What's the bass/instrument you have had longest?

[asingardenof]

The Squier Precision in my profile pic is my oldest. Not my first, as that was a Hohner Rockwood Pro I got for my 18th birthday, but I part-exed it for the Squier as it had annoying dead spots on the neck, and I fancied buying a "proper" bass with some student loan money I had burning a hole in my bank account - this was 1998 so the days when it was an optional thing you had to apply for and got paid it as a lump sum. Still have it, play it, gig it and love it.

[gafbass02]

My 1990 jazz bass, been with me since around 93 I think. 

[nilorius]

10 minutes ago, gafbass02 said:

My 1990 jazz bass, been with me since around 93 I think. 

What about the pickups now ?

[gafbass02]

White EMGs now, that pic is very recent. 

[nilorius]

8 minutes ago, gafbass02 said:

White EMGs now, that pic is very recent. 

OK, it's clear now.😉

[dclaassen]

The oldest equipment I have is a leather guitar strap I bought sometime in 1976. Like many here, I sold all my stuff off in the 90’s. I have had my 1974 LoPrinzi acoustic since 1998.

[Cat Burrito]

3 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

I am trying to zoom in to the headstock to see the brand, so that I can buy one too! What is it, I wonder?

If you zoom in, you'll see the band logo! It was a Rally. However, I recommended one to a friend who bought the same model from the same shop, in the same year and it wasn't as good. I think I just got lucky with the wood. Absolutely everyone I know comments on my tone & as much as I would like to say it's all my fingers, I think occasionally companies make good and bad instruments within the same batch. 

 

I don't really see Rally stuff anymore but it was just a budget brand from possibly China. I could never sell it because I'd spend twice as much to get something not as good! 

[fretmeister]

2003 Fender USA Stratocaster. Owned since new.

 

Bought when my eldest spawn was born. I originally had the aim of giving it to her for her 18th, and stupidly told her, but she ended up being one hell of a jazz clarinet player.

 

I didn't want to give her the guitar for her to sell it, so I negotiated with her and ended being fleeced somewhat  but I get to keep it. It is the best strat I've ever played, and I've played a lot.

 

My longest serving bass was a Status I had owned for decades. But it had to go as I started offloading heavier basses. Now I think the one I've owned the longest is only about 3 or 4 years - my Sandberg TT4 Superlight.

[itu]

I bought a new 5-string Clevinger in the early 90's. There were three models in the shop 4, 5, and 6. The fretboard had a bad slope, but a luthier fixed it. At the moment it sports the second set of strings. Low action, wonderful sound.

[zitherman]

Got my fender jazz in 1976.still got it .Love it as,much as the day i bought it.Be passed on to my grandson eventually along with my other instruments

[Merton]

I realised next year is the 10th anniversary of my ACG Finn 4 arriving, and that means it’ll then be a year off being the longest serving bass I’ve had* (currently a Status Retroactive J holds that record at just under 11 years). And that is the longest serving of the current crop - I can’t see any of them going anywhere any time soon.

 

*I’ve still got my Vester Jazz which was my first bass but it was retired from main bass duties about 10 years after I got it, when I got my first 5 string. So I don’t count it.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Wow, loads of interesting stories!

My first guitar was a nylon one I put steel stings on and destroyed, but I still have its successor, a KT-2 cheap as chips thin plywood body 'SG', much modified. Must have bought it around March 1980 as Running Free had not long charted and was the first song I tried to play on it.

 

 

My first bass was a Hohner jazz copy (similar to but predating the Arbor Series). I must have bought it in 1986 looking at my cv (which is a bit shaky on dates pre-1988) I gave it to my brother 10 or 15 years ago, but he still has it, the pickguard is faded to an incredible two-tone colour. Secretly, I want it back 😞

 

 

I still have my second bass,  a Hohner B2 that my brother converted to a lefty, gave to me, and I converted back the "DEATHBURGER". All original except the finish and knobs it has had several finishes - white, then refinned white, then painted with sunset and standing stones, heavily stickered, carbon effect vinyl wrapped, then stone effect paint! Gigged it in the late 80s to 96 when I lost my way, and did all my proper band demo recordings with it as it sounds incredible. Since then gigged (once) and jammed with it recently. Oddly, I don't have any decent photos of it, and it's at my partner's house being easy to tuck away in its custom fit case (bought s/h for a song in the old Bass Centre in Birmingham about 1988/9).

 

Edited May 8 by Stub Mandrel

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

I still have my first bass. It's a Charvette by Charvel from 88/89 ish maybe?). I bought it used in 1993. 

 

It's currently in pieces, waiting for a respray and some custom wound pickups. 

Edited May 8 by ProjeKtWEREWOLF

[NancyJohnson]

I've got an Epiphone FT-140 Dreadnought acoustic I've owned since I was 12/13, so mid-70s.  My gran died, mum treated me off her inheritance.  It came from Adam Music, Staines (see thread elsewhere).  Needs a refret.

