McNaire, about the dots, everybody in the bass world has seen Edgar's dots. MANY bass players have followed his lead and had dots installed. In fact, a really good bass player I went to school with has dots on his Jim Hamm bass. Has he lost credibility? Well, he is now the recently appointed professor of double bass at the University of South Carolina so the board who hires there obviously did not count it against him. The only people who would knock you for dots are macho, cheeseball, old school bass players and teachers who you do not want to study with or listen to anyway. By the way, good luck with your college auditions, McNaire. Let us know how they go. I actually auditioned a Curtis. I think Hal was a little suprised to see a chubby kid from north Florida with an orange plywood bass playing German bow. Hal was very nice and helpful. He sent me full notes of the audition and gave me a lot of support and encouragement. I ended up auditioning for Jeff Bradetich at UNT by tape late in the summer and getting the green light about 2 weeks before school started. Jeff is a great teacher/player and an equally great guy. I studied with him for 7 semesters and am planning on returning to UNT in order to finish my degree. Again, keep us posted, McNaire.