someday I'll go get it and sell it..... Maybe..

I could have bought a '67 about 50 years ago for 250 bucks from the original owner, I couldn't play them they were way too dainty for me at the time but who knew McCartney would again play it someday and make them so collectable?

 

[Snipehunter]

My first bass was some crappy no-name bass that a friend with a drug problem sold to me for $20. He was/is an amazing artist and had painted the colonel Sanders face over the whole body. I loved it. I came home one day and my dad, who loves to tinker and make things better, had painted the bass black thinking he was doing something nice for me. I was sad. Very sad.

That was 25 years ago. My friend is still in jail from a shootout with the Police. He still manages to get his amazing (although usually demented) drawings onto Facebook somehow.

 

[Tom Bomb]

It was a Riviera Jazz from the land of the rising sun — pretty good for all I know. It was stolen, before I could get comfy with it. It was free, had tape-wounds onboard and a good whack of chromium. I thought it was rubbish but I was coming from the treble zone. What would I know? Did the job No pics. Cameras hadn't been invented yet
​

 

[stingray80]

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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[RDW]

My first bass was a Harmony H906 short scale that my folks purchased from a JC Penny catalog circa 1987. It was a complete turd with high action and pretty miserable pickups, but I didn't know any better at the time. After playing it with high action and out-of-intonation for a couple years, an uncle of mine who played guitar gave it a setup and it was better, but still not good.

 

[fork]

Late 90’s Squier Precision. It was an OK first bass but I loved it. Not great but there were certainly worse. A buddy of mine got a Rogue P and it was a real pos in comparison.

I knew nothing about setting up a bass like I do no though, so if I still had it I could make it play a lot better.

 

[bobyoung53]

I bought my first bass in either 1966 or 1967, I was a guitarist who loved the sound of bass. I bought it from a friend's older brother for twenty five bucks and it took me eons to pay it off (if I ever did), he used to chase me around for it, I'd give him however much I had when he found me, buck, buck and a half. It was a Japanese bass with no name on it, single pickup, long scale, it was not a Fender copy or a copy of anything that i knew. I don't remember how it played but do know that when I bought my first good bass, a P bass in 1970 I had to lower the action because it felt too low for me. The bass did sound pretty good though and that's all I cared about back then, had no idea about intonation or a truss rod and it had no case. I played it for a few years and I finally took a bus and hitchhiked to California from Mass in 1969 with it on my back and left it there. It would probably be cool today.

It looked something like this:

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[stingray80]

I starting playing in 1980, bought a 1976 Fender Jazz for $350. That bass was the best playing, sounding, and feeling I’ve ever owned. I was so naive at the time I thought all basses played and felt like that. Sold it in the early 90’s to “upgrade” to an active bass. Biggest mistake I ever made, I’ve owned dozens of basses since including several more Jazz basses and could never find another with that magic again.

 

[definenredefine]

My first bass was a Harmony H906 short scale that my folks purchased from a JC Penny catalog circa 1987. It was a complete turd with high action and pretty miserable pickups, but I didn't know any better at the time. After playing it with high action and out-of-intonation for a couple years, an uncle of mine who played guitar gave it a setup and it was better, but still not good.
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Those basses are neat looking. Sorry to hear they didn't play and/or sound great.

 

[Bobb Nagel]

1965. My first bass was a Kay just like the one pictured, purchased for $29 at a resale shop in my town. I was too young and inexperienced to know if played well, but it’s the one that sent me on this 57 year bass journey, so to me, it was perfect.

 

[theduke1]

In 1965 when I wanted to become a bass player and my mom being a single parent of 4 instruments were pretty much out of reach for us. That was until my best friend’s B-I -L had these two items to sell for $75.00. The amp and HSC had matching coverings. By today’s standards they weren’t much, but to a 13 year old kid it was top of the line. 57 years later I’m still at it!
So mom, wherever you are, weather you know it or not, you did well!
Duke

 

[bobyoung53]

My first bass was an Aria Diamond hollow body, just like this one.....

View attachment 4689377 Played and sounded good.

Nice, a guitarist in my first band during the late 60's had a Diamond semi hollow guitar that looked a lot like that. I don't remember it saying Aria on it.

 

[rtav]

Mine was awesome. For Xmas 1978 my mom got me my first bass and amp - a 66 P bass, ohsc, and a fender Musicmaster amp.

 

[bobyoung53]

In 1965 when I wanted to become a bass player and my mom being a single parent of 4 instruments were pretty much out of reach for us. That was until my best friend’s B-I -L had these two items to sell for $75.00. The amp and HSC had matching coverings. By today’s standards they weren’t much, but to a 13 year old kid it was top of the line. 57 years later I’m still at it!
So mom, wherever you are, weather you know it or not, you did well!
Duke
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My first band had two Silvertone Twin Twelves, before we had a PA we used to plug two mics, two guitars and my bass into them, they didn't sound bad unless you turned them up too high, I used to tremelo the vocals with my bass though if a mic was plugged into the one I was using. Good enough for Midnight Hour

 

[Paul New]

'67 Jazz, about a year old. I would sacrifice at least one body part to get it back.

 

[theduke1]

My first band had two Silvertone Twin Twelves, before we had a PA we used to plug two mics, two guitars and my bass into them, they didn't sound bad unless you turned them up too high, I used to tremelo the vocals with my bass though if a mic was plugged into the one I was using. Good enough for Midnight Hour

And Kansas City lol
Duke

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I had an '83 Roadstar II which wound up replacing my '73 P-Bass. I miss it, every time I pick up a 4 string.

 

[ryco]

Bad. In '68 bought a used UniVox copy Beatle bass. The electronics were always going out on it. Took it to the local music store which was actually the Petosa Accordian shop, the only shop with a repair guy. He tried to fix it four or five times before giving up. He gave me a business card of a "guy who could most probably fix it." The guys name was Paul Tutmark, Jr and only lived a few blocks from me. So I knocked on his door and presented my bass and problem and he said "Come on in - let's take a look." Had it fixed in about 45 minutes never to have problems in the next three years I used it.
Never learned 'til way later who this guy and his father were, especially in the scope of electric bass history! Killer huge train set layout in the basement!!

 

[vindibona1]

OMG... Brings back memories... all the way to 1966 when I was a kid in a rock band. One of the bands needed a bass and someone told me of an "available" Teisco bass, used for $15. I had $20 in a savings my grandfather had set up. In hindsight the bass was probably "hot", but I never considered that and bought it.