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Was your 1st bass a P.O.S?

#61
My first bass was a Gibson Grabber with tape wound strings. Its a fine bass and I still have it. I bought it used from a friend who owned a music store, and worked in another music store. I played guitar for many years prior to that purchase, and when I asked my friend to recommend a bass, he gave me the address of his store. It was kind of a secret at the time, since he probably would have been fired from his job if they knew he was competing with them. While I still play guitar also, that bass started my long journey into the low end.

BTW, my second bass was a Peavey T-40, and my third was a Gibson Ripper. Total count currently includes various brands and is in the mid 20's.

Thump on,

One_Dude
 
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#62
My first bass was a 70s import called Zimgar from under my dads bed. It literally fell apart in my hands.

The bass had an annoying habit of the headstock falling off. 14 year old me wasn't the best guitar repairman but it had broken off in several different spots. I used epoxy, glue, etc before screwing in 4" screws in a desperate attempt to keep it together.
 
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#64
Looking back I'd have to say I've always been fortunate to have had decent instruments to work with.

The first bass I played when I just started playing was a rented upright. It belonged to the old jazz cat I was taking lessons from. He called it his "second best girlfriend."It felt alive when you played it. And it had a beautiful tone. And that was it for the first three years.

First electric bass I ever touched was a cherry red Kay K2B SG knockoff. I was 13, and it belonged to my GF's brother. As I recall, I wasn't particularly impressed by it. But it was fun to play. And it put the bug in me to want to play one.

First electric I ever seriously played was an early 60s JB. It belonged to my cousin who was a fine guitarist. He needed a new bass player for his busy band. I didn't have an electric bass or amp of own at that point. So he loaned me his.

First electric bass I ever owned I bought new back in 1974. It's the Ripper you see in my avatar photo. Still have it. Still my main bass.

"Life's been good to me so far." :laugh::thumbsup:
 
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#66
I had been playing guitar for many years and did a lot of research before I bought my first "bass" guitar. It was a red Warwick German double buck, and I still have it. I purchased a clear finished one a couple years later for playing in different tunings (same production year).

These two basses are the only basses I have owned. I have gotten close to selling one of my Warwicks in the past to replace it with one of a few different basses: Fender Roger Waters Precision bass, Fender American Geddy Lee Jazz Bass, Musicman Sterling, and a blue Rickenbacker 4003, but decided against it ultimately.

One reason why it so hard to sell one of these is they have an insane variety of tones, and I can usually mimic the tone that I liked. I currently have my red Warwick setup to sound like a P-bass with the switches set to single coil mode, the volume pulled for passive mode, and the blend knob set to one of the pickups, and it's very convincing (to me).

I remember when I was doing research long ago, I wanted something that was versatile. I honestly never thought a bass could be such a chameleon, but here I am years later flipping switches and occasionally making my basses sound like other basses. Sometimes I wish I could get something new, just for the sake of change, but at this point it would likely be something very unique and expensive, like a Wal or custom shop bass of some kind.

So it was probably 7 years ago when I got my first bass, not only did I never sell it, I bought a second one.
 
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#67
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
What did you replace it with?
Click to expand...
IMG_20210609_181519.jpg
IMG_20210602_111030.jpg
 
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#69
When I was 13 I wanted a bass, and this is what I got:

20210509_093507(0)-01-01.jpeg


Yes, a guitar not a bass, but fortunately not a POS either: despite our ignorance, my mum and I could differentiate between the plentiful shiny junk available and this used Matsumoku-built Westone Thunder I-A, which had (and still has) the lowest action imaginable. I got three years of intense pleasure out of that. And then ended up playing borrowed basses :)
 
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#73
Yep...a Global bass from Sears Catalog...my grandparents bought it for me...baseball bat neck.
Just happy to have kept playing and get to realize how a good bass actually plays and feels.
 
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#76
Yes. LOL.
I went to a great little store in Madison, WI, called the Guitar Shop (still exists, but in different location), to find a cheap bass. I was in an Army band at the time, they told me to learn bass, and instead of leaving one of the nice basses that the band owned in my apartment, I decided to just get my own to learn on/play.
Well, I got one of these: JOLANA PROXIMA 1980's Brown Bass For Sale
A Proxima P bass, and mine was "refinished" in this gaudy grey color. The action was almost 1/2 inch off the board, the pickups worked fine, and the hardware was all pitted and rusty looking. I remember the tuners were very hard to turn. But I didn't know any better, and at $75 for the bass and a little Peavy practice amp, seemed like a good deal.
I learned a lot on that bass, but I finally traded it in (the store gave me a whopping $5 for it!) for a Peavy Fury 2 bass, which was a really good bass. I remember being amazed at how well it played, how everything worked well on it, and how it sounded. Gigged with it for several years until I bought my Fender "American Deluxe" P bass, which is a whole other tale.
PS: Jolana Proxima basses were made in the Czech Republic, and the bass probably wasn't bad- I just knew nothing about strings, setup, etc, at the time. Instead of taking $5 for it, I wished I kept it to smmash on stage at some point.
 
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