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What was the first so called "Bass" you owned
- Thread starter newtonbassist
- Start date
I think it was this model, except in blue. Back then I didn't appreciate the fact that I had a reverse P. My next bass, an SR400NT was the same. I associated P pickups with "cheaper" because I only saw them on cheaper basses at the time (not including Fender which I didn't pay attention to).
Unknown year Jay Turser Fender-clone. I had $100 to spend and it was $95. I searched all the stores in town for used pieces and this raggedy piece had the straightest neck I could find regardless of price. The pick guard was so warped that it touched the underside of the strings. The strings were corroded, orange and furry. I ended up cutting the pick guard and saving a portion of it (mostly the bit around the controls) and slapping on a cheap set of Ernie Bass Power Slinky round wound strings after a thorough clean up, maintenance tightening of hardware and lube of the tuning mechanisms. I did a home set up using a friend's old bass strings as nut files and dialed everything in as tight and low as I could. I ended up gigging the thing for about six years and can't say how many times over it had paid for itself. The only real work that it required along its journey was a relining of the electronics cavity and occasional truss rod adjustments. It saw several versions of 1/4 round thumb rests made out to scrap house moldings and at least two iterations of a ramp made of different materials. At one point, I literally drilled the body through the cavity and bolted on a 2.5lb free weight to fight the neck dive and stabilize the thing. A true frankenbass. It died in the desert, just south of Death Valley. The neck developed a wiggle around the 5th-7th fret on the G side that was getting progressively worse and the body began to crack apart. When I finally purchased a replacement (G. Gould GGi-5 Rainbow Trout), I hung the old bass in a dead tree in the front yard for the sun to consume. There is something to be said for a good beater. I learned what I liked and what didn't work for me. I was never afraid to experiment with it. It always served when called upon.
1986 or so I got an MIJ Fender Pbass for $50 bucks. Back then MIJ was considered a joke and NOBODY wanted it believe it or not ! I actually put an ad in the Classified Gazzette in the Bay Area and a guy named Marshall Villa (I still remember his name !! He was a music guy in Sausalito) drove over to my parent's house in his convertible Cadillac with a Cerwin Vega 118 bass cab to trade for it. Yeah, I was a dumb kid. He looked at it and said, "This isn't a real Fender. It's Made in Japan. No deal."
- Jul 7, 2010
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- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist for: Duncan Pickups; Line6, Hipshot, GHS Strings, Somnium Guitars
Global from Sear's catalog.
Baseball bat neck and plywood body.
How I kept playing I will never know, but, glad I did!
Baseball bat neck and plywood body.
How I kept playing I will never know, but, glad I did!
I bought a Squier Jazz Bass in the late 90s. Sold it to a friend when I left for college. Played (acoustic) guitar for about 20 years and started playing bass again a few years ago.
I lucked out with a CIJ Jazz i bought new with a bunch of lawn cutting money. Such a great player, but I donated it to my best friends son after using it exclusively for the first 10 years of my gigging.
My first bass was a KB-1 back in 1978. I traded a cheap 12-string guitar for it. I didn't play it much, and I was playing RG in a band, so I sold the bass. About a year later I committed to bass full-time, so I borrowed a Kingston bass from a friend, but it was a POS, so I bought a T-40.
Black Danelectro Rumor
Not a bad bass, but immediately sold it when I got my 1980 Ibanez Roadster RS824.
Wish I still had it. It was a cool bass, but, IMO, few basses compare to the Roadster.
Not a bad bass, but immediately sold it when I got my 1980 Ibanez Roadster RS824.
Wish I still had it. It was a cool bass, but, IMO, few basses compare to the Roadster.
1977 Rickenbacker 4001 Midnight Blue - bought used in 1991 back before Ebay, etc - when local deals could still be had.
My first was a Kay semi-hollow body. I paid payments on it from my paper route money. Took me three months to pay the used $60 price tag. Horrible feedback maker.
Mine was a Japanese made Global that was ordered from the Sears...or maybe Montgomery Ward Xmas catalogue some time around 1978. I played it until i got my Epiphone a year or so later. I then beat the hell out of it for years, lit it on fire, tried to smash it on stage etc. It is now part of the guitar sculpture at MoPop (Museum of Pop Culture) in Seattle. That's it right in the middle, upside down covered in stickers. I visit it once a year or so.
ElDegas P bass copy from Consumers Distributing here in Canada. It was a hand me down, but IIRC they were like $79. It was a decent bass but heavy and in the dreaded low end sunburst.
My first bass was A Murph brand guitar with the B and E strings removed. The thing about this guitar was that I believe my mom got ripped off by my music teacher of the time. Around 1965 she bought a short scale Rickenbacker for me when I first started lessons. As I got a little older my teacher and I convinced her that I out grew the short neck. So he took the Rick in trade for a full size Murph. Boy if I had that Rick today!
Anyway from the converted Murph my mother once again came to the rescue to buy my first real bass in 1970. It was/is a Telecaster Bass and I still have it.
Anyway from the converted Murph my mother once again came to the rescue to buy my first real bass in 1970. It was/is a Telecaster Bass and I still have it.
Late 70's Hondo P-Bass copy. Sunburst, black pickguard, maple neck...the classic looking Bass. I, of coarse, eventually destroyed it.
