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What was your first bass guitar?

#3,761
MCF said:
Nice. Is that the original placement of the strap pin? Interesting. Is it Swedish? Don't know much about them. Never saw Hagstroms in stores where I grew up. It was pretty much all Fender all the time, with a Gibson here and there. And once in awhile a Guild.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's where the strap buttons go, and yes, they were made in Sweden.

I've never seen one in a store either. I got this one from a friend when I was in high school. I really wanted a Fender or a Ric and didn't appreciate the Hagstrom's tone. Now I love it and I'm so glad I never sold it!
 
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#3,762
Very cool thread idea...
My first "bass" was a big nylon string acoustic guitar... used to play it finger style like a bass once I got the bug to be a bass player, until I saved up enough, and had shown enough dedication for parents to make up the difference to get an early 90's all black Ibanez Soundgear with a PJ configuration.
Guess I was lucky that by the time I started you could get a pretty solid bass for not too much $$ -- It Gave me years of great service from first rock bands, to/thru college, thru punk bands...stickers, paint jobs, but always loved. Wish I still had it for sentimental reasons, but funny enough I ditched it when I fell in love with the older Ibanezes (late 70's/early 80's) which are still some of my main basses today...
 
#3,763
1970 Ampeg Dan Armstrong and 1970 Kustom K100. Sold the bass; still have the amp (beautiful condition; only mod is a three-conductor power cord so it doesn't zap me when I turn it on).

2001 photo:
P6100004.jpg
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#3,769
Love this thread! Brings back a lot of memories for us old dudes! The first bass was a really crap National branded bass in 1976 for $99 terrible everything but it got me interested in playing. After working my butt off at McDonald's for $2.60hr and getting matching funds from my Dad I bought an Aria Jazz Bass copy in 1977 for $299 that was fantastic. Something about those lawsuit basses it was "real" to me. Learned how to play on that bass. Stolen in in 1980 when the family house was robbed. So I guess the first "real" bass was the next one. An early 1970's Maple Glo 4001 Ric that I picked up used for $400. That one got "lost" in a move from California back to Canada in the late '80s. Still pains me to think about it. Bought and sold lots of Fenders and Rics in the ensuing years but those early basses will always remain in my heart.
 
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#3,770
I was a front man in the 80's and our bass player left, was taken to a pawn shop(by the founder of the band) and picked out an Hondo Fame 830(only paid $60.00). Sense then I have owned about 2 dozen basses(sold or traded most of them). But the 830 has constantly been my go to ax.
In the 30 or so years that I have owned it; the only thing I have had to do to it is replace the nut(to expected with the amount of use). It's been through hell and back and still looks and sounds great. It is the one bass I will NEVER get rid of. Beautiful finish, with the finished neck, custom Grover tuners. I still get compliments on it.
Much better than "Brand name" basses I have paid close to $1,000 for.
If you find one(That has been taken care of)...BUY IT!
 
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#3,771
a 73 telecaster copy - from Sears & Roebucks - I think I paid like $40.00 for it - strings like telephone wires and the action was 1/4 inch off the neck - but my fingers got strong and I was able to jam with some of the garage groups around town.
 

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#3,772
That depends... do you mean the first bass I ever played? That would be a friend's lefty '68 Rick 4001; sorta like this one:
Rick 4001c64.png But, his was blue. If you mean the first one I ever owned, then that would be this '78 Fender P-Bass; 20 years later..'78 P-Bass-2.JPG I still have the Fender; still lusting after the Rick, too...:whistle:
 
#3,774
My 1st bass looked like this
My First Bass.jpg

Only it was missing the tuning pegs, 1 string, the PG and the string mute. There was also a hole where the knobs were so they got mounted on a plywood plate,fixed to body with panel pins. Pickups were held on by nails too.It was olive in colour.

Best £1 ($1.45US) I ever spent :thumbsup:
 
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#3,775
I originally started out playing guitar and bought a red Gremlin for $50.00 from Muzik Muzik in El Cajon, CA. The owner, Mike Fenton, was a cool dude and did a lot to help new players starting out. I traded that guitar in on my first bass, a Cort X bass that was a huge piece of crap. I think he wanted $80.00 for it and gave me $30.00 for my guitar. The bass had a warped neck, was out of intonation and was missing the head on the E string tuning machine. A guy from my church fashioned a new tuning head out of wood so I could tune the E string and then built me a thumb rest out of wood too. He tried setting it up but it always went out. I then went to a bass clinic put on by Billy Sheehan. I asked him to play the bass and after two or three notes he saw it was in bad shape. He asked for people at the store to get him some tools and he adjusted the neck for me and then adjusted the bridge to get the intonation more accurate. I traded that bass back in to Muzik Muzik for a Charvel 2B that was an amazing bass and I still kick myself for getting rid of it. I had it and an Epiphone by Gibson Accu bass as my basses up until 1993 when I traded both basses for a new Ibanez SR 400 Soundgear Bass. I am now trying to buy another metallic blue Charvel 2B if I ever find one again as well as a black on black Epiphone Accu Bass. I would love to have them back again for nostalgia sake. Heck, even if I found a Cort like my old one, if it was on the cheap I would by it too. Here are some picks of what my Gremlin guitar, Cort Xbass, Charvel 2B and Epiphone Accu Bass looked like.
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#3,778
I got a text from the pastor of our church asking if I would mind playing bass in the Praise Band (I had been playing mandolin).
I went to a local music store and bought an Epiphone EBO. I only played it two weeks. During that time, I was looking for a HB. I still consider my Lakland Skyline long scale HB my first bass. The Epi was just to make sure I wanted to hang in there.
 
#3,779
When my music teacher in 8th grade said I wasn't a good enough to be the guitarist in our jazz band, she handed me a white Peavey Foundation and let me take it home to practice. When I was in 10th grade I bought my own Epiphone nonreverse Thunderbird (the PJ model). Pic isn't mine, but just like it.


Capture.PNG
 

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