Starter Basses Today And Back In The Day!

[mongo2]

But you can certainly play on an ultra-cheapo violin, no matter what the pros say (at least, as long as it's not so cheap that it's falling apart).

When my son started middle school he told me he wanted to join the orchestra playing violin. My wife and I figured it might not last long so we decided to let him pick an inexpensive violin from an auction site. He picked a violin that was painted black and cost the princely sum of $60US. The orchestra director pulled me aside when I was picking him up from rehearsal and commented that she was very pleased with the tone of his violin and asked where I got it. She was quite surprised when I told her.

He was given the position of Second Violin rather quickly and used that violin all through high school in the school orchestra and the state youth orchestra including a show at Lincoln Center. He still has it but along the way he started on guitar and mostly plays that now. Best $60 violin eva.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

I had a no-name 32" scale PBass in the late 70's, probably Korean or Taiwanese, complete with $20 ill-fitting chipboard case. My case had the no extra charge auto-opening at inopportune times option. It would open boarding the school bus, going upstairs to my room... Good times!

The action was so bad on that bass, stunt pilots considered flying under the strings. It didn't have a truss rod. Hopefully, someone at least enjoyed a nice bonfire with it.

Then there were Stage brand amps and early Crate stuff. All terrible, and often the same guts repackaged in different boxes with different logos by Westbury or Unicord.

I worked in a music store in the early 80's unpacking, inspecting, and doing a rough setup and intonation on instruments before they hit the wall. I'd put any $3-400 bass available today up against most of the brand new famous name stuff I put on the bass wall in the store. Even some of the Music Man and G&L stuff wasn't what it is today. Similar to automobiles, it was decent quality Japanese stuff, from names like Yamaha and Ibanez, that kicked the American brands in a better direction.

 

[gazzatriumph]

In the UK in the 70's we had the terrible Kay P Bass, today's entry level ones are far better. I think having started on such a poor instrument you appreciate quality more.

 

[39-Bassist]

Wow...thoughts of my first bass makes me cringe and wonder how I actually kept playing bass.
It was a Global from Sear's catalog and had action high enough to put my finger under it, plywood body and horrible plastic tuners.
(part of me wishes I had that bass as a comparison to where I am at today)
But then I will say that within 5-6 yrs from that Japan actually started to make some really good stuff. (aka: 83 Squier P bass)
Todays beginners really do have an advantage to play a decent bass right from the start.
I know that I would have advanced sooner if my bass was more enjoyable to play.

 

[GreyBeard]

Imho, starter basses are as good or better than the "pro" basses were back in 68 when I started.

 

[Ffreddy]

I started playing bass in the early 90s
Saved up my first few paychecks and bought a memphis P-bass from daddys junky music for 129.99 or something similar.

Played it for about a year while saving up for a peavey, which I thought would be better. Who ever heard of a 'memphis' bass anyway right?...

Uhhh.

Three basses and a thousand bucks later I ended up with a 77 fender precision bass that was easily..... as good as the memphis that I was too dumb and inexperienced to realize was a gem.

Got a chance to play the memphis p-bass again years and years later and the dude still wouldn't sell it back to me.

 

[1958Bassman]

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

Yeah? You should have seen the crap that was out there when I started- my first was a Tiesco del Rey that cost $42 including tax.

I really should have changed the strings but in 1966, there was no way to get as much advice as we can now. It may have been OK, but the original strings tore my fingers and thumb up so badly that I couldn't play it for long before the blisters started. OTOH, it got me started and I did learn a lot of tunes at the time, so it wasn't all bad.

 

[JimB52]

Amen, brother. Budget basses were terrible bitd. My fingers still hurt a little from that super high action and sharp fret edges.

 

[JW56789]

When I started out in the late 70's, you either played out and out JUNK like Dr. C's second video, or, like I did, you started out on a 'professional' instrument (my first bass was a then-new Gibson Ripper) like a Jazz, a Precision, that Ripper, a 4000-something Ric, etc. Granted, I guess I could have gotten a Mustang or a SG Jr. or something like that, but they weren't all that, either.

IF I'd have had to start with an Airline, Alamo, Teisco, etc., I'd be on TALK PLUMBER. They were junk then, they're older, even crankier junk now. I tell myself I can understand some players' fascination with them, am dumbstruck that new re-creations are steady sellers, but they just remind me of how few choices we had back then, most of them bad. When you hear some guy talk about his first guitar and the strings were THIS high off the fingerboard, you get the idea. Look at the Dr's vid, you could put a cigarette under the strings of that dog.

