Do you remember your first bass...

[TrevorR]

If I have any trouble remembering my first bass I only need to pop upstairs and get it out of its case!

1981 Aria SB700. Lovely bass!

[Baxlin]

Mine was a white Hondo P-bass, soon straight swapping at a 'cash release' shop for a strat copy guitar.  This was after buying (for some reason I can’t recall!) a short scale Encore P (ish) bass.

Again short-lived, and soon replaced.......

As an aside, I bought the Encore secondhand, the reason for sale being that the parents of a teenage lad had bought it for him - he’d  wanted to learn to play guitar, they thought it would be easier for him to learn on as it only had 4 strings.

Wrong, and the lad never touched it......

[Skybone]

A sunburst Kay P bass. God, it was awful. Sold it to a friend from school & bought a Westone Raider I.

[Bobthedog]

I think it was an Ibanez SRX300. Definitately an SRX and in white but with a black pickguard. I cannot find any pictures of one on the internet, however.  The only photo I have of mine is small and very badly distorted in the corner of a photo of a room.

I loathed it and could never get a tone out of it I was happy with. It actually played a material part in me very quickly giving up bass playing.  I got back into it a few years ago with an MIA Fender P which I love and still have, but that Ibanez did me no favours.

I have no idea what happened to it. Possibly given away along with the small combo amp to the house movers in 2010.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Bobthedog

[Big_Stu]

A 1969 Gibson EB0 converted to an EB3 & with a DiMarzio Model "I" at the neck.

s/n 907469

[Bridgehouse]

1 minute ago, Big_Stu said:

A 1969 Gibson EB0 converted to an EB3 & with a DiMarzio Model "I" at the neck.

s/n 907469

Still got it?

[songofthewind]

Yamaha BB1000, quickly defretted and a Jazz pickup added by Norman Reed in Totnes. Got a second fretted sunburst one for a pair. I got them from a guy in Glasgow called Charlie Marks, who had a funny wee music shop in Kilmarnock Road. I also got a seventies Tele from Charlie. Everything always cost £150.

[NancyJohnson]

On 09/08/2018 at 18:00, Reggaebass said:

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

Before I started playing properly, there was a guy locally who let me borrow his Jedson.  For me it was just the coolest thing ever. 

My first proper bass was an Arbiter, just like the one below.  I had it for a while, sold it for £30 and then bought a Columbus Jazz Bass copy (£65).

[Reggaebass]

3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Before I started playing properly, there was a guy locally who let me borrow his Jedson.  For me it was just the coolest thing ever. 

My first proper bass was an Arbiter, just like the one below.  I had it for a while, sold it for £30 and then bought a Columbus Jazz Bass copy (£65).

That’s cool I bought the Jedson off a friend for £30  it now hangs on the wall in my man cave 😀

[Big_Stu]

On 13/08/2018 at 14:26, Bridgehouse said:

Still got it?

No, I was "obliged" to sell it once I got married. 

Last I saw of it was in the window of Bostons junk shop in Edinburgh in the early 90s. It was looking very shabby by then. I remember seeing lots of cig burns around the nut.

I do however still have the receipt from when I bought it, from JSG Music of Bingley, W Yorkshire.

Edited August 17, 2018 by Big_Stu

[Ady Lockwood]

My first bass was a Westone Concord Bass II, was a lovely bass. Unfortunately I damaged the body in 2000, but used the neck on a P Bass body until last year. Still have the neck & neck plate 

[CamdenRob]

I got a Squier P bass for my 13th birthday my parents bought from some bloke in the Diamond FreeAds...

It was f***ing s**t... 😐

[scrumpymike]

A Watkins Rapier like the ones pictured below.  Mine was the light blue with bridge/tailpiece covers and chrome pickup mounting plate.  The other blue one shown was the later Wilson-branded version that probably weighed a kilo less.  Cost around £30 new in 1966.  Thought it was SOOOO cool back then - actually still like it.

http://

Edited April 9, 2020 by scrumpymike

[pbasspecial]

Here is my first real bass. Bought a s/h Tokai Hardpuncher when I was 15 but sold it when I bought a heavily modded Fender Precision Special.  I sold it a few years later as I wrongly assumed you only needed 1 bass (silly boy!).

Last summer (30 years later) I bought another Tokai Hardpuncher.  Turns out I actually bought my original one back!!!  

The serial number was quite destinctive and similar to my mums phone number. 

[grandad]

Sometime after my 50th, so 1998/99 my wife bought me a sunburst Legend Jazz bass, about £100 or so. It came via my elder brother's brother-in-law, Paul Hancox. Paul had drummed for The Mindbenders, Mungo Jerry, Chicken Shack etc. It was a present for him but was unplayed.

At the time I knew little to nothing about bass guitars but it was a step up from the one I'd borrowed to try and learn. From what I can remember I thought it was a pretty good instrument and subsequently acquired a matching sunburst Legend Precision which was just as good.

I think they were made by Aria. The Canadian Legend Guitar Company I think are a different concern. I don't know if there is any connection.

So for a couple of years I was GAS free and happy with those 2.

Edited April 10, 2020 by grandad

[Bilbo]

Hondo II precision copy

 

[ubit]

A Hondo 2 Precision copy. I tried to sell it but got no takers. I honestly cannot remember what I did with it after that as I have no recollection of dumping it and I certainly don't have it. Maybe I blocked it from my memory, as I would never dream of dumping anything musical nowadays.

[ubit]

10 hours ago, Bilbo said:

Hondo II precision copy

 

Thats is exactly my first bass!

[Leonard Smalls]

Here's a pic of me and my first bass playing one of the first Roco gigs... King's Head in Fulham, perhaps 1988?

[chaypup]

13 hours ago, Ady Lockwood said:

My first bass was a Westone Concord Bass II, was a lovely bass. Unfortunately I damaged the body in 2000, but used the neck on a P Bass body until last year. Still have the neck & neck plate 

Same. Mine was a kind of pukey green colour so I covered it in pictures from melody maker and varnished it. Part-exed it for a Ibanez Studio a few years later which was a pretty decent upgrade!

[ezbass]

Yamaha BB300 in 💩 brown. Swapped it with a friend for his Westone Thunder 3.

Edited April 10, 2020 by ezbass

[oldslapper]

16 year old me with my 1st bass.

 Built by school mate for A level A&D in 76.

His name is Gary Nava and went on to do quite well in the luthier business.

http://www.navaguitars.co.uk/index.html

[Bluewine]

9 hours ago, oldslapper said:

16 year old me with my 1st bass.

 Built by school mate for A level A&D in 76.

His name is Gary Nava and went on to do quite well in the luthier business.

http://www.navaguitars.co.uk/index.html

Very cool vintage pic.

Blue

[6feet7]

My first bass was a YOB one - 1964 Gibson EB-0. I have no idea why I sold it (for a loss, like every other guitar and bass I've ever sold). I can't remember if I liked it or not, as it was my first and really didn't know what I was doing (some things don't change). 

[Dan Dare]

No photos from the time (late 1960s), but found this pic' of my first bass. Not the best instrument I ever played - the body was 1 inch thick plywood - but it got me started.

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Dan Dare