Friday, September 23, 2005

Basses - one can never have too many.

Basses are kind of like potato chips - you can't have just one. I mean, the P bass is great for rock - but to really cut through in a jazz band, you need a jazz bass. Ok, so this can get a little carried away. easily.

I did have one bass, the Steinberger, and was fairly happy with it. I mean, it looked cool. and that's important. :) But I really wanted a real Steinberger. So I found one. I got a full bodied version steiny - called the XQ-2. No, the XQ part has no significance. I also bought a Fender Lite bass - less filling I guess. I didn't have that one long. It was Ok . Lemme see - I also had an XP-2 (the flying Vee looking Steinberger bass, a custom (by me) Warmoth Jazz bass. The wood on that bass was gorgeous - Black Korina, wow. Warmoth was using that very bass as their example of the wood type - it was that pretty.

After another, not very long, bit, I got the bug to have a "custom" steinberger made. You know what custom means, right? It means you pay twice as much for a bass that you can sell for 1/2 as much. Yes - you lose money on customs - because they are built just for you. I wasn't really ready for it - but I guess I had money to burn (NOT!!). I contacted a couple of luthiers, and decided to go with Canadian Bill Wilkat. He makes beautiful guitars and basses. I asked him about what I wanted, with what specs, and that I wanted it fit for Steinberger. He was more than happy to accomodate me.

Monday, September 05, 2005