What was your bass progression & why?

[SteveCS]

OK I'll play...

1: 1984-5: Westone Thunder 1 - loaned from a mate and defretted (re-fretted before returning and he never knew!)
2: 1985-90: No-Name Jazz lookalike. Replaced neck with Mighty-Mite fretless and added Shadow Maxibass piezo system.
3: 1985-87: '76 Jazz Bass in natural Ash/Maple with dot inlays. Flipped for...
4: 1987-90: WAL Pro 1e fretless. Fingerboard epoxy removed by WAL and active electronics added.
5: 1988-1992: Squier '57 Precision. Modified with Dimarzio J bridge P/U and refinished in black.
6: 1988-present: EKO BX7 fretless. Extensively modified and currently my main player
7: 1990-1991: Chapman Stick #032 in Paduak (avatar). Fret rods came loose - something to do with oil in the wood reacting with glue - so swapped for...
8: 1991-present: Chapman Stick #121 in white oak.
9: 2015-present: Sterling Ray34 3-band, 3TSB/maple.

Unless I can raise coin for a Mk1 WAL Custom fretless then I am probably done for a while.

 

[fermata]

1) When I started bass in high school, I played a neon yellow Kramer P-bass with a pointy headstock. The budget, not aesthetics, dictated the purchase, although it sounded good.

2) Then I had a 20 year bass hiatus until last fall. That's when I picked up a SBMM SUB Ray4. Again, budget was a factor, and this one played and sounded the best in its class (and even beat out some more expensive basses) at GC.

3) A few months ago I went shopping for a Precision and (rather unexpectedly) ended up with a Hofner Contemporary, which has become my go-to.

 

[brianrost]

1. Madeira (Guild import) SG style bass...because it was cheap and looked like an EB3 and I was a Jack Bruce wannabe
2. Peavey T-40...because I needed a better bass
3. Fender P Elite...because it was way better than 70s Fenders and a blowout deal made it as cheap as the T40
4. Steinberger L2...because it was stupid cheap, bought it to take to jams but it was so nice it became #1
5. Fender 62 P...because I was playing blues, bandleaders hated the Steinberger and it was my last chance to buy vintage before prices got too high for me

 

[Mktrat]

I'm gonna stick to the main players only:

Ibanez ex series PJ 4 string (still play it almost everyday)
Warwick Corvette passive JJ 4 string
Fretless JJ frankenfender
Fretless P frankenfender
Lakland 55-01
Warwick FNA Jazzman 5 w/ Torzal neck

All I need is a fretless version of the FNA and I could be done w/ G.A.S. forever!!

 

[whiskyjack]

1982 -Hohner Beatle bass.....POS
1984 -Gibson EB3 for $150 ..ruined it painting it White
1986-Ibanez RB885 first nice bass
1990 -Local Luthiur built me a 5 string lined fretless P/J based on a Yamaha BB5000( was inspired by Michael Manring) still had Ibanez, but long hiatus from playing
2007 - sold Ibanez ,bought Mexican Fender Jazz 5
2009 - acquired a dream. EBMM Stingray HH4, sapphire black, rosewood fretboard. A keeper.
2011 - Acquired my all time dream. 1990 Alembic Elan. Trans red finish over flame maple, 3 piece maple thru neck, ebony fretboard.... super fast neck, tone forever... truly a dream bass.
2013 - Ibanez Mikro Bass(¾ scale bass $125) strung with piccolo strings... absolutely fun! fun! fun! Use lots of altered tunings and a capo
Summary - still have the fretless, the Stingray, the Alembic, and the "toy/piccolo" bass

 

[joebar]

mine was originally a 1-4-5 in E major but I have progressed to a 2-5-1 in C minor

 

[Flaked Beans]

My bass progression was pretty dramatic:
1.

2:

 

[tlc1976]

Christmas 1991 - started on a short scale plywood/plastic Harmony 4 string bass from Sears. Redid fingerboard and other things to make it actually playable. Still have it for its beater quality and unique tone. Has the loudest pickups of any of my basses.
1994 - After yearning for the low B since almost day one, I bought an Ibanez EX 5 string.
1995 - After still trying to find my niche and having little cash but lots of time, I designed and built a 6 string fretless. It was perfect. My baby. Was my exclusive instrument until 2009.
2000 - Started family, playing was now limited to the kitchen.
2009 - Fingerboard delaminated from neck on fretless. No time, money, or facilities to fix it. Back to the Ibanez.
2016 - Still dreaming of playing my fretless again. Finally decided to stoop down and buy the Zdressy from China. A little quirky but a surprisingly solid bass to scratch the fretless itch for now. And get to have the low F# I've been wanting to experiment with. Also moved to a different house with some workshop potential so someday I will have my 6 string back.

