When I began playing bass, it was an el-cheapo Jay Turser 4 string P-clone that I picked up for $100. The pickguard was so warped that it touched the underside of the orange, fuzzy strings, not so gently, but the neck was dead straight. I gave it love. I cut the pickguard down so it just covered the essentials, cleaned up the electronic, gave it the first setup that it never received and gigged it for a decade without issue. I started pining for a 5 and decided to go with something special. I moved to the desert and the Turser was highly responsive to the radical changes in humidity and temperature which can occur daily. I felt bad for the truss rod, because it was being adjustment more and more frequently to compensate. I decided that a graphite neck bass would take a lot of variables out the equation and after finding out that Modulus has tanked, did my research and found out that Geoff Gould was still making basses. I tracked down a GGi-5 and bought it from the Bass Place online. I was not disappointed.
The Turser ended up going from presumed backup that never got played, to parts that never got used to yard art. The 5 became my main bass and it felt like home. 4's were no longer appealing to me. I played that 5 for close to a decade and loved every minute of it. Then the bug hit: I wanted to try fretless and I wanted to try that fretless as a 6. I had Geoff build a GGi-6 fretless for me and again was not disappointed. I love it. When I play, it feels like home, but part of me also enjoys playing fretted instruments. So...the idea of a fretted GGi-6 to compliment my fretless 6 emerged.
All of a sudden, I am starting to look at the 5 in the same way I looked at the 4, excepting that the GGi-5 is a desirable commodity and the Turser 4 was musical firewood. I am beginning to feel that the Rainbow Trout GGi-5 may have to go to make room for a new bass with another string. The Trout and I have had good times together. It has seen a truss rod upgrade. I have had a hand surgery. We are both improved, but I think I am hearing the call of something new. I am not usually one to have a stable of redundant things. To have a bass sit un-played seems criminal, especially when it is something so very sweet, but I am hearing the call of a fretted 6 companion to the fretless and I don't think there is any going back.
Is it time to say goodbye?
The Turser ended up going from presumed backup that never got played, to parts that never got used to yard art. The 5 became my main bass and it felt like home. 4's were no longer appealing to me. I played that 5 for close to a decade and loved every minute of it. Then the bug hit: I wanted to try fretless and I wanted to try that fretless as a 6. I had Geoff build a GGi-6 fretless for me and again was not disappointed. I love it. When I play, it feels like home, but part of me also enjoys playing fretted instruments. So...the idea of a fretted GGi-6 to compliment my fretless 6 emerged.
All of a sudden, I am starting to look at the 5 in the same way I looked at the 4, excepting that the GGi-5 is a desirable commodity and the Turser 4 was musical firewood. I am beginning to feel that the Rainbow Trout GGi-5 may have to go to make room for a new bass with another string. The Trout and I have had good times together. It has seen a truss rod upgrade. I have had a hand surgery. We are both improved, but I think I am hearing the call of something new. I am not usually one to have a stable of redundant things. To have a bass sit un-played seems criminal, especially when it is something so very sweet, but I am hearing the call of a fretted 6 companion to the fretless and I don't think there is any going back.
Is it time to say goodbye?
