The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Other Bass Brands => Topic started by: slinkp on November 15, 2011, 09:56:29 AM
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Cruising around ebay I found a dead ringer for my first bass.
Montaya short-scale. Mine cost $50 used at the local Sam Ash store. It had a warped neck and I now think the tone control was probably shorted to all mud all the time.
Even though it was total crap, it brings back fond memories.
Who else started out on a piece of junk?
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A Welson baritone was all I could effort at the time .....
(http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/4487/welson.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/854/welson.jpg/)
I modded it with tuners from my brother's Egmond ( another piece of crap ) later on .......
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Brownsville ($119 Bass Pack) P/J is now a clock on the Jam Room wall.
(http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz62/ack1961/Music/DSC02441.jpg)
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My "first" bass was a Kingston Jazz bass wanna be terrible piece of work it's a wonder I stuck with it. My folks insisted I rent that before they bought me a bass, they wanted to see if i would stick with it. I did find one on ebay a few years ago ....................just as bad as I remember.(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/100_2451.jpg)
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Wow, Scott, I wonder if that Kingston came from the same factory. The pickups look very similar, and I believe under the bridge cover the montaya has the same kind of semi-adjustable bridge - where the E and A strings share "intonation".
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I made my first bass by removing 2 tuners and 2 strings from a crap Italian electric guitar.
Then I got one of these, no name and no trussrod. Kent? Teisco? It LOOKED like the bass on the cover of my bass scales book and on the Venture's "Walk Don't Run" album...sort of.
(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/ME/10_1_B.jpg)
Then I got my EBO. If you look closely you can see the filled screw holes where I surface mounted the 1/4" pup from the Teisco/Kent in an attempt to get something less than mud from it (B-18 amp, what a combination!). I added the Tele pup much later.
(http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae241/cata1d0/ME/DSC03157.jpg)
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Mine was an Ibanez Tele bass, exactly like the one on the left. I bought it used in 1974.
(http://www.ibanezwiki.com/download/attachments/131333/14.jpg)
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Mark, was Ibanez crappy back then?
I still have my much-hacked Ibanez Blazer circa 1982. That was a great P-bass.
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My first crappy bass was a Vox Mark IV Teardrop. Truly an awful bass. The sad thing is that I spent $100 on that bass (rented it for $5/mo. from the local music store) because I couldn't afford the $135 for the other bass that was in the store. That bass was a green Epiphone Embassy. I've never seen another green one since then.
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Mark, was Ibanez crappy back then?
They weren't too good until around 1974. Mine was a 1971 model or thereabouts. It was ok for a 13yo kid to play, for sure.
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Mark my cousin started out on the exact same bass ! Right about '74!
They weren't too good until around 1974. Mine was a 1971 model or thereabouts. It was ok for a 13yo kid to play, for sure.
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I can't admit to my first bass being crappy. Although later I had a really crappy violin bass (that lived in the closet), I started with the '63 P I still have:
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/Electric%20Basses/P-bass.jpg)
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/Other%20Basses/KentHollowBodyBassI.jpg)
Mine was as bad as most of yours. Kent hollow body similar to this one. I put Model G pickups in it and it squealed like a stuck pig. ;D
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I put Model G pickups in it and it squealed like a stuck pig. ;D
Is that good or bad? :P
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Definitely bad. I filled the body with thick foam and that helped a bit, but in reality that bass was beyond help. My next was a Precision Special I bought on layaway in 1980 (finally took it home in May of '81). HUGE difference! :)
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In 1975, my first bass was a Hofner 500/1. It was crappy (IMO they all are) and I hated it, but now I wish I'd never sold it.
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My first bass was my Epi Tbird, so no crapiness here. My second bass is another story thru. Its one of the thomann's p-bass kits I bought. The main problem is its mandolin-like frets. I have strung it BEAD right now, upgraded its pup with a Tonerider and its wimpy piece of metal fender calls a bridge with a gotoh copy.
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k286/kwstas79/hope-bass/46.jpg)
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My first was a Hondo II P-bass copy, not really that bad.
I've actually owned crappier basses since then.
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My first bass was a Kay $65.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v383/iamthebassman/Kay20bass20010.jpg)
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My first crappy bass was a Vox Mark IV Teardrop. Truly an awful bass. The sad thing is that I spent $100 on that bass (rented it for $5/mo. from the local music store) because I couldn't afford the $135 for the other bass that was in the store. That bass was a green Epiphone Embassy. I've never seen another green one since then.
