How You Got Here?

[Lazybite]

my first bass was some crappy no name brand - the machine heads blew out with in months...

Then I bought a yamaha rbx650 (4 stringer not made anymore despite the name what the name suggests)..that did the job... but I was not getting the tone I wanted. So decided to upgrade amp and bass..

Went into local store with no idea what I wanted but willing to spend muchos $$.... anyway tried a whole bunch of basses including some which were double the price that I paid for my sterling... but I just kept coming back to the sterling... tried fenders/modulus/warwick... the modulus was good... but way more exy than the sterling... and on playibility terms very little difference between the 2... so went for the sterling.... it really just felt like gold in my hands

 

[Aussie Mark]

I'd lusted after a Stingray for years, and after ditching a high maintenance wife and 3 horses I suddenly had the funds to buy one new (then a few more). Haven't looked back since - life is good allround.

 

[bovinehost]

How did I end up here?

Took up guitar/bass in the mid-60s. Blame the Beatles.

Had numerous cheap**** knockoffs throughout my childhood. Blame my mom! Although in her defense, my father's family viewed guitars and such as the devil's work. Thankfully, her brothers (the Owen family) had played and sang since they were wee fellers, touring with Donna Fargo and the 'old guys' from the Grand Ole Opry.

They were my role models. When we had family reunions with my dad's family, it was like a funeral. With my mom's side, we jammed. Guess which I liked more?

My uncle Jim Owen had a local TV show in the mid-60s, playing with such young upstarts as Hank Williams, Jr, and he also hung with Faron Young and those guys.

Most of my uncles (on my mom's side) had minor radio hits in the deep south. I thought they hung the moon.

I had no choice but to become a musician.

So anyway, the whole Music Man scene? My roommate Bill sold vintage guitars to rockstars. Who hasn't heard this story?

In 1978, he brought me a Stingray home and told me to check it out, let him know if I liked it.

I did. And I've been a fan ever since.

And look at me now! You just never know where life will lead you.

Jack

 

[barkatozz]

To an EBMM bass, I mean... I was thinking about my path to Music Man. Finding my Sterling was nirvana for me - I had been casually looking for my perfect bass for over a year. Having found it, I am now an EBMM player for life!

I thought it might be fun to compare notes re: our "choice of bass" history...

This might be impossible (if not VERY interesting) for some of the gear whores, but give it a go anyway!

So, I'll go first... Starting way back in 1977...

<1977>
Royce SG-copy
Gibson Grabber
B.C Rich Eagle
Rickenbacker 4001
Fender Precision
</1984>

(Break from bass-playing - became an full-time drummer. Gave up drums for full time motorcycling. Gave up motorcycling for full-time family stuff)

<1998>
Ibanez SR400
Ibanez SR800
EBMM Sterling - 2004 - Nirvana!
</present>

What's your story!

After going thru numerous basses , amps, effects, etc., I had been over my neighbors house & his girlfriend played bass & had a Sterling. After some bass conversation we got into EB basses & I commented on not liking the neck of a 'Ray because at the time I was a J-bass guy. She mentioned the Sterling she had & at that time I just thought it was a cheaper MM bass. When I picked it up I was amazed & went out the next day & bought one. Her Sterling & the bass I bought the next day were the basses I wound up trading to Slamzilla for Bongos. BUT if it weren't for those first two I wouldn't have been enamoured by the Bongo.....even though, like quite a few, I thought it was weird looking at first......that damn Bovinehost & his hypnotizing me on the Bongo thing.........yeesh!!

 

[ProgHead]

1982 Framus short scale
1984 Ibanez MC-924
1985 Ibanez Pbass Fretless
1988 Roland G-77B + Roland GR-77B
1988 Cort Steinberger Copy (wood)
1991 Shack carbon headless
1994 Rick 4001
1995 MusicMan Stingray (Serial B007378, 1978)

 

[oldbluebassman]

1961 - Home-made bass. It used earpieces from a WW2 German flying helmet for pick-ups.
1963 - Framus Star Bass, short scale.
1967 - Retired from music totally and got a career
1990 - Met former school friends at wedding who were still playing. Time to unretire. Bought Fender Japan Precision.
1991 - Saw John Mayall live, heard Stingray 5, knew what I wanted
1996 - Sterling
1998 - Stingray 5
2003 - pre-EB Stingray, Stingray 5 #2
2004 - Bongo 5
2005 - Status neck onto SR5#2, Status Stealth 5

