New Arrival

I'm happy to announce the arrival of a new member of the family. (More detailed info here.)

She joins her much older (23) acoustic 6-string brother, and 2-year-old sibling "Dot"--all from the same Epiphone family.

I call her Stella, because I got her on the day Marlon Brando died ("Hey STELLA!"), and also because the musician her kind is most associated with--Paul McCartney--has a fashion-designer daughter by that name.

Macca's famous "Beatle bass" was actually a Hofner, but it's the same idea. Besides, Hofners sell for about $2000, and the Epiphone comes a lot cheaper.

Why are all my guitars Epiphones? Well, for someone who grew up listening to The Beatles, Epi's were the guitars the Fab Four had a big hand in making famous. Vintage Epi's go for thousands of dollars, of course, but the Korean-made reissues from the late '90s onward are very good quality instruments at affordable prices. For someone like me who's not a full-time recording/touring musician, they're a very cost-effective alternative, which still play and sound great.

I actually wasn't necessarily looking for another Epiphone, to "keep it in the family", as it were. I saw some Fender Precision and Jazz basses which were very nice, of course (hard to go wrong with a Fender bass), but the ones I liked were $900 and up, and seeing as the bass isn't even my main instrument, that's a bit of a steep price tag for my budget.

I picked up the Viola bass in the store, and just loved the way it felt. It's hollow, so it's incredibly light, and that also gives it a very cool tone; very "bloompy", although it's also quite versatile. It has a short-scale neck, with the frets closer together and the neck narrower than most basses, which makes it very playable, and very comfortable for guitar players.

I played bass very briefly and very, uh, unintensively, when I was about 15, before switching over to the guitar, so it's interesting getting back into the groove. I may actually go out and get one of those "Bass For Dummies" books so I can restart on the right foot.

So welcome Stella!