Mine was a Vox violin bass, the Italian one with the broom handle neck. Tone like hitting a wet cardboard box.
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Well. . . I still have my first bass 46 years later.
It is a 62P that I bought used in 1965 from a friend's Dad.
Probably explains my minimalist existance when it comes to gas. Unfortunately it has had more refins than Madonna, Cher and David Bowie combined (beginning in 1966).
But despite it's sore and aching extremities it still sounds great!
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Unfortunately it has had more refins than Madonna, Cher and David Bowie combined (beginning in 1966)
:mrgreen:
As long as it isn't filled with Bondo like Cher.
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My very first bass and amp came from Sears when I was about 11. Found a pic of them here... it was the white bass "E" and the amp "H":
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k125/0chromium0/forums/SearsWishbook1985ECP593.jpg)
One of the tuners on that bass broke after a week, and so my folks returned it and Sears replaced it with a different model - this time one that was precision-bass-shaped, fiesta red w/white guard, and the headstock was shaped the same as the white one above. I think they were "Cort", but didn't have any identifying marks. Crappy basses in retrospect, but I was thrilled at the time and happy my folks got it for me.
I learned to play on that thing (and upright at school), and also started learning about electronics - modified that amp with one of the distortion effects from Craig Anderton's book ;D I still have that bass, but ditched the amp in the late-90s.
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Kingston just like this, but solid red. Good enough for a 13 year old! My parents bought it for me used for $35. I eventually spray painted the body and pickguard black. Then, when I was getting into Percy Jones, I pulled the frets. I also took a jigsaw and hole saw to it to try and give it an Alembic vibe. LOL! I regret these last two mods. :-\
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Mine was a Vox Panther...was not much to write home about.
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Wow, this thread got me thinking and then digging - I think my first bass was a Greco EB-3 copy. I only owned it a short time - didn't know enough to know whether it was good or crap. I think I was in 8th grade, and very lucky to be in Tokyo Japan. I used to go to guitar stores almost every weekend in Shibuya and later Ochanomizu. Anyway, I dug up a catalog that has what is probably similar to the bass I had:
(http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/3693/grecobass81.jpg)
I love this website (The World of Musical Instruments Brochures (http://brochures.yokochou.com/en_index.html)) - I had some of the catalogs they list.
My next bass was a Fernandes Paul McCartney Rickenbacker copy - not sure if that one was any good either, but I didn't really like it and ended up trading it for a pittance:
(http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/8485/paulmccartneybassnotextlh0.jpg)
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Was that a 4-string or 5-string Pittance?
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Mine was a Vox violin bass, the Italian one with the broom handle neck. Tone like hitting a wet cardboard box.
The teardrop had Louisville Slugger stamped on the neck, I swear.
Same distinctive non-tone.
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My "first" bass was a Kingston Jazz bass wanna be terrible piece of work it's a wonder I stuck with it. My folks insisted I rent that before they bought me a bass, they wanted to see if i would stick with it. I did find one on ebay a few years ago ....................just as bad as I remember.(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/100_2451.jpg)
Wow, that is the same cut and pickup look as my old Crestwood . But the Crestwood pickguard was all chrome and about a quarter inch thick. It was often mistaken for a 58 Oldsmobile ;D.
Rick
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http://www.univox.org/pics/guitars/ub1_white.jpg
my first was this univox ub-1. paid 65 bucks for it in a pawn shop. thinking back that was probably retail for the thing. mine was white as well.
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My first was an 80s Kay, neckthru, made in Korea. The bridge was nasty so I changed that and swapped out the pickups for Dimarzios. After that it was actually not a bad bass.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/1231964631_7907ffffa6.jpg)
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http://www.univox.org/pics/guitars/ub1_white.jpg
my first was this univox ub-1. paid 65 bucks for it in a pawn shop. thinking back that was probably retail for the thing. mine was white as well.
Very Jag-ish!
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My first was an 80s Kay, neckthru, made in Korea. The bridge was nasty so I changed that and swapped out the pickups for Dimarzios. After that it was actually not a bad bass.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/1231964631_7907ffffa6.jpg)
That's a nice bass (assuming the neck was straight)! Especially with your upgrades.
