Back then, wild boys wore leather and wielded Kubickis ...
I admit getting my Kubicki because of him!
I actually got my first Kubicki right around the same time as Taylor did but not because of him (he owned three..black, white and a later graphic one w/wireless.) One of the local music stores our band bought gear from called me up and said "you need to come in today..I just got something in I think you will want." He'd just gotten three ExFactors in from the NAMM show that Kubicki just debuted the basses at. I'd been playing short-scale 4- and 8-string basses up until then and the Kubicki plyed incredible and they 32-inch scale nearly felt the same as my short-scales. So, I bought the custom violetburst one on the spot and it became my main bass for the next six years. I still own it, along with quite a few other Kubickis (Factors and otherwise.)
They helped waen me off of short-scale basses and eventually onto long-scale ones. They also got me to learn to slap and pop.
FYI...Phil Kubicki told me that the production basses really didn't start until SN#s just after #100...he considered the ones under that prototypes because he was still changing little things on them. The first SN# one was actually in the SN#30's range, not SN01. Besides my original one, I've got a couple in the SN#30-40 range and others under #100 and they all do vary a bit.
Here's a pic from early 1986 at the Cat Club NYC...yes, Kubicki and red leather
I recall that I actually forgot my red roadcase with the bass that night and left it on the piano bench on stage behing the baby grand!! I realised it as I got out of my car when I got home, an hour away. I totally freaked out because I'd just gotten the Kubicki a couple weeks earlier. I called a girl in NYC and asked her to go back and get it for me. The club was closed and she actually sat outside untilt he next afternoon when it reopened, so it didn't magically "disappear." Last time I ever did that.
I wrote a Kubicki feature 12 years ago that still gets referenced in EBAY ads, etc.
http://mc2.freeservers.com/kubicki.htm