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What did you do with your first bass?
- Thread starter Matthew_84
- Start date
My first was an old piece of junk Kent hollowbody that I bought for $20. I gave it to a friend. Still, the best $20 I ever spent, despite it being arguably the worst bass ever made.
It was a thinline brown sunburst hollowbody Tiesco (late 60s vintage) that was shaped like a baby ES-335 complete with a 'coat hanger quality' trapeze tailpiece. It had a weird vaguely Rick looking pickup, was missing it's volume and tone knobs, and came with a cord that implied you'd be electrocuted if you ever plugged it in. Cost me $25. (The owner wanted $30.)
Oddly enough, this little POS bass sounded remarkably good when you did amp it. Very big, very boomy, and very low. Totally useless for recording or serious musical use - but perfect for those outdoor gigs where thump and depth become far more important performance considerations than the excellence of your tone. (Especially in those all-day 'festival' venues where 90% of the audience is completely drunk or stoned by the time you finally do get on stage.)
Still have it although it's currently boxed (and in pieces) after I lost interest half way through the refinishing project I started with it about ten years ago.
Now I'm motivated to get it put back together. Be interesting to see if it's half as good (or bad) as I "remember" it being.
Oddly enough, this little POS bass sounded remarkably good when you did amp it. Very big, very boomy, and very low. Totally useless for recording or serious musical use - but perfect for those outdoor gigs where thump and depth become far more important performance considerations than the excellence of your tone. (Especially in those all-day 'festival' venues where 90% of the audience is completely drunk or stoned by the time you finally do get on stage.)
Still have it although it's currently boxed (and in pieces) after I lost interest half way through the refinishing project I started with it about ten years ago.
Now I'm motivated to get it put back together. Be interesting to see if it's half as good (or bad) as I "remember" it being.
RaginRog
Last guy you want to see is Employee Relations guy
You guys are going to give me so much crap once I tell you what I did with my first bass.
I bought it while stationed in South Korea in 1991...it was a brand new Samick I bought at a factory outlet for $99!
It was a decent bass...and decided I'd put EMG selects in it when I was stationed at Ft. Hood in Killeen, TX in 1992. I messed around with it, until a couple of years after I got out of the Army, when it started acting up on me. It then sat in it's case for the longest time...untouched. The electronics were shot, and in 2003 when packing up a house I sold with my ex, I remember I took it ( and a lot of other things/trash) to my local landfill....yes...the local DUMP.
I remember distinctly breaking the neck/body over my knee before tossing it out amongst the trash, and seagulls (flying rats). Poor bass....
A couple of months later, my ex got me back into playing when she surprised me with a Ibanez SR305....traded it in for a 4 string....and have been back to playing ever since.
I bought it while stationed in South Korea in 1991...it was a brand new Samick I bought at a factory outlet for $99!
It was a decent bass...and decided I'd put EMG selects in it when I was stationed at Ft. Hood in Killeen, TX in 1992. I messed around with it, until a couple of years after I got out of the Army, when it started acting up on me. It then sat in it's case for the longest time...untouched. The electronics were shot, and in 2003 when packing up a house I sold with my ex, I remember I took it ( and a lot of other things/trash) to my local landfill....yes...the local DUMP.
I remember distinctly breaking the neck/body over my knee before tossing it out amongst the trash, and seagulls (flying rats). Poor bass....
A couple of months later, my ex got me back into playing when she surprised me with a Ibanez SR305....traded it in for a 4 string....and have been back to playing ever since.
First is an Ibanez budget bass. Took the strings off it to put 'em on my Stingray, put it in the gig bag and under the bed she waits for the day of her de-fretting. It's gonna be just sittin' there for awhile.
My first bass was some cheapie entry level Fender that probably has vintage value now. I think it was a Musicmaster?
It was all white with a white PG and white pu cover, rosewood FB.
I sanded all the paint off and painted it primer grey. Then I decided to cut some parts of the body off to make it more "punk". It sounded terrible still so I ended up tossing the body and selling the neck to a friend who made a skate-bass out of it. Bass with a skateboard for a body.