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My first bass was an Epiphone P-bass copy like this one. It was black with a maple fretboard, Explorer style headstock, and had a thumbrest near the neck. The build quality was actually not bad. The headstock was angled, and I remember the first time I played a Fender "P" - I thought the Fender looked odd with it's flat headstock. The Epi didn't sound bad, but if I had it today I would drop a Fender '62 P-bass pup in it, add a bridge and pup cover, and put a set of GHS precision flats on it. This bass met it's demise after I bought my first Ibanez Soundgear SR-800 and decided to set the Epi on fire one night at a club we were playing :P
(http://used.guitarcenter.com/images/products/106804870_lg.jpg)
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short scale kay les paul looking bass and supro thunderbolt amp. $75 for both. about year later bought a brand new SB Fender precison bass for $174 dollars and the case was an extra $41. Still have most of the fender . wish I still had the other 2. Th Kay actually played very well and had one neck Hb looking pup and the thunderbolts though crappy for bass are very sought after guitar amps.
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(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff246/tonypbass/ibanezeb21976.jpg) with my first bass, an ibanez eb2 copy(bolt on neck) in 1976-long gone as is the mo.
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Love that Ibanez!
This thread got me thinking back to my early days of "gear lust". I still have a box full of the brochures I used to drool over! Took a few out for a group photo...
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k125/0chromium0/forums/DSC01839a.jpg)
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k125/0chromium0/forums/DSC01837a.jpg)
There's a miniature shot of my red Sears p-bass there (sorta) in the middle.
I used to write letters to companies requesting their catalogs, and most responded (not realizing I was only ~12 ;D). Here's some correspondence from Hofner:
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k125/0chromium0/forums/DSC01841a.jpg)
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Not my first (Hofner) or even second (Klira), but here's my third crappy bass - a Prima J knockoff. That's me in 1979, aged 17, with bangs...
(http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll127/ilanlukatch/prima/120920101193.jpg)
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My first was an 80s Kay, neckthru, made in Korea. The bridge was nasty so I changed that and swapped out the pickups for Dimarzios. After that it was actually not a bad bass.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/1231964631_7907ffffa6.jpg)
Pedulla says "Hi."
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Pedulla says "Hi."
My thought too. You could play bass in an 80's era KISS tribute band with that thing! (Not that you'd want to. :) )
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I used to write letters to companies requesting their catalogs, and most responded (not realizing I was only ~12 ;D). Here's some correspondence from Hofner:
(http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k125/0chromium0/forums/DSC01841a.jpg)
Wow, they wrote you all the way from Germany! Excellent shots of your catalogs too, I don't have many of mine left, but I think I held on to a few, especially the Japanese ones.
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My first "real" amp was a Carvin. I was buying their crap when they were just a mail order operation.
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My first "real" amp was a Carvin. I was buying their crap when they were just a mail order operation.
And Proudly, I'm sure!! :mrgreen:
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And Proudly, I'm sure!! :mrgreen:
Hardly. That amp went back to Escondido no fewer than 5 times in the first year.
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Hardly. That amp went back to Escondido no fewer than 5 times in the first year.
Perhaps the more accurate term would be "educationally", since it was such a learning experience. :P
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My first bass wasn't that crappy. It was a standard black Squier Affinity P. The amp was crappy. It was a Fender 15W and I discovered it was a bit louder with all tone controls open:) I was competing with a drummer in a very small space and I was attacking the strings so much, I actually broke them once in a while.
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That's a nice bass (assuming the neck was straight)! Especially with your upgrades.
The neck was straight, it had a brass nut and the dot inlays, I realised later, were also brass. I came to the old Pit trying to find out what it was, so it has a lot to answer for. In hindsight, it deserved more appreciation than I ever gave it.
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My first bass was a Norma. This one just like it is available on Ebay right now:
(http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1960s-Norma-Violin-Bass-w-OHC-/00/$(KGrHqMOKi0E3FDIbhNiBN8UQ8yz6Q~~_12.JPG)
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Hardly. That amp went back to Escondido no fewer than 5 times in the first year.
It was just homesick for Escondido. From what I've heard over the years, Carvin amps are often homesick for southern California.
