LeftyBassist.com

While not technically 'new' or even 'new to me', I rediscovered my old bass.

Originally I bought it in Guitar Center in Boston for $150 in late 1998 or '99. I just moved there and I wanted a bass and wasn't picky since I assumed at the time shipping my bass would have been almost as expensive. I eventually got another bass and this one ended up getting loaned to a friend who strung it righty then loaned to another friend and so on. Several years ago after I moved to Japan, some friends visited me and brought it with them. I knew the nut was busted so I just kept saying "I'll get it fixed later."

After years of kind of forgetting about it, I finally decided to pull it out, and despite obvious problems, it plays way better than I remembered.



It's a Charvel bass and I am pretty sure those strings are old enough to go to college.

It plays super smooth and despite the problems, it works pretty well. The biggest problem is at some point, the nut got filed down so it could be strung righty. That piece of paper there keeps the string from popping out and without it, it touches the first fret. I'm also pretty sure it's not supposed to be strung like that, but any other way and the nut comes off, it's not glued in anymore.



Also one of the screws somehow disappeared off the bridge at some point. Instead of getting a new one, I just fixed it for one penny.




I was impressed at my teenage self for fixing these problems with no real knowledge.

But the kicker and reason I can never sell this bass is I got it signed by Dick Dale and his bassist Ron Eglit.



After a show, Dick Dale said he'd sign anything and was very generous with his time. I just happened to have this in my trunk so I pulled it out. He asked me if I made it myself and sadly I said no.

I plugged it in and it sounds great actually! The bridge pickup has this nasty buzz that's probably loose wiring (when I turn it 45 degrees, it goes away) but the neck pickup is great, sounds quite punchy and heavy.


But there it is, my newly re-discovered bass. I want to get it fixed for real this time but I'm enjoying playing it as the mess it is.

Wow besides being a great bass it's signed by Dick! And his bassist.
Congrats! This is an awesome piece for sure!

Wow! Dick Dale - amazing

Very cool story and bass.

Excellent bass! AND signed by the Dick Dale!? Too cool man.

Great bass and story! If it were me, I wouldn't change anything except for maybe stabilizing the nut.

I was thinking about doing a lot of work to this, but yeah I should probably just stabilize the nut, fix the bridge pickup hum, and get new strings, those old ones are just gross.

The penny stays though.

This Bass has Mojo! And signed by Dick Dale? - fagedaboutit... change the nut, and leave the rest as it is... and keep the penny!

Was it white at one time and top sanded down? Also - love that old school Schecter sticker!

I took the peek inside to see if I could figure out why the bridge pickup was humming, and realized it was originally red! Whoever had it before me must have stripped the red and stained it yellow with this weird thin white paint.

When I first bought it, I hated the color but now I kinda like it. I called it the "pee bass" for a while.

But beyond the color, whoever had it before me made some weird decisions. It also has Gibson speed knobs which are numbered backwards for a lefty, and the middle knob is the pickup selector, so the numbers make even less sense.

But I like the feel of the knobs, so maybe the person before thought the same thing.

Oh and the hum went away! I didn't do anything except tap on the cables a little bit.


The Schecter sticker is on my pedal board box I got for practically free. I wish I could take credit for putting it there, but i was on when I bought it. I do like it though.

So instead of going to Ten(11?), this bass goes to Zero... A lefty Spinal Tap moment...