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Your first bass

#41
joninjapan said:
30 years ago, for my 16th birthday I got Fender Musicmaster (Lake Placid Blue) and matching Musicmaster amp.

It was a great bass to learn on, and sounded very "Fender", the Strat pick-up was cool, it was cheap... couple years later I stripped the polyester finish off and clear coated it... eventually traded it in, got a lot more than I paid originally... that then went to bass #2 my 4001 Ric... which served me well until I came to Japan. The Ric is still stateside.
Click to expand...

Another Musicmaster starter here: Dakota Red 1974, had the Musicmaster Amp as well. Traded the amp in for a Sunn Concert Bass 215B Cab (plus cash of course) and traded the bass in :crying: for a '76 Black w/maple neck Fender P. :hyper: Still have the P though de-fretted and added a Pyramid Guitars of Detroit humbucker in the bridge position...hey I was Jaco influenced and broke at the time.... I'm on the hunt for a Dakota Red Musicmaster or Mustang for my youngest daughter (almost 8) Jamie that has expressed interest in playing bass.
 
#42
I'm not really sure. It's kind of a convoluted story, but here you go. I played for quite a while on borrowed basses - a Squier Affinity P, an Ibanez SRX505, and then my teachers '84 US Jazz... drool... So, we'll start with the first one I bought.

I ordered a blue Ibanez EDA900, y'know, the really weird lookin' one made of luthite with a big soap bar and piezo bridge. It looked like a million bucks, played great and was incredibly light. The sound was really bright/clear/hi-fi/modern. This was when I learned that, as far as bass tone is concerned, I'm old school. So, I sent it back to MF after about a week and got a refund.

A while later, I figured out that what I really wanted was a Reggie Hamilton Standard Jazz. So, I saved for several months and ordered one from MF. It was glorious in every way - perfect 3 tone sunburst, tortoise shell pg, awesome neck, incredible sound... but the freakin' UPS guys dropped it somewhere along the way and put three huge dings along the bottom edge, all the way through the finish. So, I sent it back for a replacement, but it was on backorder and while I was waiting, the freakin' dryer died! I decided to stay married and cancel my order to buy a new dryer.

About 8 months later, (Last June) I saw that MF was clearing out a special run of Mexi Standard Js with flame maple tops for $399 and my wife let me get one for my birffday. I did the mods outlined in my sig along with a hipshot three string retainer, straplocks, and I rewired the controls to Vol/Blend/Tone and I plan to keep her forever - but with a lot of siblings.

Sorry for the long post, but that's the saga of my first bass. At least you didn't have to live through all that crap.
 
#43
Mine it's like 10 years old, the classic squier precision bass... It has been a great bass so far, I still use it, even have done some recordings with it, it has just had a pickguard/pickup change, and it still stands proudly.

Really, if you're beginning, take someone who knows about this stuff with you, choose an instrument, give the best setup you can, forgive GAS, and start playing like there's no tomorrow!
 
#45
Epiphone Viola... I have a couple other cheapos, but every time I play the Epi, I love it more...

I fully expect the Birdsong I order this month (Did I mention I am gonna order a Birdsong?) to be a better bass, and to get most of my playing time, but though I may sell the others, I doubt I will ever get rid of the Epi.... I just love the sound...
 
#46
Well, my memory is really bad (it's been like twelve years since I started now), but I'm pretty sure it was an Ibanez of some kind, probably an SDGR - but they've made something like 13.000 different models called SDGR, so it's not a very accurate description!

It had a neck like a piece of cooked spaghetti, I still remember being able to bend a note down from E to C only by pushing the back of the headstock - at that time I though that was a sign of quality (because I had more options, right?), but I know why I got the worst tone from it when I tried slapping...! :D

I think I sold it my parents, who wanted to give it to my brother or sister, but none of them wanted to play bass, so I helped them sell it to some poor guy a few years later... ;)

I really, truly don't miss that bass...! :D
 
#47
My first bass was a cheap Hondo with some crazy disco design on it. It was a piece of crap. But, my uncle used to let me use his Kramer flying v bass all the time. I credit him with me learning the bass. If I had to play that Hondo I'm not sure I would have stuck with it. There was about an inch of clearance between the strings and the fretboard on the Hondo. My uncle was a pretty cool guy.
 
