Nigel
I started as a bass player in 2000, just before graduation from senior public school. My first bass was a broken down old 1970s Precision bass copy I found in my uncle's basement. That bass was with me for 6 months until I went out and bought my first bass, which was a sunburst Fender Precision. You're probably wondering where Nigel comes in. Well, the Fender was quite the lemon, and while it was fine to learn on, by late grade 9 I had saved the money to purchase my first "real" bass.
Nigel is a 2001 Ibanez Soundgear SR480. The beautiful mahogany body is what first sold me, in fact, way back when I bought the Fender. I said "I'm going to own that one day". Back then, $600 was a lot of money. Nigel has been with me ever since.
While Nigel was the only bass I played throughout High school and early in my university career, with the purchase of Gabriel in 2nd year, Nigel started to see very little play. I mean, my Warwick was my dream, and so there was no reason to play the old Ibanez, save for one: Nigel had the fastest, smoothest and narrowest neck I've ever played -and still does. In 3rd year, I figured it would be a shame to waste such a great bass, so instead of selling, I went down to my local music shop and had them make Nigel fretless. Now I had a whole new set of tonal varieties, and there was no reason not to play Nigel more.
Over the years, Nigel has gone through some electronics overhaul to make better use of the fretless sound. I replaced the Ibanez electronics with an EMG P and a Seymoour Duncan Vintage Hot J Basslines to get the best of both worlds: a rockin' Derek Forbes sound (a la simple Minds,) and a jazzy Jaco Pastorius sound. I also overhauled the preamp to make it more basic, putting in 2 volume and 2 tone knobs and a toggle switch, a la your standard Les Paul.
I've always been quite happy that I never sold my first "real" bass, out of sentimental value, but now thanks to some handy-dandy custom shop work, he does more than just sit on a stand.
Nigel is a 2001 Ibanez Soundgear SR480. The beautiful mahogany body is what first sold me, in fact, way back when I bought the Fender. I said "I'm going to own that one day". Back then, $600 was a lot of money. Nigel has been with me ever since.
While Nigel was the only bass I played throughout High school and early in my university career, with the purchase of Gabriel in 2nd year, Nigel started to see very little play. I mean, my Warwick was my dream, and so there was no reason to play the old Ibanez, save for one: Nigel had the fastest, smoothest and narrowest neck I've ever played -and still does. In 3rd year, I figured it would be a shame to waste such a great bass, so instead of selling, I went down to my local music shop and had them make Nigel fretless. Now I had a whole new set of tonal varieties, and there was no reason not to play Nigel more.
Over the years, Nigel has gone through some electronics overhaul to make better use of the fretless sound. I replaced the Ibanez electronics with an EMG P and a Seymoour Duncan Vintage Hot J Basslines to get the best of both worlds: a rockin' Derek Forbes sound (a la simple Minds,) and a jazzy Jaco Pastorius sound. I also overhauled the preamp to make it more basic, putting in 2 volume and 2 tone knobs and a toggle switch, a la your standard Les Paul.
I've always been quite happy that I never sold my first "real" bass, out of sentimental value, but now thanks to some handy-dandy custom shop work, he does more than just sit on a stand.