Hello, I am A Gibson Bass addict......

drbassman · January 19, 2008, 07:04:51 AM

Quote from: Max Soren on January 19, 2008, 05:42:51 AM
I can completely identify with your experience since my father also regarded Gibson as being the Rolls Royce of guitars. As a teenager with a Teisco which was falling apart, I was extremely pleased to receive an EB-O which he bought for me and which I still have to this day.

I wish I still had my first bass my Dad bought me. He got me a 63 Fender CAR j bass that I kept until 1975 and the I sold it after I got married!!! What a dumb ass I was!

The wife is long gone and I really miss my bass!

Dave W · January 19, 2008, 10:57:27 AM

My very first guitar was a Gibson, first year Melody Maker my folks bought for me new in 1959. Wish I had kept that. It was a good little guitar, too bad I just thought of it as beginner's gear.

drbassman · January 20, 2008, 07:02:26 AM

With age comes wisdom for sure!

godofthunder · January 20, 2008, 11:57:07 AM

Not a Gibson I still have my first bass and count myself lucky to have it. My folks rented me a Kingston

for a month or so to see if I would "stick with", the one pictured is one I bought of ebay to complete my early collection. The first bass I owned is a Klira,

a Hofner like bass built just down the road from Hofner. It really is a nice bass. I still remember the day vividly when my dad and I went to the House of Guitars in Rochester NY to buy my first bass. The Beatles were in the fore front of my mind when picking a bass and the Klira seemed to fit the bill. The sales guy(as a kid he looked impossibly cool ) A-B it with the Kingston and he said you'll be much happier with the Klira. I was and I am ! I can still remember the feeling driving home with my Dad with my very own bass in the back seat of his Thunderbird. Man can it be that long ago ? At some point in the mid 70's I "improved"the bass with Gibson SB450 pups, I leave then as a monument to my foolishness.

OldManC · January 20, 2008, 12:28:36 PM

I became a Gibson bass addict in 1979 at Killeen music in Burbank, CA. They had a white Thunderbird that had been sitting on the wall for a couple years. The first time I saw it I fell in love and that was that. Unfortunately, it sold before I could talk my parents into letting me buy it. My luck; it sits for two years or more and sells as soon as I see it!

Flash forward a few months to my very first club visit at the Ice House in Pasadena (known as a comedy club, but they had bands in the back room; I saw Armored Saint there a year or two later). Anyway, the bassist had a red 70's bird. That was strike two... Strike three happened in October, 1981 when I saw Motley Crue for the first time. Nikki's white bird sealed the deal for me and I had my first bird (a black one) a few months later At $500, it was $50 overpriced for the time, but I didn't care. I wanted that bass!. I've owned other brands over the years and still still do really like and own the two Fender icons, but my first love and emotional favorites will always be Gibsons. That started with Thunderbirds and EBLs, but over the years I've grown to love most of the basses they've sold over the years. As addictions go, I could've done a lot worse!

uwe · January 21, 2008, 06:36:14 AM

I'm not an addictive personality at all, neither alcohol, nor cigarettes nor (other) drugs have ever posed a threat to me. I could probably try heroin once and walk away from it. But I'm - and always have been - an anally-retentive, obsessive-compulsive hoarder with a completist itch. Which makes Gibson my dream (or nightmare, depending on your view) brand. And the fact that they have almost always failed commercially appeals to my twisted mind. Gibson also have one of the most beautiful basses (the TBird) and one of the most idiosyncratic sounding ones (any mudbucker equipped shortscale really) to their credit.

Uwe

Dave W · January 21, 2008, 09:27:44 AM

Better you than I. Even if I could afford to be a completist, I'm just not moved by a few of them. But you have to admire a company that can put out basses as diverse as a Victory and an SB-300, fail at most of them, and yet continue to produce basses -- even if they won't take our advice.

TBird1958 · January 21, 2008, 09:33:19 AM

It's a history of incredibly cool (for the most part) marketplace failures.......I am hopelessly devout at this point

Chris P. · January 21, 2008, 09:41:33 AM

I hate Gibson. Wrong looking, muddy sounding, poor quality basses. But I buy them because I want to be part of this message board.

drbassman · January 21, 2008, 10:57:19 AM

Quote from: Chris P on January 21, 2008, 09:41:33 AM
I hate Gibson. Wrong looking, muddy sounding, poor quality basses. But I buy them because I want to be part of this message board.

At least you're honest! I buy them because I actually like the way they sound and play. Yeah, I'm twisted as Uwe!

Granny Gremlin · January 23, 2008, 12:27:27 PM

Hi, my name is Jake and I am a Gibsonoholic.

I have not been coming to meetings lately because I've been championing Gibsons on local indie music messageboards.

I bought my first Gibson (a basket case project, you are all mostly familiar with) and it just wouldn't stop. I'm up to four of them now, but luckily have found respite.

I find getting engaged and buying a house helps. I assume that sending multiple kids to college would, similarly, be a rather benefitial treatment. These same kids graduating and/or moving out of the house seems to cause relapse according to recent studies... as does paying off your mortgage before retirement. Researchers are baffled.

pamlicojack · January 23, 2008, 07:04:55 PM

My first Gibson was a 1973 Ripper that I got from a friend. I was totally hooked at that point and regret to this day selling it in the late 80's...

gweimer · January 23, 2008, 07:12:01 PM

You think you guys have it bad? I'm the resident Epi freak...

Bass VI · January 23, 2008, 09:59:33 PM

Addict??? Fanatic??? Zealot???

I've even taken to making up imaginary models and variations just so I can pretend Gibson cares

But I won't change my screen-name to Bass Sixx

angrymatt · January 24, 2008, 10:57:05 PM

I'm not really an addict. You need more than one to be an addict right? I'm more of a dabbler.

Always kinda liked T-Birds, and then I saw one in real life at an Agent Orange show. Then I heard it. At the time I was saving up to get a mid '70s Ric from a local music store, but the bird kept tickling my brain a little. Then I saw the zebrawood one and within moments I was on the phone with a short term/high interest loan company.

I found my bass. I almost don't even look at other basses now (well, looking isn't cheating, is it?).

Except I want a G-3. And a Blackbird. I'd like an EB-3 for this blues band a friend of mine punked me into playing with. But maybe the BaChBird will fill that need. Or a real non-reverse. I'd also like to play an RD, cause I think I want one of those too. Maybe that new red Nikki Sixx bass. A white reverse T-Bird with a black pickguard. That's all.

But not addicted. Just dabbling.