Oldest Bass you've played?

[M.R. Ogle]

Played? A 52 or 53 P at a store in Hollywood in the 90's.

Owned? My 1956 P.

 

[Muddslide]

The oldest electric bass I've played is my 1969 Bartell Hohner, a model which precedes the 70s Black Widow bass. It is nice to play. It has a fast narrow neck the pretty good tone variation, adjustable from a crisp twang to a muddy mute.

Man, I think I've seen you post this pic before. Just a gorgeous bass. The thin neck would put me off, but it is so classy and beautiful.

 

[sj_bass]

I played/owned a number of 70's basses - I had a '74 Ric, '78 MM, '74 Alembic SS, some Japanese basses... They were new when I bought them

I think the oldest/most fun bass I'm playing now is my '73 Epi EA-260 hollowbody.

 

[danomite64]

I owned a '66 Guild Starfire that I recorded a few tracks with, and used the studio's '63 Jazz to punch in a note that my band cut off live, but the engineer wanted us to sustain. He also had a '58 precision that I noodled on, but didn't record with. I also plucked a few notes on a 40's (or was it a pre-war one?) Kay upright at a downtown music store 20 or so years ago.

 

[schwartzbass]

A guy in my band has a 64 jazz bass. I played it during practice and it didn't do anything for me. I think my 97 jazz sounded better although I put in dimarzzio pickups.

 

[Spleenface92]

Oldest I've played (that I can remember) was a '64 Gibson EB0 at guitarcenter the other day.
It didn't feel all that special, but then again, I don't really like mudbuckers.
The '76 Fender P they have there on the other hand, I loved.

 

[ClassicJazz]

The oldest basses I've played were both 1962 Fender Jazzes.

The first one was Jaco's Bass of Doom which I got to try when I did a roadie gig for him in New York back when he was playing with Mike Stern.

The second '62 was Bobby Vega's Jazz. He let me try it when I met him at the School of Bass II in AZ.

I don't remember how Jaco's bass played, too long ago. But I do remember Bobby's. That bass played and sounded incredible!

Now the oldest basses I've owned are the two 1972 Fender Jazzes I currently have. Both play like butter and sound awesome!

This is my Sunburst '72

 

[perkidan]

Oldest I have played is a 59 P bass that needed ALOT of work. Wish it would have been set up right.

 

[Tom Howland]

If were talking electric basses.

1956 Gibson EB1.
1958-1959-P-Basses.
1961-J-Bass.

 

[Lammchop93]

'72 P

 

[Pilgrim]

My 1963 P.

Second oldest is my 1964 Gibson EB-0:

 

[johnk_10]

years ago, i worked on and set up fender precison bass serial number 001. i think that's just about as old as it gets.

 

[Munjibunga]

My first bass was a '65 P bass. That'd be it.

 

[ExaltBass]

Aout 15 years ago I spent an afternoon at George Gruhns in Nashville. I played a lot of early P-Basses (pre-57), but I wasn't crazy about them. I could have picked the lot up for a song! (and should have... hindsight!)

I played a '57 for a few months baxk in '63, when I was first starting out... and I could have bought it for $60 (but I couldn't come up with the dough in time - that was lot of money for a 13 yr old back then!)

NOW, I regularly gig my '59 - and I had a bunch of 60's basses into 70s - Fenders, Kilra, Hofners, Hagstrom, Guild, Rickenbacker, Gibson, etc.... but, I'm an old guy... you would expect that.

 

[Audiophage]

As far as oldest that I know the age of it would be a 1974 Rickenbacker. However, I've played uprights which I can safely assume were quite a bit older than that.

 

[ExaltBass]

years ago, i worked on and set up fender precison bass serial number 001. i think that's just about as old as it gets.

WIN!

 

[CSilva22]

a 1960 Fender P-bass......didn't sound amazing, but it sure was badass to hold some kind of history in my hands

 

[carlthegroover]

If it counts, I've played my bass teacher's 70-something Jazz (without him knowing, he he), maybe once or twice for a few minutes.

 

[RobJ]

Oldest I've played was a '57 Precision which was pretty nice. I still preferred my '63 though.

 

[John D]

Started learning bass in 1965. I was using a borrowed pbass, but I'm not sure when it was made. Later bought a 1962 Jazz that I still own. Wish I had bought the P. Kicks self.