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Post a pic of your very first bass


Silvia Bluejay
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What? Another chance to bang on about my first love that I totally regret being forced to sell? Oh, go on then...

I can't post the only photograph I have of mine because I am naked in the picture (taken literally days before I started putting weight on, so not as revolting as it might sound, and my junk is covered by the bass). I don't even own any of the photos taken of my 18th birthday cake that was a replica of my beloved Westone Raider I.

It looked like this one:



Got it for Christmas when I was 12, in 1987. It cost £100.

Feel sad now.

Edited by KingBollock
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My first bass, my Mom purchased a Beatle Bass copy for me in 1965. It was a Sekova from Japan in red burst, not sure the bass in the pic is it but it sure looks like it. In the 2nd pic, I'm 16 or 17 years old playing my Gibson EB-3. Everybody was picking up on the whole Jack Bruce thing at the time. Third pic, 50 years later I was finally able to afford a real German made Hofner.

I am glad I don't have to deal with that Fro anymore. :D

Blue

Edited by blue
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My Framus Star bass.

The plastic on the original tuners had already broken off and these were the only replacements i could find. Shortly after this photo the pots began to fail. The bass ended up with the pickup being wired directly to the jack socket.

I thought I'd removed the frets later but they look like they're gone in this picture. The strings were a set of Burns black nylon covered flatwounds.

[url="http://s293.photobucket.com/user/chris_b_photo/media/CopyofFSBme2.jpg.html"][/url]

Edited by chris_b
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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1422494203' post='2673486']
My Framus Star bass.

The plastic on the original tuners had already broken off and these were the only replacements i could find. Shortly after this photo the pots began to fail. The bass ended up with the pickup being wired directly to the jack socket.

I thought I'd removed the frets later but they look like they're gone in this picture. The strings were a set of Burns black nylon covered flatwounds.

[url="http://s293.photobucket.com/user/chris_b_photo/media/CopyofFSBme2.jpg.html"][/url]
[/quote]

Still a "Kick Ass" bass and pic. I love semi-hollows.

Blue

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Great thread,

And you know what's interesting? I can almost tell the age of some of you guys by what was available when you acquired your first bass. For example, I certainly could not have picked up a Fender Squire at that time. I remember, and correct me if I'm wrong at the time, 1965 for Fender there was only 1 P Bass model and one Jazz bass as well.

Blue

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This looks like a lot of fun - Nostalgia, eh - ain't wot it used to be! :lol:



This isn't mine, as cameras were only for "grown ups", when I were a lad! ;)

This is one I have lifted from t'internet but is pretty much the condition of mine.

Started of on guitar and then as the band changed, I was "nominated" as the bass player.
It would have been around 1973 ish - can't remeber exactly how much it was but it had a very high
action!!!

I bought one, around 4 years ago - not in good nick but the same as mine was - I've not done it on
the blog yet but will dig it out and get on the case.

The surprising thing was. . . . . . it actually sounded not too bad - much to my amazement! :P

Cheers. :)

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Well it was a long time ago so I can't actually recall the picky little details, but the very first bass I can remember actually owning was an Ibanez GSR200L:


[url="http://s1109.photobucket.com/user/muso392/media/DSCN0479_412.jpg.html"][/url]


Apparently I still owned this bass as recently as 2012... which almost certainly means I sold it to somebody on BC! :huh: :o

ETA: Come to think of it, I'm not sure this was my bass as this one is active and mine definitely wasn't. I have a feeling that I was selling this for somebody else. I was sure I'd got rid some years ago.

I'm pretty sure mine was a GSR100L (which is the passive version). Anyhoo, long story to shreds; mine looked like this one - sort of... :rolleyes:

In summary, much ado about (almost) nothing. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go for a lie down....

Edited by leftybassman392
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This thread is fantastic, and you all made it so! Thank you.
I notice that I'm not the only one who learned to play bass on a Crafter. I bought it online (can't remember where, but not Thomann I think) as part of a beginner combo, and had never heard of the make. Being a lefty and not knowing whether I would continue to play beyond the first few weeks stopped me shopping for more expensive models/makes. The Warwicks came later!! :rolleyes: :gas: :lol:

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[quote name='blue' timestamp='1422496364' post='2673492']
....Still a "Kick Ass" bass....
[/quote]

Yes, the positive points were a very narrow neck and great action to learn on, it hardly weighed anything (could have blown away in the wind), was very loud acoustically with a good tone which was fortunate as I didn't own an amp for the first year.

It later paired up well with my Vox Foundation.

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Nasty Grant-branded shortscale sorta J copy, bought brand new from Unisound in Chatham High Street, when I was 16. £58, it cost:

[sharedmedia=core:attachments:53794] [sharedmedia=core:attachments:53795]

Not mine but identical. It was horrible; intonation all over the place, action you could limbo under and string alignment so bad the G was practically hanging off the board beyond the 12th fret.

In fairness, I was a kid, my musical experience a that point amounted to being shown how to play a Status Quo boogie rhythm by a guitarist mate. I had the Grant for a month before I sussed how to tune it properly. I suspect it would have been very easy to set up action & intonation properly, and even reposition the bridge a couple of mm - but at that age I was clueless about such things.

However, it got me to the point where I could play along to Rattus Norvegicus from start to finish, and when I finally got my hands on a seriously good-quality bass (Washburn B20 Stage Series) years of struggling with the Grant meant I'd built up some pretty good dexterity & stamina. At least that's what I'd like to think!

Jon.

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Another Burns Sonic Bass here!

This was taken in 1966 aged 15, although slightly hidden, you can't miss it, just look out for the "kipper" tie and braces.

I borrowed £15 from my older sister to buy it, and then swapped it for some fishing tackle about a year later because I thought that I would never be good enough, sadly, I lacked a lot of confidence when I was younger.

I never played bass or guitar again until about six years ago, I am now aged 63, and been in some decent bands for the last five years, and I now realize that I can actually play quite well, so I'm now trying to make up for all that lost time! :unsure:

I really wish I still had it, it was already old and well used when I got, so it would probably be at least 55 years old by now, I'm not sure whether I would still use it, but it would be nice to have it hanging on the wall with all my more modern basses.

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[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1422544617' post='2673938']

I never played bass or guitar again until about six years ago, I am now aged 63, and been in some decent bands for the last five years, and I now realize that I can actually play quite well, so I'm now trying to make up for all that lost time! :unsure:

[/quote]

That really is a recurrent thread around here, isn't it?

Include me in ...

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A bit complicated...

I'm actually playing guitar (a much missed Epiphone Genesis) on the right in this photo when I was 17 circa 1984.

The guy on the left was the owner of the Fender Jazz in question, but it was the first bass that I gigged with regularly as he wanted to concentrate on vocals and asked me to play bass instead of guitar, so I borrowed it and learned to play it. Oh, and the drummer then replaced me as guitarist in the band and we got a new drummer in.

We carried on with this arrangement for two or three years and a number of different line-ups as the singer and I both went off to university in Cardiff.

I sometimes still feel like I'm a guitarist masquerading as a bass player, but I guess it worked out fairly well in the end :)

Edited by cybertect
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[2nd bite at the cherry...]

However, [b]this [/b]was the first bass I actually [i]owned[/i] - a 1967 Hofner Verithin.

David playing drums above, returned to that role in a different band, the [i]Murrumbidgee Whalers,[/i] a couple more years down the line.

As I was returning to London from university, I was asked to play bass again. The lead guitarist lent the Hofner for a few months, then needed some cash for another Rickenbacker and sold it to me.

I still have it to this day.

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