I am a little old (59). I was born and raised near Detroit. I played bass in bars there until I joined the Army. I ended up in California. I played mostly Fenders all of my life. I'm a multi-instrumentalist now. I do production music for film and TV. I recently bought a Sterling 34 RAY and am in love with this bass. I believe I'm going to have to buy stock in 9-volt batteries because I want to play it all of the time. BTW, my recording space in out in the high desert near Joshua Tree, CA.