"I say a man is nothing without a BASS."
You can pick your friends but, you'd better not pick your brothers bass.
The electric bass entered our parents home by way of my brother Don. Somewhere in the late 60's. Don had picked up a Gibson Supro bass in some 'swap, deal, trade ya' type of thing. When Don went swapping it was be best to take quick inventory of all you possessed in your domain. (Just a word to the wise) Can't remember what he paid or traded for the Gibson Supro but I was fascinated by the beast from the day it arrived. It had a large round bottomed body shape, with a fake leather pad on the back which would rest against the players body. The body was finished in clear wood with one pickup and a very bottom dweller tone to it. But, the major drawback to that bass was, that it was a "Gibson."
*Now, we won't bother being snobby about what bass is the best, but, it is best to clear the air early and that is to say; "Their are FENDER basses and all the other basses that came after it."
Enuf said!
The Gibson bass Don brought home was a short scale. That means an average Fender Jazz or Precision Bass is a 34" string scale, from nut at head stock to bridge. The Gibson Supro was of the 30 to 32-inch range, much too short for a growing lad like myself. But I attempted and began my life time of noodleing on it.
You may be asking yourself; What happened to the Gibson Supro bass?
Alas, it was ripped off, stolen, in a break in at the first apartment I had when I was 18-years old. Although I knew the fellow who broke in, and fought him in the parking lot of the Dominion Plaza, the bass was never retrieved.
In the end nobody cried for Surpo Bass.