Do you remember your first bass...

[Nicko]

...and what happened to it.

I was working overseas and joined a band using a borrowed bass (a cheap sg copy IIRC). I was on home leave and went to Wunjo and bought  a Peavey Cirrus BXP.  I can't honestly remember how much I paid, but I did manage to claim the VAT back when I exported it.  I had it a few years and eventually traded it in for a P (at Wunjo again).

My first guitar is a bit more difficult.  I think I "borrowed" a cheap buitar from my brother.  The body was homemade out of plywood, Telecaster shape.  The first one I owned think it was a Kay LP copy with DiMarzio tiger stripe pickups.  Bought form a mate of a mate from a smelly flat in Chiswick.  I was still at school so I guess it wasn't expensive.  Not sure what happened to it - I must have sold it at some point.

[TheGreek]

My first bass was a Westone Thunder 1a - kept it for about 5-6 years. I bought a Hohner Cricket Bat and played that pretty much exclusively about 2 years into owning the Westone - picked it up one day and found out how much better it sounded than the Hohner. The Hohner found a new home shortly afterwards.

I traded it with a friend, it went round in a circle before ending up with another friend who "lent" it to yet another friend who sold it!! No doubt it will rear it's head again.

[bertbass]

After dabbling on a Vox stroller, bought from my Mum's mail order catalogue, Marshall Ward, my first venture on bass was a Vox Clubman bought from a friend for £5.  Shorter than short scale, no truss rod and smaller than small machine heads.  The previous owner had replaced the Vox pickup with a Burns Trisonic which unfortunately was thicker than the body so a wooden bowl shape was glued to the back of the body to cover up the hole.

 

I also bought a linear 50 and a home made 2x12 to use with it.  How was I to know one of the speakers was blown?

 

Can't remember what happened to that bass.

[Bigwan]

It was a red Sunn Mustang precision, the one that looked more like a Yamaha RBX than a Fender. I had it 3 months before moving up to an Aria Pro MAB20/5 5 string with my 16th birthday money. I spent most of my formative years playing the Aria and still play it on occasion.

Sold the Sunn. Never really missed it. It may have been my first, but the Aria is the one I'm sentimental about! 

[Stylon Pilson]

My first bass was a red Precision bass copy with white pickguard, made by Jim Harley. Not a bad piece of kit, all round.

As to what happened to it - I'd heard so many people sighing wistfully and saying "ah, I wish I'd never sold my first bass..." that I decided to never sell it.

S.P.

[T-Bay]

A Stagg, not that great and traded up to a nice Aria pretty quickly.

[BreadBin]

The first one I actually owned was a black Washburn B2, long since traded. 

 

[Cato]

It was Axe as advertised on the back page of Kerrang when I was 15.

When I upgraded a few years later I defretted the Axe with a pair of pliers.

As far as I know it's still lurking in an eave's cupboard in my parents house.

[thebassist]

A 1996 Mexican sunburst Fender Jazz I used for about two years before buying an American sunburst Fender Jazz.

[bubinga5]

It was a Vintage PJ Vb5 string. Body was Bubinga hence the sig. Great beginner bass. Bloody heavy though.

[jacko]

My first bass was a homemade fretless gibson Rd lookalike. It's in a bag in my loft.

second was a fender prcision / rickenbacker bastard. also in a bag in the loft. 

(in fact I still have every musical instrument I've ever owned including my primary school descant recorder). 

Edited August 9, 2018 by jacko

[Count Bassy]

My first was a home built 1974 vintage, 31.5" scale  vaguely P Bass shaped (I'd never held one at the time). Sapele neck and Utile body,  home built active tone controls, and some second hand pickups (one cost me £2, and the other was £1.50 as it had a dent in it).

- It's still in my dining room mostly gathering dust.

 

[el borracho]

An Ibanez Blazer which I sold in 1985. I don't think I had any concept at the time that it was actually a very good bass. - I just didn't like the colour.

My current goto bitsa is fitted with brass Blazer knobs and bridge.

I suspect I know who has the Blazer - maybe one day I'll try and buy it back!

[BigRedX]

Here's mine which I still own:

It's Burns Sonic from the early 60s which I got second hand in 1981 for £60 including the original Hard Case and a Fender-branded strap thrown for good measure.

It's far from original, although most of the modifications were done before I got it, and all of what I have changed - replacement bridge, machine heads potentiometers and capacitors were done to keep the bass playable as the old parts had worn out.

I used this with the first two bands I played with including the demo recordings that nearly got my second band signed to CBS records!

It doesn't get much use these days as I play 5-strings and Bass VIs, but I'm toying with the idea of using it as a basis for a custom Bass VI build.