 

[Mahlon]

Played guitar since age 12 in 1972.
Bought an Ibanez bass for my teen son Christmas '04. Started playing it the day after Christmas. Got tired of borrowing it and bought my own Ibanez Jan. 27 '05 and started looking at bass websites. In February '05 got caught up in the Bongo is Awesome whirlwind over at TB, I remember to be spearheaded by Jack. Ordered my Bongo from Basscentral in February '05. It arrived in May '05. Beautiful. Ordered teal Stingray on Ebay summer '05 'cause you guys kept saying how wonderful THEY are. It is. I bought my sparkly Ray from Travis this past winter. It is too. Now I'd give my right gonad for a 30th but then I'd be greatly off balance.

 

[dlloyd]

Cool thread... my slightly late contribution...

1982: Clarinet
1984: Trombone
1985: Alto Sax
1989: Jim Deacon (SX) Strat copy
1990: Westone Spectrum bass
1990: Yamaha 12 string acoustic
1992: Hohner Jack Custom bass
1996: Epiphone Firebird
1997: Ibanez Musician bass
1998: Gibson Ripper bass
1999: Danelectro U2
2000: Yamaha BB bass
2002: Epiphone Broadway jazz box
2003: MM Stingray

 

[hankSRay]

Squier 5 String P-bass
American Deluxe Fender Precision (sold)
MusicMan StingRay (sold)
Geddy Lee Jazz
Essex Precision
Musicman Sterling
American Standard Precision (sold)
Musicman StingRay
Musicman StingRay
Fender Japan Precision
Musicman StingRay

As for my future bass purchases I still need to buy a SR5 and a bongo.

 

[beadgc23]

Gordon Smith GS (Great UK Gibson-like bass)
Ibanez Musician Studio (made its own sauce..)
Hohner Steinberger 5 (Travel Bass)
Washburn AB24 ABG (Black beauty, horrible string balance)
Godin GB5 (Nice bass...apart from the Orange...)
Spector CZ prototype (close, close...)
Warwick Corvette 4 fretless
Warwick Corvette 6 fretted
Warwick Corvette 5 fretless
Warwick Thumb NT 6 fretless (hubris!)
start serious recording again & wonder why the W's need so much work before they sound good...
Stingray 5 fretless w/piezos...ah...needs no work at all.

You may be interested to know that the Gearslutz Recording board rates the Stingray as _the_ easiest bass to record.

Phew...thats about 2 1/2 tons of Bubinga in that list.

 

[82Daion]

Mine's pretty short-
2/2004-Some fancy-looking ESP neck-through thing. Tone like ass. Sold to purchase:
1982 Daion Power Mark XX-B, which is a great bass, but I started to worry about it going out of the house, due to rarity and size, so:
3/2006-Got a Bongo.

 

[Alvabass]

Not so many basses in my life:

1986: Natural Peavey T-40 (sold)
1989: Black Yamaha with a P pickup (never knew the model. Sold)
1991: Red Washburn Axxess bass (XS-5, I think). My first 5 stringer (stolen)
2000: Natural walnut Carvin BB75 (recently sold)
2002: Natural custom 5-string fretless by a local luthier (sold last week)
2005: Lava pearl fretted Bongo HHP 5-string (my main bass)
2006: Desert gold fretless Bongo HHP 5-string (my sweet fretless)
2006: FireGlo Rickenbacker 4003 (a nasty -in the good sense of the word- addition to my tonal palette)

Getting my first Music Man bass was a dream come true for me. Three things turned me into StingRays long ago:

1. Louis Johnson through so many recordings
2. Flea, specially after seeing him in a Gallien-Krueger ad with a natural SR 4
3. The fact that the StingRay 4 pickguard is the ONLY one that I've liked from the first time I saw it.

But I only want 24-fret necks (for my main bass, at least) and that's why I never thought of buying a StingRay. One day in late 2004 I had the idea of sending an e-mail to EBMM customer service and Mr. Scott Applegate replied telling me that it's not possible but "our latest bass model, the Bongo, does have 24 frets. The tonal capabilities and overall sound of the Bongo is far superior to the Stingray, and I highly recommend checking it out if you can". Many of you know the rest of the story.

