What is your Bass guitar progression?

[Kevin Colt]

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This is my bass guitar journey as it stands now. I would like to get a P bass eventually to complete my collection.

Nice collection.

 

[Josh Kneisel]

Started playing bass in highschool at church and they let me use a Warwick Corvette and a Carvin Fretless (lined). Eventually came around to playing bass instead of guitar in a band later down the road and played a MIM Fender Jazz. After that I owned a 1960's Greco violin bass (sold while poor), and then I got myself a MIM 62 reissue Jazz (sold while poor). After playing the J for a few years I landed a good paying gig that got me my current MIA Fender P Deluxe (P+J) which I love and and a 1975 Engelhardt 3/4 Upright bass. The Engelhardt was stolen and replaced by a new Thompson ply which is my main bass these days unless I have a EBG gig.

 

[Kevin Colt]

Man, I've had so many after 53 years of playing, started on some dime store bass...I think it was domino or something along that nature. Had gibson eb0, ripper, grabber, Epiphone solid body, embassy, Rickenbacker 4001, 4002, Eko, Kramer, Ibanez, and of course, lots of fenders. I play a 62 p, 72 p w/j neck, an 06 w/the 72 p neck or a fretless neck, a Kramer duke, a fender bass VI, and a Chinese copy of an ibanez acoustic (for around the campfire) plus a tele and two les Paul jrs. If I don't end up building one, I'll get another Epiphone, had superior tone range.

 

[ANCIENTSOCIETY]

Dad bought me my first bass, a Hamer Slammer stingray copy when I was 11 years old.
Now I have a E-series MIJ P Bass and haven't needed anything for the past couple of years.

My good friend has a Epiphone Viola Bass that I've used on a few recordings, its my bass away from home.
We've both come to the agreement that those two can cover the whole spectrum.

I have some project basses that I haven't finished because I'm too busy in school right now, so they don't count.

I remember I wanted to start playing bass after my dad sat me down one day and made me watch Standing in the Shadows of Motown.

 

[eb2]

My fist bass was a Kent Basin St that was pretty cool up to around G# and then fretting became a nightmare. I tried a lot of crap to get that to play right, but finally ended up giving it away. I bought one a couple of years ago for cheap, and this previous owner had filed down the non-adjustable plastic bridge saddles to the point that it actually is playable all the way up - with a bit of buzz and looking like canyons in the saddle - and I play the thing every few weeks. Mostly I play my Stink Ray and Jazz these days. I have too many.

 

[Rumble Thunder]

This made me organize my bass collection chronologically, so thanks for that, but it's a long story. I started playing ukulele in 2013, a year later the leader of our group (of 60) asked if anyone would like to take up the bass to fill in our sound. I found out about bass ukes and 21 to 24" scale basses and went for it. (As you'll notice, this forum has had a great deal of influence on me.)

