Mrs cocco and I went to London for a couple of days, to look curio's and oddities for our living room.
What trip to London would be complete without a trip to Denmark Street?
The next thing I knew I was in Wunjo's, as I was browsing the semi acoustics one of the Toms said the words "feel free to play anything you fancy". Obviously I was like a kid in a sweet shop from this point on.
The first thing I picked up was a Warwick Star bass, which was fantastic sounding but not a great fit. So I put that down and picked up a starcaster bass, which was less comfortable, heavier and I wasn't a fan of the short scale but it did sound good.
Fast forward a few others and I eventually got to a pretty good selection of Ibanez SRs.
I've been a fan of the 1200 series since it came out, but it was a little out of budget. There was a 700 too but I didn't like the finish. I then looked at the 600 series, but there wasn't a 4 string. I decided I'd have a go on the 5 as a 4 could be ordered and posted to me in the worst case scenario.
I loved it. The feel of the naked ash body and satin neck, the preamp was easy to get on with and it sounded great. Long story short I walked away with the 5.
I've always thought fivers were a daft idea. A whole extra string for 4 notes seemed stupid until I played one, and here it is.
[URL=http://s40.photobucket.com/user/agcocco/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0291_zps1pzcrbgj.jpg.html][IMG]http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e240/agcocco/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0291_zps1pzcrbgj.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
The extra nut width is my favourite part, it forces my left hand into good technique, it keeps my thumb in the middle of the neck, instead of over the top of it.
Also for the price (under £500 new) I can't help but feel like I've robbed Ibanez.
I'm really happy with it.
As a foot note I can't recommend Wunjo's enough. The guys are really knowledgeable, friendly and genuinely nice people. They were full of helpful advice about London too.