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The one that got away.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 394181
  • Start date Start date
#42
BishopHastur said:
My first bass. It was either my uncles or my moms depending on who you talk to. Was an unknown make (headstock logo got removed years before I was born) violin style from the 60s or 70s. If I could track it down I would, but I wouldn't even know where to start at this point.
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I think I have some trauma over trading my first "good' bass, because I forgot about it until now. An MC924 Ibanez Musician.
 
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#44
The ones I find myself still thinking about decades later are two: In the middle 1970s I owned a 1967 left-handed P Bass that had been refinished in the red Gibson SG-looking finish, Sounded fabulous, drew looks from the other bassists, and I found I could actually play it left-handed after a bit of mental rewiring (usually just played it right-handed with reversed string order). Loved that thing to death-- had it about three years and then it was stolen. I keep thinking I'll get a Warmoth body with a mahogany top and duplicate it, but there always seems to be another need for the money--
The other one was around that same time-- we were playing a lot in Victoria, BC at an old pub called the Brown Jug (met a girl there that I almost married, narrowest escape of my life, but that as they say is another story). On the other side of the block was a little music store, very convenient to a lot of the local clubs-- and hanging in it was a (probably early-70s from the time frame, this was like 1976) jet black P Bass with matching peghead, that some enterprising individual had taken the low-impedance guts out of a Les Paul Recording model, I think, and shoveled the works into the Precision, very nice pro-looking job-- and since the metal trim on the electronics was gold plated, changed out all the other metal as well, Looked and sounded like 30 million bucks, and was juuuust out of my price range. Since as far as I know the only way to duplicate it would be to sacrifice a Les Paul Recording, it has remained a pipe dream, dammit. I came to the conclusion that the guy who built it must have gotten a Gibson with a neck that went to crap, only reason I could think of to scuttle one, and I have heard of some others with neck issues.
 
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#45
pbassnut said:
I had a '73 Precision that I bought brand new that I wish I had held onto. I used it for the entire two years I was playing in a Country & Western band that was on the Holiday Inn circuit ... six nights a week with only a couple of weeks off during the entire stretch. The neck was as solid as a rock and sometimes it would stay in perfect tune for a month at a time (we played those Holiday Inn lounges for a month ... sometimes two before moving onto the next one). The singer in the band owned a pre-CBS '62 Jazz bass that he brought on the road with us and let me play it when I wanted to. This is where I originally caught the pre-CBS bug (back when you could still buy them simply as used instruments and not Holy Grails) and sold that '73 P to start my vintage Fender bass collection. I did end up getting some super cool pre-CBS Ps and Js but I still think about that killer '73 P that I let go.
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If your consolation price was sone pre-CBS instruments I don’t feel too bad for your…
 
#49
Deleted member 394181 said:
We all have the story of Basses we should not have traded, or sold, but which one do you miss the most? I let a 1974 White with Black binding and hardware, Rickenbacker 4001 get away. Stupid.
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I sold one of those around 1990 for $450, the same price I'd paid for it in 1978. That was a fair price then and I don't regret it.

The lead guitarist in the band I was in at the time was trying to sell me his Jazz bass at that time but I turned him down and bought the Rick which I really wanted at the time and he sold/traded his Jazz for a Strat. I shoulda just agreed to buy his Jazz, I realize now.

I let an early 1960s P-bass go when it was offered to me with a 50-watt Traynor amp for $500 in 1976, but I was newly married with a pregnant wife and saving money to buy land and any extra money I had went into the land fund.

I also passed on an early 1960s Danelectro and a plexiglass Dan Armstorng at a local record shop whose owner dealt in vintage guitars, but that doesn't really bother me too much.
 
#50
This Peavey T-40. Really wish I still had it.
Peavey Body Front 1.jpg
 
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#52
MichelD said:
I sold one of those around 1990 for $450, the same price I'd paid for it in 1978. That was a fair price then and I don't regret it.

The lead guitarist in the band I was in at the time was trying to sell me his Jazz bass at that time but I turned him down and bought the Rick which I really wanted at the time and he sold/traded his Jazz for a Strat. I shoulda just agreed to buy his Jazz, I realize now.

I let an early 1960s P-bass go when it was offered to me with a 50-watt Traynor amp for $500 in 1976, but I was newly married with a pregnant wife and saving money to buy land and any extra money I had went into the land fund.

I also passed on an early 1960s Danelectro and a plexiglass Dan Armstorng at a local record shop whose owner dealt in vintage guitars, but that doesn't really bother me too much.
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I once held a Rick 4005 Fireglo. It was $900.00 in 1992. I thought it was a whole lot of money
 
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#57
Over the decades, I have had a few guitars I had to sell to make a house payment to keep a roof over my (then) wife and son when I had lost a job, but thankfully no basses. Fortunately, over the succeeding decades, I have been able to replace the ones I really missed with like models.
 
#58
So Anyway, a little nostalgia for some of the basses I've sold, but no regrets. I've even bought the same model again just to realize why I sold the original in the first place. Mostly I was nostalgic for the band, friends and shenanigans that are associated with the bass.

What I regret selling is my early 60's Les Paul Junior guitar (looked like an SG). Got it from my brother for $100 and sold it for $200 when I was getting rid of some unused music stuff. The fact that I don't/can't play guitar was a factor. I used the money to buy a savings bond for my baby daughter, thinking that was a good investment for her college fund.

Today they're going for $3-6K. Thank you, MBA education.

It looked like this one.

lp junior 1.jpg
 

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