What happened to your first bass?

[bassbiscuits]

Mine was a terrible short scale Satellite bass with a body a bit like a double-cut Les Paul Junior. 

I sold it as soon as I’d finished paying it off on H/P and bought a Westone Spectrum ST instead. This was 1986/7.

I saw the Satellite again in a secondhand shop in the late 1990s. Momentarily got sentimental and thought of buying it until the guy insisted it was brand new and wanted twice the price I’d paid originally.

It was rubbish even when new and I doubt it still exists. 

[Velarian]

I had a late 70s Fender Precision, sunburst with rosewood fingerboard. It got nicked in the early 80s, twice! The first time, after a tip-off from the local music shop and the help of the police it was recovered. After the second time I never saw it again. I really regret not keeping it safer at the time 😫

[Stub Mandrel]

 

Hohner Jazz copy. My brother now has it (note faded scratch plate and darkened wood after ~35 years). He loaned it to a learner who put the strange paper strips on the neck and hasn't taken them off yet...

 

[Lfalex v1.1]

My Westone Raider 1 is still in my loft.  The electrics are dead. Maybe I'll resurrect it one day if it hasn't got a neck like a banana. 

How I learned to play in any way at all without an amp for the first 2 years, I'll never know...

[Steve Browning]

Another Columbus Jazz starter here. Bizarrely, I have no memory of what became of it. I played it for about two years until I bought my first Precision. I can see from that invoice that I p/ex'd a Hondo bass (which was a Ric) but just no idea where that first bass went.

Maybe my late Mum hid it in retaliation for the basses I used to try and hide from her (which never worked).

[MacDaddy]

On 15/07/2021 at 12:15, TheGreek said:

My first bass was a Westone Thunder 1a - I traded it for an acoustic with one of my mates for one of his projects. He swapped it for some illegal chemicals, it went round a circle of undesirables before ending up with another friend of mine.

He lent it to his Uncle who sold it.

No doubt it will turn up again.

me too, although mine was owned by the college I was at. But I was the only one who played and gigged it.

The first bass that I owned was an Ibanez Blazer Bass. I know I sold it, but I can't remember to who, or when.

Edited July 16, 2021 by MacDaddy

[Munurmunuh]

The guitar I had as a teenager was a Westone Thunder I-A, too. It has sat in its box since I left school and the neck hasn't moved in the slightest, still plays exactly as it did when I was 15. Shame I decided to fiddle with the electronics... 🙄

[Bassman68]

My first bass was a Stagg Jazz bass, bought secondhand in 81.

It was a nice natural finish with a bound maple neck/fingerboard with black block inlays. It had chrome pick-up covers & even had a strip of foam under the bridge ‘ashtray’?
I very much doubt whether it was from the Stagg brand that we know today but it was made in Japan, as stated on the headstock.

It also come with flatwound strings (which I knew nothing about at the time?) It was only when I tried a friends bass, sometime later, that I realised the difference in tension compared to his roundwounds...Learning to play slap with flatwounds proved disappointing & I couldn’t believe the difference when I finally broke a string & replaced them with a set of Rotosounds.

Looking back, it was probably a decent,almost ‘Lawsuit’ copy, which I p/xed for a Squier SQ Precision, a couple of years later, going on image more than versatility? I wish I’d thought a bit more as the P-bass choice won over an Aria SB600 & a Westone Thunder 1a..

Edited July 16, 2021 by Bassman68

[Killed_by_Death]

 

I feel like an idiot for not just using that ONE bass forever, there was actually nothing wrong with it, but I was convinced I needed something better:

I moved laterally to a Fender JP-90:

Back then I was SO naive about it all, but the online communities convinced me I needed to upgrade. This is why I chastise all the 'buy, Buy, BUY' that gets thrown around.

 

[paul_5]

Mine was a short scale Hohner Baron bass - black with a black neck and a black board.

 

I think it was £70 in 1991.

I defretted it and started to strip the body back to base wood for a change of scenery, only to realise that it was, in fact, made of chipboard.

C'est la vie.

[Bobthedog]

My first was a white  Ibanez SR300 (e?). Dreadful waste of wood and metal. Although probably my playing style but at no time did I ever get an acceptable tone from it, even with tutoring on how to play. It almost made me give up base. No idea what happened to it and tbh, not overly worried.

[verb]

My first bass was a Hohner Rockwood LX300B. As far as I know, it is still under a bed at my parents house, in one of those plywood cases that is twice as heavy as the bass.

[DiMarco]

I forgot. It was black and probably a Fernandes. Had PJ pickups.
Don't know where it went, if I sold it or not.

