theroan
Active member
As a younger bass player I played a balance of what I could afford and what my idol played ...which was Fieldy at the time 
If only I could go back in time and slap 1998 me. I played Fender and Ibanez.
When I first tried a Musicman Stingray, I was less than impressed. I thought that it sounded cheap, played cheap and I was turned off of the Musicman line for over a decade.
I began to take my playing seriously and practiced a lot learned all the crazy techniques (slapping, tapping, flemenco, double thumb etc) First chance I got I bought a Warwick Thumb 5 Broad Neck. I played the bass I thought I needed. But overtime and with lots of playing with other musicians my mind set changed. I switched to being a fulltime guitar player. I still had a bass rig that didn't really get used. I sold the Warwick for a Spector Euro with spalted maple top, beautiful. Then I had a bassist realization.
No one cares. Outside of a couple of genres, even if you are a good and capable bass player, no one wants you to stand out and no one expects you stand out. I decided to fall in line and I bought a Jazz and Precision. Even though these basses also didn't really fit me.
Then one day last year I played a 5 string Sting ray with a maple neck and I was blown away. 1) The shock that these basses I hated for so long actually sounded good 2) How much it was the perfect bass for me.
It has best playability, awesome look, and a tone the had everything I liked about a bunch of other basses. Smooth like a jazz, raw like a P, nice low mid like a Warwick. The tone was so rich that it made me kind of fall back in love bass playing.
Lesson learned, every once and a while re-examine what you think you know and like about gear, you might be suprised.
If only I could go back in time and slap 1998 me. I played Fender and Ibanez.When I first tried a Musicman Stingray, I was less than impressed. I thought that it sounded cheap, played cheap and I was turned off of the Musicman line for over a decade.
I began to take my playing seriously and practiced a lot learned all the crazy techniques (slapping, tapping, flemenco, double thumb etc) First chance I got I bought a Warwick Thumb 5 Broad Neck. I played the bass I thought I needed. But overtime and with lots of playing with other musicians my mind set changed. I switched to being a fulltime guitar player. I still had a bass rig that didn't really get used. I sold the Warwick for a Spector Euro with spalted maple top, beautiful. Then I had a bassist realization.
No one cares. Outside of a couple of genres, even if you are a good and capable bass player, no one wants you to stand out and no one expects you stand out. I decided to fall in line and I bought a Jazz and Precision. Even though these basses also didn't really fit me.
Then one day last year I played a 5 string Sting ray with a maple neck and I was blown away. 1) The shock that these basses I hated for so long actually sounded good 2) How much it was the perfect bass for me.
It has best playability, awesome look, and a tone the had everything I liked about a bunch of other basses. Smooth like a jazz, raw like a P, nice low mid like a Warwick. The tone was so rich that it made me kind of fall back in love bass playing.
Lesson learned, every once and a while re-examine what you think you know and like about gear, you might be suprised.
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