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#50
Still have mine,it's a little bit over 20 years old, god it's been through so many transformations though.Made a left handed cutaway,filled the original control cavity with a chunk of ash and as much wood putty it could take, created a control cavity on the other side. Later on when I put a kahler trem on my soundgear, I put the ibanez bridge on it. I ended up swapping necks, and put an ESP jazz neck on it, later pulled the frets off it, and made it fretless. This thing was a pickup prostitute, I can't even count how many times I've changed that pickups!

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It used to be a right handed squire p-bass:eyebrow: , weird thing is, I had almost bought a Memphis before I had obtained this one. I don't even know if that company even exists anymore:confused: .
 
#51
Still have mine, bought pre-owned in 87 when I was 14. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It has had frets removed for a while, and now frettted again. I don't use it much, but when I do, the sound always impresses me.
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#52
azzyrazzy said:
Still have mine, bought pre-owned in 87 when I was 14. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It has had frets removed for a while, and now frettted again. I don't use it much, but when I do, the sound always impresses me.
bf247ec8.gif
Click to expand...

That is friggin' cool man! I have not seen a "rail" in a long time.

Dose'nt the mid piece slide back and forth?
 
#53
AzzyRazzy-
Holy ummmm Cow! The Westone Rawks!!
Bought my first bass in the early 70's. It was a Hofner Beatle Bass. Guess I wanted to be Paul. Despite all the rave, I could never really get anything out of it, but that's probably due to my inexperience. Traded it in for a Gibson Les Paul bass. Guess I wanted to be a guitar player or maybe I'm stuck on the Paul thing. I now have an Epiphone Viola (and 8thers), which is inexpensive but definately not cheap. Much better than the Hofner, but maybe I've just got a little more experience as a player.
Good Luck To You!
 
#54
Hofner Artist, bought for next to nothing in 1968, as it had been stripped and badly repainted a few times. Still have it, in natural with a Dimarzio pickup. Still play it from time to time.
Now I now how much they are worth, I am thinking of putting it back to stock.
David
 
#55
A 198? Odessa P-bass copy with a dimarzio pickup. Not bad at all for the time, I guess it was onpar with a Squire, quality-wise. Sold in the early 90's for a late 80's Ibanez Soundgear.

That too was sold to finance a 1983 Spector NS-2, which I thankfully still have. :D
 
#56
My first bass was a 1977 Guild B-301. It was a great bass...got it when I was 19 (back in '89). Stupidly sold it 4 years ago or so........I'd stopped playing it pretty much then - was using my 2 Spector 5 stringers and my P-bass a lot more by that point!


Sold it on Ebay - and the night I was packing it up to ship it ,decided to have a wee play with it.....then wondered why I hadn;t been playing it and what on earth I was selling it for - oh yeah needed the money!!:crying:
 
#57
I still have mine, bought it 39 years ago!!! A brand new '68 St. George hollowbody EB2 copy. The pickups are so microphonic you can almost sing into them. I've bought & sold loads of basses since then, but always kept my first...
 
#58
Alembicplyr said:
That is friggin' cool man! I have not seen a "rail" in a long time.

Dose'nt the mid piece slide back and forth?
Click to expand...

Thanks!
Yes it does, look at the knob to the left, which can be loosened and tightened. It really is ridicilous how big the variations in sound are from one pickup. I play over the pickup with my right hand, and so moving the pickup a little forward will also yield the added moved-righthand bass bonus. :)
 
#60
Oh crikey, I wish I still had my '60s Fender Pbass. Both chrome ashtrays intact. Burst with a rosewood neck. Bought it in '73, sold or traded it later for something...God only knows. I think I traded a Harptone 12 string to get it in the 1st place.

My 1st bass...I miss you. :crying:
 

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