 

[gafbass02]

blimey

blimey , ok here goes........
kay sg copy with four strings
kaman gtx 53 superstrat type bass
fender jazz bass special fretless
fender jazz bass 60s reissue (still have)
aria sb1000
bassmaster funk (still have)
tanglewood rebel fretless
tanglewood p bass fretless
gibson ripper copy fretless
columbus 70s jazz copy
squier jazz
hohner b2 cricket bat
warwick fna jazzman (still have)
status energy 6 string
status s1 classic deluxe 6 string (still have)
warwick streamer stage 1
ibanez btb556 6 string
schecter custom 4
MUSICMAN STINGRAY 3 band black
MUSICMAN STINGRAY PIEZO SPARKLE (still have)


think thats all
all in the space of 15 years playing and im still only 30

 

[Bill]

I coulda sworn that I had replied to this thread. Oh, well...

Let's see if I can remember this.
~1992 or '93: Bought my first bass, a Mexican Fender Precision Bass. (Gone)
~1993 or '94: Very briefly owned an Alvarez 5-string. (Gone)
~1993 or '94: Bought a Mexican Fender Jazz Bass. (Gone)
~1994 or '95: Bought another Mexican Fender Jazz Bass. (Gone)
1997: Bought a '96 Fender Jazz 50th Anniversary. (Still own)
2000: Bought my first EBMM, an '00 SR4 in black/black/rosewood. (Gone; now owned by Moondog)
2005: Bought an '05 SR4 in natural/black/rosewood. (Still own & is my primary bass)
2005: Bought an '01 SR5 in burnt apple/white pearl/rosewood. (Gone)

 

[Alvabass]

Something is going wrong with the edit feature. My post is being cropped.

 

[nashman]

I bought a Yamaha RBX-200 and a Yorkville (Canadian) BLOC 150B combo amp in 1979. I took lessons and hated it ... theory, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" etc.. The bass did not get used much for many years, wife and kids came along etc.. I then met a guy who is now a dear friend (guitar player/musician) who is married to my Wife's friend. He takes his guitar everywhere he goes, including a dinner party we hosted. He encouraged me to bring out the bass and got me going on a few easy to learn songs ... I recall one being "Last Dance With Mary Jane" by Tom Petty. That, in combination with discovering Bass Tabs rekindled my interest. I have now been playing almost daily for about 3 years. I recently bought an EDEN rig (WT550, D212XLT and D210XST) and I'm (impatiently) waiting for my first Music Man Bass - 2006 Stingray HH LE.

 

[WesC]

Wow, you guys have owned a lot of basses!

Well I got into bass back in 1992 with my first Fender MIM J bass. I've been a drummer since 1973 (when I was only 7 years old) and being a drummer you always have a close relationship with the bassist. Most of my best friends have been bassists and I always wanted to see what it was like to do what they do... so I did!

And of course I got hooked and I bought another, better J bass in 2003 and finally got myself a Stingray 5 at the beginning of this summer. I love that thing.

Now all I need is a fretless...

 

[AnthonyD]

Now all I need is a fretless...

Love the fretless vibe... Go for it!

 

[syciprider]

No name acoustic in the 70s. (gone)
Azn EB copy back in the 80s. (gone)
Quit playing from 90 to 2005.
SX Jazz (gone)
MIK Fender Jazz 24 (gone)
Stingray blk/blk/maple : This is where it all started. (sold to finance Buttercream SR4HH)
Yammy BB3000 fretless
SR5 blk/blk/maple (loaner from GC while my BCB SR5HH was being built - gone)
SR4 HH BC
SR5 HH BCB
Bongo 4 HP MOG

 

[GWDavis28]

This is a very cool thread I must admit.

<1983>
Hondo Strat Copy
Ibanez ST50
<1997>
Break for Family and house time
<2002>
Silhouette Special (Guitar of my dreams)
Axis Sport (Silver Sparkle)
Axis Sport (Blue Dawn)
Albert Lee MM90's
JP6
<Present>

Glenn |B)