My Fickle Fancy

(Originally posted 1/20/2008)

Concerning bass guitars, my loves have been all over the place. In some way, those guitars I've once loved, I still do love to a degree. The position that is foremost in my affections changes occupants from time to time. There's been the Music Man Bongo five-string (thus my username), the Music Man Sting Ray five-string (with double humbucker), and most recently, the Lakland 55-01 or 55-94.

I feel myself coming back to the standards. My present love is the Fender Jazz bass, preferably black with a maple fingerboard (concerning guitars, looks are important). My infatuation with five-string guitars is waning, and I've never felt an affection for a four string that could eclipse the Jazz bass. Now some of the Lakland Jazz bass copies (as the Joe Osborne in this picture on the bottom) are mighty fine, too, and are worth considering. However, I feel the American Standard Jazz bass is a fine instrument worthy of my limited skills.

Of course, the discussions of the merits of all these guitars is academic, as I will probably never own all of them. It's fun to speculate though, and my desires are fickle ones which will most likely be love from a distance. But, I've been able to play many guitars over the course of the years that would only have been possible within the confines of a Guitar Center showroom or the less-limited confines of my dream-state. So, no one really knows the value of lofty dreams.