What are the two oldest basses you have played?

[Dr. Cheese]

Yesterday, my teacher let me play his recently restored 1962 Jazz. It was fairly heavy, maybe ten pounds, but it had great tone and extremely high output pickups. I liked it, but I like my Tagima better (Brazilian made TJB435.)

The absolute oldest bass I ever played may have been the best playing bass I ever touched too. I was a 1959 Precision with an incredibly fast neck and perfect tone. Whoever bought that bass was blessed.

 

[WG Plum]

The '66 Jazz I stupidly sold. That was a simply phenomenal instrument.

 

[coryr1000]

My drummer collects old plastic basses and I played his 1961 Goya-80. It's got blue sparkle finish. Other old one was my 1972 Fender Musicmaster.

 

[ajkula66]

A '52 or thereabouts slab P-Bass. Huge neck with a sound to match. Two of these at different times and places...many harvests ago.

 

[Whale]

Sad yet true story… I had a 1960 Rick 4000 that my ex-wife sold while I was deployed. She had a gambling/drinking problem.

On the plus side, I've remarried and life could not be better.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

The '66 Jazz I stupidly sold. That was a simply phenomenal instrument.

'66's have quite the reputation. I am tempted to buy a 1966 Fender Reissue myself.

 

[TBird1958]

This '66 Thunderbird II Non Reverse - it's not mine.

This '64 Thunderbird II, it is mine, it plays and sounds amazing.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Sad yet true story… I had a 1960 Rick 4000 that my ex-wife sold while I was deployed. She had a gambling/drinking problem.

On the plus side, I've remarried and life could not be better.

I hope it was not too difficult to cut her loose!

 

[Slade N]

A 60s jazz, was very nice but not worth the $, for me

 

[woodyng2]

The '66 Jazz I stupidly sold. That was a simply phenomenal instrument.

Me too. I had a '66 CAR Jazz w/ matching headstock.
At the time, it was less than 10 years old. (No pics, pre-cellphone days!)
The other oldest basses I've owned were a '67 Epiphone Embassy, and a '68 Fender Telecaster, and a '70 4000 Rick.
The Embassy was amazing. And the Rick was my first, a great instrument.

 

[heynorm]

I played an original owner's '62 P. Great tones! Lots of earned wear. I still have my '65 Vox Cougar I bought new as a teenager. Still have what's left of my starter Kent that probably went back to the late 50's. Aluminum pick guard, Tele style head.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Never been into vintage basses so the oldest basses I've played to date also happened to be the first two basses I owned. 1990 or 91 Peavey fury and an Ibanez TR5 (yes TR not SR) I kind of miss the peavey. Maybe one day if I find one in good shape for a reasonable price I'll snag it and throw some flats on it. I don't currently have a p with flats and I liked the fury more than mim fender p basses.

 

[five7]

Owned two 65 jazz basses way back when. Both played and sounded great long gone though.
No interest in owning or playing anything that old now.

 

[ravelax]

The oldest one was probably a 1962 Gibson EB-0. I didn't like the baseball bat neck. Never plugged it in. Second oldest was a 1964 Fender Jazz, it was very light, played easily. I played both of these in a store that at the time (almost 20 years ago) used to have a very interesting and varied selection of vintage instruments, at prices that would seem very reasonable today. 15 year old me still couldn't afford the pre-CBS Jazz, however. But I was (and still am) very satisfied with my '02 MIM Classic 60's Jazz.

 

[MrAB4003]

I'm only including basses that I have owned here. There are others that I've played in guitar stores, but I don't remember them all.
1) I owned a 1972 7ender Jazz Bass that I traded for my 2022 Satin Autumnglo Ric 4003. I didn't bond with that bass the way I thought I would, so I traded it.
2) I also owned a 1980 Ric 4001 in Jetglo that I eventually traded for the aforementioned Jazz Bass. It was my first ever Ric and I regret trading it away. But if I didn't trade it, I wouldn't have my current Satin Autumnglo 4003.

Honorable mention:
3) The oldest bass I've ever played is a 1964 Gibson Thunderbird back in 2016. I played it for a few minutes at a local guitar shop, but I put it down because it was so fragile. I was afraid of breaking something and then having to spend $10,000 to buy it.

 

[Grinderman]

The '66 Jazz I stupidly sold. That was a simply phenomenal instrument.

Same story but it was an early '65 L-serial number Jazz.

Though the two Ps and the one J bass I currently have, that I built myself, don't seem inferior to that '65 at all.

 

[MrAB4003]

Sad yet true story… I had a 1960 Rick 4000 that my ex-wife sold while I was deployed. She had a gambling/drinking problem.

On the plus side, I've remarried and life could not be better.

I'm so sorry to hear that your wife did that! A 1960 Ric 4000 is a holy grail bass for me. Thankfully, you've remarried and are in a better place now.

 

[Grinderman]

Same story but it was an early '65 L-serial number Jazz.

Though the two Ps and the one J bass I currently have, that I built myself, don't seem inferior to that '65 at all.

Coincidentally, the second oldest bass I ever played was a '66 Epiphone Embassy, much like this one belonging to @woodyng2. It belonged to a friend back in the '90s. I would have loved to have been in a position to buy it from him.

 

[selowitch]

I played a 1975 Fender Jazz Bass in a shop back in 1984. I could have bought it for about $799 and probably should have. The only reason I didn't purchase it was that it was close to 10lbs.

 

[BASSDROID]

Oldest owned
BG: 1966 Rickenbacker RM1999
DB: German flatback 1880 (estimate)

Oldest played
BG: 1953 Fender Precision
DB: Gasparo Da Salo ca. 1542-1606