Your First Bass

[Merton]

First played - red Squier Precision, it was almost taller than me!

Fist owned - Vester Stage Series Jazz. Still got it, strung with flats for the occasional jazz gig.

[colda]

[quote name='Merton' post='95999' date='Nov 29 2007, 10:10 AM']Vester Stage Series Jazz. Still got it, strung with flats for the occasional jazz gig.[/quote]

I have one of those (and still deciding what to do with it)

My first one was a hand made jobbie (and I mean all hand made - right down to the brass knobs) - truly excellent bass but I never appreciated what it was at the time (never learned to play a note on it) - sold it complete with hard case, head and cab for £200 at still cry about the loss to this day!

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

My first played/owned was a black "Yamato" Jazz copy which was £75 from Soho Soundhouse (when it was in Soho Square). A couple of years later I worked all Summer in Bejams to get a Cherry Sunburst Fender Precision which I still have. I made the yamato fretless and sold it to a mate.

[slowbo]

First played: A copy of a Hofner Violin. I played keyboards in the band
First owned: An Ibanez Musician 924. Through neck and it cost me 250 quid in 1981 and that was trade price. Still got it, action's a bit tough, so I have some flatwounds on it to do my old soul stew stuff.

[16Again]

My first bass was in 1982 and it was a Kay P bass kinda thing bought for about £70 from santas grotto but i think it actually came from my mums Marshal Ward clubby book, i 'found' it in my mums wardrobe when i was doing pre-christmas present snopping
That was the year i found ALL my christmas presents before christmas

[cheddatom]

[quote name='16Again' post='96073' date='Nov 29 2007, 11:58 AM']That was the year i found ALL my christmas presents before christmas [/quote]

Your parents let you find ALL your presents? That's awful, you should have really talked to social services about that.

[Musky]

[quote name='16Again' post='96073' date='Nov 29 2007, 11:58 AM']My first bass was in 1982 and it was a Kay P bass kinda thing bought for about £70 from santas grotto but i think it actually came from my mums Marshal Ward clubby book, i 'found' it in my mums wardrobe when i was doing pre-christmas present snopping
That was the year i found ALL my christmas presents before christmas [/quote]

I think my first bass was the same - a natural precision copy by Kay. Weighed a ton, ridiculously high action that couldn't be cured because it not only had 6 bolts, but was glued as well. Cost me £70 in 1980.

I gave it to my brother - no idea if he still has it.

[SJA]

first bass i played- 80's maple-neck sunburst precision belonging to the bassist in my brother's band,

first bass of my own- 1991 korean squier precision - horrible bass! frets wore out, hardly any sustain, deadspots galore, neck-heavy, dull, muted tone.


re. Kay basses that loads of people started on, James Eller told me on Talkbass that his workhorse bass is a Kay, that he had Seymour Duncans put in-
[url="http://www.myspace.com/jamesellerbass"]http://www.myspace.com/jamesellerbass[/url]
I suspect it's the one listed as "lorimer geilgud custom" in his pics (or that's a close copy of it).

he used it on the session for Julian Cope's "world shut your mouth" only because his usual musicman was in storage, but the producer was so impressed with its tone he ended up using it all the time.

Edited November 29, 2007 by SJA

[Adee]

The first bass I 'tried' to play was a Fender Precision owned by my nextdoor neighbour
call Gary McManus (went on to be the 2nd bassist in the Specials (AKA era) !)

So I got a Kay SG with flats on it through a WEM 15 watt combo,
moved on to a Cimar P/J nice bass about a year later

[LukeFRC]

first played some peavey 6 sting of a friends, then another friend let me play his three grands worth of warwick which scared me, then i borrowed an old encore P copy which had been used as someones tec project. my first job was taking it to pieces and work out how i could make it play and have the action at under an inch.

then i went out and bought a new status shark that had been hiding in a music shop for a long time and accedently got a status hiscock hard case out of it too.
We agreed the price while some young guy was looking for a case and came back with the hard case rather than the soft it would have come with. It was the only status he had in and it fit perfectly so he couldn't not sell it to me.
ace

