Starter Basses Today And Back In The Day!

[rantbot]

What really sets off the '60s and '70s instruments for me is the cheap and cheerful attitude to outright scamming of the poor kids buying that stuff (or their even poorer parents). Bolts glued into the ends of necks to simulate real truss rods, etc. My favorite was single coils stuffed into humbucker housings. They don't seem to do that stuff nowadays - or at least not so obviously.

I used to twist off the heads of cheapo tuning machines, too. That was one of the major attractions of Fender in those days - nobody else had tuners which looked like they came straight off a steam locomotive.

 

[GretschWretch]

What really sets off the '60s and '70s instruments for me is the cheap and cheerful attitude to outright scamming of the poor kids buying that stuff (or their even poorer parents). Bolts glued into the ends of necks to simulate real truss rods, etc. My favorite was single coils stuffed into humbucker housings. They don't seem to do that stuff nowadays - or at least not so obviously.

I used to twist off the heads of cheapo tuning machines, too. That was one of the major attractions of Fender in those days - nobody else had tuners which looked like they came straight off a steam locomotive.

At that time there were no more steam locomotives. There was no punk. There was no steampunk.

 

[amper]

I have never understood this idea of a "starter" bass. My first bass was Fender's top of the line instrument, a 1992 Fender US Plus Series Jazz Bass Plus V Ash. I was in my 20s, working a barely-above-minimum-wage job, and bought it on a 3-year payment plan, just like the 1990 Rickenbacker 330 I bought three years before that. I have never in my life bought a "starter" instrument of any kind.

I always recommend to people that they buy a used, professional grade instrument. The learning experience will be better, if they decided not to stick with it, they can sell the instrument for what they paid for it, and if they do stick with it, they have made the best possible investment, and the longer they own it, the cheaper it gets, plus they now have an instrument worthy of being passed down an a family heirloom.

 

[kodiakblair]

I suppose it depend on the starter bass.

Here in Scotland we had Kays and Satellites as starter basses but we also had Jimmy Grant.

Jimmy owned a few shops and imported his own shop brand line from Fujigen and Chushin / Dyna Gakki in Japan . These were the factories that had Fender USA execs weeping in the early 80's

After a beaten to death Commodore semi hollow costing £1.50 and an even worse Kay tulip body short scale ; the Grant was my first real bass. Quite heavy as I recall but I was just a wee boy then

A well made bass which sound just grand.

Mid 80's I was living in London and when I decided to buy a USA Fender , took the Grant with me for part exchange.
Carted it round the West End guitar shops while I tried out P-basses.

None of the Fenders played were in any way shape or form an improvement. The day ended with me returning home with the Grant

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I have never understood this idea of a "starter" bass. My first bass was Fender's top of the line instrument, a 1992 Fender US Plus Series Jazz Bass Plus V Ash. I was in my 20s, working a barely-above-minimum-wage job, and bought it on a 3-year payment plan, just like the 1990 Rickenbacker 330 I bought three years before that. I have never in my life bought a "starter" instrument of any kind.

I always recommend to people that they buy a used, professional grade instrument. The learning experience will be better, if they decided not to stick with it, they can sell the instrument for what they paid for it, and if they do stick with it, they have made the best possible investment, and the longer they own it, the cheaper it gets, plus they now have an instrument worthy of being passed down an a family heirloom.

Starter basses are reality for kids who cannot afford a quality instrument, or whose parents are not convinced yet of their kids commitment to the bass.

 

[Ken R]

The lowest priced (brand new) offering at GC will be light years better than that Norma short scale bass I learned on in the early 70's
This is a picture I found online.