What was your first bass guitar?

[Danny Fox]

Hohner rockwood Pbass copy, action so high you had to jump on the strings...later home defretted, which made it even worse

 

[fourstringbliss]

I had a Dean Edge Q4 as my first bass:

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I seem to remember that it played well and sounded good. That was a while ago, though, and my understanding of what plays well and sounds good has evolved. I'm not sure it's a bass I'd want to own now.

 

[mikeswals]

My first bass I owned was a 80's P bass copy, got it in '88 used from a regular dealer at a local swap meet. 'Blade by VMI Sebring' is what it said on the headstock. Never seen another.
It wasn't a bad bass at all, ply body and had a stable neck. The pickup sucked but I replaced it with an EMG select, so it was decent.
I was fifteen and my dad wasn't excited about me picking up another instrument (I was a sax player), so refused to help me get it. After a couple months, he and my grandma went and bought it and gave it to me. I kept it for about four years. But like an idiot I defretted it, then sold it...wish I kept it.

 

[kcandme]

Mine was an "I don't know what it is / was", short scale Mustang / Musicmaster copy.
It didn't have a brand name on it when I got it for christmas around '75 -'76.
It played quite well and I kept it exclusively for 4 - 5 years as I didn't really like the cost benefit of a new one when I compared against how it played.
It got pretty ragged through my sort of punk phase, and I ended up with a single volume knob on a control plate made from a portable cassete player cover door and a Gibson type bridge.
Eventual fret buzz made me pull the frets with a hunting knife near the end of its' life.
The picture is from a Battle of the Bands type show at the local high school.

If anyone has an idea what this bass might have been, I'd appreciate any input. I always wondered...
This is the only surviving pic that I know of.

 

[embellisher]

Do you have a pic of the headstock? That would make identification easier.

My first was a Memphis P bass copy. Great, 70's Japanese made bass, on par with Fenders from the same era. It actually belonged to the church my Dad pastored. The first bass that I bought myself was a black Peavey T-40.

 

[kenfxj]

Sunburst T-40. Wish I still had it.

 

[oldbassplayergu]

$49 heit deluxe super short scale I think 24inch. I was in 7th grade 1981. it had flats on it and played real bad or I played bad or both. had it for a year before my dad got me a new aria proII. miss the aria not the heit at all

 

[Pilgrim]

1963 P, got it in 1967, still mine:

 

[MegaSwing]

Gibson Grabber, in 1976. It would have been nice to hold onto it, but I do not wish I still had it.

 

[dtsamples]

Ibanez SR200. Do not miss it.

 

[BFMV 666]

A Jay Turner P-Bass copy. It's okay, not great though.

 

[BIGBEE]

$49 heit deluxe super short scale I think 24inch. I was in 7th grade 1981. it had flats on it and played real bad or I played bad or both. had it for a year before my dad got me a new aria proII. miss the aria not the heit at all

i had one of those too!! glad im not the only one who suffered with that heit bass, i still have some parts from the heit on a frankenstein { i call it a don electro} my friend don built it out of some old dan electro parts mixed with the heit parts. still a (POS) but i will never part with it.

 

[oldbassplayergu]

i had one of those too!! glad im not the only one who suffered with that heit bass, i still have some parts from the heit on a frankenstein { i call it a don electro} my friend don built it out of some old dan electro parts mixed with the heit parts. still a (POS) but i will never part with it.

sometimes I search ebay and see one. I'm tempted to buy it just to smash it in the street

 

[EagleMoon]

1975 Fender Precision. Was my main bass for 33 years.

 

[polyrhythmia]

GSR200. It just doesn't have character like Fender basses, but was good enough to get started. I would have traded it in but didn't have it with me at the time.

 

[Bassmickeyd]

Not again!
.......... The one I could afford at the time.

Pilgrim: ......... That's not the neck of a 63 P-bass?

 

[Flabass]

Greco Beatle bass copy. Really nice, only wish I had it for nostalgia reasons.

 

[RyannosaurusRex]

A blue Peavey Fury IV, still love it and play it everyday to this day. Been only 4 years, but I wouldn't part with it for anything. Bought it on consignment with a hard case for $270, when I was in 8th grade, best purchase I've ever made!

 

[Hoover]

After borrowing first a Fender Mustang and then a Vox Apollo IV for the first year or so that I played, I finally bought my very own bass in 1975: a used Sekova (Korean POS copy of a Hofner Beatle Bass) that I got at We Buy Guitars on 48th Street in Manhattan for $70.

 

[lohz]

Aria short scale, 1974 model maybe, natural finish, SG copy. Looked great, played OK, sounded horrible.