The one that got away.

Sigh. My brother's '54 Precision that I learned on... was never mine, but I still miss it... rumor has it it's sitting in Gene Simmons' collection now...

 

An OG Gibson Les Paul Signature bass supposedly used at Isle of Wight festival attended by Jimi Hendrix. One pluck of it was all I had to hear. Traded it for a Peavey Foundation of all things. The Epiphone reissues (I’ve had two) didn’t cut it for me.

 

My black Kubicki ExFactor. Think it was an 86 model. I bought it new and used it for years on the road and did a lot of sessions when I was making my living with music. Played it in a lot of places where TB people said “you can only have a P there”. It was so versatile and played like magic.
I saved my money to put myself through school when touring got old, full-on “Triple Lindy” style. But tuition increases…. I sold that bass for a full semester of classes and books. My self-supported engineering degree is cool but not as cool as that bass

 

Is there an interesting story behind the journey from your brother to Gene? Gene was never known for playing P basses and only did so on a number of occasions.

It would have looked better had the guard been black.

 

I miss every bass I ever sold. Except that Epiphone Expert 6. FTB

 

The purple Peavey B-Quad five I sold to pay bills......

 

75/76 4001 Burgundyglo that I bought new. Like an idiot, I traded it away for some speakers for a cab I was building.

 

All original 1965 Gibson Melody Maker D. My first electric guitar, bought it for $125, later traded it for a POS Harmony arch top. Not much of a player (short scale, hard to set up, janky whammy bar). But sounded great and looked cool.

 

A Stingray 5 30th anniversary model I played at Guitar Center in 2017. I loved the bass but scoffed at the very idea of paying more than $2000 for a 5-string Stingray. Now they are going for around $3000 on the used market. Sigh

 

Here's a funny one but I miss my early 2000s samick jazz bass for one reason or another.

 

1980 USA Fender Bullet bass
Fender Marcus Miller MIJ signature
2001? Warwick Corvette LTD, one of maybe 50
1960's Vox Sidewinder hollow body

 

My 1983 Squier MIJ P bass...ugh...and the worst part is that I had 2 of them...

 

‘I had a late 60’s EB3 back in the mid 70’s I kind of wish I hung on to, but I had a newer EB3 at the time and sold it. No need for 2, and eventually sold the newer one as well.

 

Forced to choose one, my first, a Guild B301A. Would unbelt for it in a second if we crossed paths (as long as the knobs were never changed, I'd know it instantly).

 

I had a mid-1980s ESP P/J fretless that I parted out. I still have the neck but, in retrospect, I should have left it on its original body. It was a really good combination.

I’ve sold a number of other basses over the years but none that I miss all that much, to be honest.

 

Triple Black Victory Artist and a Peavey Sarzo. Great sounding basses, I was young and naive when I traded them.

 

My first bass - a Greco EB-3 copy. I went to jr. high/high school in Japan, don't remember how I acquired it, but an upperclassman (I was maybe 8th grade?) convinced me I should sell it to him. I didn't want to but thought I should? In hindsight, I barely got to play it, wish I hadn't been manipulated into selling it. I probably would have let it go at some point in the past 40 years but it would be cool to still have it.