I started playing electric bass in 1982 and when it came time to shop for a new instrument there were not nearly as many options as there are now. There was no internet, no richly illustrated catalogs from mail order companies, and no bass-specific magazines. Guitar Player would throw us bass players a bone every so often, but most of the content was geared towards the magazines primary audience. Of course you'd see basses being played in concerts, music videos and occasionally on album covers, but the only way to learn what was really out there was to visit a music store. Here are my recollections of that experience.
Everyone dogged Fender. During this era music store salesman would always dissuade you from buying a Fender bass. The general consensus was that Fender's golden age had ended in 1965 when Leo sold the company to CBS and the quality of their instruments declined steadily in the ensuing years, the hallowed name being the only reason anybody still bought them. If you really wanted a Fender and could not find or afford a pre-CBS model, then you were better off getting one of Leo Fender's more recent designs like a G&L or a Music Man. Thus, I wound up with a G&L, and then a Music Man...because I really wanted a Fender.
Everybody played Fender. Despite the advice of music store salesman, nearly every bassist you saw played a Fender, and they were not always pre-CBS models. While it's true that quality became inconsistent during the 1970's decade, you could still find good instruments from that era as I eventually did when I finally realized that the G&L and Music Man basses I owned were not what I really wanted. It's worth noting that while Fender was still making basses in the early 1980's, they didn't show up in music stores too often, and when they did it was almost always a Precision Bass which at the time was way more popular than Fender's "other" bass...the Jazz Bass.
Other American companies were trying to compete with Fender. I've already mentioned G&L and Music Man whose basses were popular at the time, and Peavey was making waves with their budget-minded T-40. It was sort of ungainly, but it was a lot of bass for the money. Rickenbacker maintained a strong foothold and continued to appeal to a certain type of rock bassist. I wanted one briefly when I went through a Chris Squire/Geddy Lee phase, but even then Rickenbacker was viewed a bass that was strong on treble frequencies and short on versatility. I don't think either of those statements are true...but I don't want one any more. Other venerable American guitar companies continued to miss the mark when it came to electric basses, notably Gibson with their ironically named Victory bass, Guild with the oddly-shaped B-302, and Ovation with the bizarre Magnum. These instruments were generally of good quality and now have a cool "outsider" factor that makes them collectible, but at the time they were seen as also-rans.
The Asian companies were getting things right. Asian made-basses has long dominated the beginner's market with basses that were often derivative of American instruments, including the Korean made Hondo II Jazz Bass copy that served as my first bass, but several of these companies including Ibanez, Yamaha and Aria were now offering innovative, high quality instruments that were starting to take an increasingly large portion of the market share. This started in the previous decade, but it was during the 80's that it really became prevalent, and it was often bass players who were the most visible exponent. The stores that I frequented often touted these basses as a way of obtaining an instrument with pro-level quality and features at a reasonable price. You certainly wouldn't find yourself paying for a famous brand name going this route.
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