It was all white with a white PG and white pu cover, rosewood FB.
I sanded all the paint off and painted it primer grey. Then I decided to cut some parts of the body off to make it more "punk". It sounded terrible still so I ended up tossing the body and selling the neck to a friend who made a skate-bass out of it. Bass with a skateboard for a body.
My first was a 69 Precision. Soon after, I traded it plus a few $$ for a 64 Jazz. That, I sold to take summer school when I was in college (long ago). Shame, yes or no, but I'm sure I've made more from my degree than I would have as a musician.
It's only been a year. It's a Jay turser J 600 A that I bought for $175 at a small guitar shop in my town. It had worn out strings on it then (probably a year or so old at the time) and I still haven't changed them.
I really want a new one, but I doubt I could trade it in. I wouldn't get much for it. But I'm kind of sentimental anyways. It stuck by me in my days of horrible playing (read: still today) when most would have ripped out their input jacks or destroyed several strings to try to get me to stop playing.
Then again, it lost its double stacked treble knob and the volume knob is twisted... maybe it's getting there. Oh well.
Also, just for fun, I stuck a big red sticker on it that says "No Thanks". My mom got it in some offer for something in the mail.
I really want a new one, but I doubt I could trade it in. I wouldn't get much for it. But I'm kind of sentimental anyways. It stuck by me in my days of horrible playing (read: still today) when most would have ripped out their input jacks or destroyed several strings to try to get me to stop playing.
Then again, it lost its double stacked treble knob and the volume knob is twisted... maybe it's getting there. Oh well.
Also, just for fun, I stuck a big red sticker on it that says "No Thanks". My mom got it in some offer for something in the mail.
I traded mine (Teisco Del Rey Beatle Bass made by Kawai) for a hard shell Fender case for my new (used) '65 P bass when I was in high school. I always regretted it.... 25 years later I found my first bass hanging in a music store on consignment. It still had my name and the date 12/25/70 inside where I'd penciled it in on Xmas day. I bought it back for $100 and paid Joe Glaser $250 to fix and restore it. It still sounds good and I use it occasionally.
Circa 1990 I bought my first bass, a pearly white Yamaha BB300. Maybe it's because it was my first, but it's still the best feeling bass I've ever played. The neck is just perfect.
That's not mine but that's what mine looked like starting out.
What did I do with it? What DIDN'T I do with it! Within a year my "main" bass was an Alembic Spoiler and this became the great experiment.
White got stripped off it with some seriously noxious Formby's furniture stripper.
Replaced the bridge with a BADASS model 1 bridge. The Model 1 bridge is REALLY TALL and wasn't sold as a replacement. I didn't realize that the neck could be shimmed to bring the action down, so I took a router and sunk the bridge into the face of the guitar by a little more than 1/8".
Replaced the pickups with an Alembic PA/E1 active P-Bass set, which involved some light surgery on the rear control cavity to make the electronics and 9v battery fit.
In this form I got rave reviews from everyone who heard it. My guitarist claimed "It's the sound of God farting." I'm pretty sure he meant that as a compliment. It had this amazingly round, warm, fat sound, a sound I've not recreated in any other bass.
It's got a dozen or so holes drilled in the face. At one point there was a Gizmotron bolted to the front of it. There have also been several bits of random junk attached as thumb rests.
Around 98 I got frustrated with the really crappy frets and ripped them out, filling the slots with wood putty then coating the entire fretboard with Tru-Oil. I didn't like it as a fretless, as I've got a 91 MIJ Fender Jazz fretless without lines that is the best fretless I've ever played.
So what did I do with it? It's in pieces. The neck is in a closet, the body is in a box in the basement. The Alembic pickups are currently in a Squier P-Bass.
Over the years I've moved toward really wanting "Freedom From Choice". The Alembic is gone, and I'm playing P-Bass and thinking that the Volume and Tone are still too many controls.