 

Basses, nowhere near.  Ten years.

 

[EDIT]  I also have a four-way extension cable that's in regular use to this day.  I can age it to summer 1977 because it has a sticker on it that says 'The Dags', a punk band we formed at school.

 

 

Edited May 9 by NancyJohnson

[ezbass]

My oldest bass is my Rob Allen MB2, which I’ve had for coming up 10 years. My oldest instrument is my Simon & Patrick Rosewood Pro, acoustic guitar, which I’ve had for nearly 30 years.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

My First fender. I hated every minute of working in bejams over the summer in 1982 after leaving school, but I was doing it to buy this new from Rockbottom in Croydon for £260.

 

It was actually made up of two separate basses in the international colours series —  I asked if they could get one in with the body like the cherry sunburst precision (that had a rosewood fretless neck) and a fretted maple neck like the one on a yellow precision. After confirming that this was a serious enquiry, they took the two basses into their workshop for ten minutes and came back with the necks swapped.

 

I was eighteen at the time and had never played a real fender before so I had no idea that a precision bass really shouldn't weigh as much as a small elephant.

 

It currently has an EMG Geezer pickup & electronics, and a Fender High Mass Bridge. It sounds fantastic, but can't compete with my JMJs for comfort.

 

[casapete]

I still have a small Spanish guitar my Gran brought me back from a Spanish holiday

around 1966. That’s the instrument that started me on this road.

I’ve had my 63 Precision for getting on 40 years now, and can’t see me ever parting with it.

Had my Precision Lyte for around 14 years, and done nearly 800 gigs with it. ( Bought a 

near identical one as a spare not long after but haven’t used it so maybe time to move

that one on soon. )

 

Still got a 59 Les Paul Junior I’ve had for around 35 years, again a keeper.

Also a 57 Strat USA reissue for about 20 years now. 

 

Couple of years ago I sold a late 60’s Marshall 18 watt combo I’d had over 45 years ( I think)

as I had an offer for it I couldn’t refuse. 

[pete.young]

The bass I've had the longest is my Yamaha BB800, which I bought second-hand in 1979 from the estimable Charlie Carter, who ran the Sounds Acoustic music shop in Chester Rd, Manchester.

 

The instrument I've had the longest is the English concertina that I started to play  in 1974. 50 years this year. Kin 'ell.

[TimR]

16 hours ago, Dood said:

I do still have my Marlin Sidewinder, my very first bass  bought in 1989. It's not in a playable state at the moment though.

 

I have mine from 1985. I pulled the frets and filled them with polyfilla. I'll get a photo if I have time to get it out of the loft. 

 

In about 2004 I found out you can adjust truss rods and I tuned it from an unplayable monster onto something approaching a bass with low enough action to be half playable. The pickups pick up every airborne RF signal known to man. 

[bass_dinger]

A 1992 Lowden acoustic guitar. 

 

I tend to sell lesser instruments, when I upgrade.  That's due to a lack of space at home,  and because I don't see the point of having instruments that are not so good. 

[Leonard Smalls]

I still have the instrument I learned to play piano on... My grandparents bought it in the early 1930s, and I discovered recently when having it tuned by Someone Who Knows, that it was made in the 1880s. It's a Pfeiffer overstrung, and it has amazing bass - probably what turned me on to play bass in the first place!

Talking of which, I still have the first bass I bought - twas a Kawai Sleekline purchased in 1987 2nd hand for £90.

Edited May 9 by Leonard Smalls
Add contrast to pic!

[christhammer666]

most prob the bass i have now. my schecter that i bought from motorheadache. it was bastardized by lemmys tech and was carved up to resemble a ricky. came with an old strap lemmy used and he noodled on the bass apparently.

 

i could never play bass again and id still never sell it. when i have gigged with it i feel the baddest mofo that ever walked the earth

[dmccombe7]

Odd one for me. My first bass was a Columbus Jazz bought circa 76. I left it at a bandmates house who was defretting it for me so i had a fretless and forgot all about it after  i moved on to other bands and better basses. He got it refretted and still has it and his daughter used it to learn on. That was back in 1980.

My other one is my old Yamaha BX-1 i've had since circa 88. Only worth £100 as a trade so i just kept it. Never use it tho. 

My next one is one of my fav basses i've had since new in 89 a Warwick Thumb NT that is just such a nice bass but doesn't suit the bands i'm in at the moment. Also a keeper.

Dave

 

[police squad]

I bought this bass in 1990 from (I think) Boogoe Music in Denmark Street. It was advertised as late 60s (it's  73) and was £450. I swapped my Aria SBR150, a Shure radio mic and a 100 quid.

Gigged it really hard for 20 years and it hangs on my wall as I'm mostly short scale these days, although I gave it an outing last year.

It's a keeper and the best P bass I've ever played

 

Edited May 9 by police squad

[bassace]

Just photos. And memories.