 

[KohanMike]

I started playing bass just under 2 years ago after playing guitar for almost 50 years, then ukulele for a bit over 2 years. When I played guitar, I was often told I should take up the bass because I have good feel and rhythm, but I didn't want to be encumbered by those big electric basses, forget a stand up. The leader of the ukulele group asked if anyone would like to take up the bass to fill in our group of players. One member did and brought in a Kala U-bass, so learning that there are that short a scale available, I took interest.

1. I didn't like the configuration of the U-bass and found the acoustic Gold Tone GT MicroBass 23" scale, mahogany, cutaway, right up my alley, so I ordered one, which took about 3 weeks to deliver to the store.

2. In the mean time, already caught up in GAS, I contacted the builder in Vietnam I used for a couple of custom ukuleles to build me a fretless acoustic bass uke, 21.5" scale and all acacia koa. Came out really well.

3. I then read a couple of threads on Talk Bass about doing mods and conversions, which prompted me to do a real solid body electric, but sub-short scale. I love the look of the Fender Telecaster guitar, but couldn't find a short one I could convert, but found an Epiphone Les Paul Express 22" scale sunburst guitar that fit the bill. Didn't take much to make the conversion.

4. A few weeks after I finished that, I found a builder who made small Telecaster guitars. I asked if he could make one as a bass, he said yes. Did that to have the look I really wanted with a natural poplar body and maple neck fretboard.

5. Then I discovered RondoMusic.com and the solid body Hadean 21" scale bass ukes they import from China, which I immediately could see lent themselves to modification. I bought a blue one knowing I would have the horns cut down, add a white pickguard and match the head plate to the body. Took it to a local luthier who did setup and installed a preamp/pickup on my ukes, but after all was said and done, I was disappointed in his work and extended time fame. Just the other day I decided I'm going remake that with a new body into a blue Gibson SG EB-3 style.

6. Next came a Hofner/violin style, because I'm a product of the 60s and the British invasion and too iconic to pass up. I bought another Rondo, and this time sent it off to the builder who did the Telecaster and had him make a red burst violin body I designed a little larger to accommodate a tailpiece, and using all the parts of the Rondo and Chinese hardware I sent him.

7. Rondo released a 24" scale version of the Hadean and I bought one with the idea that I would come up with another mod in the future. Not long after, I read a thread on TB asking to show basses that were purchased because it was made in the year the person was born. I looked up 1949 and found that the AudioVox Serenader by Paul Tutmarc was the only one, and the true first solid body electric ever created. Perfect, I made the 24" Hadean into a tribute to the Serenader, gold with a black pickguard.

8. All along I had been looking at the SmallGuitars.com 1/2 size P-bass, but couldn't justify buying one. Then I read another thread here (yes, Talk Bass is a very bad influence) about sea foam green basses. Later that day I got a Musicians Friend catalogue and saw a beautiful sea foam green Les Paul guitar. That evening I was watching a car building TV show about restoring a '56 Chevy pickup in sea foam green. That was all I needed, I went to SmallGuitars.com and what-do-you-know, they had a pink P-bass on sale. I bought it knowing I would have Pat Wilkins paint it. His color was actually Fender surf green and it came out great, one of my best sounding basses.

9. I then read a thread about a walnut Rickenbacker bass. Loved the look of it with the skunk stripe, so decided that would be my next mod. I got online and found a natural 21.5" bass uke that already had a skunk stripe, bought it and had the mod done, dubbed a Ukenbacker by a TBer.

10. I looked at my collection and realized I didn't have a tortoise pickguard on any, so looked around and I found that the Fender Jaguar bass looked great in Olympic white with tortoise. I bought another Rondo 21.5" and drew up a new larger body to fit a tailpiece, and that's next on the list.

 

[JimmyM]

My bass progression was pretty dramatic:
1.

2:

Wouldn't be nearly as dramatic without the stog.

 

[DDXdesign]

I started, after 4 years on guitar, with a cheap Kawai bass at about 18 (so, 1995). I didn't know what made for a good bass, I just knew it sounded and felt okay and was inexpensive. Black, shiny, with gold hardware I think. Side note: at the time I had a hofner-violin-style guitar, but I've never had much interest in that style of bass. Weird.

- Pretty sure my second was a headless-paddle Steinberger Spirit or Hohner knockoff thereof, as I was knee deep in learning Rush tunes by ear as my means of teaching myself to play bass.

- Spent a few years trying to "min-max" by going after the best budget instruments I could find at the local places like Mars Music and Veneman's. Loved me some Cort Curbow, for instance. And a white P-Lyte for a spell.

