[quote name='BigRedX' post='553545' date='Jul 28 2009, 08:38 AM']I have an early 60s Burns Sonic Bass, which was my first bass guitar and my main bass throughout the 80s. By modern standards it's fairly poor. Short scale and impossible to get a decent note out of the E strings available for it at the time. There's no truss rod (although I believe there is some sort of neck re-enforcement) so the neck is very chunky and since I've owned it (from 1981) the action has needed to be quite high to avoid fret buzz. I've had to replace most of the hardware as it had worn out and was no longer performing properly - however remember that this bass was already 20 years old when I bought it.
On the plus side, from the A string upwards it sounds fantastic, very fat for such a small bass, but bright as well with a little help at the amp. Construction-wise it has one of the best and most comfortable neck/body joins I've ever seen - about 15 years ahead of what the other major bass manufacturers were doing. Plus for me the affordable alternative at the time would have been some PoS P or J bass copy, then you can see that it had no competition.
I also owned a red Futurama bass which had a better action and therefore a bit more playable, but didn't sound anywhere near as good, and the more conventional bolt-on neck construction meant that high fret access wasn't as easy as on the Burns.[/quote]
My very first bass way back in 76(?)was an old blue Futurama, paid a tenner for it and it was quite repectable.
I think my amp was a 60 watt head (with 11 band graphic equalizer believe it or not!!!) not driving an enormous 2 x 18 cab
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