[Brian Casey]

Hi Ken - yes, there was a possibility of trading the Christopher in, but the people that offered me anything for it dind't have what I was looking for - either they had basses that were out of my price range that I wanted to basses that I didn't feel would be a significant improvement over the Christopher.

I'm thinking now that trading it in toward a nice bow ($2000 range and up) is where I want to be headed. I'll probably be checking with my regular luthier to let him know this is my plan. I might also sell it on my own toward the same end, as long as I can find potential buyers in this financial climate. I just shelled out mid-4 figures for a bass, why shouldn't I find someone else willing to spend half that?

I do think that having 2 basses is a good idea, if a person can afford it. If one needs to go into the shop, it's good to have a backup, and for those recurring gigs with a secure storage area, it's nice to be able to avoid cartage every day. I'm contracted to do a run of The Producers this Summer, and I plan to keep a bass on site the 4 days I'm working each week.

Thanks, as always, to everyone for their perspectives.