The unbelievable range of choices of good instruments and amps available these days was a crazy dream back then, and even stupid cheap stuff today smokes those old dogs.

 

[OldSchoolFlats]

I don't remember starter basses being such a thing back in the early '70s when I started. I started with a Fender Jazz. Back then, it seemed like there was an easier relationship between income and living expenses. I bought my bass (and amp) from paper-route money.

I did pick-up a Bradly SG clone somewhere that was sort-of OK, but I seem to recall starter basses back then being more like Epiphone or Yamaha.

 

[HardNHeavy]

Back in "my day" 83'-84' i never knew about "starter basses"...Just cheap ones , so i bought a Hondo P and modded it a little until i could afford a real MIA P bass, just wanted what my so called "idols" were playing then.
Squiers came out in 82 i believe?.. Nowadays forget it...As we know there are several respectable "starter" brands that are as good as some top-shelf instruments....

 

[Bass Viking]

IF I'd have had to start with an Airline, Alamo, Teisco, etc., I'd be on TALK PLUMBER. They were junk then, they're older, even crankier junk now.

I chuckle when I see these old crappy basses for sale and how the sellers try to talk them up: "rare", "vintage", "golden era", etc.

 

[Diminishedfilth]

I was handed my first bass around the late 80's, and it was was terrible! Short-scale, puke-burst, 4 different tuning machines, a clown-sized pickup cover you could drive a bus under. I'm surprised I stuck with it after that kind of torture. My next one was a Sears catalog Precision copy with a Jazz bridge pickup. That one I actually wish I kept, just out of curiosity of how it would compare to everything else I've played since. My first legit bass was a Gibson Ripper. Another one I wish I still had, but in the era of purple Jacksons with hockey stick necks, I really didn't appreciate it as much as I would now.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

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.

And I'll bet you walked to your gigs carrying all your gear uphill both ways and in the snow.
Actually, I agree with you. You post brings back some painful memories of slabs of wood that could only be called basses if you were being generous.

 

[JW56789]

I'd call them plywood basses, but that's really being unnecessarily rude to plywood.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

And I'll bet you walked to your gigs carrying all your gear uphill both ways and in the snow.
Actually, I agree with you. You post brings back some painful memories of slabs of wood that could only be called basses if you were being generous.

I did walk to jam sessions carrying my gear through a Confederate graveyard, no joke.

 

[jnewmark]

Back in the day, for me, it was the Fender Mustang bass, for about a minute, then a Gibson EBO. Today, I have no idea.

 

[DirtDog]

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.

Yep. Agreed. My first bass was a Stagg (not the famous Stagg, but an off brand import into Canada in the 70s). And a number of cheap six string guitars. I feel the same way.

HOWEVER, I just bought a 80s Ibanez Roadstar II RS320 - HH, stop tail bridge, set neck, black body and painted neck with matching headstock and cream binding. Beauty. I had the same guitar when I was 17. I was kind of skeptical when I bought this one (about six months ago) but I thought I'd give it a whirl.. But man oh man is it solid. Neck feels perfect, gives me a nice nasty overdriven sound. Flawless to me. Compare that to my closest rival, a relatively new PRS SE Singlecut. Nut gets in the way, neck is very chunky comparatively, sounds polite when overdriven. I prefer the older Ibanez over the newer PRS.

Both are fine guitars - just goes to show that not all cheapo 80s guitars were crap!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Yep. Agreed. My first bass was a Stagg (not the famous Stagg, but an off brand import into Canada in the 70s). And a number of cheap six string guitars. I feel the same way.

HOWEVER, I just bought a 80s Ibanez Roadstar II RS320 - HH, stop tail bridge, set neck, black body and painted neck with matching headstock and cream binding. Beauty. I had the same guitar when I was 17. I was kind of skeptical when I bought this one (about six months ago) but I thought I'd give it a whirl.. But man oh man is it solid. Neck feels perfect, gives me a nice nasty overdriven sound. Flawless to me. Compare that to my closest rival, a relatively new PRS SE Singlecut. Nut gets in the way, neck is very chunky comparatively, sounds polite when overdriven. I prefer the older Ibanez over the newer PRS.

Both are fine guitars - just goes to show that not all cheapo 80s guitars were crap!

In my opinion, the Eighties were a huge improvement over the Seventies. You could get a Yamaha BB300 cheap, for instance, just to name one good, but inexpensive bass.

 

[Aussie Player]

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.
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