Then I got a white japanese Fender Jazz fretless which was my main instrument for a long time.
I traded that for a sixties Gibson non-reversed firebird guitar at some point. It was a good trade.

 

[Hellzero]

An El Maya Pee-Bass that I sold when I finished my studies : man, I drank all the money, what a happy end for such a sh*tty instrument. And then I started to work and was able to buy a ... bass.

[Stub Mandrel]

28 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

An El Maya Pee-Bass that I sold when I finished my studies : man, I drank all the money, what a happy end for such a sh*tty instrument. And then I started to work and was able to buy a ... bass.

My third bass was a Maya, still got it. I like it and have gigged it loads.

[nekomatic]

Encore Precision copy, black with white pickguard, weighed a ton and a half. After upgrading to a Fender Jazz I sold it to a petite young woman who wanted to play rock. I just hope she too moved it on before suffering chronic shoulder strain. 

[Waddo Soqable]

There seems to be two "first bass" threads going at the mo, tho this one has much more traffic.

I had a look round on the internet at cheap 70s jap basses, and found this, which is pretty much exactly the first thing I had. As mentioned in the other one, I've absolutely no recollection of what became of it unfortunately, knowing me I likely swapped it for something or other.  I continued after this with a borrowed bass for a bit, and subsequently bought a slightly better P bass copy.

 

[Waddycall]

Mine was a marlin sidewinder bought secondhand for £20. I hated it and in the end fitted the neck to a Hondo PJ I borrowed from school with a broken neck. I never gave that back. The neck was shimmed with washers! I used that bass for several gigs in the 90’s, lent it to someone about 20 years ago and never seen it since.

[Mikey D]

I got mine for my 14th birthday from Chappells of bond street in Milton Keynes. I couldn't play and never played before. I saw the Encore E83b ltd edition amoungst all the other basses and just loved the look of it and asked the salesman to play it for me. A few minutes of Mark King style slap later I asked my mum and dad for it. Plus a small Marshall amp. Joined my first band at 17 (when I had hair) and proceeded to put a Jamiroquai picture and paw prints on (the band was called The Fat Cat Experience and I was very into Zender back then).  I gave it to my niece in my 20s when I got my TRB6. Many years later near the start of the Pandemic I asked and it turns out they still had it in storage so gave it back. 20ish years later. Still one of the nicest P style necks I've played and now I can teach my children on it. Now just debate to leave all original or upgrade electronics?

 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Mikey D

[Reggaebass]

5 minutes ago, Mikey D said:

I got mine for my 14th birthday from Chappells of bond street

Great story Mikey, I’ve still got my first bass from when I was 14, and it looks like you’ve got a budding bass player in the last picture 👍

[4000]

My first was a 1980 Rickenbacker 4001 (which probably partly explains why I find them so comfortable when others don’t) in Jetglo. It was nicked from the band van along with the drum kit and bass rig in Hendon in ‘85 or ‘86 (I’d have to check) after a gig. Serial number is/was TC915.

I’d replaced the white scratch plate with a black one, had it shielded with copper foil (although I hadn’t had any problems with it) and the treble pickup had been rewound by Kent Armstrong; I didn’t know about the cap at the time. If anyone has it, It would nice to know.

[Munurmunuh]

16 minutes ago, Mikey D said:

now I can teach my children on it.

Chloe. CHLOE! What did I tell you? There's. No. Money. Above. The. Fifth. Fret. Go to your room! I'm very angry.

[Chienmortbb]

On 15/07/2021 at 12:15, TheGreek said:

My first bass was a Westone Thunder 1a - I traded it for an acoustic with one of my mates for one of his projects. He swapped it for some illegal chemicals, it went round a circle of undesirables before ending up with another friend of mine.

He lent it to his Uncle who sold it.

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No doubt it will turn up again.

My first was a Squire Precision in CAR. It was a very good guitar and as I bought it SH in the mid 90s, I am not sure where it was made or how valuable it would be now. I sold it to buy a Thunder 1A. Wish I had not sold either.

[AndyTravis]

Hmm. Shameful this.

Japanese Yamaha BB300, in red.

Don’t know why, but I did something to it.

Eventually I sold it on. A mate still has it.

About 3 years ago, I got a beautiful Taiwanese version, which made me realise I’d done a bad thing…

And then I sold that one too 😩

[2020Jazz]

My Mother bought me a RIck 4001 copy when I was 14, 1975 I suppose. I want to say is was a Hondo but I just cannot recall. I don't know what happened to it after I joined the Navy. I bought a Squier Precision in New York City around 1985 with a perfect neck, I loved it. Years later a friend turned drug addict hocked it at a pawn shop. Never saw it again.