Your first crappy bass

[Chris P.]

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.

[PhilT]

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.

[the mojo hobo]

My first bass was a Norma. This one just like it is available on Ebay right now:

[Dave W]

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.

[OldManC]

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...  

[gweimer]

I'm talking Carvin, circa '69-'70.

[OldManC]

I'm talking Carvin, circa '69-'70.

That's like the stone age in Carvin years... 

[Spiritbass]

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.

[gweimer]

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.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

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.

[neepheid]

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.



I'm not sentimental so I flogged it.  Sentimentality is expensive.

[Droombolus]

The heyday of the crappy bass has gone .....    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 ..... 

[JazzBassTbird]

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.

[SGD Lutherie]

My first bass was a Norma. This one just like it is available on Ebay right now:

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:



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."   

[Basvarken]

that's better than a crap bass