For starters, I almost returned this bass to Guitar Center tonight without even opening the case. The buying experience was that frustrating. I ordered it from a store two hundred miles away, almost two weeks ago. They found a G&L hardshell case to put it in (it was listed with no case), which was awesome. Then they "forgot" to ship it to my local store. UPS confirmed delivery to the local GC this morning, so I went to pick it up tonight after my son's soccer practice. The store insisted it wasn't there, and they could find no record in GC's computer system of me having ordered it. Eventually they noticed a box from Cherry Hill NJ in the warehouse, which was addressed to somebody else but marked as containing a G&L bass. Turns out the store in NJ entered my order in the system under somebody elses name. To top it off, the bass was described to me over the phone as being a "metallic-looking gold" finish. I assumed it would be G&L's metallic gold finish, which I certainly don't think is unattractive. It's just not one that I would order on a new bass, or necessarily buy at normal used prices. This one was priced pretty low for an ASAT, so I took a chance and figured it could be good fodder for a trade later. Anyway, here's what I found in the case:
Not a bad snag after all. This is the first time I have played roundwound bass strings in a long time, and I now realize that I hate the feel and sound of them. The only question will be whether to go with LaBella flats or quarter rounds. It will need a new battery for the pre-amp and a good de-oxidizing for the jack, but otherwise the sound is awesome (for %#$* roundwound strings!).
Darwin: if you're reading this, I'm changing my answer on your ASAT thread to "no pickguard". We need to get somebody to Photoshop our ASATs into a single picture!
This bass puts the pressure on to practice. If I play it onstage, I'm going to have to be up to all of the attention it will get.
Ken
