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Post Your $100 Bass
- Thread starter EatS1stBassist
- Start date
Went into the local shop to see a signature bass I read about, hated it, but saw this SDGR hanging on the wall on the way out. Don't need it, followed me home. Plays surprisingly nice.
$100 Canadian, with fresh strings, made in the early '90s and still has protective plastic on the back cover.
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It's an Arbor (late 80's Japanese copy of a Stingray), but it had a great neck and monster tone! I didn't keep it, but for a really good reason.
I had I bought a Tone Hammer 500 and a couple of Aguilar cabs from a young guy who was selling them for his uncle, who had a terminal illness, to raise money to pay medical bills (due to his medical condition, he was never going to be able to play bass again). The Aguilar gear was new in the boxes (it had been delivered just before the uncle got ill) and I got it for a great price. The nephew was a guitarist, but he said he wished he could keep the gear and get a bass to learn to play because of the fond memories of jamming with his uncle, but he just couldn't because the family needed the money.
This Stingray copy was delivered a few days later. I made a couple of mods and gave it a good setup and new strings and it just rocked! That weekend and brought it to the nephew and told him to consider it a gift from his uncle and to go hit the woodshed. It seemed to make him very happy.
Here's another pic:
Ha--oh man, this Arbor Stingray copy came in blue and red. If you look back earlier in this very thread you'll see a pic of a blue one I just got 2 weeks ago for $65.
I'm a P guy mainly, but I like this bass enough I was thinking it'd be cool to have the red version too.
Hit me up if your nephew ever decides he doesn't want it!
EDIT: I see it wasn't your nephew. Cool story though! Very nice of you.
These really do play and sound really good.
$90 on the left became this.
$55 on other became this.
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1986 Fender jazz bass special
Cost me £45 in a carboot sale last sunday! Never had strings or any knobs on when i bought it! And no cavety cover on back !And needed a good clean up! Lots of dints in body and small chips but it plays pretty good! And its my 1s bass! Tony
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This bass was less than $100, and it's been a keeper in my collection.
I picked it up for $64.64 a few years ago.
'74 Fender Jazz :
Here's my $106 bass:
'90 MIJ Fender '57RI P-Bass:
I picked it up for $64.64 a few years ago.
'74 Fender Jazz :
Here's my $106 bass:
'90 MIJ Fender '57RI P-Bass:
Wow, Winner!!
A ‘68 for $90?!?? That’s awesome, especially since the neck was repairable!
It looks brand new!
Great thread, so many great deals on what look to be killer basses!
Here's my white/black $70 28" scale Hondo P (next to my main player Aerodyne), picked up at a roadside flea market in CT a few years ago. I "didn't need another bass" but it was too fun to put down, so it came home with me. Sounds amazing with Chromes.
Here's my white/black $70 28" scale Hondo P (next to my main player Aerodyne), picked up at a roadside flea market in CT a few years ago. I "didn't need another bass" but it was too fun to put down, so it came home with me. Sounds amazing with Chromes.
- Dec 28, 2009
- 2,053
- 1,380
- Disclosures
- Endorsed by K.B. Guitars, Nordstrand Audio Pickups, Von York Strings and Gallien-Krueger Amps.
The very first instrument that I would ever buy was a red Gremlin guitar. I paid $50.00 for it used and that thing was in horrible condition. It would not stay in tune whatsoever. I got frustrated with it because I was self taught and thought all guitars must be like that.
At the local music store, I also noticed these other strange looking guitars. They had longer necks, fewer strings and the strings were much larger. I noticed that when I played them, they also stayed in tune much better. The store owner told me that what I was playing was a bass, not a guitar. I was drawn to it. I can’t explain it but I knew that was my instrument and I immediately bonded to it.
Because I had to buy my own gear, all I could afford was the cheapest bass he had. A Cort X model bass. It too was just as bad as my Gremlin guitar. The neck on the bass was warped, the intonation was way off and that bass would go out of tune pretty easy but not quite as bad as my Gremlin.
The E string tuning peg was also missing the tuning head. One of the youth leaders at my church worked at a bass and guitar repair shop. He was kind enough to take my bass in and fashion a tuning head out of wood and then made a thumb rest for me out of wood as well.
