As I said multiple times before, I'm kind of a frustrated bass player. Back in Jr high school, I had a buddy that played guitar. At this point I didn't play any musical instruments, I was far more into BMX at the time. He used to "jam" with another guy that played bass. I hung out with them one time, and even though he had a cheap short scale bass, it was pretty cool sounding. The bass player also had some similar musical tastes that I had, and turned me on to some new music that I hadn't heard before. It kind of inspired me to want to play some Instrument. I thought of playing bass, but a few people pointed out a few downsides to being a bass player:
1. You need to learn to read sheet music. Actually while being able to read music is an advantage, and not a bad thing to know, it's not absolutely vital.
2. Bass strings are more expensive than guitar strings. Yes they are, but they don't need to be changed as often. Back in the day, you could also boil old bass strings and re-use them.
3. Bass amps are bigger and more expensive. I dunno. I paid ALOT for my H&K triamp. I know bass players that had/have smaller and cheaper combos that sounded very nice.
Also I kind of wanted to jam with my buddy's bass player, and if I was a bass player myself, That would probably not happen.
So I chose guitar, and the rest is history. I've dabbled in low tunings, octave pedals, and even got my own bass guitar. But something was still missing. Back in the early 00's, I went to a music store with my cousin, who's kind of a shredder type guitar player. Very European Uli Jon roth styled, harmonic minor, very fast and accurate picking. He chose some wild guitar with a floyd rose off the wall, and paired it with a high gain amp. While he wailed away, I perused the other instruments and found an odd item:
It was an Ibanez Mike Mushok model baritone. I pulled this heavy beast off the wall, and plugged it into a Peavey Delta blues with a 1x15 speaker. It was amazeballs. Big, deep, heavy, with articulation and accuracy. It was like putting a foothold into the bass zone. While my cousin shredded away, some onlookers gathered around. I figured they were checking out my cousin. You didn't hear much playing like that in music stores, so I guessed it was a bit of a throwback for the older crowd and new experience to the younger people in the store. I didn't pay much attention, as I noodled. I realized it could play chords that could shake things off the walls. Eventually we stopped, put the instruments back on the wall, and went for lunch.
That entire week, the Ibanez vexed me. By the time Saturday rolled around I decided I would go back to that music store, and even though I'd be putting it on an existing credit card debt, I'd get it. When I did get to the store, I didn't see it on the wall. I asked the guy behind the counter if they still had it. He replied "nope, we had 2, and some guy came in last weekend, plugged it into the delta blues, and it sounded so good, when he was done, we had sold both of them" The other guy behind the counter said "sold the delta blues too". As they were a chain, I asked if they had one at another nearby location. "nope another guy asked the same thing last week, and tore ass out of here, and it was out of the system by the end of the day". The other guy behind the counter chimed in "yeah, I looked it up after we closed, I was gonna get it, and it was sold". You're welcome Daddys, (RIP), Ibanez & Peavey.
I would look on craigslist for that guitar model, but to no avail. A few years later PRS partnered with Mike Mushok to make his own SE model. It came in an Adam Jones/Tool inspired Silver bust, and later a Sunburst. I didn't have the extra $$ so I had it on my wish list. Also, there weren't alot of local PRS dealers. One day it was gone from the PRS website. I looked on craigslist, and the ones I found were modded, and the seller was asking pretty much the same cost as a new one.
A year or so later PRS had 2 new SE models, the 277 P90/soapbar and the 277/Humbucker. I was again at a loss $$ wise, but I had it back on my wish list. I had also found John Mann's Guitar Vault. He's pretty much Mr PRS in the New England area, and stocks everything from inexpensive SE's up to private stock. If I was gonna buy a PRS it would be through him.
I finally decided to do something about my baritone obsession that still hadn't been satisfied.
To Be Continued...
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