Teisco Bass (1964 - 1966)

My very first bass was a 1960 Teisco Kingston Short Scale Bass. My parents had originally bought me a guitar from Sears and Roebuck, but I wasn’t learning how to play it fast enough. My friend told me since I was only playing the bottom four strings, I should try bass instead. So, I asked my parents if they could trade it in for a bass. The Teisco had one pick up and I had no idea how to tune it. The only way to describe it is, it sucked. It wasn’t well made, so it just didn’t sound good. I didn’t have it for very long. Later, when I was better at playing the bass and a bit wiser, I bought a P Bass. Going from playing the Teisco bass to playing a ‘66 Precision was like riding a bicycle and then getting into a race car and taking off. It’s possible that playing that awful Teisco made me a better bass player because I had to work so hard to make it sound good!