Black Coffee

I think in reading this you have your mind made up.
You will not regret owning one of these, I had two and when I sold them there was a hole in my life which was only filled when I got another 5 stringer.
The tone, sound, power and cheesy grin never fade.
As for the spouse scenario. My little lady endorses and encourages bass buying, (but only if I sell or trade alongside and she has full disclosure).

Tell her it's a lifelong commitment to improving your skill and hobby - it's not just materialism etc etc and she will go with you to pick the colour.
Order it on the quiet and it arrives with you not there and she signs for it - you've had it. Enjoy your last new bass.
You won't regret buying a 5 stringer, you will regret selling one.

This is a picture of a Musicman 25th Anniversary Stingray 5 which I owned for a short time after I happened to be in the right place at the right time to avoid the £2,899.00 price tag by about a grand.
It had a set of pickups like a Velociraptor had teeth and it knew how to pack a punch with a mindbending array of passive and active possibilities.
We parted company because I have a young family and I think Farleys rusk, banana and baby juice would have ended messy among the hi-gloss finish and strings and pickup selector buttons. Another player is no doubt appreciating her beauty at the moment.
Having said that, it was a beautiful instrument. But my other MM SR5 with piezo pickups sounds every bit as loud and hard as this 25th version did, minus the worry.

I played my way through almost £4,500 and three Rics and couldn't get comfy with any of them. My first was a 4003FL, then a Firelgo Laredo and finally a mapleglo 4003. I pluck rather than pick and the big U over the pickup had to go to on the 4003s to get at the sweet spot over the bridge pickup. Even after that I was not getting that fuzzy feeling because of the gap around the pickup unit.
This is one of those basses that is so cooool that I really wish I could play it, but it wasn't to be. Lemmy made it look so easy as I drooled over Motorhead, but thats Lemmy.
I am tending towards trying again and going wth one of the bridge pickup surrounds which are available now.
But will this be a success ? Or another expensive crash and burn. Can anyone comment on these little gizmos ???

A Ric looks real cool, but you can't get away from the point in the first post and you might not want to acknowledge this but - there ain't a lot of people playing them anywhere. Warwick, Fender, Musicman and Ibanez are stealing the show.

Hello to fellow bass pickers, pluckers and slappers;
I was advised to start reading forums to get tips and advice from fellow tradesmen/women and this was one which was named as one of the best.
Thanks for the easy sign-up.

I've been playin over 25 years but still feel as if I've only scratched the surface.