Sentimental Bass?

[jmullenite]

I bought this for $100 from GC around 2005 when I was playing in a pit orchestra and wanted something different. It has travelled the country with me, often sans gig bag or case, since. At one point I was homeless and carried it around from place to place. It sat in my grandmother’s closet for a year while I slept on her floor. It has dings and damage to show for it but now gets babied (and played) constantly.

 

[wysiwyg248]

For me is my CIJ 1985 Jazz Bass Special. Bought it used in '87 and played it for about 10 years, it never let me down. I got way more instruments that I remember and need since then, but this one is a keeper.

 

[subtlestew]

I'm sure I've told the story before on TalkBass, but I'll tell it again. My first bass was a Rickenbacker 4003 that I got used in 1984. It was stolen in 1988 from a dormitory while I was in college, and I knew exactly who did it. However, the identity of the culprit could not be proved. I worked waiting tables at a Friendly's for the whole following summer and combined that income with some insurance money I got from the robbery and bought a brand new 1988 Steinberger XL-2 with the $100 option of getting it in white. I put a down-payment on it at E. U. Wurlizer in Boston mid-summer, putting the last installment down and picking it up the day my grandfather, who was a professional musician, passed away on 8/8/88. Here's a picture of me playing it in 1989 and what it looks like on my back deck today. I'll probably never sell it.

 

[butterfingers1]

Squier single coil precision bass. Noisy and muddled most of the time. Can be warm and woody sometimes when played carefully. Can be searing for slow melancholic songs.

 

[MisticoRitualista]

This one is special because its my first & only build so far. I salvaged & sanded the body, had to drill out a cavity under the neck pocket for truss rod adjustment, then stained, & finished the body, wired in some Bartolini pickups to a 920D JB-C control plate, set the bridge & installed the tuners.

The body was from an unknown make & not sure of the wood, Warmoth maple neck, bridge & tuners are Schaller, strings are D'addario half rounds... I love this bass.

 

[DOMIT]

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I’ve lugged this boat anchor around for 43 years. Don’t always play it, but still smile every time I do. View attachment 4659677

Ok... people complain about those being heavy... or kind of "plain"... but the versatility of the sounds they can produce is downright amazing!

 

[eldorado2001]

The 2 tall guys in the photo, my first bass (Highway 1 J) and my second bass (Highway One P).

 

[dave hope]

I had a P-bass back in my smoking days with a Georgia Bulldog sticker on it. It was probably a 70s.
Always curious what happened to it. Why that in particular, is it’s identifiable.
Whereas everything else I used was pretty much stock, especially visually. I probably wouldn't even recognize a few of my old sunbursts now, if you hit me with them. Lol

 

[Rib 13]

I have three sentimental basses...two of them, a USA '04 Peavey Cirrus and a 2014 Fender American Deluxe Jazz V were gifts from my wife....but my 1995 G&L ASAT is my eternal number 1. One owner: Me (bought her when my hair was still dark, full and long and my waist was a lot smaller) and we have a tremendous amount of history together - enough to write a book. These days, she's retired and gets pulled out to record with on occasion, but I will never ever part with this instrument and hope that she gets buried with me when my time is up

 

[C Stone]

My longest owned instrument has a great backstory. In maybe 2008, my uncle called me completely out of the blue and told me he had a bass that was too heavy for him to play and that he wanted me to have it. He had no clue the make or model, just that it weighed as much as maybe the entire galaxy (he wasn’t far off, it does weigh a metric ton). I told him thanks and that I’d be happy to take it off his hands. A week or so passes and the package is delivered - much to my surprise, I open the box and find a 1975 Fender Precision bass in stellar (although obviously played) condition. Sometimes things are more than just the materials used to create them. Every time I pick this bass up I am overjoyed with sentimentality and gratitude. This thing is now a family heirloom and I hope my kids’ kid’s get to continue adding to the story. I keep it strung with ancient TI Jazz Flats and a Fender Custom Shop 60’s Pickup.

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Cool story, cooler uncle and excellent looking instrument and heirloom. It's a lovely bass!

 

[C Stone]

Definitely! I bought a Japanese (Teisco?) short scale from a buddy in high school back in the mid-80s for $50.

Scott (Binky) was a big and super-likable guy - always smiling, genuinely outgoing, and willing to help anyone. Sadly he was killed in a car accident two years after graduation.

