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Which Memorable Bass do You Regret NOT Buying?

#102
dustybass said:
A Dean Stealth Explorer and a Dean Stealth Flying V bass...they were going pretty cheap new (less than $800). BUT, I just bought a #10 Dean DOA transparent green Flying V bass and I'm sure the Old Lady would've buried me in the corn fields , just like the Spilottro brothers had I tried to sneak them into the harem.
Click to expand...
I've felt that way about the Dean Tour Z and Tour V (same as the Stealths, only glossy black).
They were only out for a minute and I saw a few, but I couldn't afford stuff like I can now....
 
#108
A late 60’s Gibson EB0. It was at a hole in the wall mom and pop shop for $150. Neck was straight and played beautifully... but it had been spray painted red with everything still attached and nothing masked off. Knobs and pickup all covered in paint. I went back and played that bass a dozen times in the store and loved that thing! I was a broke college student so I never picked that one up but to this day I still really wish I had bought that EB0
 
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#110
Not a bass, but I passed on a Gibson E-330 once that was used to write and record one of my favorite records of all time. The guitarist was hard up on money and was selling a few axes and a ton of vinyl on eBay.

I was a broke musician at the time so the $2k price tag was impossible, but now it would have been pennies in comparison to knowing I had such an important instrument to me. I think about that all the time... :(
 
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#111
There used to be a great vintage guitar shop by me. They had an 80’s EBMM Stingray, red like only an 80’s bass could be, clear pickguard, maple fretboard, two band EQ. It had mojo for DAYS. It just played so perfectly, and it sounded like the voice of some funky, punchy god. They were asking a totally realistic price for it, and were I not a broke touring musician at the time, I would have bought it. I used to go there just to play it.
 
#113
it was a beat to heck Alembic five string. It played like it was custom designed just for me. Because of the condition, it was only $1,100 (back around 2001). I had the dough at the time (just barely) but turned it down because “I only play 6 strings, bro”. :banghead: I’ve been face palming ever since... especially since removing my self-imposed “only sixers” restriction. :crying:
 
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#114
one of those big Gibson Les Paul basses like Jack Casady played in Hot Tuna before Epiphone issued his signature model.

But even at $1500, it wasn't that big a swing and miss.

Like so many of you, it's the guitars I sold that nag me more!



Oh yeah ... A 12 string WEM in a beautiful blue color hanging on the wall at Caruso Music in New Rochelle, NY in 1968 or so. I've never seen one like it again.
 
#115
A pine 2TSB, maple necked G&L JB that just happened to have had its assembly and setup done by my friend in the factory. It sat on my E-Bay watch list for a very long time, and just recently disappeared. It was a good price, and I had several opportunities to snag it...but I always went for something else instead. I regret that. It was almost certainly one of a kind, and the fact that it was put together by my friend was really cool.
 
#116
This is a very fun topic for me, particularly because of the age-related memory problems I'm currently experiencing!

I 'remember' seeing many basses in my youth, that I'm not sure they really existed.
Examples:
1. A Les Paul-styled carved-top bass, with a t-bird headstock. A thing of beauty, but I'm not sure if I saw it, or I dreamed it.
2. An early 80s Yamaha BB. Fortunately, that one looked exactly like the newer BB1024x!
3. An early 80s Roland that looked like the guitar synth controller G-808. Never seen it again.

My answer to myself, "Dream on!".
 
#117
This Wal Bass. This ACTUAL Wal Bass...
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Saw it for sale in a shop in Denmark Street in around 2000 when I was looking for my Pro Series Wal. Decent price too, about right for a second hand Wal at the time. Not an inflated celebrity price. Stupidly thought, “Lovely but I’ve already got a Mk 1... I want a Pro IIE.” Walked out of the shop... Mentioned it to my wife that night and she said, “You should have bought it!” Went back in the following day but of course it was gone!
 
#118
If we're also talking about basses we owned stupidly sold/returned, I have one for you. Being a lefty it's hard to buy a decent bass that isn't black! Well one time GC had a used Ibanez SR1200 Lefty for under a grand and i bought it. It was a bit heavier than my SR500 mahogany but it had a gorgeous neck and gold hardware. The Nordy pickups was so awesome. But there was a small almost invisible cigarette burn on the lower top front and where you rest your elbow, there was a sweat stain.

I'm pretty OCD about laying my porous skin on a piece of wood where someone had embedded their own sweat and I have no idea how healthy that person was-- you know you can't be too safe nowadays. Shortly after that @Killed_by_Death told me how to clean that with some special remover that doesn't harm wood. I've been kicking myself ever since-- I just CAN'T find that SR1200 Lefty anymore online! :banghead:
 
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