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What did you do with your "beginner" bass?

Pick one and elaborate.

  • Got rid of it ASAP, and now regret it.

    Votes: 43 11.9%

  • Got rid of it ASAP, and haven't thought about it since.

    Votes: 80 22.2%

  • Got rid of it ASAP, and I'm glad I did.

    Votes: 44 12.2%

  • Still have it, and I still pay it regularly.

    Votes: 62 17.2%

  • Still have it, but it mostly collects dust.

    Votes: 83 23.0%

  • Wait--you have more than one bass?

    Votes: 2 0.6%

  • Carrots

    Votes: 47 13.0%
  • Total voters
    361
#122
GIBrat51 said:
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Well...
I learned to play bass on a lefty friend's '68 Rick 4001 - in 1968. However, for various reasons - which don't really matter here - I did not actually own a bass until I bought this one, in the summer of 1988. It's a '78 Fender P-Bass, with the optional-at-the-time "A" neck. Basically a '78 Jazz Bass neck, with dot fretboard markers, and a "Precision Bass" headstock decal. So, I suppose that this is my "beginner bass"...
- Do I still have it? Does a cat have an ass? Of Course I still have it... It's a little too heavy for my beat up, worn out, 74 y/o back to play for very long anymore, but... I still play it, as much/often as I can...
- What have I done with/to it? Other than having it re-fretted and re-finished in 1992? Except for finally settling on a set of GHS #3025 Precision Flats to live under the foam mute in the bridge cover, I haven't done a thing to it. The re-finish? The original owner subjected it to years of extreme temperature/air pressure/humidity changes (long story); when I bought it, the finish was coming off the body in disturbingly large pieces. I had it re-done in 3TB Nitro; hasn't moved/cracked at all, since... The re-fret? Well, let's just say that those stories about Roto 66's eating the frets off a bass? They are NOT a myth... Most of this bass' frets above the 12th one were gone when I bought it, and the package from it's last set of Roto 66's was still in the case... :whistle:
 
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#123
Well I started with my older brother's Washburn B2, he still has it but doesn't use it. Funnily enough the bass player of a local very successful pop band wanted it for recording so it got some action after years of collecting dust.

The first one I bought was a US Fender Jazz but I eventually got rid of it

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#124
My first bass was a Kramer DMZ with an aluminum neck, fretless from the 12th fret on. Probably not a typical beginner bass. I live in Germany and got it around 1991 from an American soldier stationed in Friedberg (same as Elvis). I still have it but it needs a complete overhaul. The electronics need to be completely replaced. Otherwise it plays great with flatwounds, except for some neck dive. A little thick neck for my taste. Around 1992 I bought an Ibanez SR1500. I still have that one too.
 
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#125
Mine is an active 2 band EQ Jack Benner P bass body with P/J pickups.
It had been in a simple case in a closet for a long time, due to nostalgia.
I needed a bass for a rough life and took it out and set it up etc only to find out its P pickup sounded exactly the same as my mike dirnt P bass wich has i think is a 59 pickup?

Anyways long story short, sold the mike dirnt P bass and gave the old jacky boy a new set of tuners and now it lives the rough life but sounds sooooo good.

If your first has been hanging around unloved somewhere maybe pick it up again you might be suprised XD
 
#126
My first was a used Gibson EB3. Never really got a sound I liked out of it.

As soon as I could I traded it in on a brand new Fender Jazz which, after a lifetime of mods and upgrades (fretless Precision neck and more), is now my #1.
 
#133
I voted carrots but in actuality, I disassembled it, "tried" to re-paint it (what a horrible decision that was). and then just left it in pieces at my parents house. On the bright side it was a cheap Memphis jazz bass copy that I probably got totally ripped off on when I got it in early '90 I think?
 
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#138
Mine was a short-scale Jazz Bass clone from the Sears catalogue. i replaced it with a Rickenbacker 4001 as soon as i could. A couple of years later my friend Ray called me in a panic- "something had happened" to his vintage EB-O (don't ask, it wasn't pretty) and he neede to borrow my old Sears bass ASAP for a gig. After the gig, he showed up on my doorstep with some cash and said, "I'm keeping the bass." No worries. He definitely needed it more than i did. And no, i don't miss that Jazz clone at all.
 
#139
My first bass is my red Squier Affinity Precision Bass, which was made in Indonesia, 2006. I ordered it used back in late 2016. I still have it, but with a newer neck from the same series.
Another "beginner's" bass I have is a Squier Mini P-Bass. It's a bass likely designed for kids and for advanced guitar players trying out bass without demolishing the bank. I made some expensive mods to it. I wanted to hear how a fretless Mini P-Bass would sound like. So I took it to a local music shop, where a guitar tech was able to fulfill the project. He replaced the frets with binding veneers, then sanded the fingerboard down to it's proper radius. He did a very clean job. In addition, I replaced the stock bridge with a Fender HiMass bridge. For the replacement strings, I started off with Rotosound Flat wound, then I replaced them with GHS pressure wound strings. I have no plans on making any other modification apart from future string replacement. All I have to do is just simple maintenance (cleaning the bass, truss rod maintenance, tuning the strings) beyond this point.
 

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#140
While I technincally started bass on a Squier Jazz, my “beginner bass” to me is the first bass I bought with my own money—a Harley Benton RB-414, in black.

I bought it after my father, knowing my affinity for Rics, showed it to me one day. Reviews and demos seemed good, and so, I got one. I was pretty happy at first but it pretty quickly developed issues and sat on the sidelines while I went to jams with the Jazz.

The bridge pup went dead, and even after replacement, it seems to be not much better.

Really ever since I’ve gotten my Peavey Foundation and my Fernandes RB-80 (which is for all intents and purposes, a Ric in everything but name), it’s just been tucked away in its gig bag for years.

I tried to sell it once, but nobody really wanted it then.

Every now and then I think maybe I’ll make it into some unrecognizable modded creation like EVH’s shark guitar or Geddy Lee’s teardrop bass but I’m just too busy enjoying my other basses as they are.

The last time I tried to play the Harley, I didn’t enjoy it very much.
 
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