Within the past month I've had pictured bass here in my hands practicing every day upwards of 4 or more hours. It's a workout now at 65. My left hand hurts from working those muscles at the long end of the neck and it's a wide neck. I also had to lower the action considerably to grip those notes. I like a taught feeling of strings so I use heavy gauge rounds from EB, their Power Slinkys. This Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray Classic 4, I'm petty sure, is what Fender called their "C" neck. Perhaps I'd be better off finding a replacement neck tailored more toward their old "A" width. What's my point in all this? I'm afraid for what I'd have to spend for a different ax. The USA made Fenders don't cut it for me. There's just something not right in how they feel. Despite the relatively low cost against their custom shop stuff, the one's I've sampled at the local G/C (barf, anyway) are too heavy for one thing. They feel mass produced, if that makes sense. I've looked over Bass Central's entire catalog online and in their current stock nothing interests me. I suppose I'm going to have to look at Sadowsky, their NYC products. When I knew Will Lee back in Miami we had very similar playing styles and our Fenders were set up similar. I have to assume what he had developed with Sadowsky is with his natural evolution, playing and physical, in mind. They're very contoured and light ... and freakin' expensive. So, first I'll investigate a new "jazz" neck for the Stingray 4 'cause the sound of it is terrific. If that fails, I'll budget for a Sadowksy. It is a considerable investment.
Especially with Canada Post facing a lockout last week, I was refreshing the tracker 4 or 5 times an hour to see if it would get through before delivery was shut down for a month!
