Saturday, November 07, 2009

Love Is In The Air

Brought my 8-string bass home today!
She's SO pretty, and like I suspected is brand spanking new.
This was the score of the century--no shit.
Whoever bought this bass and then pawned it soon after is either an idiot or just didn't know what to do with it.
His loss is my gain, because stringed instruments hold no mysteries for me.

I got a cramp in my left hand from the first 10 minutes of playing, but after several hours of careful adjustments to the neck's truss rod she's playing smooth and sweet.
It'll probably take 3-4 days before I get everything perfect because a pro-level instrument setup needs to be done slowly to allow the wood and steel to become accustomed to what you've done. Like a big meal with meat and onion rings, everything needs time to settle down and play nice.
Hopefully it'll rain soon so I can also account for extra humidity.
Instruments are like living things in that they can react to their environment in unusual ways.
When I lived in Upstate New York, taking my 6/12-string Ibanez Doubleneck guitar into a heated nightclub after driving through a blizzard was the ultimate tuning nightmare. 18 strings on 2 necks that were all freaked-out by sudden temp and humidity changes was the worst-case scenario, but I learned a LOT.
At least here in Texas most rooms are between 68 and 78 degrees farenheit year-round.

Sorry, but there aren't any pictures yet.
See this post for my first impressions and some sneaky photos taken while making the down payment in September.

I'll probably take a few pics tomorrow, and might even shoot some video so y'all can see and hear the difference between a regular 4-string bass and this sexy beast.

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