What was your first bass guitar?

[jcerio]

Peavey T-40. Brand new in 1979. The guy at the local music store sold it to me for $125 and almost got fired for it. Replaced a no-name short scale J-copy with a P-pickup that I wish I still had. Sold the T-40 about 20 years ago when I got back in to gigging and realized it was too heavy to wear standing up for 4 hours and my carpal tunnel required something with a less chunky neck.

 

[And I]

Mine was a Warmoth PJ that I bought here. Fantastic instrument. I'm all about 5-string these days though, so I never play it anymore.

 

[woodyng2]

First real bass was a 62P (still own it), got it in a trade with a Hofner Senator in about 1968.

Briefly had a Hofner Senator short scale semi acoustic with flats, I hated it. I couldn't trade it fast enough against the 62P which I absolutely loved (and still do).

You could say that the Hofner was a real bass but at the time I would have disagreed, it was the exact opposite of what I wanted from a bass.

That was how i felt about my first Hofner,a tan vinyl covered solidbody. I wasn't happy with the p bass i replaced it with either,though. I sold the hofner to a friend who still has it,and has used it for gigging,recording etc.

 

[Mr.Fingers]

I needed to buy a bass that wouldn't get me laughed at and the only instrument I could afford was a Gibson EB0. They didn't laugh at me, actually everyone just shook their heads. It didn't sound good in the Soul band I had joined.

Didn't stop Geno Washington though.


Some great stories in here.
My first "serious" bass was a 1978 Musicmaster Bass. Sold it for a bargain to an acquaintance, but I still have visiting rights. Very nice bass, with a very solid sound.

 

[malthumb]

My first real bass was my first bass. I bought a Peavey T-40 brand new in... 1980? In Harvard Square for $279 including the hardshell case. That bass was soooo heavy, but it sounded nice and had a wide variety of good tones. I wish I still had it. It was natural ash with a maple neck.

I sold it to buy my second real bass- a '79 Musicman Sabre, sunburst. REALLY wish I'd kept that, but I sold it when I was a college sophomore to pay my car insurance. I made up for it just last year- see the black Sabre in my avatar.

Selling the Sabre wasn't the end of the world at the time. I had two basses anyway, and who the heck needs more than one bass??? Lol. My other real bass at the time was a '73 Rickenbacker 4001, Jetglo, that I paid $350 for. I still have it, and still gig it on occasion. It has the nifty checkerboard binding and a toaster pickup at the neck.

I got my first REAL bass when I was buying a case for my first bass. That first bass was a Crestline copy of a P-bass. Mile high action, hard to keep in tune. I went into a pawn shop to buy a case for the Crestline. Pawn shop owner was busy dealing with another customer. He pointed me to a stack of cases and said "find one you like. 60 bucks". So I went over to the stack and started opening cases and putting my Crestline in to check for fit. It must have been a short scale, because all the cases were too big. I picked up one case and it was heavy. I didn't open it. I said "I'll take this one", gave the guy $60 and left. I didn't open it until I got back to my dorm room. That's when I saw the bass that I later named "Karma". A faded white Fender Jazz with white pickguard.

I call it Karma, because of what happened next. I was travelling from Michigan back to Buffalo on weekends to play gigs with my old band. One time I left the bass at my drummer's house since I knew I'd be coming back the next weekend for a gig. The house got broken into and the bass was stolen (karma). When his parents reported the theft, they included my bass on the police report and the insurance claim. The insurance paid me $700, which I quickly spent to buy my second real bass, a Walnut 1979 Music Man Sabre. Kept that bass for 20 years. Sold it in 1999 for $700. Same price that I spent the week before buying my first 5-string bass, a Ken Smith Burner Deluxe 5-string. Eventually regretted parting with the Sabre, so I acquired two more a few years ago. Traded one, but the '79 Sunburst Sabre is home to stay.

 

[mikeyjm2]

1st one in my case was my 1st real one:

1976 Mustang

• mikeyjm2
• May 29, 2016
• 1
• mustang bass

'76 Mustang. My dad bought it for me at a pawn shop ~1982 for $300. I'll never willingly get rid of it.

 

[chris_b]

Didn't stop Geno Washington though.
Some great stories in here.

And there's more. . . .

Nothing stopped Geno when he was on a roll. I used to see him, Zoot Money, Jimmy James and the others all the time.

I believe that's Pete Gage on guitar. I played in a band with him in about 1970.

My pro band was based in Brussels where I bought my P bass. Probably a bit before your time?