My next project is to reassemble the Yamaha. I'm going to re-fret the neck, new tuners and new nut. Going to paint the body. The Alembic pickup will go back in and, if I can recapture the sound it made mid 90s, I'll have the P-Bass of my dreams.
That's not mine but that's what mine looked like starting out.
What did I do with it? What DIDN'T I do with it! Within a year my "main" bass was an Alembic Spoiler and this became the great experiment.
White got stripped off it with some seriously noxious Formby's furniture stripper.
Replaced the bridge with a BADASS model 1 bridge. The Model 1 bridge is REALLY TALL and wasn't sold as a replacement. I didn't realize that the neck could be shimmed to bring the action down, so I took a router and sunk the bridge into the face of the guitar by a little more than 1/8".
Replaced the pickups with an Alembic PA/E1 active P-Bass set, which involved some light surgery on the rear control cavity to make the electronics and 9v battery fit.
In this form I got rave reviews from everyone who heard it. My guitarist claimed "It's the sound of God farting." I'm pretty sure he meant that as a compliment. It had this amazingly round, warm, fat sound, a sound I've not recreated in any other bass.
It's got a dozen or so holes drilled in the face. At one point there was a Gizmotron bolted to the front of it. There have also been several bits of random junk attached as thumb rests.
Around 98 I got frustrated with the really crappy frets and ripped them out, filling the slots with wood putty then coating the entire fretboard with Tru-Oil. I didn't like it as a fretless, as I've got a 91 MIJ Fender Jazz fretless without lines that is the best fretless I've ever played.
So what did I do with it? It's in pieces. The neck is in a closet, the body is in a box in the basement. The Alembic pickups are currently in a Squier P-Bass.
Over the years I've moved toward really wanting "Freedom From Choice". The Alembic is gone, and I'm playing P-Bass and thinking that the Volume and Tone are still too many controls.
My next project is to reassemble the Yamaha. I'm going to re-fret the neck, new tuners and new nut. Going to paint the body. The Alembic pickup will go back in and, if I can recapture the sound it made mid 90s, I'll have the P-Bass of my dreams.
My first bass was a Lyon (by washburn) passive pj four string. At about 3 years of playing, I started learning how to slap, pop, tap and do all that flashy stuff. I discovered that if I crank the truss rod, I could bring the strings closer to the fret board and make tapping easier... I cranked it too much over time and the bottom of the truss rod actually seperated the bottom of the fret board from the neck. It looked kind of like Dilbert's tie.
That bass got used as a heat source. Since then, I have been more careful about how often I crank the truss.
That bass got used as a heat source. Since then, I have been more careful about how often I crank the truss.
My first one was a Bradley P copy
Fat wide neck, terrible action and a noisy chrome single coil.
I traded it for a new brand new Fender Musicmaster
FYI: my son and niece both learned to play bass with the Musicmaster.
MM
Fat wide neck, terrible action and a noisy chrome single coil.
I traded it for a new brand new Fender Musicmaster
FYI: my son and niece both learned to play bass with the Musicmaster.
MM
I got a 'Canora' P-bass copy as a present in '93 or '94. Played it for a few years, stored it with no strings for a few more, pulled it back out, had a setup done with some fresh strings (GHS Boomers I believe) and still have it sitting in the rack. I might play it some tonight 
My first bass was a Memphis Jazz Geddy Lee copy. After about 2 years learning on that thing I decided to experiment on it by completely taking it all apart and looking at how basses were constructed. I "tried" to repaint it from black to white not having a clue what I was doing, ultimately in the end it looked horrible & I gave up restoring it lol. The neck and body still lay on the floor at my parents house to this day, electronics and hardware were probably thrown away decades ago. I learned my lesson from that experience since then ha ha.
'84 Cimar p-bass copy.
traded it for a '72 ford window van and a $50 dollar pawn ticket for a Charvel. The Charvel = made in Ft. Worth with all Jackson accessories.
traded it for a '72 ford window van and a $50 dollar pawn ticket for a Charvel. The Charvel = made in Ft. Worth with all Jackson accessories.