Edited August 9, 2018 by BigRedX

[spongebob]

Another Sunn Mustang Precision. Weighed a ton.

Traded it in a few years later for a Jim Deacon (passive) Stingray copy. Felt like a Custom Shop instrument compared to the Sunn!

No idea what happened to the Sunn, but the Jim Deacon bass was kept for about 10 years (only used it for a couple, then 8 in the cupboard), and eventually sold locally for £40.

[Bridgehouse]

Peavey T40 borrowed from a mate whilst at uni to play in a wedding band.

It was heavy. I kinda loved it. I have it back as I was skint. I’d like one again..

[Rich]

Remember it? Still have it  

It's a Höfner Artist 2, a ‘65 I believe, which I bought off my school’s metalwork teacher in 1982 for £20. It's as tatty as feck and the pickups are fairly shot so it's worthless and unusable, but it's full of fun memories and is consequently a permanent fixture here at Casa dell Rich.

[Reggaebass]

My first bass when I was 14 was a jedson  that was 40 years ago and I still have it and it works 

[Elfrasho]

23 minutes ago, Rich said:

Remember it? Still have it  

It's a Höfner Artist 2, a ‘65 I believe, which I bought off my school’s metalwork teacher in 1982 for £20. It's as tatty as feck and the pickups are fairly shot so it's worthless and unusable, but it's full of fun memories and is consequently a permanent fixture here at Casa dell Rich.

That's lovely! 

 

 

Mine was a cheapo pbass copy my mate gave me when I was 16 to fill in in his covers band. It was rubbish, but done the job. It was sunburst but I ended up spraying it a salmon pink. I gave it to a girlfriend as she fancied learning.. And she may very we still have it! 

[4000]

My first bass was a brand new Rickenbacker 4001 in Jetglo, bought Aug/Sept 1980, serial no TC915. It was stolen from the band van in Hendon in 1985 or '86; '86 I think. I'd replaced the white scratch plate with a black one and the back pickup had been rewound or had extra magnets fitted (I forget which, possibly both) by Kent Armstrong; I didn't know about the capacitor at the time. Also stolen were my Fender Bassman 135, a HH 2x15 (IIRC), a Marshall Superbass head and our drummer's kit. I was on the dole at the time and they weren't insured so was absolutely gutted. Never did find out what happened to them. In the unlikely event that anyone has any info, please let me know. 

[Cat Burrito]

A Fender 50s RI Precision bass in two colour sunburst. 1989 Japan model. The neck wound up getting sold on EBay when I decided I wanted a 62 look. That got sold back in 2011 due to a, ahem, change in family circumstances, and I still have the pickup mounted on the pickguard with the knobs. It's not doing anything but I just kinda like the fact that I still have it. That bass played the Marquee Club, appeared on TV and was on all my early recordings so I'm happy to be as sentimental as I can for someone who no longer owns at least 85% of it!

[scalpy]

No Encores yet? If you started in the late 80s/90s it felt like they were compulsory. Mine was a black PJ my Dad bought me. It served me pretty well, but I sold it the car park of the local sun valley factory to buy stuff for Uni. 

[Reggaebass]

19 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

A Fender 50s RI Precision bass in two colour sunburst. 1989 Japan model. The neck wound up getting sold on EBay when I decided I wanted a 62 look. That got sold back in 2011 due to a, ahem, change in family circumstances, and I still have the pickup mounted on the pickguard with the knobs. It's not doing anything but I just kinda like the fact that I still have it. That bass played the Marquee Club, appeared on TV and was on all my early recordings so I'm happy to be as sentimental as I can for someone who no longer owns at least 85% of it!

The marquee club brings back a few memories 😀

[Lozz196]

Mine was a Kay EB-0 copy. Action about a half-inch, strung with flats, though I wasn`t aware they were flats til I broke a string, bought a replacement and said replacement turned out to be a roundwound. As I`d learned to play on flats wasn`t too keen on this new roundwound string, how times change eh. The high action was a bonus in my view as it gave me a good grounding in playing a not so easy instrument to play. Once I got onto decent instruments, well the world was my lobster. No idea what happened to it, up until a few years back I wasn`t sentimental about anything, now I`d pretty much like to have that bass back though that`ll never happen.

[PatrickJ]

An Ibanez GSR 180 I bought on eBay for £60.  I was learning guitar at the time, had been for a few years.  I wanted the bass to record some backing tracks - trouble was I discovered I much preferred playing the bass to the guitar and so made the switch.  

I moved it on fairly quickly and purchased a Blacktop Jazz bass ( with the dual P pickups) which I also sold fairly soon afterwards.  I spent a year or so buying and selling a few basses, Lakland, Warwick, MTD none of which I have anymore.  I regret selling the Lakland the most.