The bass you'll always own.

[BassholeKI]

Probably my jazz partsbass. First bass build/ GFS red burst royal pawlonia body, Mighty Mite neck, Fender and misc. HW, 18V Bartolini pup system, concentric knobs- so I could get the 4 pots needed for the Bart system without needing to figure out how and where to mount the extra.

Can't see any other jazz I'd rather have, and since I built this one (first bass build) its special to me.

The other I don't think I'll ever part with is my ~1970 Rivoli (EA-260 really). First bass I ever owned. Bought from my best friend, guy who taught me a ton about guitars in the beginning, and former bandmate for $90 (w/ OHSC) then paid Dan Erlewine to replace the "amateurishly replaced neck block. Hogged out the factory block with a rusty steak knife, cut a piece of what looks like oak with the same knife now duller. Put it in and filled the gaps with white school glue. Surprised it held together this long."

He cleaned up the edges of the existing block, cut a proper piece of pine then used Titebond to glue it in. Shimmed the neck, put a couple pieces of double sided carpet tape under the floating bridge (so I didn't have to try and line it up with the pencil marks on the top, and adjust intonation from scratch every string change).

Gigged with that one for years, its my first bass.

 

[countrybass5]

Mine is a 10 year old Birdsong Hy5 made from zebrawood. It is still in emaculate condition because it only gets played here at home every day. It was costly but I don't intend to sell it. I use it whenever I play a gig.It is my go to because it is my only. That will change when I get my Kiesel in Dec. Then I'll have 2 I won't be able to part with.

 

[aureliab20gt]

for me it's my Jan 63 Jazz...…...bought it in 1979 for peanuts and it's still the best bass I've ever held

 

[Charlie28711]

My 98 MIM Fender Jazz.
It was a pawnshop find. I upgraded the pots and cap. Installed a Babicz full contact bridge and Hipshot tuners and flats A previous owner had already replaced the pups.
But even before all my fiddling it was a great player. The neck fit my hand just right and smooth as a baby's butt.
It's been hanging unplayed for a while because it wasnt feeling right. When i also noticed that my other Fenders weren't feeling "right" either.
So i got my tools and guages out and did some tweeks to neck relief, string height and intonation.
Wow! I'm in love again.

 

[JimChjones]

This one. 1983 Tokai Jazz. I can't remember if I went back into a burning building to get it, but I've certainly walked out of a burning building carrying it. I'll probably also always own my first bass, an early 60s short scale Burns, but only because its been so heavily modified - stripped of paint and different pickups - that I can't imagine anyone else wanting it!

 

[spook68]

I have a 79 Aria Pro Sb1000 in the light wood colour, a gold Jack Cassidy Epiphone signature, a squire jazz and a cheap yamaha to practice with.

 

[MoStyles]

My Sub Ray 4. I spent more money than it's worth modding it, so It's not worth selling.View attachment 3078053

I bought one for a backup bass and they are phenomenal basses for $300 stock. I thew some nylon flats on it and has a cool motown sound now. Keep thinking about throwing a Nordstand or Agular pickup in their, but I just bought a 63 P bass vintage replica... There goes my pocket change for a while!

 

[psyline]

I found this 69 neck on a local rag in San Francisco around 1992. I had Dan Ransom build a solid walnut jazz body for me around the neck. Had Gary Brawer drop in Bartolini PJ, then played over 1000 gigs with it. Plays like a dream and sounds like a god. I'll probabl be cremated with it. Probably.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

It would have to be the '78 Fender Musicmaster in my avatar. To me the value of the back story on how I got it and where it was found, plus all the work that was put into it to recover and make it playable. Now with my son's airbrush work on it it's personalized just for me. Can't imagine not having that one around.

 

[avi]

No matter how hard the others basses try, nothing ever sounds quite as good as my shoulder crushing passive 1980 Ibanez Studio bass.

View attachment 3077877

OMG - Those are killer painful!! I had a fretless one..

 

[Asylum-49]

My '87 Fender Jazz Bass Special, 'Duff' I've had it since 1997, flipped to lefty. Never modified or changed a thing (apart from the strings now and then) I have a '98 EBMM Stingray LH, which I love but Duff will always be the one, even when i'm old, wrinkly and I don't have the strength anymore;

 

[skwee]

Unless some pretty janky stuff happens in my life, I don't see me losing any instruments at this point. My spouse can donate them all after I'm gone.

 

[mexicanyella]

View attachment 3085405
This one. 1983 Tokai Jazz. I can't remember if I went back into a burning building to get it, but I've certainly walked out of a burning building carrying it. I'll probably also always own my first bass, an early 60s short scale Burns, but only because its been so heavily modified - stripped of paint and different pickups - that I can't imagine anyone else wanting it!

C'mon, man, where's the photo of the Burns? I can't be the only weirdo that likes seeing major oddball mods...