Edited March 29, 2008 by LukeFRC

[Lisa_Witch]

Encore p-bass copy for me

[Jambo63]

First played a P bass copy at school - many many moons ago now

First owned bass - Ibanez Roadstar P bass - and I still have it

[tauzero]

First owned (and possibly first played, it's a long time ago) - some hideous green sunburst semi-acoustic stylee thing with a body seemingly made from papier-mache. A Rosetti Bass 7 IIRC, which cost me about two quid (a lot of money to a schoolboy in 1971 or so). It was a truly dreadful instrument which I sold fairly soon, but to whom and for how much I have no recollection. It took me a good couple of years to get over the trauma of owning the thing...

[bassboy115]

First played = a black Encore precison at school. The G string saddle on the bridge has collapsed and was being held up by a piece or folded up paper, (its still like it even today)

First owned(kinda) = was loaned to me indefinately...a Red precison copy with Pj pickups, After scrubbing off all the Aerosmith stickers we found it had AXE on the headstock and i still to this day have not seen another AXE guitar or bass. It was/is a plank and weighs a tonne! One of the pickups has now gone and it doesnt really get much of an output!

First owned = my first bass i acctually bought was a red peavey milestone!

[cheddatom]

I've seen axe guitars and basses. I think I know someone with an axe p bass.

[EskimoBassist]

First Bass ey! What a nice little topic

It would be a Stagg BC300 in a gaudy black finish with tribal fret markers. The action was appalling and the neck was so slow!

Thank god i now own two proper basses, but everyone's gotta start somewhere!!

Rich

[Hutton]

First bass I played was my son's USA Fender Jazz. After I tinkered with the bass my guitars were quickly forgotten and sold. The first bass I owned was a Musicman SUB4 which belonged to my son and which I still have.
[attachment=3836:Jamescobden.jpg]
Son and Jazz

[attachment=3837:P3010062.JPG]
SUB4

Edited November 29, 2007 by Hutton

[clauster]

Another one for the little Satellite p-bassish shortscale here - twin humbuckers with on/off/out-of-phase switch for each p/up and sunburst finish.

Next bass was one of those Hondo II SG style things (pg1), but mine had a great action and is still one of the most playable basses I have owned, I think it was 32" scale?

My bloody brother sold it while I was at uni.

[markytbass]

Firsrt bass played and owned was a CIJ Fender Precision and I wish I still had it. I think it was a 1989/90 sunburst maple neck and fretboard.

[Tait]

[quote name='Machines' post='95971' date='Nov 29 2007, 09:02 AM']This Squier Bronco for me, I got it because it was the cheapest bass I could find .

[/quote]

me too!

well, my dad played years before me, so i played his basses for a while. but the first bass that was actually MINE was the red bronce, because it was cheap and short scaled.

[jhk]

First bass I had was an EKO solid violin bass with scroll headstock.It took me nearly a year of paper rounds to buy it from `The swap shop` in tottenham some thirty eight years ago(cost about twenty pounds and ten shillings).Body was like a murray buttermint one side and G plan on the back.lots of pup switches which never gave any thing other than gloomy tone!Played it through a watkins westminster combo.Far from ideal.first riff ..............green onions
However it got me started.Got ripped off by `Macaris` in charing cross road(didn`t everyone!)when I sold it.

[richy316]

Westone Spectrum DX 4, weighed a tonne! but had a great growly tone.

[GreeneKing]

The 1st bass I tried was a Hohner Jack professional. On a whim I tried it in Manson's in Plymouth and bought it. So that's both questions answered.

Why a bass and not a guitar?

That's a good question

Peter

[gafbass02]

Mine was a Kaman GTX53 metallic electric blue pointy thing, not bad at all actually, id rather tasteless!, swiftly followed by a pearl white and black fretless fender jazz bass special al la Duff!

[Bassman77]

1st bass was a Vester P bass copy in red with a maple neck, not a bad bass actually, followed this with a 70s Ibanez Rick 4001 copy which was good................... for firewood !! LOL

Gaz