My basses: the adult years

After high school, I tried playing bass in college. I took some sort of class. I can't remember if it was a general music class or theory or what. I do remember taking bass lessons (Peter Vinikow, the name comes back to me) and attempting to learn music theory. Luckily I could read music through high school. Otherwise, everything else was done by ear.

Anyway, I ended up not pursuing jazz in college because of the competition (I'm a wuss, I guess), so it sat on the back-burner for a bit.

There were a few bands here and there. I met a guy in the dorm cafeteria once. Somehow he heard that I played bass so I ended up going to his house in the Bothell area and played some Metallica covers (Fade to Black is one I remember). I don't think I ever went back.

Another group I played with was some oddball jazz combo. I don't remember how I hooked up with them, but it was me on bass, an old black guy on sax, a couple horns, a drummer and a keyboardist. We rehearsed in the Laurelhurst neighborhood off of Sand Point Way and it was just as awkward as it sounds.

Through all that crap, I played the Soundgear and the Hohner. And then I stopped playing for awhile.

A few years later, I hooked up with a guy at work and we started playing music together. I played in a few bands with Jason, but I don't recall which bass I had. Probably the Ibanez. It wasn't until I started getting more serious about it and hanging with Jason that I stepped up my game. I'll see if I can remember them all.

Sometime around the turn of the century, I picked up a G&L L-2000. Recent research on talkbass and viewing my old threads show that I got it from Bass NW. It was dark blue and had a rosewood neck. Below are a stock picture with a maple neck, and then a shot of me playing mine on New Year's Eve one year with While Away.

G&L L-2000. Not my actual bass, but that was the color. The one on the right I found on an old While Away video. Pardon the graininess.

I don't remember what actually happened to this bass, but I'm feeling like I traded it in for the next bass, an American Fender Jazz Deluxe.
 

Fender American Jazz Deluxe with While Away at the Rainbow. 1998?

Playing in a band where the drummer worked at Guitar Center had its perks. Michael was in the drum shop and was able to help me get this Jazz for some sort of discounted price, I'm sure. I played with him and Jerry at the venerable Jambox on Queen Anne for a few years. We must have went through at least a hundred vocal auditions. It was rough.

The Jazz worked out for a bit, but I don't think I was ever comfortable with the sound it made. I was experimenting with pedals (compressors, chorus) and effects (I had a Bass POD for a while) and the things never added up. I ditched the Jazz and moved onto the Sterling (I think).

Ernie Ball Music Man Sterling recording with Ethyl at Musicworks NW. Picture from 2001-2002?

This guy I definitely got from Bass NW sometime in the late 90s. It was $1100 or so used and I snapped it up. I played the crap out of that bass. It had a beautiful bird's eye maple neck and it was perfectly sized for my svelte form.

I had it on a guitar stand in my basement in the wintertime. Every winter, I turn on a space heater as it gets chilly down there. Somehow, I left the heater on once, blowing right across the neck of the bass. For a few days. Needless to say, that neck dried out and became unplayable.

I called Mike Lull, a local guitar tech WHO WORKS MIRACLES and he told me to put it in a bathroom with lots of steam. I ran the shower super hot and tried to let that neck soak up some moisture. Unfortunately, that didn't do much. He ended up working on it and $300 or so later, that neck was good as new. A little slimmer due to some planing, but it was great.

I had this bass was my #1 for years to come. Until one day I was watching the Today Show and Kelly Clarkson, of all people, was on to perform. She had a bassist on who was playing a yellow P bass with a black pickguard and that was it, I was in love. I wrote about it here.

At this point in time, I had a Fender Geddy Lee Jazz and an Ibanez ATK-300 along with the Sterling. The Sterling was still my #1. I wanted the GL to be it, but the funky J body and my inability to get it dialed in led me to put it up for sale. After seeing that P bass and doing research, I fell in love with an SB-2 on eBay and, after selling the GL, the SB-2 was mine. Here's a picture I took shortly after taking delivery of the SB-2.

From L to R: EBMM Sterling, Ibanez ATK300, G&L SB-2

After I got the SB-2, it vaulted to the #1 slot and has remained there ever since. Something about the sound and look just spoke to me. It is aggressive, it is gnarly, it fits me and my style and I always reach for it when I play out or practice. I loved it so much, in fact, that shortly after getting it, I sprung for a black SB-2 Tribute (overseas made model). Take a look.

G&L SB-2 Tribute

I can't remember how long I had the Tribby for, but not really that long. It just wasn't getting played. I mean, I liked the look of the black and all, but I'm more of a sunburst/orange/red kind of guy, I think.

Up above I mentioned the Ibanez ATK300. That was a big, beefy bass. It was Ibanez's take on the MusicMan Stingray. Big body, big ol' humbucker pickup at the bridge. I played that at a few shows and ended up ditching it after a year or so. Just too big, and anytime I played it out, I felt like I was cheating on the SB-2.

See what I mean?

I also mentioned a Geddy Lee Jazz, too. He had a signature model made by Fender and I guess I needed one. Geddy is my bass hero, after all, and he made his original Jazz sing on his recordings. When I got one, I was stoked and tried playing it as much as possible. But the same problem I had with the American Jazz earlier; I couldn't get it dialed in. Plus, I just think the J body doesn't look right with me. With the Sterling and the SB-2 and a P style body, it just works. I think the J is simply too big.

Me and a huge Geddy Lee Jazz. And a swell hat.

G&L SB-2 on the left, Lakland Duck Dunn on the right.

Until I saw this bass on a TalkBass classified ad:

Lakland Duck Dunn Skyline. Seller's pic.

I loved how this bass looked. The mother-of-pearl inlays, the rosewood fretboard, the red matching headstock! Loved it all. When I looked into the ad, I saw the seller lived in Bothell. I offered him a straight up trade for the Sterling! I ended up meeting him up at the Northshore YMCA parking lot and we made the deal.

I remember that the neck had quite a bow in it, that the strings pretty much laid flat on the neck. After the trade I ended up back at Mike Lull's and he did more magic to it, running it through a machine called a PLEK, which trues up the neck and stuff. When I got it back, the bass played like a champ. I wrote about it all here. As much as I loved that Sterling, I thought this Lakland would take its place.

That wasn't the case, though, because of this bass. The G&L SB-2. 

I wrote about it here almost 9 years ago: LINKY. 9 years later, including last night, that G&L is still my number one gal.