About VFB – My love of Vintage Fender Basses

The first time I experienced wanting to play the bass guitar was also the first time I was introduced to a Fender Bass. It was the sound that got me, and kept me entranced with the instrument until I could put my hands on one.   This wasn’t the love at first sight feeling I got whenever a pretty girl passed my way (which is a different story, one that deserves it’s own site) but probably one of my first life altering experiences.

My brother and I are both musicians, and played music together ALL the time.  We started off on the drums, which made sense because we’d both bang on anything in the house we could find, pots, pans, coffee tables (oak is best, nice sound) the floor, the dog, anything we could create a rhythm with.  This prompted many shoes thrown at our heads by my father.  He LOVED music.  He LOVED dancing and singing to music.  We tested that love time and time again.  Cool riddums for about an hour is cool.  5 hours straight, even St. Theresa has got thoughts of throwing rocks at the riddum makers.  Eventually we got drums and percussion, and a special room with more sound proofing and sound baffling than the quietest room on the earth.  We suffered a lot less shoe shots to the head after that.

But a time came when I realized that my younger brother outclassed me big time on the drums.  I mean BIG TIME.  We’re talking about a kid who eventually won best drummer awards across our lovely state of Florida, played with the hottest rock acts and the hottest Latin jazz players around, and could literally make you dance and cry at the same time.  He was, and is, a freak of nature drum playing alien who’s talents scare the crap outta you.

But I wanted to keep making music with him.  Just picking another kind of drum wasn’t going to do it.  I loved the guitar, but it didn’t really “call to me.”  I always loved low fi, and the thump of the bass was always one of my favorite sounds, but my head and my heart didn’t make the connection.  Until…

My cousin (who is a masterful musician himself) took me to a Motown Review concert when I was about 14 years old.  This was about 26 years ago, so my memories of the players is a little fuzzy; plus there was all this funny smelling smoke around that kinda made me feel funny, but I digress.  The players where awesome, the music was awesome, but this bass sound caught me, and caught me bad.  I was hypnotized by this cat playing this beautiful Fender P-Bass, and low running it.  I mean, the bass sound just hit me in these waves of funkitude that made my feet move and my heart thump.  It was a thing of beauty, this bass.  From what I remember, it looked that a 67-69 P-Bass played studio style, tight up on the chest, with this old world Sunburst style that struck me as ICONIC. Well, because it was.  This is the bass that shapes your vision of what a bass should sound and look like.   I didn’t just see and hear this bass guitar, I experienced it.

My first Fender P-Bass, one that I owned myself, came a few years later.  But until then, I borrowed my friends CBS period 73′ P-Bass until he sued me for custody.  Dood, I was either over at his house or stealing that bass every chance I got.  He still hides it whenever I come by.  No, my first Fender Bass was, and still IS, a 67 Fender P-Bass that I found for sale at a bar that was closing down.  Apparently some dude had left it behind as a guarantee on his beer tab back in 1976, and never came back.  The owner of the bar didn’t really care what it was, just popped it in his storage room next to the beer kegs.  To say that I was nervous trying to haggle for this frickin’ bass is an understatement.

Luckily, to the bar owner, it was just a bass.  I know, I know, a Fender like this is never “just a bass,” but I used his barbarian ignorance to hook me up a badass.  $200 DOLLAS, out de door, and I got a cool leather strap in the deal.  Wassap!

I still own this bass today, and I’ve loved every minute of playing it, polishing it, tuning it and fixing her up.  That’s what a classic like a vintage Fender can do for you, give you an instrument you can rely on.  Ultimately, that’s why I’ve built this site.  Some of the younger cats might not completely appreciate what it means to own a classic Fender.  Heck, they might not really care.  But I hope I could drop some wisdom on them.  If you can only own one base, make it a Fender.  If a vintage Fender crosses your path, nab it.  It’ll make you proud one day.