Starter Basses Today And Back In The Day!

[Grinderman]

My starter bass in the mid-80s was one of these; Washburn Series Vulture II bass. Neck through, brass nut and bridge saddles, quite heavy. I bought it used for around $250 or $300.

I don't remember the scale length but it was a long neck with lots of frets. It was a bit of a beast to learn on, especially for my build and small hands.

 

[jd56hawk]

That Harley Benton P has had me so intrigued for some time now.

I'd like one but I stopped buying basses three or four basses ago.

 

[DirkP]

Watching this Washburn...
I think the real somehow crappy instruments were build prior to the early 80s. When the japanese instruments were getting as good or better than US build instruments, you could buy instruments that were incredible good for half the price or less of a US made Fender. Like the Squier JV series.
But these were still half the price or nearly half the price of US Fender instruments.

Today you can buy a more than o.k. instrument for 1/4 or 1/5 of a US Fender, even from Fender

 

[jastraw]

Absolutely no doubt about it.
When perfectly gig-worthy basses like this are available for $130, I can't understand how people are even buying used basses for twice as much...and then complaining about the frets, necks, pickups, control pots, etc.
View attachment 4404864

I'm with you. I got this exact Harley P bass recently. Changed out pickups and strings. Gigged it the past weekend. It easily performs at a road worthy level.

 

[jastraw]

That Harley Benton P has had me so intrigued for some time now.

You won't regret it. I got one couple weeks ago. 2 mods later. Gigged it Saturday and it performed well.

 

[DWBass]

My first 2 basses (early 70's) were Univox basses (see below). Decent instruments. I do remember coming across some horrid basses back then though with super high action, hollow sounding pickups. I didn't buy another bass until the mid 90's which was an Ibanez SR505.

 

[steelbed45]

I started playing in 1983. I asked for a Fender for Christmas. What I received was a MIJ Bradley P-copy that was rock solid and served me for years. I got lucky as judging from the horror stories, it could have been way worse.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I started playing in 1983. I asked for a Fender for Christmas. What I received was a MIJ Bradley P-copy that was rock solid and served me for years. I got lucky as judging from the horror stories, it could have been way worse.

Stuff had actually started getting better by the early to mid Eighties.

 

[GretschWretch]

IMO, budget basses didn't become a "thing" until the sixties. In the fifties about all you had at those price points were Danelectro and Marvel. The Kay hollowbody probably would have been considered mid-tier. There were no import lines to speak of; it took the guitar boom of the early sixties to get that ball rolling.

Import basses had a higher profile beginning in the sixties, and they were probably better instruments than they are given credit for, if the kids buying them had had any idea about set-up. The interesting thing to me about the sixties is the appearance and then disappearance of the mid-level basses, many of whom had very short production runs of three years or less. Magnatone falls into this category, as do the long-scale Supros and Kustoms. But this was compensated for in some degree by the arrival of European imports.

 

[Gaolee]

I guess I've only ever seen entry level basses being perfectly fine instruments. So chances are for at least the last fifteen years or so cheap basses have been fine.

Edit: I guess now WE'RE the only thing limiting us from being the players we want to be.

The truth can be painful. I need another bass, though. That will solve the problem!

 

[Gaolee]

Peavey was my favorite bass back in those days. I didn't own anything but Peavey basses from the time I took up bass again in 1984, until 1990.

I wanted a Peavey back in the '80s. Never had one, and at this point probably never will. I thought of those as a bit of a holy grail.

 

[erratick]

For sure on the quality of "entry level" instruments. I started on a knock off P bass from Korea, and it was awful. I worked on that thing for years. Setup, frets, neck shim, replace pickup. I didn't know as much as I know now, but it barely got to usable.

Got a Squier VM jazz a few years ago. It was usable out of the mail order box, and with a setup it is great.

 

[bobyoung53]

I was out and did my regular reconnaissance at my local Fender (where I bought my US Geddy,) and saw some interesting stuff today. I saw a new Affinity J5, and as usual, it is a great budget bass. Frankly, I think the Affinity takes a better set up than my Squier Contemporary Jazz V. If I bought that bass, gave the trussrod a turn and shimmed the neck, I know it would play like a dream.

In contrast, I saw a no name import, probably from the Seventies or early Eighties, that looked about like my first bass and was about as crappy. The action was bordering on unplayable and that is why I did not last long on it.

Beginning bassist's have it 100x better than folks who started when I did.

Oh yes, it's like night and day, my first bass was a Japanese bass (with no name tag) that I bought somewhere around 1967 for 25 bucks from a friend's older brother. Being the first bass I had ever tried I had no idea how high the action was. When I bought my first new P bass in 1970 the action was so low (to me) that I had to raise it, this with stock Fender flatwounds. I'm amazed at how well cheap basses play nowadays, my first guitar was horrible too, bought maybe 1966, it was called an Audition. This is when "Made in Japan" was still a derogatory slur on the quality of their merchandise. Times have certainly changed.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Beginning bassist's have it 100x better than folks who started when I did.

Preach it brother Cheese!!

 

[Moving Pictures]

I wanted a Peavey back in the '80s. Never had one, and at this point probably never will. I thought of those as a bit of a holy grail.

My first proper bass was an 84 Peavey. It felt light years ahead of everything I owned before it. I do miss it.

 

[bobyoung53]

IMO, budget basses didn't become a "thing" until the sixties. In the fifties about all you had at those price points were Danelectro and Marvel. The Kay hollowbody probably would have been considered mid-tier. There were no import lines to speak of; it took the guitar boom of the early sixties to get that ball rolling.

Import basses had a higher profile beginning in the sixties, and they were probably better instruments than they are given credit for, if the kids buying them had had any idea about set-up. The interesting thing to me about the sixties is the appearance and then disappearance of the mid-level basses, many of whom had very short production runs of three years or less. Magnatone falls into this category, as do the long-scale Supros and Kustoms. But this was compensated for in some degree by the arrival of European imports.

1960's: Set up, what's set up? You do have a point though, I never even tried to tweak my own P bass truss rod until the early 70's.

 

[Dr Zee]

In 1965 my first bass was a Japanese thing called a Winston (tasted good like it should)
a "P" copy but actually was pretty good. It was also a playground for me to mod. Which I did a lot.
gold flake body paint, aluminum pickguard,which was easy to drill, mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fret board, white binding and a single large pickup. I bought it from a schoolmate for $25.

 

[Tubehed]

I wonder if beginners are sticking with it more these days now that the entry level stuff is infinitely better than when I first started as a kid. Some of those guitars and basses were so bad, so difficult to play, that it made it easier to just give it up.

 

[MarMar]

So what about a Squier Affinity P Bass from like 2005? Good? Bad? Decent?

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

With CNC machines building basses is not rocket science. It's a pretty straightforward process, and the basses should be affordable. There'll always be custom handmade instruments that cost $$$$$, but I honestly don't think even the most experienced luthiers could top CNC machines when it comes to precision.