Getting rid of my fretless bass. At the time I never played it and so decided to get ridof it but now that things have slowed down, I wish I still had it due to the fact that now I have enough time to devote to it.
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What is your biggest "bass mistake"?
- Thread starter FBS1996
- Start date
Losing a Gibson EB0 to another driver because I did not want to double park when I saw the case put out to the garbage!
watched in horror from the rear view mirror as the person jumped out of the car and open the case and pulled out a beautiful red Gibson Eb0! closed the case tossed in his car and took off leaving me a line of cars behind him!
Yeah! Shoulda kept my modified (Nordies/Audere) Skyline JO5 and sold/traded the 55-01 instead! But I got a nice US Fender Standard Jazz out of the deal. But still.......
Not a bass but I shoulda kept my Avatar cabs and Yorkville XS800 amp. What a killer rig!
Not a bass but I shoulda kept my Avatar cabs and Yorkville XS800 amp. What a killer rig!
My biggest mistake was buying into the anti-Squier crap a few years back. After having to sell off my basses due to unemployment, I got stable enough to get back into playing again. I bypassed the nice VMs and CV Squiers (New and used) and let myself get talked into a Dean. It's definitely a seviceable bass, and the playablity/tone is quite acceptable, but it wasn't what I truely wanted.
I also passed up a really nice Squier 5 string for less than $100 because of this.
But on the plus side, the Dean is getting donated to the local school system in August when the offices open back up. Hopefully it'll help get someone into playing bass or advance their playing as a stopgap measure until they can get a good bass, too.
I also passed up a really nice Squier 5 string for less than $100 because of this.
But on the plus side, the Dean is getting donated to the local school system in August when the offices open back up. Hopefully it'll help get someone into playing bass or advance their playing as a stopgap measure until they can get a good bass, too.
1) not double majoring instead of switching (from music to chem)
2) not picking up bass earlier (started on guitar and piano at age 8, didn't move to bass until 26)
3) not studying more piano when I was young (stopped after a couple of years)
2) not picking up bass earlier (started on guitar and piano at age 8, didn't move to bass until 26)
3) not studying more piano when I was young (stopped after a couple of years)
I bought a 74 p bass off a friend of mine for $500 in 1992 with the stipulation that if I sell it he would get first dibs. Some time in 93 he came by my place and asked if he could borrow it because his previous band was going to do a small tour. I said ok. Well his band morphed into another band and got signed, so I heard. Hence one night I fell asleep on my couch and Beavis and Butthead was on TV. I woke up a little groggy the tv was blaring and I look and see my bass being played by him on MTV in a music video. To make a long story short he eventually became a heroin addict sold my bass and that was that.
Easy,
Mid 80's, I traded a very nice & perfectly good 83 Ibanez Musician and a wad of cash for an Alembic Spoiler in the Exploiter body shape.
Tonewise, it was an AMAZING bass- problem is, it turns out that the Exploiter/Explorer body shape and I are 100% INcompatible!
I then compounded the mistake by trading it in to the infamous Ed Roman and took a mighty bath!!
EDIT: Forgot about trading away a really nice Pre-EBMM that I got for an excellent price because it was NOS sitting in inventory right about the time EB was taking over MM. Thats my "one that got away". I was bummed because I thought I could only get one tone out of it. Of course, that "one tone" is the CLASSIC 2 band EQ MM tone! Live and learn, right? right??
Mid 80's, I traded a very nice & perfectly good 83 Ibanez Musician and a wad of cash for an Alembic Spoiler in the Exploiter body shape.
Tonewise, it was an AMAZING bass- problem is, it turns out that the Exploiter/Explorer body shape and I are 100% INcompatible!
I then compounded the mistake by trading it in to the infamous Ed Roman and took a mighty bath!!
EDIT: Forgot about trading away a really nice Pre-EBMM that I got for an excellent price because it was NOS sitting in inventory right about the time EB was taking over MM. Thats my "one that got away". I was bummed because I thought I could only get one tone out of it. Of course, that "one tone" is the CLASSIC 2 band EQ MM tone! Live and learn, right? right??
traded my vm jazz when (like another poster said) I shoulda saved up instead.
prolly get another one someday
prolly get another one someday
1) Traded an 80s MIA Precision back in 1989. It wasn't anything special, but if I still had it today, I could sell it for a lot more than what I traded it for back then.
