First one to have consistent access to - Ovation Magnum - circa mid-80s - might've been a model 3.
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What was your first bass guitar?
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- first bass old real
Red Ibanez Destroyer, baby!
Here I am with it, circa 1984. Channeling John Taylor, I imagine.
Here I am with it, circa 1984. Channeling John Taylor, I imagine.
- Oct 18, 2012
- 6,683
- 5,538
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Fender, Spector, Ampeg, Curt Mangan, Nordstrand Pickups, Korg , Conquest Sound
My buddy let me barrow a 5 string Squire Precision bass then when he got it back, I got a Squire MB-5.
On an irresistable impulse I bought a Steinberger XM2A bass to learn on. I got terrible fretting hand cramps and assorted seizures from that neck and I eventually traded it for a U.S. Fender Jazz in sonic blue that I loved from the first note. I still play that one every day.
Red Ibanez Destroyer, baby!
Here I am with it, circa 1984. Channeling John Taylor, I imagine.
Cool bass, sweet mullet.
We,'ve all been there dude. I don't have the balls to show my old pics. I wish I still had that much hair.
Framus "STAR" double pickup, single cut away @1966. Prior to that I had played on a '58 P Bass and a '63 Jazz Bass.
(They had belonged to my college roommate Freshman and Sophomore year who was the Bass player in my first band ('62-'66). That Framus was a ROYAL POS!!! Feedback was almost unmanageable and cured me for life of ever wanting to own another hollow bodied bass ... EVER. If I would have had a half a brain ... I would have just bought a P or J. I kept it until '72 when I dumped it (bracing had started to collapse ... POS; did I already say that?) and bought a demo Natural Ash Jazz Bass with a bound Maple neck, white blocks, played that until '82 (when I switched to my "Sweetheart", a JIM bootleg-import 3TS P Bass which I still have) ... and kept the '72 until 2010-2012 when I sold off almost all my guitars, basses and amps.
(They had belonged to my college roommate Freshman and Sophomore year who was the Bass player in my first band ('62-'66). That Framus was a ROYAL POS!!! Feedback was almost unmanageable and cured me for life of ever wanting to own another hollow bodied bass ... EVER. If I would have had a half a brain ... I would have just bought a P or J. I kept it until '72 when I dumped it (bracing had started to collapse ... POS; did I already say that?) and bought a demo Natural Ash Jazz Bass with a bound Maple neck, white blocks, played that until '82 (when I switched to my "Sweetheart", a JIM bootleg-import 3TS P Bass which I still have) ... and kept the '72 until 2010-2012 when I sold off almost all my guitars, basses and amps.
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An Epiphone bass that looked just like this. It wasn't a bad bass, neck through construction, solid maple body...not a bad way to get started.
1984 Squier Bullet B-34, I bought it new from rondo music in Union, NJ about 10 days before my 14th B-Day. Still have it - had it professionally rebuilt last year, and now I love it more than ever.
Burwabit
Likes guitars that tune good and firm feelin women
godofthunder59
Life is short, buy the bass.
- Feb 19, 2006
- 9,056
- 38,404
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Cataldo Basses, Whirlwind products, Thunderbucker pickups
German made 60s Klira. Still have it, got it in 1971 for my birthday. I "improved " by installing Gibson pickups as a kid. Wouldn't sell it for anything.
A 1984 Hondo II from Lou Rose Music store in Edison NJ.......
Went out and saw Purple Rain like 4 times in a row, put my guitar down (that I never could play all that well) and promptly bought a bass after hearing all that Funk....
She wasn't set up properly and I had no idea what I was doing but I learned enough Prince songs to impress my friends and the rest....as they say is history, been playing bass ever since.
The picture below isn't mine but it's identical to the one I had.
Went out and saw Purple Rain like 4 times in a row, put my guitar down (that I never could play all that well) and promptly bought a bass after hearing all that Funk....
She wasn't set up properly and I had no idea what I was doing but I learned enough Prince songs to impress my friends and the rest....as they say is history, been playing bass ever since.
The picture below isn't mine but it's identical to the one I had.
An Ibanez EB3 Gibson copy. cherry red, short scale. Parents bought it for me from Sam Ash. My first new instrument. Kept it for years, though it was pretty beat up. Traded it for a mandolin with a guy in my bluegrass band. Still have the mandolin. 
Ibanez Stagestar (was a part of one of those starter kits) I was a happy kid that Christmas. Thanks dad! R.I.P.
