this is a boner with a story. allow me:
i learned on my older brothers ibanez starter bass. after logging many man hours, developing calluses that will be with my for the rest of my life, mowing many lawns and shoveling snow out of many driveways, i learned how to play and had the money to go buy myself a bass. i had $650 total. i literally saved every dollar i made for a very long time (i think i was 12 years old.) so i went to guitar center, and i was torn between two basses - one was a Kramer that i remember had steel in the neck, the other was this fender. i decided i wanted the kramer, and my older brother (thank god!) told me absolutely not, get a fender, its a better instrument. (he was probably 15 years old, and had no idea what he was talking about, but in reality this was good advice.) so i got the fender- it cost me $630. a USA fender, in my world at the time, that was IT! i made it big. right?
i took my first bass lesson on that instrument. i played my first performance in front of an audience, with a middle school jazz band, on that bass. i played my first paid gig on it. i did my first recording sessions with it. you get the idea. fast forward to mid- highschool, and i was studying with mike frost and became really in love with his approach, sound, ext. at this point i only played 6 string basses, and being young and immature made no exceptions - i was a 6 string electric bass player, period. so eventually to fund a purchase i sell my first bass, saying "ill never play it, its a four string bass."
about a year or so later i was starting to get more work and realized that at auditions, first meetings, ext, the sight of boutiquey 6 string basses turns off many people, and a fender bass makes these people happy, and is simply more appropriate for wedding bands and such. i started to regret selling the bass. eventually i bought a MIM fender to "replace" it, but really wished i'd kept the first bass. the MIM was quite nice too, but thats long gone and another story for another day.
then, after i graduated highschool, and was on my way to start a college music program, my mom has a graduation gift for me. it's the bass. all my ding marks, scuffs, everything- even the original receipt from guitar center. my mom setup the sale knowing i'd regret selling my first instrument. (her father was a master musician, so i guess he had many sob stories about instruments he shouldn't have sold.)
and, as recent as two weeks ago, this bass and i experienced another first- i paid somebody else to do a full setup on one of my basses. i could never afford that, and was forced to learn it all on my own- mostly on this bass, sadly enough. it turned out to need a fair amount of electronic work, from my years of abuse and learning how to solder.
when i got it back from the repairman, i found out that it's nicknamed a boner bass, and got the whole history of these basses.
so now it's the bass i use to teach on, i use it for recording, and certain gigs. its lightweight and sounds very nice. when i get caught up in worrying that my other basses (pictured) dont sound the way i want them too, ill plug this in and realize how good i've got it- considering that this is a perfectly good bass! if i had to complain, id say it's not much of a slapper- but the P bass sound, or the jaco type of thing, this bass does really really well.
cheers to all my fellow boner owners, it's a pleasure to be among you.
Crazy.