 

[interp]

1964 Fender Precision. Heavily modded and long gone.

 

[tpaul]

My first "real" bass was a medium scale MIJ Fender Precision that looked like this one:

I loved the tone but sold it when we were having money problems.

 

[Tom Howland]

First Bass- 1966-Gibson EBO.
Second Bass-1972-Precision.
Third Bass-1963-Jazz Bass.

All three are long gone. Of the three, the Jazz was special. Should have never sold it.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Started out in the mid 1960's, on a Hagstrom Viking (Gibson EB2 copy) borrowed from my dad. I progressed rapidly through a couple of other semi-hollow short scales (Burns Vibraslim, Harmony Rocket).

These were all "real" basses, in the sense that they were giggable, and played and intonated well.

The Harmony had a pretty good tone, so in 1973 I transferred the parts to a home-made solid mahogany body, and headed off to college.

When I got there, my bass instructor told me that I wouldn't get respect as a professional unless I was sporting a long-scale bass, preferably a Fender.

I promptly bought a beat-up '64 Precision, which led to a 15-year love/hate relationship with P-basses.

 

[bassliner50]

If you grew up in the 60's, 70's, or even into the 80's and played bass you
know there were not many playable affordable basses on the market. Japan, Italy, Taiwan,
etc etc were churning out basses by the thousands to keep up with the demand of American kids who wanted to become rock stars. These basses in most cases were virtually unplayable.
Sporting sky high action and necks you could ski off of. I still have the scars of trying to get a string to the fretboard! You could not run to the local music store and pick up a playable and affordable Squire or Ibanez off the rack.
No boys and girls, if you were going to buy a real bass there were not much other choices
than (in my opinion) a Fender Bass.

In my case Flashback 1979. After working my butt off for what seemed forever and armed with around $500 bucks in my pocket I headed off to the famed Music Row on 48th St in NYC.
My goal? A used Fender Bass. After hitting a few stores like Manny's and Sam Ash I soon learned there were more choices, so it came down to this:
1972 P Bass
1978 Stingray
1979 Modulus Graphite BaSSStar P/J
After some deliberation I walked away with the Red Modulus. (no its long gone now)

So let's hear what your first "real" bass was?

Yep. 1967 or so,, a purchase from "Jimmy's" music store on 48th Street. Came home with a wonderful used Precision (pre CBS), Burst, tort, Rosewood, leather gig bag. covers etc. Huge step up from the crap I had at home at the time. Not long after, that P was stolen out of my car. Never to be seen again. Bonafied "Old Guy Content".

 

[Faceman75]

Mine was a 92 Warwick Corvette Proline, bought in 96. The first one I bought new, was an 03 Stingray, which got stolen.

 

[Smashsquatch]

I grew up in the 80's but didn't start on bass until 1992. Being that my family was not well off, I still understand how bad things were. My first bass was a 1970's memphis p-bass. If you didn't want fret buzz, the action had to be so high you could have nocked an arrow and shot cowboys with it. In 1994 I bought my first bass. It was a knock-off of the Ampeg AEB made by Series-10 (Bentley). Even the difference between that cheap bass and the 70's Memphis was huge. I didn't get my first real-real bass until 1997 though. It was a lined fretless Yamaha RBX800 in red. P-J pickups, and I loved it. Unfortunately my little brother pawned it while I was stationed in Biloxi for school.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Bought her 1977 and still have her.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

My first bass was a well used 62 Epiphone Newport. Short scale, but well made it was basically a very early EB0 with Epiphone on the headstock. I think it qualified as a " real " bass even if the single mudbucker sounded like a foghorn buried under a rock slide.
Then I went through several Gibson's until finally getting my beloved 78 P some 10 years later. Been a Fender guy ever scince.
I didn't own any of the junky Japanese basses until years later when I started buying them as fun wallhangers.

 

[Nedmundo]

My first one was about 12 pounds of real -- a new black/maple Peavey T-40 I got in 1983. It was stolen a few years later.

 

[ThuzzleFump]

1977 Gibson G3. I still have it.

 

[bikeplate]

1981. Bought a Peavey T40 because it was all I could afford. After that turd(anchor) broke my shoulder, I sold it and got a late 70's Fender jazz. Kept that a year than bought a first run Steinberger L2

 

[micahwc]

First was a "Cruise by VMI" which I have recently re-obtained. It's actually a great little bass and it's very playable. Feels great. I've upgraded the pickup and electronics.

First "real" bass was a 99 Jazz Bass Standard V, which I still have, but which has been modified beyond all recognition multiple times.