Even though the bass is barely playable (broken truss rod and dead electronics), I proudly keep and display the Binky Bass in memory of my friend.

Sorry to hear about yer bud Scott, I lost a great friend just out of highschool as well (also a car accident) he was also just a great soul, incidentally the first bass I ever played was a Tiesco shortscale jazz bass it was missing inlays, hardly playable but enough to cause a spark. Still have it, it's a dog but it's stayin.
Nice tribute take it easy Bassman

 

[wiscoaster]

When I was a kid we had a band and as lead guitar I played a Gibson SG (at that time labelled a "Les Paul Jr."), which I was absolutely in love with. So that body style and finish are sentimental to me. When I decided to get back into playing after being away 50 yrs by playing bass I got myself an Epiphone EB-0 mostly because of my sentiment for its "looks". That was a mistake. While it was beautiful, the guitar was crap, and I don't have it any more. Moral of my story: don't let sentiment sway your decision-making. Do what's best given all the data points for right now.

 

[C Stone]

i'm a "tool" guy, but i have a few that i'm "attached to" for various reasons. like this one:

i dedicated 'the look' of one of my axes to my wife (blonde) and my daughter (she loves purple). and because it's my lightest instrument (6.2 lbs.), and because it was my first P-bass in years, and because it was my first build-entirely-from-parts ax, and because it plays so nicely (killer --- simply irresistible!): it just has all the ingredients to be both special and "sentimental" even though it's only 3 years old....it's one of my all-time favorite 'hammers':
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Man JRA that blonde axe of yours looks so good and I know it's a player! Wife and daughter approved, and just about everyone else that's seen or heard it in action, well done!

 

[Deleted member 365158]

My first bass bought with my own money.
Bought new at Apple music in Portland Or. in 1990.
Modded a bit through the years of course

 

[Steve Fox]

My mother bought me this bass for Christmas of ‘98. It’s had more pickup swaps than I can remember. It was stolen from the first house I rented (I got it back from the cops about a year later with a bunch of fingerprint schmutz all over it). It survived a house fire in 2010. It’s been the one constant in my musical journey for almost 25 years.

 

[whero]

I used to have an Ibanez Roadster RS 820 B in "brown sunburst", exactly like this one in the 1979 catalogue.

Here it is, with me and some stupid sunglasses, at a rehearsal session in early 1980s.

Unfortunately I sold it to finance my first 5 string. But I loved that bass. It was a quality instrument, and joy to play. If I ever found one in decent condition I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. I regret that I only became sentimental about it once I no longer had it.

 

[Pings Bass]

76 P and 87 fretless PJ, main workhorses through my most active playing career. Total lunch pail basses that covered all my bases. I almost never play them, but I hang on to them nevertheless.

 

[Steve Fox]

I used to have an Ibanez Roadster RS 820 B in "brown sunburst", exactly like this one in the 1979 catalogue.
View attachment 4659879

Here it is, with me and some stupid sunglasses, at a rehearsal session in early 1980s.
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Unfortunately I sold it to finance my first 5 string. But I loved that bass. It was a quality instrument, and joy to play. If I ever found one in decent condition I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. I regret that I only became sentimental about it once I no longer had it.

Not going to lie, I’d straight up be sentimental about those baller sunglasses!

 

[ELG60]

I bought this '69 from Ed's Guitars on Bird Road in Miami back in '79. It was my first "pro" quality instrument and it replaced a Hagstrom which I'd been playing for a year or so. I think that I paid around $400 but that's just guesswork at this point:

Here's a ridiculous pic of me playing it, circa 1980. Don't ask, because I don't remember the context. A friend sent me this pic a couple of years back:

When playing a 4 banger, I normally play one of my OTM JB75-94US Japanese market reissues. They have great throughput, and the neck profiles are identical to the '69 and just feel very natural to me:

They actually sound much better than the original, but I guess having owned it for 40-something years, I'll prolly keep it around a bit longer.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

This bass started life as a '78 Fender Musicmaster. I've had it since early spring '97 and got it for free but unplayable condition. Very long story behind all the changes, all the gigs, but it was the first short scale bass I'd ever seen or heard of when I got it. My son got an "A" when he airbrushed it for an art project in high school in 2011.