My First Lefty Bass Was…

[ChWillie]

My 1978 Rickenbacker—first lefty instrument I  had. .  Had to work six months for Ronald McDonald to pay for it.  $750 back then was a fortune.  I waited six months for it to come in. Quit the evil burger joint as soon as I had the dosh. 

 

What was your first lefty bass?

[Silvia Bluejay]

2005. I wish I could have had one of these in 1978, when I was a teenager and getting into basslines. I had to wait until I was over 40 to have the motivation to look for a lefty bass and the hope of actually finding an affordable one. Until then I was always offered righty 6-string guitars and people wondered why I had no interest in them whatsoever.

[ChWillie]

That’s a lovely bass. I like it. I was 16 when I got my Ric. It took selling soooooo many grease pit items to my fellow, fat countrymen. Haha. 

[LeftyJ]

I can't find pics anywhere (probably have some on my Photobucket, but it's been locked since they changed their terms and conditions and became a paid service), but my first bass was a 1970s Condor Jazz Bass that I bought around 20-25 years ago. It was incredibly heavy, had a laminated body with ash veneer finished in 3-colour sunburst and a lovely maple neck with bound maple fingerboard and block inlays. It was decent, and looked, played and sounded like a Jazz Bass should. I sold it when I got my first 5-string (a brand new Yamaha TRB5II) but have always regretted that decision. Years later I tried reaching out to the buyer to see if I could buy it back, but he was much too happy with it to part with it. I found a cheap identical one, but it had a twisted neck and was unplayable with everything but the flatwounds it came with. I hated it, and sold it within two weeks. I've given up my search since, and in 2009 found a lovely Fender MIJ 1975 Jazz Bass reissue that has cured me of any desire for another Condor 😎

[ChWillie]

18 hours ago, LeftyJ said:

I can't find pics anywhere (probably have some on my Photobucket, but it's been locked since they changed their terms and conditions and became a paid service), but my first bass was a 1970s Condor Jazz Bass that I bought around 20-25 years ago. It was incredibly heavy, had a laminated body with ash veneer finished in 3-colour sunburst and a lovely maple neck with bound maple fingerboard and block inlays. It was decent, and looked, played and sounded like a Jazz Bass should. I sold it when I got my first 5-string (a brand new Yamaha TRB5II) but have always regretted that decision. Years later I tried reaching out to the buyer to see if I could buy it back, but he was much too happy with it to part with it. I found a cheap identical one, but it had a twisted neck and was unplayable with everything but the flatwounds it came with. I hated it, and sold it within two weeks. I've given up my search since, and in 2009 found a lovely Fender MIJ 1975 Jazz Bass reissue that has cured me of any desire for another Condor 😎

A good JB can make you forget the losses.  

[rasher80]

MMine was a Squier P Special. Should never have sold it. Loved that bass.

 

 

[sblueplanet]

My first lefty bass after years playing righties upside down was a Yamaha BB300. It was later stolen. I also play with bass strung for a righty so not much trouble for me to just flip any bass I want to try instore.

[uk_lefty]

Aged 15 I wanted a bass. I thought the low strings should be at the bottom, as in lower, right? So I was tempted to get a righty but saw sense and got a lefty. It was a very expensive Christmas present and I'm still very grateful to my mum to this day. Tanglewood Nevada. A sunburst P bass copy. I have always had a soft spot for Tanglewood ever since. After I got my five string fretless for my eighteenth birthday (I was in love with Ten by Pearl Jam so it had to be fretless) I traded the Tanglewood in for something, probably the Zoom BFX708.

[ChWillie]

Ahh the zoom. Many have traded for worse, I guess.  I once traded a Fender bass for a cheap Tele.  Still regret that 45 years on.  

[Piers_Williamson]

What should have been a fantastic Fender Precision Lefty, except it wasn't.  I think it was probably that I didn't know how to play it!  I ended up hot rodding it with a di Mazio pickup, putting a Badass on it and stripping the sunburst ala John Deacon.  All to no avail.  40 years on, I acquired a 77 Precision which must be pretty close to my original (bar a maple v rosewood neck), and it is the business. In the intervening 40 years I've learned to play a little bit better too.

 

[ChWillie]

Pretty cool old pic!

[whynot]

Interesting that I just found a picture of both together. Camberwell high street, left handed identical colour Jedson guitar and bass hanging up in a non musical shop. Both £22.50. I asked my parents for the guitar and they came back with the bass. Rest is history as they say.