...nice-looking Tokai though...and WI Short Scaler's Musicmaster is pretty great too.

 

[alack]

It would have to be the '78 Fender Musicmaster in my avatar. To me the value of the back story on how I got it and where it was found, plus all the work that was put into it to recover and make it playable. Now with my son's airbrush work on it it's personalized just for me. Can't imagine not having that one around.

View attachment 3085761
View attachment 3085762

If I could "like" that bass 40 times, I would!

 

[JimChjones]

C'mon, man, where's the photo of the Burns? I can't be the only weirdo that likes seeing major oddball mods...

In my defence:-
a) I was only about 17
b) I think one of the Burns pickups went open circuit and they were unobtainable then
c) it is a surprisingly nice piece of wood.
Looking at it the poor thing desperately needs some TLC. The bridge is falling off. Must be 30 years since it was plugged into an amp!

Originally it looked like this:
http://images.equipboard.com/uploads/item/image/66430/burns-sonic-bass-1962-reburst-xl.jpg

 

[Charlie28711]

Haven't found it yet, but my Nate Mendel P is definitely a contender.

Yeah I have a Mendel P as well. It's a contender also. Now that I think of it my Fender P Deluxe is too.
Thank god the kids are all grown so I never have to choose between them and the Fenders in the event of a fire.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

If I could "like" that bass 40 times, I would!

Thanks, the personal touch of knowing my son did it make it doubly special to me. He was a senior in high school at the time.

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

These two...had the Stingray since new, and that Warwick is just delightful...View attachment 3086040

I'm not a 'Ray guy generally...had a few, nice just not for me, but THAT one is making my pants all funny.

 

[BBassBassington]

Here's the whole family, and I don't think I'm likely to sell any of them for various reasons:

The burst J, Bonnie (used to have a matching El Degas P called Clyde) saw me through one of the hardest years of my life and having to sell my entire bass and guitar rigs, which included multiple USA made instruments, both my amps were USA made Peaveys too. Debt is a bitch, especially when you take it on planning for a future that explodes in your face. Bonnie made it alright though and I don't miss many of those instruments.

The P5, Lucy has been with me to every show minus 1 since I bought it in January 2013. The first 5 banger I've ever fallen for and I fell hard. It's the only bass I really ever need. I'd go into a burning building for it.

The Squier "Bullet" was my first guitar, and with a loaded hotrails copy pickgaurd dropped in and some locking tuners it's become the best playing guitar I've ever played as well as my dream strat. I'd also go into a burning building for this. My first times on stage, learning the instrument, all the stupid stuff I did with it to look cool, writing every song I've ever written on it, it's so much a part of my life it may as well be one of my limbs.

The Fender Jazz is perfection. That's all I know about it and all I need to know. I've never played a more comfortable 5. It's heavy af, and stunningly beautiful. I call her Felicity.

I built the red strat copy out of my 2nd guitar and the cheapest parts I could buy on eBay. I'd give it a 5/10, and I can safely say that without any of the proper tools and having to hand route the neck pocket that a) my craftsmanship kinda sucks and b) it's surprisingly playable.

The rest of them are essentially worthless. Even the Ibanez won't sell for $200 CAD. So they're staying whether I like it or not. And while it's not a fancy arsenal (and 3 of them are guitars) or anywhere near as nice as many of the basses I see here or drool over regularly they're all mine and have had hours of TLC poured into them. I also get very attached to my instruments. Truth be told I've arranged two deals for the Ibanez that I cancelled in the end. I used to think I just couldn't meld with it but now I think it's just a slow-boiling love we've got going.

 

[mexicanyella]

View attachment 3085944 View attachment 3085945
In my defence:-
a) I was only about 17
b) I think one of the Burns pickups went open circuit and they were unobtainable then
c) it is a surprisingly nice piece of wood.
Looking at it the poor thing desperately needs some TLC. The bridge is falling off. Must be 30 years since it was plugged into an amp!

Originally it looked like this:
http://images.equipboard.com/uploads/item/image/66430/burns-sonic-bass-1962-reburst-xl.jpg

No defense needed...but from a reader's perspective this story would end with "_________ got me inspired to dig it out, do the necessary repairs and start playing in again for those times when slanted P pickups in non-P locations make for the perfect non-P tone."

It does look like a nice piece of wood, as you say. I wonder how the string spread would work out over a pair of chromed guitar mini humbuckers, Firebird style, and if mini-humbuckers would fit into the pickup routs. You could whip up an alternate pickguard...that would almost look like something Burns would have made, back in the day.

Experiments I'm conducting with a few different guitar pickups in a Johnson P-bass copy have been encouraging. Haven't tried a mini-humbucker, but a full-sized humbucker and a EMG Select strat pickup have worked well and been wide enough to include the string spread in their magnetic fields with no weak-sounding strings.