I remember thinking the new (then) BSR shape was particularly attractive and had lusted after a Smith 6 string ever since hearing John Pattitucci play 'Our Family' on a Guitar Player cover disc in the mid-late 80's.
Eventually my career picked up (about 15 years later) and I bought my BSR5 from Bob at the Bass Palace. I was working in China at the time and so had the bass shipped to the company offices in Hong Kong for me to collect on my way through to Nanjing.
The bass had been kept in the office of the Asia-Pacific director himself and although he was out when I called, I remember viewing the bass all boxed up and thinking "Wow! This is it! I finally have a Smith". Of course when I took it out of the case, the smell of the polish and sheen of the quilted maple turned it into a near reverential experience. I took it over to China on the next flight and I just got kicks from looking at it. (No amp in the hotel so I couldn't hear it until I got it home to the UK.)
The Smith 6 was next about 9 months later. I'd left the job in China, and sold my house in Plymouth, UK and pretty much tripled my deposit in about 18 months with how crazy house prices were getting at that time. So to celebrate selling the house, I bought my Smith 6 new from the Bass Gallery. The bass had been sitting in their shop for about 6 months so I made them an offer on it and they accepted. Again, the same reverential experience when I got it home only I had TWO to look at this time. Playing it was pretty awe inspiring listening clear, sweet treble and growly warmth.
Liquid honey.
So I made do with those two basses but my band needed fretless bass for some of the songs and I couldn't find a fretless Smith anyway for sale for a long time. There were a couple of near misses with a fretless 6 at Bass NorthWest going shortly before I'd made my mind up. In the meantime I made do with a Pedulla Pentabuzz but the tonal differences between it and the Smith made it difficult to swap instruments mid-set without some serious knob twiddling on the amp. I tried matching the Pentabuzz with an MVP and the fretted Modulus Quantum 5 sweetspot I had with a matching fretless but none of them were consistent enough.
Then eventually I spotted my Smith fretless last year at BassNW again and a couple of emails later, the bass had been paid for and my credit card was groaning slightly!
All three instruments have slightly different tonal characters but the differences are not significant enough to need tweaking on the amps. So now I'm a happy bunny with my workhorses - nothing else needed for the neo soul band I'm in.
I can record pretty sweet sounding tracks with all the basses because they need so little eq into the desk - producers love them for how fat they sound. In short they've all been very satisfying to own and play, and I guess that's where its at for me.
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