- Early to mid 00s, I went INSANE. Good job, housing bubble rising, and easy credit, meant I felt a duty to myself to amass a collection of awesomeness, fiduciary sense be damned. [ask @Gard - I dropped $20k at BassCentral alone over the course of 2004. Yeesh.] I had over a half dozen Warwicks (including fretted and fretless Thumbs, 4-string fretless and 8-string fretted Buzzards, a Dolphin, an Alien, and more), a Ric, a Bongo, an Fbass, a Tbird, a Zon, a couple Modulii, a Dingwall, a Fender Jaco tribute, my Yin/Yang Fodera... Also, during this time I felt that active instruments were far superior and that vintage tone was lame. Derp.

- Overlapping with the above was my foray into ERBs and Graphite necks. Conklin GT7, two or three Modulus Quantum 6s, good stuff. My last Q6, serial # 040404, would stay with me through the next few years. I am still convinced that graphite necks are the way to go.

- Crap happened and things had to be sold. Suddenly I found myself having to start over, and my future wife (and more-future ex-wife, it turned out) bought me a Dean Sledgehammer, which got me back to playing after a stint with no bass at all.

- After a couple years with that Dean, I finally had enough money to buy a nice bass again, but finding the right one has been elusive over the past couple years. Tried a couple different things - couple used customs, a new Ric, a new Modulus - and landed on this Ibanez Black Eagle reissue, quite by accident. What a great instrument; it was love at first thump. And it happens to be an inexpensive one! Sweet!

That said, though, the Eagle I have NOW is a replacement, because I stripped the truss nut on the original and Ibanez elected to just send me a new bass with the warranty instead of repair that one. It's still VERY nice, but my personal connection to it just isn't the same as the first one, somehow. Can't put my finger on it. That first one beat out even vintage models of same, for me.

My feelers are out for another new experience, though, because my shoulder and now a weird finger injury require a lighter-weight bass and even possibly a shorter scale like a 32. *shrug* And hey, nowadays I am all about simple, passive, 4-string goodness. I've played some contenders, but nothing has hit the magic again yet.

 

[GnarwhalNick]

I've owned and played basses for 8 years, but I've owned and "played" guitars for a little bit longer (I don't consider my musical career starting until I started playing bass). My progression is:

1. Mid 2008 - Squier Affinity Series Precision Bass I got used from Guitar Center. I'll just say this was the most important bass I've ever purchased/owned/played, simply because it was my first and the one I'm still currently playing. I could go on and on about this bass, it's not just an instrument but an extension of myself. Of all the other basses I own, this one just feels right. Every modification and tinkering I've done to this was with the mindset that this bass was going to become me and my sound. I haven't modified it in a few years, but who knows what the future holds?

2. Early 2011 - Another Squier Affinity Precision Bass I got for dirt cheap with other gear off craigslist. I got this bass because I wanted to have a secondary bass on stage with me. I was getting pretty serious with the band I was in at the time, and wanted to make sure I had all the necessities to perform. I ended up not needing it, and ended up not playing it much over these years. It's pretty much bone stock except for the strings, the strap locks, and the knobs which I replaced. I have some plans for modifications but for now it's just my back-up bass to my 2 main basses.

3. Mid/Late 2011 - The Fender Kingman ABG. My favoite bass of the bunch. I remember always walking into the acoustic section of guitar center and playing a few of the acoustic basses and not being too impressed. Then one day, I walked in and saw it - the Kingman bass. I was immediately drawn in because of the Fender neck and head stock. When my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday that year, I knew exactly what to tell them. This allowed me to play wherever, and whenever. I went to college on the water, and one of the dorms had a "river" (it was really a bay) in it's backyard. I would go and play there all the time, play it on the beach, and have acoustic jams. The neck dive can be a little obnoxious but when my amp was left at a house for over a year and had no way to practice with my electric, the Kingman did the job for me.

4. 2016 - Fender Standard Jaguar Bass. My newest toy and my favorite sounding bass. This bass signified my growing as a bass player and bass owner. I always told myself, after years of playing and modding Squiers, trying so hard to perfect my craft, I deserved a Fender one day. Well I couldn't be happier with what I got. I know people say it's not the gear that makes you (trust me I know I've been living off Squiers and making them sound better than any Fender I come across), the feeling of owning a Fender electric bass feels second to none. I can't wait to get this bad boy and my modded Squier up on stage and have them both rumble. My whole life, my friends have all had Fenders, Gibsons, Schecters, new amps and gear, while I scraped by with my beat up Squier and Ampeg. Having this bass means more to me than just having a nice bass, it means I can now proudly display it without the "Squier face" gear snobs give you, no matter how good you are. It also feels good now that I have something more reliable than a Squier, which I'm constantly having to tinker with every few months to get it right.

It's a short list but I have only been playing bass for 8 years, and on a high schooler/college student budget (I'm out of college and have a good job, which is where the money for the Jaguar came from). Here's to many more!