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I bought a Carvin X-60B (guitar head) for next to nothing off some druggie in 1987 and gave it to a guitarist friend a short time later. It was a nice head and he gigged it constantly until this year. The only maintenance done in all that time was a fresh set of tubes last year. It recently developed some sort of squeal that he can't isolate so it's in semi-retirement until he can get it sorted out, but Carvin got at least one amp right in the early 80's.
Back when I was getting into playing I sent for every catalog I could get. I'd open up whatever music magazine I had and just start filling out cards. I wish I'd saved them but I used to cut them up and use the pictures on folders and book covers at school. I thought I was pretty bad ass... :mrgreen:
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I'm talking Carvin, circa '69-'70.
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I'm talking Carvin, circa '69-'70.
That's like the stone age in Carvin years... :)
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No pics, and never saw another one like it - a blonde Kingston violin bass with white binding, high action, and crappy everything. Bridge, tuners, pickups... I think the catalog I used to lust over most was from Chicago Musical Supply. I had a thing for roll/tuck Kustoms back then.
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That's like the stone age in Carvin years... :)
You can see the guts of it driving my 301 cab. I'll have to find a better shot with the whole amp put together.
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b170/gweimer/StarTrooper_3.jpg)
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I bought a Carvin X-60B (guitar head) for next to nothing off some druggie in 1987 and gave it to a guitarist friend a short time later. It was a nice head and he gigged it constantly until this year. The only maintenance done in all that time was a fresh set of tubes last year. It recently developed some sort of squeal that he can't isolate so it's in semi-retirement until he can get it sorted out, but Carvin got at least one amp right in the early 80's.
It's probably an easy fix; sounds like a cap went south.
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I don't think I've owned what could be described as a "crappy" bass. I believe that beginners since probably the beginning of this century are spoiled for both choice and quality when it comes to first basses.
My first bass was an Epiphone EB-3. It's only "crappy" because it turned out to be nothing like the basses I've since discovered that I like to play and own. However, it did start me off in a Gibson-ish frame of mind rather than a Fender one, so in a way I am eternally grateful to it.
(http://www.ifb.co.uk/~matthew/pics/bass_porn/01_epi_eb-3.jpg)
I'm not sentimental so I flogged it. Sentimentality is expensive.
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The heyday of the crappy bass has gone ..... ;D The Epi EB-3L ain't half bad but the neck dive is monumental ........ Mine played real nice and sounded pretty good. Sounded even better after I modded her with an Artec PUP .....
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In 1974, I bought a brand new bass exactly like this Ibanez 2350b, except branded "Leonardo". (Note that the Ibanez has no logo in the catalog photo.) Probably Matsumoku made, construction was identical to a Univox Les Paul copy guitar. Pickups were stamped Maxon on the bottom. 29" scale. It sounded exacltly like crap!
$150 + tax in 1974...at the time, I could've bought a '60s Fender P or J bass in any color I wanted for not much more. After I had the LP bass for about a month, I found out that a brand new P Bass was about $250. Asked if I could exchange it (this store was a Mom & Pop shop...they weren't Fender dealers, but they had a slot head EB-3, EB-0L, and a Dan Armstrong bass on the wall until the early '80s because everything was sold for around list price) They said "Oh no, that was a SPECIAL ORDER". I can't blame them, it was. My friend ahd a black Univox LP copy and I had to have a matching bass. One born every minute, to quote P.T. Barnum...
Sold it a year later for $40. A few years ago I found an identical one branded Pearl. Kept it a few months and then remembered why I didn't keep the Leonardo.
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My first bass was a Norma. This one just like it is available on Ebay right now:
(http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1960s-Norma-Violin-Bass-w-OHC-/00/$(KGrHqMOKi0E3FDIbhNiBN8UQ8yz6Q~~_12.JPG)
I had one of these too! But it was used and someone cut the top of the headstock off!
I don't have a photo of my first bass, but it looked like this guitar:
(http://www.sgd-lutherie.com/images/kawai_concert_1968.jpg)
That's a Kawai Concert. I;ve also seen a slightly different one as a Teisco. Wish I still has it, or could find another one.
It was painful to sit and play, and my bandmates called it "the crab bass." ;D
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that's better than a crap bass ;D
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I rented a Kay for about a month, but this was the first bass (and amp) I really owned...
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/lowend1/UniBasslo.jpg)
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All hail the Univox Hi-Flyer!!! ;D
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All hail the Univox Hi-Flyer!!! ;D
Yep - and a couple of years later I traded up to...
