LeftyBassist.com

What bass is the one you always go back to, your 'go to' bass, the one that really moves you with its sound? And tell us why it's the one. I'll start - for me, it's my '81 G&L L1000 - it's tone is deep and rich, it's thumpy, when it talks you have to listen. Tell us about your 'go to' bass.

My Ken Smith BSR5. mostly because it fits my hand like a well-worn glove. I just love the radius on that bass! And sonically, it almost never fails to surprise me with the tones that pop out of it sometimes. I've had it almost 2 years now, and i'm still finding out what it can do.

This one:

German made Warwick Corvette with all-wenge neck and modified electronics. The "growl" cannot be matched (at least not for that price bracket )

To me it is my '75 Jazz reissue. The feel of the neck, the tone... It really can do it all, it has a terrific slap tone, it can be very balanced, the neck pickup soloed produces thunderous low end and growl, the bridge pickup soloed can produce a wonderful gnarl and a great tone for staccato funk lines or solos.

But everyone keeps asking me to bring my Ellio Martina Forza instead

I've already informed my wife that when I die I must be buried with my '72 J, which is in direct conflict to my other request: that I be cremated.



The '72 was my first "real" bass, and after being exposed to Jaco I spent almost 2 years in search of a lefty Jazz. Back then, there was no benefit of ebay or the internet, so you basically had to stumble upon one or scour the classifieds. Well I worked nearby 48th st. in NYC and made a daily pilgrimage to Manny's and other music stores on the street at least once a week for 2 years straight until it suddenly showed up. With my student loan money securely in place, I purchased the '72 J and later a GK400RB and Guild/Hartke 4x10" cabinet. It only took me 10 years to pay off my defaulted loan, but I was younger and less responsible then.

The bass has been through all my proudest (and not so proudest) musical moments, and about 95% of it's battle scars are a direct result of my "tough love". It was even blessed by Jaco himself when I was playing bass in a blues band with a Brazilian percussionist who gigged regularly with Jaco and we did a gig with him and he didn't bring his bass. He ended up playing mine UPSIDE DOWN, and flawlessly at that!



I've kind of had to resign it from live work in recent years because the market has dictated that it's too valuable to take out, so I usually play my EB Sterling live, which has the benefit of active electronics that help cut through better. But studio work and auditions, the '72 comes back out. It's like a second skin to me. In over 20 years of keeping tabs on these things, I've only encountered 3 other original '72 maple necked lefty Js with black block inlays. One of the 3 I even bought a couple of years ago. My original is on the left and the "new" one (which has a serial # that actually dates it a couple of months older than mine) is on the right. Notice the difference in sunburst blend:

pj thats probably the nicest jazz ive ever seen cool story to, have you ever had to have the pickups rewound or anything like that, im always curious about older basses and what kind of upkeep they need when there used on a regular basis and not just show pieces

That is a great story on the '72 jazz, and it does look so cool - that bass has mojo for sure! I remember going to NYC many years ago to the row of music stores in Manhattan (I guess it was 48th st?) to look for a lefty bass; couldn't find any like that though!

The bass came all original with it's original pickups, pickup covers, bridge, and case. I still have all original components except for the case, which fell apart over the years so I just threw it out.

I bought it in 1983. About a year after I bought it, the original pickups died, and I've gone through several pickups over the years. I believe it currently has Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups in there now (which are now almost 20 years old themselves!), or they may be Duncan something or others. I can't remember. What can I say? For a guy who's since learned every minute detail of my instruments, it's a little embarrassing that I've never bothered to document my #1 bass and it's various revisions/upgrades over the years, LOL. I was ignorant back then and never bothered to pay much attention to preservation or even what the hell I upgraded with, usually bringing it in to my local Sam Ash and leaving it up to them to, "Make it sound better." I still have the original pickups and may decide to send them out to Fralin for a rewind at some point, but truthfully, the bass is killing with the Dimarzios, and smokes the stock PUPs in comparison that are still in the other '72. I believe I also replaced the input jack at some point, but I can't remember. One of these days I'll take it apart and determine what I've done over the years, but I know I've never done anything to it that was irreparable. The frets also wore over time and while I've never refretted the bass I have had them crowned/leveled. I currently string it up with a set of 10 year old D'Addario Chromes, while the other '72 has Elixirs on it for variety, though the #1 should really have the rounds on it because it has an amazing slap tone.

