I haven't had to wish for my first bass back - by more good fortune than anything, I still have it.
My dad taught Ag Engineering at WSU for more than 30 years - my mom just finished high school, but was a very active learner throughout her life. They were incredibly supportive of all four kids' interests, although dad found it was easier to identify with his three sons than with his daughter. Mom hung tight with my sister, who is now the most independent sibling and is a relief veterinarian based south of Seattle and who works in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
When I was 17 (1967) I had been playing upright bass in orchestra for 5 years, starting in Jr. High. I wanted to try this electric bass thing, and my parents found someone in Spokane who had a Precision bass, Bassman head and 2x15 cabinet for sale. They bought them for me, and my best guess at the price (based only on very dim memory) is $300.
The P-bass is a '63 version, originally white, and my best guess is that it was Olympia White. But the paint was all chipped up, which I have always disliked. I took it to a local auto body ship and had it repainted Ford gold metallic, which is its current color. I remember that in 1972 the band was playing for the Jr. Miss Pagent, which was held in Pullman. I got up on Saturday AM and grabbed the P to practice, only to discover that the truss rod had snapped and the neck was badly bowed. In my '66 GTO I made a screaming fast run to Hoffman music in Spokane, and got there just in time to have their repair guy replace the neck before he left at noon. The pageant was on Monday night, so this was "just in time."
For a few years in college I played that with a local big band made up of the band and orchestra teachers in town; it was a white dinner jacket group, and it was fun to play with the guys who had taught me. Carrying that 2x15 cab up the back stage stairs at the Moscow (ID) Elks club was a real chore.
In 1973 I finished my bachelor's degree and moved out into the world, leaving the bass gear behind - not to retrieve it until 1996, when my parents moved from the big country house into the smaller house in town. (I would be back from 1974-1979 living in one of the outbuildings on the property after a couple of jobs went south on me; I entered grad school but didn't get back into music at that time. At least it wasn't the basement.....)
One speaker in that 2x15 had obviously been worked too hard and had a weak cone that started fuzzing every time I pushed the volume. For the big band it wasn't a problem, as I didn't need much volume. I later found the cab had one Fender JBl D130F and one mystery speaker. A couple of years ago I pulled the JBL out of the cab and sold the with the other speaker for $100. I sold the D130F separately for about $130. I kept the blackface Bassman, had it re-capped and a grounded power cord added.
Here's the P in its current incarnation:
Here's the inside of the 2x15 cab as I got it:
The Bassman and cab are seen in the background of this shot:
