I took this shot in 1983. This is what remains to this day of my first bass — a 60’s-era Hagstrom. I bought it in 1976 from a friend for $6.00 — someone had left it in a room at the Austin Motel, which his Grandparents owned, in 1975, though at the time, we were both living in San Francisco. It was white, originally, & I spray painted it metal-flake blue, without sanding it, or anything. By the time this photo was taken, I was living in Austin, the original neck was lost in an ill-fated attempt to build a bass in woodshop that involved me moving to Florida while it was waiting to be painted at Gutiar Resurrection. The lesson here is Never. Move. To. Florida. I still have the guts and the body, safely stashed in my attic all these years later. Someday, I hoe to reassemble it. For now, I think I’ll use this pic for next year’s Xmas card. Been telling myself that since I took the picture. I tend to procrastinate. I have no idea how I even got ahold of a camera in those days. I have quite a few 35 mm negatives from this period, during which I didn’t own one.