 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/jedson-vintage-tele-bass-guitar-307806104

[TeresaFR]

Yamaha BB614 LH. I was 30 and it was my first musical instrument.

[bertbass]

After years of upside down basses and turning the volume down with my forearm, I bought one of these.  Bought from Bell's Musical Instruments on easy terms along with a WEM ER 40 and a WEM Starfinder  1 x 15" cabinet.  I was a happy bunny!

 

 

[ChWillie]

That's definitely mojo rich!

[Baker69]

My first bass was a Wilson Sapphire Bass, it was white with black pickguard(s) and a black headstock. It was quite a nice bass and was styled on a Burns Bass, I think Watkins also brought out a similar model. I should have kept it but for some reason I didn’t see any reason in keeping after I bought a brand new Fender Precision in 1974. 

[Oomo]

Mine was a Dean Edge bass in black (20 years ago or so), no pickguard.

 

I pretty much chose it because it was a) black, and b) left-handed, and c) all those Fender-style basses are only for old folks, right?

 

It sounded and played horribly (I didn't know that setups were a thing back then...), and ditched it as soon as I tried a lefty Fender MIM Jazz bass and loved everything about it...

[Agent 00Soul]

A heavily modified Hofner Beatle bass.  The control plate had been completely replaced with a conventional switch set-up.  I only kept it for a short while.  About 15 years later I went to see a local band and their bassist was playing it.  I'm glad it got a good home, but by that point I so wished that I never got rid of it.

[ChWillie]

1 hour ago, Agent 00Soul said:

A heavily modified Hofner Beatle bass.  The control plate had been completely replaced with a conventional switch set-up.  I only kept it for a short while.  About 15 years later I went to see a local band and their bassist was playing it.  I'm glad it got a good home, but by that point I so wished that I never got rid of it.

Man I love my Hofner. I’m getting ready to use it on an orchestral piece I wrote. When I play it just write, it sounds like a plucked cello.  

[Agent 00Soul]

On 16/09/2022 at 19:53, ChWillie said:

Man I love my Hofner. I’m getting ready to use it on an orchestral piece I wrote. When I play it just write, it sounds like a plucked cello.  

 

I did eventually replace it with an Epiphone Viola bass.  By that time, I was playing in an electronic longue sort of band (think Air or Koop) and I was amazed to find that it was the best bass in my collection for recording that style of music.  I was surprised.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Agent 00Soul
spelling

[rasher80]

30 minutes ago, Agent 00Soul said:

 

I did eventually replace it with an Epiphone Viola bass.  By that time, I was playing in an electronic longue sort of band (think Air or Koop) and I was amazed to find that it was the best bass in my collection for recording that style of music.  I was surprised.

Think the guy from Air (his name escapes me) played a Hofner on a few tracks on Moon Safari. On Talisman and La Femme D'Argent you can definitely hear it.

 

People think the Hofner is very one-dimensional but I love my Ignition (w/flats) and I'd never get rid of it.

[ChWillie]

That’s been a surprise for me. The Hofner is in no way a one trick pony. As soon as I can figure out Logic, I’ll use it for my latest compositions.  

[uk_lefty]

Serious Hofner GAS here too. I've never had one but I currently have an Epiphone Jack Casady so I'm very tempted to add a Hofner. I also really want to get some vocal lessons to sound a lot more like Sir Paul, sadly my days of being able to grow a Beatles haircut are well behind me.

[Agent 00Soul]

On 23/09/2022 at 08:13, uk_lefty said:

Serious Hofner GAS here too. I've never had one but I currently have an Epiphone Jack Casady so I'm very tempted to add a Hofner. I also really want to get some vocal lessons to sound a lot more like Sir Paul, sadly my days of being able to grow a Beatles haircut are well behind me.

 

If the lefty Jack Casady bass was around at the time I was using my Viola for the lounge stuff I definitely would have bought one!

[Green Monster]

My first was more out of lack of options than because of choice.

 

Being LH and not exactly growing up near a big city did kind of limit what was available. This is going back 35+ years ago now. So my first was a Japanese made Fender sunburst P-Bass, which in the hands of 13yo me at the time, felt like I was wrestling a battleship. To this day I've never really liked Fender basses, probably from the memories and stigma attached because of that.

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Green Monster