This guy. It used to be a 1993 Fender Custom Shop slab board Jazz Bass. But over the years I've:

- replaced the neck (which was shot) with a Warmoth
- replaced the front J-pickup with a Duncan P-pickup; it's backwards so it can fit on the pickguard but it also warms up the sound
- replaced the original rear J-pickup with a split coil Duncan humbucker
- removed one of the volume controls and replaced it with a three-way pickup selector
- replaced the other two pots

I own three basses - probably one too many - but this is my #1 recording instrument and, until recently, my go-to live one as well. I originally bought it because it's extremely light; the lightest Fender I've ever picked up. It's a bit heavier now with the new neck, but not by much.

(My face, looks like I just came out of a boxing match...)

Cool Bass. And a badass jacket too

PJ, that 72 Jazz is amazingly beautiful. If I play dead for a couple weeks, can I be buried with it?

This one;

This is my 1975 Precision. This is my first lefthanded bass. I traded a Gibson RD Artist for it (my first quality bass) in 1979. It was my only bass for several years and I can't imagine how many thousands of hours I've played it.

In 1982 some ^(^%$*%$!! broke into my apartment and stole it and my amp. I played a bass I built in high school woodshop for about six months until I heard of a shop in Dallas that had a lefthanded bass. My girlfriend and I drove 350 miles to Dallas, I walked in the store and they had 2 Yamaha BB400s on the wall. I played both and bought the one that sounded the best, got back in the car and drove 350 miles back to Lubbock (my hometown), drove directly to the club, walked onstage and played a gig.

A year later my girlfriend and I had moved to Tucson. One day I walked into a local music store and noticed a lefty Fender headstock and the end of the row. As I walked up to it, lo and behold there was my Precision hanging on the wall! I snatched it off the rack and the sales dude came over, probably to give me a hard time about handeling the merchandise without permission. He took a step back when I turned around (I can only imagine the look on my face) because I was fully prepared to fight my way out of that store! I said "This is MY bass, it was stolen from me a year ago in Lubbock Texas and I can prove it! I still had a piece of paper in my wallet that had the serial number on it and I had written a letter to Guitar Player magazine with the discription, which they published. I also told them I could send to the Lubbock PD for a copy of the police report of the incident.

They guy said, "No problem, let's take it up front, we'll call the police because we have to report stolen property." He also told me that the bass was in the store on consignment and had been sitting in the back of the store for a couple of weeks until they had room on the rack (lefties didn't sell well) and they had just put it out a day or two before!

I remember going home to get the copy of Guitar Player mag that had my letter in it and my girlfriend thought I had lost my mind! I was practically hysterical, I kept yelling "I found it" over and over and tearing the apt apart looking for the magazine!

I talked to the guy who had it in on consignment. He said he bought it in a pawn shop in New Mexico for $200. He was very cool about it and said that it was powerful karma and was glad it had "found" me and wished me well. I picked it up from the local police station a couple of days later.

It continued to serve as my main instrument for another 10 years until I retired from active gigging. When I started gigging again I decided to retire her because I didn't want to risk loss or damage to her. I still use The Precision for personal practice, rehearsals and recording and who knows, maybe she'll see a stage again one of there days!

I bought this bass;


As a gigging bass. It was my first Jazz (first one I ever played in fact) and my first e-bay purchase. It is stock except for the bridge and pickguard. This bass sounds so good, it has become my main squeeze. I have many other basses but this is the one I play the most nowadays.

Well, hope I didn't bore everyone to tears.

Cheers!

Wow, that's a great story about getting your stolen bass back! Congrats. The only thing that would make it happier is having a lead pipe and 5 minutes alone with the son of a bitch who stole it. I'm glad you were reunited with it though

It's amazing how many stories I hear like that! Even just couple of weeks ago, my guitarist friend got jumped and robbed of his Strat at knifepoint. Two days later the same dude approached him on the street (as he was hanging "Reward: Guitar" flyers no less) and offered to sell it back to him!!! Either because he was holding the knife to the back so didn't see my friend's face or he's just an idiot, he didn't recognize my friend as the guy he robbed. He obviously didn't read the flyers either. A police chase on foot ensued a few minutes later, the dummy was caught and guitar was returned.

It's good that you saved the police report and that the store and consignee were so cool!

Amazing story, Basshappi, with a happy ending!

I started playing bass in HS, circa 1984. I bought a righty copy of a Steinberger and played it through my parent's stereo system.

Back in the 1985-1994 days I did not have any particularly special bass, I bought a new lefty '62 J reissue back around 1993-1994.

My favorite playing bass back then was a Aria Pro II RSB deluxe I think it was called.

Unfortunately I had five basses stolen in the mid 90's.

I currently have:

1969 Gibson EB2 (I thought it was a 1967 up until today)
1994? Washburn AB20 acoustic electric (I bought new)
2xxxx Yamaha acoustic
2xxxx Jay Terser Hofner copy (for fun)

I really enjoyed playing my J too.