Because the bass was in such bad shape with the warped neck and intonation out, I felt my learning was being hindered. I went to Guitar Center one day and saw these brand new basses. They were an Epiphone by Gibson Accubass. The best part was that they were only $199.99 brand new. Guitar Center didn’t want my Cort bass but the store I bought it from gave me I think $50.00 for it. Honestly, I think it was pity money. But he did like that the E string tuning key was fixed and a thumb rest was added. I went back to the Guitar Center and bought the Epiphone bass and immediately fell in love with it. I also came into some more money from working and bought a Charvel 2B from the music store that Had sold me the Gremlin and Cort.
In 1993, I traded away both my Charvel and Epiphone basses for a brand new Ibanez SR 400 Soundgear bass in candy apple red. But I really missed my Charvel and Epiphone.
This past December, I found another Epiphone Accubass online, at a Music Go Round in Michigan. They only wanted $89.99 for it. For that little of money, it was worth buying for nostalgia sake. So the following are my cheap, under $100.00 instruments that I have owned.
Gremlin G3
Cort X Model
Epiphone Accubass #2
At the local music store, I also noticed these other strange looking guitars. They had longer necks, fewer strings and the strings were much larger. I noticed that when I played them, they also stayed in tune much better. The store owner told me that what I was playing was a bass, not a guitar. I was drawn to it. I can’t explain it but I knew that was my instrument and I immediately bonded to it.
Because I had to buy my own gear, all I could afford was the cheapest bass he had. A Cort X model bass. It too was just as bad as my Gremlin guitar. The neck on the bass was warped, the intonation was way off and that bass would go out of tune pretty easy but not quite as bad as my Gremlin.
The E string tuning peg was also missing the tuning head. One of the youth leaders at my church worked at a bass and guitar repair shop. He was kind enough to take my bass in and fashion a tuning head out of wood and then made a thumb rest for me out of wood as well.
Because the bass was in such bad shape with the warped neck and intonation out, I felt my learning was being hindered. I went to Guitar Center one day and saw these brand new basses. They were an Epiphone by Gibson Accubass. The best part was that they were only $199.99 brand new. Guitar Center didn’t want my Cort bass but the store I bought it from gave me I think $50.00 for it. Honestly, I think it was pity money. But he did like that the E string tuning key was fixed and a thumb rest was added. I went back to the Guitar Center and bought the Epiphone bass and immediately fell in love with it. I also came into some more money from working and bought a Charvel 2B from the music store that Had sold me the Gremlin and Cort.
In 1993, I traded away both my Charvel and Epiphone basses for a brand new Ibanez SR 400 Soundgear bass in candy apple red. But I really missed my Charvel and Epiphone.
This past December, I found another Epiphone Accubass online, at a Music Go Round in Michigan. They only wanted $89.99 for it. For that little of money, it was worth buying for nostalgia sake. So the following are my cheap, under $100.00 instruments that I have owned.
Gremlin G3
Cort X Model
Epiphone Accubass #2
LTD Viper 256. My first LTD, and it's build quality is very high.
Tagged $120 at pawnshop, reduced to $80 when I pointed at the logo and made a face. EMG HZ pickups and preamp, Grover tuners, mahogany body, set neck.
$20 for 1/8" birch plywood (pickguard) plus copper paint and copper sticker material for some trapezoid "inlays" up to the 12th fret, which actually look great.
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Since my first post here got a decent reception, I thought I'd add a few better pictures of that $99.00 Peavey Patriot.
Gotta love that "Super Ferrite" pickup!
Proudly Made in the USA!
Hard to tell from this pic, but after cleaning off the grime there was some very nice mahogany under there!
Gotta love that "Super Ferrite" pickup!
Proudly Made in the USA!
Hard to tell from this pic, but after cleaning off the grime there was some very nice mahogany under there!
1970 Sekova EB-3 copy....$60.......Not my cup o' tea but excellent for some studio work
Sweet PVs! Is that just a gray pickguard? Looks great with the black and maple!
Did you really put bedliner on that foundation?! And here I thought Peaveys were tough enough.
It's Duratex; the goal was to have my bass and cab match. It's aged a bit better than that original pic, but either way probably wasn't the best choice aesthetically.
And yeah, it's kind of a dull silver pickguard.
Picked up this washburn force 8 for exactly 100 a few months back. Plays great and has some nice aggressive tones. made in chicago
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