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What did you do with your first bass?

#63
Well, first I played it.

Then I painted it black and added some decorations.

Then I painted it blue.

Then I painted murals on it.

Then I turned into a cyberpunk bass with graffiti style finish and plenty of wires and circuitboards to make it look as awesome as a 16 year old me could imagine.

Then I figured I'd carve some nice ornate stuff on it.
After that I refinished and defretted it.

Novadays I mostly admire the damn thing.
 
#64
My very first bass was a Teisco with a sunburst finish and rosewood fretboard. Cost me $35 at a department store circa 1973. After joining my first band in 1975, by which time I was playing a Gibson Ripper, we played outdoors at a swim club in front of about 500 people. To end our show, our guitar player and I did a double-Townshend and he swung an old crap guitar of his while I did the same with the Teisco and we bashed them together. The crowd went nuts. I don't even remember what happened to it after that. I can't say I really miss it, even for sentimental reasons. It was a pretty lousy bass. You could fit a paperback between the strings and the neck.
 
#66
Sold it for short money when I had health problems. Bought it back a couple of years later. There is a thread about that somewhere. Now I have to part with it because I have become allergic to the Old English "Lemon Oil" I put on the fingerboard before I sold it the first time.

Somebody up there does not want me to have that bass.
 
#67
JoZac21 said:
One cool idea, I think, which is something I'm planning on doing w. a cheap, but usable bass I have is give it away to a young aspiring bass player that needs a bass but can't afford one... put it to a good cause.
Click to expand...

Did that with two of my guitars, an electric and an acoustic. Perfectly good instruments for which I no longer have the time.

They actually went to a small music school, but the teacher works with seriously under-privileged families, and will use these as teaching instruments before finding them permanent homes.

Knowing that they'll help somebody who needs it = payment in full.
 
#68
Started out with a black Aria Pro II Cat bass with passives. I sanded that thing, changed it's color and all around made a mess of it. A few years later, my father-in-law (at the time) offered to restore it for me, get it refinished and all put back together. He got the body painted up, but then his daughter and I went through a rather ugly divorce and I never saw it again...
 
#70
ack said:
It now hangs on my Jam Room wall and tells me when it's time to eat:
DSC02441.jpg
Click to expand...

NICE. I like the Clutch stuff, too. Gotta love Clutch.

Anyhow, I still play it. It's my only bass. Hopefully I'll get a year more out of it before I get what you people call "gas".
 
#71
My first bass went the way of many. Ibanez Soundgear 100, which I de-fretted after buying my current bass (Yamaha RBX774) and realising I wanted to play fretless.

It went well enough that I decided to stick with that approach. Paid a repair shop to do the good bass, because that one's worth a lot more and I'm realistic about my skills as a cabinet-maker.

Loaned the Soundgear and the guitar practice amp that I'd been using to a friend who said he wanted to start with fretless from the beginning. I'd probably get it back if I demanded it, but I really don't care enough. Besides, I haven't the space or the spare time.
 
#73
I traded mine for a mandolin that I gave to my Hubby. By that time I knew what I wanted out of a bass and my first bass wasn't it. I disliked the pickups and the neck mainly. It was a Ibanez Soundgear.
 
#75
I still have it, 41 years later. It's a very cheap, pre-owned, no-name, MIJ bass. I first had the frets taken out. Later I stripped the finish (thick, painted red-black burst and VERY chipped) off the bass and refinished it with a friend. He painted a "Yes" logo on the headstock. I did this after i got my pre-owned '73 Rick with checkerboard binding that I also still have and play once in awhile.
 
#76
The very first bass that I ever owned, I traded for my second bass that I ever owned. My first bass was a piece of junk Cort bass that I paid maybe $100.00 for it used. It had a missing tuning key or at least the part of the tuning key you turn to tune the bass so my friend made me a tuning key head out of wood to make it to where I could tune the bass. I traded it for a Charvel bass that was actually a decent bass.
 
#78
First bass was a 77 Fender mustang. It was the only lefty I could find in Denver during the summer of 1980. Played the hell out of it till I ordered a new ric in 1984 or 5. Still have it and play it once in a while. Thought about trying the piccolo bass thing with it since its a 3/4 neck. Guess its worth quite a bit more than I paid for it all those years ago.
 
#80
I started on a borrowed bass, which I returned to the owner after more than a year.

The first bass I bought was a Carvin. I still have it, 27 years later.

I nearly traded it once, about ten years ago. I tried (halfheartedly) to sell it last year, after picking up a couple of other basses and deciding that five is too many for me.

But for now, it's a keeper again.
 

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