I looked at the Kala U-Bass, but didn't like the configuration, so I bought a Gold Tone GT MicroBass 23" acoustic.
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Then after reading a post here on TB about mods, I got caught up in GAS and decided to convert an Epiphone Les Paul Express junior 22" guitar into a bass.
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Then I had Blue Star Guitar in Michigan make me a 22" scale Telecaster style bass.
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Then I found Rondomusic.com imported bass ukes from China, bought a 21" scale solid body and had the horns cut and pickguards made and Pat Wilkins paint it gray.
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Next I bought another 21" solid body from Rondo and had Blue Star Guitar make a violin style body for it with a burst red finish.
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Next I bought 21" Chinese solid body bass uke with skunk stripe and had Eric's guitar shape the body into a Rickenbacker style, plus pickguard and fake pickups, and Pat Wilkins stained the wings and headstock walnut.
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Then I saw a post here about basses made in the year we were born, discovered the AudioVox Serenader and got a newly released 24" scale Rondo, cut it to look like the Serenader and had Eric's Guitar make a black pickguard and Pat Wilkins paint it gold.
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Next I saw a post here about the sea foam green color, so I bought a pink SmallGuitars.com mini P-bass and had Pat Wilkins paint it Fender surf green. I added block stick-on fret markers and Strat knobs.
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Next I found a custom builder in China who said they could make me a Rickenbacker 365 small guitar as a bass, so I ordered a FireGlo. It didn't come out as small as I wanted, but I still play it.
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Still caught up in GAS and anytime I find a small bass or guitar I can convert, I go for it, I found a 22" scale Yamaha acoustic guitar that I had Balloña Creak Luthier convert to a bass with Pahoehoe strings.
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I also found an ESP Ltd F Jr. "metal" black guitar that Balloña also converted to a bass.
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My effort is to have a collection of basses that are all different, so I took a blue Rondo 24" I had and added fake gold pickups and all gold hardware, plus gold stickers on the fretboard with a matching set on the strap.
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Next I saw a thread here on tortoise pickguards, so I had Eric's Guitar make one with matching truss rod cover for a Rondo 24" and had Pat Wilkins paint it the best matching color in my opinion, Fender Olympic White.
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Then I saw a Gibson Thunderbird style 23" bass uke on Reverb and changed the knobs and truss cover to white, and added a Thunderlele decal to the pickguard.
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Next I read a post here about single cut basses (whale hump) with burl tops, that inspired me to get another 24" Rondo solid body, bought some burl veneer and had Eric's Guitar apply it to a pickguard shaped like a whale hump to fit the top of the Rondo, also applied the veneer to the headstock. It now looks like a Narwhal, so I named it Narwhalele.
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Next I thought I was being clever when I saw a Pignose self amplified 22" guitar and converted it to a bass to use at hospital gigs going room to room, but the amp and built-in speaker could not cut it, so I had Eric's Guitar yank the amp and speaker, cover the cavities with pickguard and now it's a great little electric bass.
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Next I replaced an acoustic bass uke I had custom made by Bruce Wei in Vietnam (that I didn't list after I bought the Gold Tone) with a Rondo Hadean 21" acoustic walnut cutaway to use for the hospital gigs that's configured better than the custom.
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I didn't have a purple bass, so I bought an Ibanez 28.5" miKro and had Eric's Guitar replace the neck with a 24" Rondo Hadean and new bridge that Eric positioned perfectly to fit 24" scale. The body is a little bigger than I like, but it came out very well.
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My next one is being painted by Pat Wilkins. I found the same Gibson Thunderbird style deeply discounted, so I bought it thinking I could have it modified to look like a Gibson SG, but that didn't work, so instead, to make it different looking than my sunburst Thunderlele, I took off the pickguard and Pat is painting it pearloid green and I'm changing the hardware to chrome, and use LaBella flatwounds.
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Man, that is an awesome story and you have some awesome basses!!
Thank you for sharing your journey!

 

[Skybone]

Kay P copy (awful) - Passive. Sold to a friend.
Westone Raider - Passive. Sold to a friend.
Aria Pro II SB Special II (first "good" bass) - Passive. Traded for an awful Strat copy.
Westone Thunder 1A (early "script" logo) - Active. Sold to a friend.
Washburn MG4 (the less said the better) - Active. Traded for the Tobias.
Tobias ? (no idea what model it was, MIK JJ cheap) - Active? Traded for the StingRay.
EBMM StingRay 2EQ (natural/maple, 4 bolt neck, 1989) - Active. Sold.
Aria Pro II SB1000 - Active. Traded for black StingRay.
EBMM StingRay 2EQ (black/rosewood, 6 bolt neck, mid/late 90's?) - Active. Traded for the MIM J.
Fender Jazz MIM (US pickups) - Passive. Traded for the 4003.
Rickenbacker 4003 (Jetglo, 2005) - Passive. Sold.
Fender Modern Player Jazz - Passive. Sold. Hated the neck after the 4003.
Rockinbetter RB4003 (No.1 RickenFaker) - Passive. Still own. Still No.1.
G&L L2000 Tribute - Active. Sold.
Rockinbetter RB4003 (No.2 RickenFaker) - Passive. Still own.
Bass Collection Californian (No.3 RickenFaker) - Passive. Still own.