2) Attempted to refinish my upright- ended up getting another one...
2) Attempted to refinish my upright- ended up getting another one...
I sold a guitar because I didn't know how to set up instruments.
I let myself get ripped off many times because the owner at a guitar shop had opened the package to something because he assumed I was going to buy it no matter what, so I couldn't back down, and his prices were sky high.
The same guy sucked 80 bucks out of my pocket to let his tech set up my bass, when I could've done it myself, but he is just one of those people that won't let you leave without doing what he says.
I couldn't decide if I wanted rounds, or Roto 77s, so I destroyed the silk by switching strings, and that led to the wimpy wire wrapping to break exposing the core and leading to no grip in the tuners.
I was too lazy to switch to a different phillips head when putting springs over the pick up screws, so i stripped a screw head and the screw broke off in the wood.
What's next?
I let myself get ripped off many times because the owner at a guitar shop had opened the package to something because he assumed I was going to buy it no matter what, so I couldn't back down, and his prices were sky high.
The same guy sucked 80 bucks out of my pocket to let his tech set up my bass, when I could've done it myself, but he is just one of those people that won't let you leave without doing what he says.
I couldn't decide if I wanted rounds, or Roto 77s, so I destroyed the silk by switching strings, and that led to the wimpy wire wrapping to break exposing the core and leading to no grip in the tuners.
I was too lazy to switch to a different phillips head when putting springs over the pick up screws, so i stripped a screw head and the screw broke off in the wood.
What's next?
I've told this all before, so sorry if it's becoming a bore. I've played over 30 years. Been through a LOT of gear (some nice, some meh) in that time.
I used to own a trio of '64 Fenders--a fretted Jazz, a fretless Jazz and a '64 P all matching--bursts with tort guards.
I miss them some, but what really kills me is that I sold them all in the late 90s for what was then a decent price. But if I had held onto them I could have sold them for several times what I got for them just 4 years later. Who knew?
The only bass I really miss a lot and think about a lot and deeply regret selling, though, is a Tokai P-bass (also burst w/ tort) that I scored in the mid-80s for $70 at a pawn shop in Tulsa.
It paid for itself the first night I got it and it went on to play more than a hundred gigs with me. It was a great player, comfortable as can be, and reliable as the sunrise.
I miss it not only because it was the best example of a P-bass I think I ever owned (including the pre-CBS Fenders) but because of the sentimental attachment.
I used to own a trio of '64 Fenders--a fretted Jazz, a fretless Jazz and a '64 P all matching--bursts with tort guards.
I miss them some, but what really kills me is that I sold them all in the late 90s for what was then a decent price. But if I had held onto them I could have sold them for several times what I got for them just 4 years later. Who knew?
The only bass I really miss a lot and think about a lot and deeply regret selling, though, is a Tokai P-bass (also burst w/ tort) that I scored in the mid-80s for $70 at a pawn shop in Tulsa.
It paid for itself the first night I got it and it went on to play more than a hundred gigs with me. It was a great player, comfortable as can be, and reliable as the sunrise.
I miss it not only because it was the best example of a P-bass I think I ever owned (including the pre-CBS Fenders) but because of the sentimental attachment.
- Feb 27, 2005
- 3,218
- 125
- Disclosures
- Full disclosure, I'm a certified Fender technician working in a music store that carries Fender, Yamaha, and Ibanez products among others.
Traded a Univox copy of a Rick 4001 for a crummy P-bass when I'd been playing less than a year, mostly because I didn't know the difference between round and flatwounds, and thought the P-bass just sounded that much better.
Sold a Fender Bassman 70 head for $40 bucks. NO idea what I had at the time, just thought it was a beat-up old amp no one wanted.
Those are about it, though. I've been pretty good about clinging to gear since then.
Sold a Fender Bassman 70 head for $40 bucks. NO idea what I had at the time, just thought it was a beat-up old amp no one wanted.
Those are about it, though. I've been pretty good about clinging to gear since then.
Learning to play bass without ever taking a lesson. I have so many bad habits, I don't have enough fingers to count them all!