The Ampeg "Big Stud" :o
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/lowend1/BigStudlo.jpg)
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All hail the Univox Hi-Flyer!!! ;D
I just sold a Hi-Flyer guitar recently. ;D
I have owned two Mosrites. I still have one of them.
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Yep - and a couple of years later I traded up to...
The Ampeg "Big Stud" :o
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/lowend1/BigStudlo.jpg)
In both cases the pickups were made by Maxon!
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I rented a Kay for about a month, but this was the first bass (and amp) I really owned...
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/lowend1/UniBasslo.jpg)
A Univox UB-250 was my first amp too. At the time, I had a brainstrom to get four of them instead of one decent amp...luckily, I didn't.
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mine was a Gibson Grabber, so I guess not such a crappy bass.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/MY%20BASSES/grabberbed.jpg)
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Mine was an upright double bass that I used for a swing band when I was in high school. Sadly, no picture.
My first electric bass was a white P-Bass with a red tortoise pickguard from the early '90s that my aunt handed down to me because she didn't play anymore. That was about ten years ago.
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mine was a Gibson Grabber, so I guess not such a crappy bass.
Nope, more like a grabby bass ..........
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(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/US/771stBass.jpg)
This was a Grenn bass... essentially an EB2 copy with a bolt-on neck... several-hand old... came with black dead tape-wound strings that I continued to play with as I knew no better... the action was something like 1/2" at the 19th (iirc) but being so high I soon developed finger-control... the tail-piece was chromed pressed steel, with razors for edges... the pup was... well, a coil of wire... and as for the controls, why do you guys think I minimise on them on every instrument since... oh yeah, and a floating bridge... I kept the name plate after burning it...
great for feedback... guitar-on-amp was a favourite...
Next bass was the PC Custom which has
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Next bass was the PC Custom which has
And? Don't tell me you've gone the way of Joseph of Arimathea ("the castle of uuggggggh") ("he must have died while carving it")
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My first bass was a Greco hollowbody like this one in about 1973. I saw one for cheap on eBay a few years ago so I bought it. It was pretty crappy indeed, so I sold it.
(http://images1.americanlisted.com/nlarge/60_s_greco_hollowbody_bass_200_louisville_21671249.jpg)
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Next bass was the PC Custom which has
... stayed with me ever since...?
(oops... got distract... hey there goes that squirrel again... :o)
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Mine was, in 1977, a sunburst Jazz Bass Ho (with a minibucker in the bridge position, don't remember what was in the neck position, but it wasn't anything remotely Fender looking or single-coilish) from notable Korean maker "Johnny Guitar" - this was long before Korean instruments became good guitars. Within half a year the bridge pup had dropped out, one of the tuners no longer worked and the fifth fret (hey, we did half our songs in A and the other half in E!) was worn down to basically fretless. When it worked it didn't sound horrible, but to a hard rock kid the JB look was very unalluring (but I couldn't afford anything else, it was the cheapest model they had) and to this day I believe that this first bass experience shaped my "Un-Fender" taste in basses (I bought my first Fender only in my 12th year of bass playing). I moved on to a bolt-on Ibanez Ric then, that was already a real instrument and it looked suitably Deep Purple-ish. Later on, I tore out the frets of the Johnny Guitar JB (yes, I know, Jaco ... :-[ :-[ :-[), filled the fret slots, finished the fretboard, but never the project, it became derelict in our cellar and my dad eventually threw it away after I had long moved out. ("Do you still know where my old bass is, dad?" "Oh, that thing, I threw it away long ago ..." :-\ :-\ :-\ )
I guess if I saw one today on ebay I would buy it just for the memory aspect. So do keep a lookout for a sunburst (ashtrays and all) Johnny Guitar JB Ho, will you?
Uwe
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My first crappy bass was a Kent Basin St, which wasn't really that horrible structurally, and had some potential. The worst part was the bridge had these hunks of plastic for saddles and they kept the strings way too high off the board. I tried a Badass later, and that dropped the action too low, to the point of non functioning. So I had a decent Badass for years. The pup was ok, and the styling was pretty decent in a Fendery way. It had a mirrored chrome pickguard, which suggested Thin Lizzy to me, so I kept it for ages. For some sick reason they show up on ebay and get bid beyond the $50 they are worth, so I won't revisit my youth.