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What was your first bass guitar?

mine was in 1965, it was a '65 Hagstrom that looked just like this except it was red:

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That's what mine looked like except it was black. Randy Jackson bought it, don't know if he still has it.
 
First bass was a no name , used, short scale, plywood abomination, that I bought with a no name horrible practice amp form a kid that lived down the street. The bass pictured is the same make an model, that I found on ebay a while back and grabbed the pics as I'm not likely to ever see another one. I'm sure that any that survived into the 90's were converted to a more appropriate use as a cannoe paddle. HORRIBLE instrument in every concievable way.

I believe I bought it in 1981/82 for $40 with the amp, and sold it for $60 w/ the amp maybe six months later. It is immediately replaced with a slightly used 78 Fender Precision. Been playing P basses ever since. :)


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This thing was SO BAD, that I really don't even consider it my first bass, although technicaly it was.
 
I got an Applause PJ bass my junior year of high school, after the jazz band director asked if I could play one for our Florida trip (I was all URB, all the time until that point). It was a beater for sure, but after my dad and I sanded the lacquer off the neck and put tung oil on it, it really played well. It was my first bass that I didn't feel bad modding the crap out of. Learned a lot of stuff (technique and about working with basses) on that fine instrument. It's sadly in parts in the basement.
 
This, from a 1989 Argos catalogue. Was about £80 at the time, it is a Sunn Mustang, licensed by Fender, built in INdia, universally condemned.
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However, if you give them a set up, they start to play and sound real nice. And if you pull them to bits and rebuild them from the ground up, they can become you main, go-to bass after a while, and look more like this.

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Turns out you may not be able to polish a turd, but if you rub at it, it might not be a turd underneath after all.