In 1982, my dad brought home a Guyatone EB1 (shorty Mosrite copy), though I didn't realize that was what it was until fairly recently. Mine was missing the logo on the head stock, and it was a fairly rare bird in our neck of the woods, so it was impossible to identify it prior to the internet. To this day I have not seen another one in person, but as far as I can tell they all look exactly like the one I had which is basically this:
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
What was your first bass guitar?
- Thread starter the region
- Start date
-
- Tags
- first bass old real
My first bass was a solid black Lotus with P & J style pickups. I live in a small town in rural southwest Georgia. This was in 1989 and one of the only things for kids to do was to ride our bikes into “town” and play 1 of 2 video games at the tiny grocery store. One day I was riding my bike past the little pawnshop and saw the bass hanging in the window. I’m not sure why, but I knew I had to have it. I was too young for a job but I noticed they had lots of Native American arrowheads on display. I knew of a place right along a creek just outside of town where some land had been cleared and I had found several arrowheads there. I worked out a deal where I could pay for the bass with arrowheads I found. So I made a sifter out of an old washing machine tub and some poles off an old swing set and started digging/sifting. Over the next few weeks I probably gave them $10,000 worth of arrowheads for that cheap bass! They were always happy to see me come in! But I loved it and knew I was supposed to have it and learn to play. Being young I took it apart and pulled the frets out and various other things until it ended up in pieces. I eventually got other bases and lost track of the Lotus pieces so I threw away what was left. Id love to find another one someday.
My first bass was a red bass with a precision pickup. I think it was made by Vantage. I had auditioned and gotten accepted into the promotional band at my college. So out of sheer necessity, my dad bought it for me for $100 from a family friend. When I got home for break, he took me to Chuck Levins Washington Music Center and we picked up a Fender Jazz Bass Special along with a Peavey combo amp. That was my first real bass. I spent the better part of a year touring the east coast with that bass. It was classic.
My first bass was a 1970s Rickenbacker 4001 copy I found neglected in a dumpster near my house. I’d been playing guitar for a couple years at that point but I really wanted to try and learn other instruments because that’s what my heroes Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson did so I was looking for something that sang to me. I might’ve gone with either a Thunderbird or a Hofner, models I recognized and liked, so I don’t know why I had it in my head for a Rickenbacker but the moment I found this bass inside its case it was like it was meant for me. Cherry-burst paint work, the frets still had plenty of life in them, and it looked like had some rust around the chrome bits but surprisingly the strings were fairly new looking, which shocked me as I would’ve imagined them to be as rusty as all could be. Once I got it tuned up and began playing, I realized that the neck pickup was totally dead so for a couple years after I primarily played the bridge, til I finally had the neck pickup replaced with a true Rickenbacker 4001 neck pickup and electronics, along with straightening the neck (I never noticed how badly bowed it was til after I got it back). But surprisingly, it was lighter than I was expecting it to be having heard how heavy most copies tend to be due to using different woods from the real thing, and the neck itself is like a dream—slim, not quite a C-shape but definitely not a baseball bat size so it feels dang near perfect in my hands. Closest I can compare it to is a Thunderbird which has a similar slim feel, that I sometimes do end up sipping here and there up and down the neck.
I’ve since owned and played Thunderbirds (which I still have), Fender P/J basses, a Peavey T-40 (loved that thing but my gosh was it heavy!) and even a real Rickenbacker 4001 (heavily modded and customized though, but I just didn’t gel with it like I was hoping for sadly) but to this day that copy remains my most favorite bass I’ve ever played and glad to still own. Maybe because it is my first and I’ve learned so much on it, that we understand each other and can compliment each other (it knows it’ll never be a “real boy” so to speak, and I know I’ll never be a professional musician)but we have had fun all these years and feel good whenever we do make the music we do.
I’ve since owned and played Thunderbirds (which I still have), Fender P/J basses, a Peavey T-40 (loved that thing but my gosh was it heavy!) and even a real Rickenbacker 4001 (heavily modded and customized though, but I just didn’t gel with it like I was hoping for sadly) but to this day that copy remains my most favorite bass I’ve ever played and glad to still own. Maybe because it is my first and I’ve learned so much on it, that we understand each other and can compliment each other (it knows it’ll never be a “real boy” so to speak, and I know I’ll never be a professional musician)but we have had fun all these years and feel good whenever we do make the music we do.
Actual pawn shop find sometime around the turn of the century. A bass was not what I was looking for but I couldn't resist!
Yep. I got it in Haifa, Israel in December of 1983 when I was in the Navy.
Ha Ha ! There it is and amp too! If I’m remembering correctly, has to be.
The amp was even worse than the base.
Christmas 1978. Parents bought me a new Peavey T-40 and a TKO-80 amp. I was floored.
D
Worked a summer job, an Army Brat program in Germany, for $1.90 an hour to get the $135.00 it cost. In the end my parents surprised me with it on my birthday. They saw I was working hard and was serious about that bass. I was 15, it was 1978. I'm old. Still have it. Its inoperable.
Inoperable but you sure can’t replace the memories made with it!
Just for a goof, I'm going to try to survey all the Sears Wish Books to see when they moved from USA product (Danelectro/Harmony) to offshore (i.e., Japanese) product. Best educated guess says 1967 or 1968.
D
Well, I'm getting' there. Can't gig anymore.Better the bass be inoperable than you be inoperable.
That's a shame. I'm determined to go down bloody before I cannot gig any more.
Hondo II P-bass copy. Sunburst with black guard and maple fingerboard. It had a chrome rectangular pickup in the sweetspot. Not a bad bass at all.
Weird.
The Greco copies from the 70's were good, but I've never even heard of Gretsch making them, let alone seen one.
D
A guy in my high school heard I had a bass. Said he was a drummer. First time I ever played with anyone. His bedroom was a drum kit so big he could only fit in his bed. Which he sat on to play. It was a big drum kit. I brought that bass, plugged it in the microphone jack of his tape recorder. Army brats all had great stereo component systems. It was loud. He said play something. I didn't even know how to tune the bass, so I played on one string only per bass line that I would make up. His window was wide open and little kids gathered outside and started dancing. It was awesome for my 15 year old brain, and I thought "Jamming is awesome!"
One memory with that old bass. So your are right.
Mid 70's, I bought a Vox Astro from a pawn shop. It had active pickups which I knew nothing about. Always puzzled me why I had to have a battery in my bass, lol.
Wish I had a picture ..........
Wish I had a picture ..........
My mom rented an Old Kraftsman bass and a Kalamazoo amp with the knobs that flipped out of the back. That rental deal had a lesson contract along with it. Lots of fun!
